The Colonel's Forum

Dusting off the blog

2011-10-05T23:26:00.013-04:00

I've been spending too much time on other online communication sites lately. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, they all serve their place. Where they fail is in substance. It's all immediate blips of information that almost encourage you to have a short attention span. Sometimes, I need more than a quick post. Today is one of those days.

If you know me, you know that politics is one of my passions. I love to follow it, and I love to talk about it, with everyone. I don't care if you're a crazy militia man or a pot smoking hippie, I want to hear your opinion. This, to me, is one of the most critical things we can do to sustain this country - talk to each other, ESPECIALLY when we disagree. You won't always change my mind, and I won't always change yours, that's not the point. The point is to hear as many perspectives as you can, and together with you own knowledge and values, form an informed opinion. On what? Anything. Everything. I am genuinely astonished to think that anyone, anywhere would NOT take this approach, but I've come to accept that this is the case. So be it. This is one quest I will not abandon.

The other most critical thing, is to vote. You must vote. It is your right and your duty as a US citizen (or wherever you live, hopefully a democracy :-). For me, not voting is beyond lazy, it's shameful. It's like looking a fallen war hero in the eye and saying "I don't care that you died for my freedom." I really do take it that seriously. It's why I also think it's important to convey to others the importance of voting. It's typically not convenient. Often times the candidates suck. Deal with it. Get to the polls and vote, or else shut your trap about politics for the next year and take whatever they dish out.

This brings me to what's compelling me to stay up past my old-man bedtime and write a blog post today. Challenges to voting are once again in the news. 14 States have already passed laws that impact voting in the next election. 20 more are considering them. These laws relate to the ID you must present, the times you can vote, the ways in which you may conduct voter registration campaigns, the absentee voting process... pretty much everything related to voting. But why? What problems are we having with our elections that these laws will fix? What cases of fraud have we seen lately? None.

How many people does this affect? Why should I care? The sheer number of voters who could be impacted is larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections - 5 Million people. This has been well documented by Rolling Stone, the non-partisan Brennan Center at New York University, and others. 38 States in total are considering changes. States that have already passed new voting laws? Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas... notice a trend? These states all had poll taxes to suppress the black vote, they're all in the South (sorry Texas), and they are all run by Republicans. Thankfully, because of their history of discrimination at the polls, these states (except Tennessee) must all get their shiny new laws approved by the Department of Justice, thanks to the voting rights act.

But what's the real issue here? Why all the new rules and regulations around voting? Which of these laws is tied to a specific problem, and will it fix that problem? Here are some facts:

Among voting-age US citizens, 25% of blacks, 18% of the elderly, and 16% of hispanics do not have access to the documentation needed to prove citizenship. This is compared to 8% of whites. Why not? An easy example is a man born in the hills of Kentucky, in a cabin, who has no birth certificate. Newsflash: except for the elderly, the top two groups here vote Democrat. Is it a coincidence that Republican legislatures are passing laws that will disproportionately limit Democratic turnout at the polls? Absolutely. Republicans wouldn't do that on purpose, that would be like cheating.

We all agree that only citizens can vote. For 240 years, that has not been a problem, why do we need these laws now? The ID laws have provisions for the people who do not have a driver's license or other acceptable document today. They can go to the bureau of motor vehicles and get a voter ID card for free.. if they can get there and take a day off work to wait in line. Are non-citizens voting? Is this a big problem that new/stricter ID requirements will address? If only someone had looked into the issue, someone we could trust.

Thank God for "W." He instructed his Justice Department to investigate voter fraud, and they did. They spent 5 years looking into it. They found, brace yourself, 86 cases. That's nationwide, after investigating it for 5 years, with all the resources available to the justice department. Were any of these cases citizenship issues, you might wonder? Yes, 2 of them. A man from Pakistan filled out the wrong form. He has since been deported. A man from Mexico who had applied for citizenship thought that entitled him to vote, so he registered and voted. He has also been deported. So the two actual citizenship cases the DOJ found are no longer an issue.

Around 5-10 years ago, sex offenders were a favorite target of politicians. Don't get me wrong, they're scum, but hear me out on this. If a politician wanted to look tough on crime, he'd propose some new over-the-top sex offender law. No one would oppose it, because they'd look terrible. The problem with this is we now have some sex offender laws on the books that are too broad and have REALLY BAD unintended consequences. This guy had consensual sex with his high school girlfriend, but he was 19, she was 16, and her mom was pissed so she called the cops. Now he has to register for life, for sleeping with the woman who became his wife. He also can't vote, because he's a convicted felon!

There are many stories like this. The problem is that politicians have removed the will of the people from what they do. They are passing laws to make themselves look good, and asking their constituents to "trust me, this is in your best interest." No citizen ever said "I think high school sweethearts should be classified as sex offenders," but that's what happened.

Now that every state has 10 different sex offender laws on the books, it's time to go after the "illegals." Can't go wrong there, right? It just sounds great. "We need to crack down on illegals! They're taking our jobs, and free loading on our education and health-care systems! Let's make them scapegoats for America's problems." Off we go! Immigration "reform" has been a hot topic for years. Yes, the Federal government has failed to address it. Here's another newsflash though - these people are paranoid about getting caught, and rightfully so. I don't support people coming here illegally. What we're seeing though is that they are afraid to report even basic crimes because they're afraid of deportation. They are more likely to be victims of robberies because they deal exclusively in cash - can't open a bank account and don't trust them. Their women don't report domestic violence for fear of deportation. This is un-American. Some of these new immigration laws, like the one that just went live in Alabama, target the children of illegals. They require schools to verify citizenship.

These people run our restaurants, hotels, farms - ask anyone in those industries. Some are illegal, but some are US citizens. They do jobs that lazy Americans are too lazy to do, or at least they're willing to do them cheaper than we are. Have you spoken with a high school kid lately? That's who used to run the McDonalds, and in rural white towns they still do. Show me a city of any size, and I'll show you dozen restaurants that would close without Hispanic staff. In Kentucky, we would not have a horse industry without them.

These new voting and immigration laws target Hispanics because it's popular with the Republican base. The voting laws will inadvertently affect blacks even more though. Either way, we are not a nation of xenophobes, and we need to stop acting like one. Massachusetts changed its voting laws a while back, because it wanted to silence the votes of immigrants. The year was 1857, and they were targeting the Irish, with a literacy test. Connecticut followed suit two years later. Let's not do that again.

How can you be an independent? It's easy

2011-08-01T15:31:00.002-04:00

I read a great opinion piece today by David Frum, a former adviser to "W." Frum is a really smart guy, and a great example of something that still baffles me about W's Presidency, which is "how can anyone surrounded by brilliant minds like Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, and others make so many dumb decisions? There was something about the culture he had in the White House that turned smart people into morons. I just hope Obama fumigated before moving in to get rid of it.

Frum's article makes a point I've been quietly screaming for years - the loud people in Congress who claim to be "conservative" "Republicans" are neither one. In fact, I think they've ruined both terms. These loud mouths just landed a debt deal that will do absolutely nothing to actually solve our debt problems, and in fact is very likely to make our economy worse before it gets better. Here's a great quote from the article:

"Only about one-third of Republicans agree that cutting government spending should be the country's top priority. Only about one-quarter of Republicans insist the budget be balanced without any tax increases.

Yet that one-third and that one-quarter have come to dominate my party."

Exactly. That's why I no longer call myself a Republican. The Abe Lincoln, Henry Clay "Republicans" no longer exist. What we have now are populist Republicans - guys who say whatever they think people want to hear. "Democrats are dumb and the President is a socialist" makes for great sound bites, but it doesn't solve any problems.

Summer heat

2011-07-11T14:45:00.002-04:00

Decided I'd better updated my blog before Google decided I'm no longer using it. Perhaps the fact that I've gone so long without updating here means that I'm getting my social media fix through other means - I have been using Twitter more and of course Facebook. Part of it is certainly that I've become super busy at work since I transferred jobs at the start of this year. I'm now working in HP's TS consulting group as a cloud strategist. Sounds silly, and cloud computing is one of the most overused buzz-words in existence at the moment. I'm betting that cloud computing really is going to change the way people look at IT, and the conversations I've been having with our customers this year seem to confirm this.

The biggest change in my personal life was a move to downtown Lexington. We love this town, and we found that we were spending so much of our time downtown we might as well move there. Plus we had a four bedroom house, which was a bit more than we really needed with just the two of us and the dogs. The downside is that I'm spending $50 every time I walk to the farmers' market, but I guess that comes with the territory.

I will be wrapping up my MBA at Indiana University this fall. It's been really enjoyable, but I am looking forward to that February graduation date too, so I can have some free-time back. Fox news is still trash, I don't have an opinion about Casey Anthony, and I think the end of the space shuttle program is a real disappointment for America. I say a great statistic the other day that we spend $184 billion to bail out AIG, and we only spent $165 billion on the ENTIRE shuttle program.

Us and Them

2010-09-29T02:02:00.002-04:00

Here is my latest complaint about politics in this country. If you voted for Barack Obama because you thought he was going to change Washington D.C., then you deserve every bit of disappointment you're feeling today.

The American Presidency is one of the WEAKEST heads of state on the planet
The powers-that-be in D.C. are extremely happy with the status quo - the special interests (teachers, lawyers, doctors, big pharma, big oil, farmers...) and the career politicians will continue to do all they can to resist change

Between these two reasons and a hundred or so others I could list, it's no surprise at all that Obama hasn't changed Washington. To all you independents and Democrats who are crying foul, get over it.

Now let's examine the Republican + Tea Party message. "How's that hope and change working out for you?" implies that nothing has changed. "We need to take back our government" and "Obama has implemented his socialist agenda and we need to undo it." both make it sound like Obama was the most successful President ever; that he's conducted a complete re-write of American government in just two years.

So which is it? Both of these things can't be true. The Democrats and cynics are mad at him for not delivering the change he promised. The Republicans and Militia men are trying to tell us that our nation is falling apart because he's changed so much of it.

This is like the people who say they want smaller government and then complain that the Federal government is not giving their state enough money. It's like the people who swear they support a free market but somehow farm subsidies and trade tariffs are acceptable. The Christian Right thinks that the evolutionists are winning and thus poisoning the minds of our youth with this crazy science stuff. The Evolutionists are screaming that the Christian Right is winning and thus poisoning the minds of our youth with this crazy Creationism stuff.

The Republican Message

2010-08-07T13:51:00.000-04:00

Mitch versus Fact, again

2010-08-04T12:33:00.002-04:00

Mitch McConnell released a statement this week warning my fellow Kentuckians about how the proposed energy bill will ruin our livelihoods. One of Mitch's largest campaign contributors is Peabody coal. Any chance these two facts are related? "We'll pay more at the pump for gas and more for keeping the lights on if it passes," he says. That is true, because any sensibly energy bill will

account for the economic cost of carbon emissions (there is one)
promote energy efficiency (because the current growth in US energy consumption is unsustainable)
make us less dependent on oil. we use 19M barrels a day, and we import 12M (63%) of those. Anyone who thinks we can simply stop importing and triple domestic production, is stupid (and wrong).

“It’s American troops whose lives are endangered because we’re dependent on oil companies in countries that hate us. It’s American consumers who are tired not just of prices at the pump that soar each summer, but sick and tired of our oil dependency that makes Iran $100 million richer every day that Washington fails to respond.” guess who? I'll bet you agree with the sentiment, and you may be surprised to learn the quote is from John Kerry.

We can't stop using coal either, but we can make it more attractive to get our electricity from other sources. The problem is that the coal (and railroad) lobby in this country are ridiculously powerful. They want you to think your energy bills will skyrocket if we implement a cap and trade system, which is just ridiculous. They're simply protecting the status quo and trying to scare people, and shame on Mitch McConnell for joining them. Ask a Kentucky miner to show you some "clean" coal.

Cell Phone OS

2010-08-03T17:57:00.003-04:00

Interesting article about how Verizon is joining AT&T in disabling certain features on phones running the Android operating system. If you've never heard of Android, it's a phone operating system from Google that is free, uses open standards, and is available on many different handsets from many different manufactures and many different wireless providers.

The new version of Android OS (2.2 Froyo) supports tethering (tying your phone to your PC for use as an Internet connection) and also the ability to use your phone as a WiFi hotspot that serves several devices in the immediate area (I think up to 5). These are useful features, but they increase the amount of data usage on the wireless networks. If you buy your phone from your wireless provider, you're generally buying a handset that has a modified (provider-specific) version of the phone operating system. In short, the wireless companies add programs (often useless, but designed to sell you crap) and disable features (often useful, but ones that tax their network).

Imagine buying a Windows PC from your internet service provider. You get your Windows updates from your ISP instead of Microsoft, and in those updates the ISP disables your modem (unless you pay them an extra $20/month) and forces you to use some no-name e-mail software. You only get the Windows updates that your ISP agrees to distribute, versus getting every update that Microsoft issues. Sounds ridiculous, but I just described the exact model in use today for cell phones.

Americans want the latest thing, and they want it free (or cheap). At present, few people go into the wireless phone store and ask "what version of the operating system does it run and what features/programs have you added/removed?" They want an iPhone for free, because they look cool and their friends have one. Chances are good that the iPhone (or Droid) handset they're buying is so far advanced compared to their old phone that the improvements outweigh the drawbacks of limited features and having to sign a new contract. As more and more people get (and use) these next generation phones, I believe they will start asking those questions.

There may also be a legal consideration. Whether you extend your contract when you get it or not, under most conditions you're actually buying the phone from your provider. It's your phone. I doubt the terms of sale require you to run the operating system provided by your wireless company, but in fact that's what happens. You cannot remove certain programs, you cannot access certain hardware features. In most cases, modifying or changing the operating system voids the warranty. Upgrades to the phone OS come directly from the wireless provider, who actually pushes out a modified version of the update - one that retains the customizations that the provider wants. Remember when Microsoft pushed Internet Explorer out with every copy of Windows? They got taken to court on the grounds that it was anti-competitive, and they lost.

For me personally, it's further evidence that I made the right decision to buy a phone direct from Google. I got the full version of Android 2.2 when the phone was shipped to me. Any updates I get will come directly from Google, the guys who make the OS.

This work stuff is hard work

2010-05-19T11:14:00.002-04:00

I can't remember the last time I've been this busy at work. I logged in here today to find that my last post was April 9th, over a month ago. It feels like I wrote that yesterday.

I've been working in L.A. for a few months now, and I have returned to operating like a professional traveler. I know that the E concourse in the Atlanta airport has the best restaurant, and I know that the A concourse in Memphis has the best Delta lounge. Room 431 at the Renaissance hotel is below the concierge lounge, so you don't want it, and room numbers that end in 25 are smaller due to the location of the laundry chute. Delta is flying the 777 on its ATL - LAX routes for at least the next 4 months, and if I book my flights with 7 days advance notice, I can generally get an "M" fare class which 1) earns me double MQMs and 2) almost guarantees me an upgrade to first class. And don't tell Hertz that you want satellite radio if you booked a "full-size" car at LAX, because if you do, their stupid computer system will put you in a minivan. Every time.

I was disappointed yesterday to learn that my fellow Kentuckians are voting for the Tea party candidate, Rand Paul. Sadly though, I was not surprised. Take a look at one of Mr. Paul's typical supporters at the recent "Open Carry" rally where he gave a speech. The man in this picture is not a law enforcement officer. Seriously. This is how the man dressed to come to Rand's rally. Nice. Rand also feels that we should repeal the Americans with Disabilities Act, because it hurts businesses.

People who follow my posts know that I will be the first in a long line of people to criticize Mitch McConnell for many of his profoundly stupid policy stances, but I still think Trey Grayson, our successful Secretary of State, would better represent my interests than no-experience Rand Paul who attracts fans like GI Joe here.

As promised...

2010-04-09T18:21:00.002-04:00

Here it is - Mitch McConnell confirming what anyone who studies politics has been predicting for some time now. As far as he's concerned (and, for better or worse, his opinion matters a lot in Congress), the Democrats just handed the GOP the foundation for its fall campaign platform. The marketing geniuses at the GOP have dubbed it "Repeal and replace." Catchy eh?

The senior Senator from my adopted state of Kentucky is making two big assumptions here though. 1) He's assuming that a majority of voting Republicans don't like this bill and want to change it. Frankly, I think most people know very little about this bill. I include myself in that group, and I'm a politics geek. 2) He's assuming that "fighting back" against the Democrats is the single most important issue to voting Republicans, and I don't think that is the case either. I still think jobs and national security are the most important issues to the GOP's core voters. It's very easy to view this health care bill as a jobs bill - you put an extra 30 million people into the health care system and you've got several dimensions of benefits to the American labor market. What are the costs to the labor market? I have no idea.

A friend of mine is a gun owner. If we still had (legitimate) state militia's, he'd sign up. He sees his right to own and carry a weapon as fundamental, and I have no argument with that. Of all the people I know who own guns, this guy is one of the people I worry about the least. He's a true patriot, and not in the nut-job Glenn Beck sense.

This guy and I were talking the other day and he asked me why I thought there was a shortage of ammunition when Obama took office. This surprised me, because the reason is well documented - most gun nuts really believe that Obama might outlaw or tax ammo, so they keep buying out the gun shops. I'm not making this up. Don't believe me? Ask a cop. Some people claim it's the war in Afghanistan, but here 's a news flash - the Army tends to use bullets that are not available to the rest of us. He didn't believe me. He thinks the government is artificially manipulating the US ammo supply. This is the kind of Republican I'm talking about who does not see expanded health care as the most important campaign issue this fall.

So good luck, Mitch.

Thanks, Mitch

2010-03-22T06:54:00.003-04:00

If you're mad about the fact that we just expanded health care to an extra 10% of the population, well, I feel sorry for you. The mere fact that the health insurance companies launched a $20 million ad campaign against this legislation means it's got some meat to it. A good, non-partisan review of the House bill is available here, including the fact that the Democrats included just one of the three main sticking points that the Republicans brought up at the much-hyped health care summit.

If you want to blame someone, blame Kentucky's own Senator Mitch McConnell. He's letting this thing pass for his own personal gain. This legislation provides the perfect campaign platform for the Republicans this fall. "Repeal Obama-care!" And if the Republicans regain a majority, then Mitch once again becomes king of the Senate. It's really that simple. He could have filibustered the legislation. He could have amended it so that it got some Republican votes. He did neither, just so he can say "look what the Democrats rammed down our throats."

Let's talk about that for a moment. Much has been made of the fact that the Democrats used "tricks" to get this thing passed. To be clear, they did nothing that hasn't been done before, by both parties. Get over it, step back for a moment and let's revisit why they were able to do this: It's because they have a simple majority, this is America, and a simple majority is all it takes. Why do they have a simple majority? Because the majority of this country voted for Democrats to represent them in Congress. There's nothing "sneaky" about that.

Polarization of America

2010-03-01T12:17:00.003-05:00

One of the things that's been bugging me lately is the deterioration of civility in America. I know it's been going on for some time now, but I think the polarizing politics of the '08 election (and President Obama's agenda) have made matters worse. What bothers me most I think actually just a symptom of this trend, and that is the increasing unwillingness of people to talk about politics, at all, ever. We Americans define ourselves so much by religion and politics, yet we've reached a point where we can't talk about either one for fear of starting a riot. This is really a shame.

I meet people all the time when I travel. It's easy to tell the frequent business travelers from the vacationers for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons though is that a couple business travelers who are stuck on a plane together for 4.5 hours will almost certainly strike up a conversation to pass the time. We're not going to talk for the whole flight, and we're not going to become best friends, but we'll talk about current events or our business or something. This is mostly because we're accustomed to being 2 inches away from another person for hours on end in a flying tin can - the casual traveler is not. The casual traveler avoids physical contact at all costs, which is pretty much impossible, especially on a "regional jet." The casual traveler is, typically, too busy trying to remain private and isolated from this person sitting next to them who is probably in closer proximity than his spouse when they're sleeping in the same bed.

When I meet someone on a plane and we get to talking, I often mention a political news story I heard or read about recently. About half the time, they visibly cringe and try to change the subject, which is fine with me. I don't talk about politics because I'm campaigning for one side or the other on a given issue, I talk about politics because I like hearing different perspectives on the issues. I don't care what your stance is. I don't care if you think I'm a communist because I voted for Obama - just tell me that and then explain why.

These polarizing politics have got everyone dividing the world up into us and them. You're either with me or against me, and there's absolutely no chance that our view(s) could overlap at all, ever. That's just ridiculous.

Take health care as an example. If you poll Americans about individual elements of the health care bill, most of us agree on them. Insurance companies waste money and that's part of why premiums are so expensive. You shouldn't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. We need to do something about the cost of health care because it's crippling our economy. Doctors spend too much time and money on administrative stuff and worrying about malpractice rather than actually providing care, which is part of the reason fewer and fewer people want to become doctors in this country, which is a problem. Then you ask people if they want health reform and they say "Obama-care? Hell no!"

Now let's talk about integrative negotiation. Two parties in the business world who have differing interests (but some overlap) engage in what's called integrative negotiation because they have some common goals, and because they want to build a relationship both during and after the negotiation process. Compare this with distributive negotiation, which is when you buy a car from a dealership. Generally, every dollar you win is a dollar that comes out of the dealer's profit, and you and the salesman could care less about being friends after the transaction.

Do we all love America? Of course. Do we want to stop health care costs from crippling our economy? Of course. Do we want to stop crazy government spending so that future generations don't have to learn Chinese because they own us? Sure. Well OK then, let's find some common ground. Can't we be civil and discuss this stuff?

I'd hate to think that America at large is "following" the Congress (and the media) towards extreme partisanship. Kudos to Evan Bayh for being honest about the fact that "it's no fun working in Congress these days" because of all the petty crap. I believe him 100% when he said that's why he was resigning - he was ahead in the polls and could've easily won re-election. The point though is that it should be the other way around. It should be reasonable Americans talking with each other about the issues that face our country, and finding common ground. At a minimum, then we could agree that we're not going to keep electing people, from either party, who are too "extremist" to work with the other side.

Thank you, TSA

2010-03-01T05:09:00.002-05:00

I finally met one - a nice, friendly TSA agent with a good sense of humor. I'm sure he'll be fired by the end of the week for not fitting in with the rest of the gang, but this morning, at "o-dark-thirty," this guy actually made me laugh. He said "good morning, how are you?" I said I'm fine, how are you? "I'm livin' the dream, can't you see?"

"I like Monday mornings.," he said. "Monday mornings it's almost all experienced travelers coming through here. You guys know the routine and we can move you through here in no time. Thursdays are the worst - it's amateur hour. Thursdays are the days when I get the people who say 'o, I didn't know that water is a liquid.' It makes me want to start selling a product I've thought of called 'instant water.' I figure it would be something like a pet rock. You sell people an empty bottle and explain to them that, once they're through the checkpoint, they can 'just add water' and the bottle will produce 'instant' water."

Sure, it helped that this all took place at 4:30AM after I waited ten minutes for the 1 agent at the ticket counter to explain to some moron all the taxes and fees associated with the ticket he just asked her to re-issue. It's a plane ticket, dude. It's full of taxes and fees.

It was a tough weekend for the UK men's basketball team, who lost to the Tennessee Volunteers. The Wildcats needed a smack-down though. Their heads are too full of the million dollar NBA contracts in their future, and everyone in this town telling them they're God's gift to basketball. Going into the NCAA men's tournament with arrogance never turns out well. I was also sorry to see my IU Hoosiers suffer their worse home loss since 1914 on Thursday night. Ouch.

Ella and I are preparing for a busy spring. In addition to our regular Keeneland outings with friends and family, we're going to attend Thunder over Louisville for the first time. This is something I've been dying to do, and in five years here we've just never been able to make it. We had plans to go last year, but something pulled Ella out of town at the last minute. We're also going to have a very busy May, with the crawfish boil, the Buffett concert and Taste of the Bluegrass all in the same week.

This new project I'm working out in L.A. is very interesting, and a good opportunity to win us some additional work. We had yet another round of layoffs last week, which are always great for morale. That also means that those of us on a project are that much more motivated to find add-on work that we can sell to the client. Consulting is a lot like temp work or construction projects in that way - the faster I do my job, the sooner I'm looking for a new one.

Somewhere between Gothenburg and Oxford

2010-02-10T00:09:00.002-05:00

I am spending the week in Bloomington, Indiana as I begin a new journey in life. I am now officially a graduate student at Indiana University - a card carrying member of the Hoosier nation. This is something I had been considering for some years now, and I finally reached a point in my career and in my life where the timing fit to "get this done now." I am pursuing a masters in business administration at the Kelley School of Business. It's named for the founder of Steak 'n Shake, one of my favorite restaurants. He did a lot of other relevant things in his life, including giving a truck-load of money to IU, but the one I like to remember him for is creating a burger chain that puts McDonald's to shame in terms of quality and service.

My time on campus is already reminding me of my days at Miami University, and the charming town of Oxford, Ohio. Blooming is actually a really cool town too, I just never took the time to notice. Growing up in a Boilermaker household, I didn't make many trips down here. I was actually accepted at IU for my undergraduate work, but turned them down because it was too close to home.

The weather this week has been ridiculous. Specifically, it's been about 10 degrees, snowing and and an arctic wind blowing for about 4 days now. I walk across campus twice a day and it about gives you hypothermia. Reminds me a lot of Gothenburg, Sweden. I was there in February 2007 with some new colleagues at the time who have since become good friends. The only difference is that it was darker there, and people spoke, well, Swedish.

They're keeping me busier than I've ever been in my life. I'm only taking time to write this so I can decompress. I had to plan 5 minutes into my schedule yesterday to call my wife because she hadn't heard from me in 3 days and might be getting worried. We go to class from 8-5, then do course work and team projects from 6-??? I'm fortunate enough to have a good team that works together well. We finish most nights about 11:30. Others have been up as late as 2:30, so I guess that means we're doing something right. We won't see our grades for another week or two though, so I suppose we should reserve judgment.

I'm learning about negotiation, leading an organization through change, addressing cultural differences, and generally some new techniques for approaching and analyzing business problems. It's spectacular. I haven't had this much fun working hard at something in years. I'm learning things that are immediately relevant to both my professional and personal life. I've met a ton of really smart people. I'm blown away by how smart these professors are. None of my professors (I've met 3 so far) are simply "academics." They practice in the fields they teach. They have experience in the real world. They're not just spitting out theoretical nonsense, they're telling you how the world actually works and giving you strategies and skills for how to survive in it. I haven't received the bursar's bill yet, but I'll gladly pay it (with a loan from Uncle Sam) as soon as it's presented to me. This is really good stuff.

Time to crash.

My thoughts on Obama's 1st year

2010-01-03T11:41:00.002-05:00

With his term almost 25% complete, I've decided it's time for some reflection on our President. Since terrorism has again bubbled to the top of the news in recent weeks, I'll start there. Many people were concerned that Obama would be soft on terrorism, that he could not take the fight to the enemy as well as John McCain, that he couldn't spew bellicose rhetoric as well as Dick Cheney.

In the first 11 months of his presidency, Obama has launched more successful missile attacks against al Quaeda targets (primarily in Pakistan) than Bush/Cheney did in the previous four years. On Christmas day, Obama authorized a combined jet and missile strike in Yemen, that successfully prevented a terrorist attack on our embassy there. These are aggressive, successful attacks in two countries that Bush and Cheney basically ignored. Obama has authorized a total of an additional 50,000 troops to be sent to Afghanistan. He's also getting us out of Iraq, as he promised. It has now been conclusively proven by two different bi-partisan investigations that Iraq had no link to 9/11 and no weapons of mass destruction.

Yes, the idiot who tried to blow up a plane last week should never have been allowed to board one in the first place. The US government had been warned about this guy, and the buck stops with Obama. Unlike his predecessor though, consider Obama's response. He admitted that "mistakes had been made" and he accepted responsibility for investigating and correcting them. This was a major failure in a security "system" that us frequent fliers know is terribly flawed. Really, it was probably multiple failures that allowed the guy to board the flight. Two members of his administration (DHS Secretary Napolitano and Press Secretary Gibbs) then got on TV and said "the system worked." They should be placed in stocks over the next few weeks at the nation's busiest airports where the traveling public can throw stale fruitcake at them.

Health Care reform continues to be a soap opera. The Republicans have openly admitted that they want to defeat it simply because doing so will hurt Obama's credibility. As a result, no Republican can be trusted when they criticize the legislation. The Democrats have done a terrible job of crafting the legislation anyway though. The core components of the original plan have been removed, and the math used to determine how we'll pay for the reforms and how much they'll save us in the long-run is entirely shady. Worst of all, we're not done yet. The Senate and House still need to create a conference bill. Joy.

While the economic stimulus did not deliver the instant relief that many Americans needed and hoped for, economists around the world agree that quick, bold action by US and European governments stopped this recession from becoming a depression, and did so quickly. Cash for clunkers sent tons of business to car dealerships and helped the industry as a whole. It reduced our dependence on foreign oil and helped the environment along the way. Even by the most pessimistic estimates, the stimulus has created one million jobs, and the real number may be over two million. The homebuyer tax credits kept my wife and a lot of other Realtors in business this year. Oh yeah, they also helped a lot of people buy homes, which is where most Americans have the majority of their wealth.

The Recovery.gov website is a dramatic step forward in government transparency, allowing people to track exactly how our tax dollars are spent in the stimulus monies. One of the campaign promises that Obama kept is the creation of a national declassification center. Dick Cheney seemed to think that even the paper towels he used to dry his hands should be classified indefinitely. I disagree.

PolitiFact is a website that is tracking how Obama is doing relative to over 500 campaign promises that he made. I looked at only the ones that are "resolved" at this point, meaning they have been assigned a final disposition. Around one fifth of his promises have been assigned a final disposition, a sample size of 110, which is more than enough to extrapolate statistical trends with a high degree of confidence (assuming that the remaining 390+ have similar characteristics to these first 110). So far, this President has kept 72% of his promises, compromised on 20%, and broken 8%. I'll take that kind of record.

Global Warming

2009-12-20T15:01:00.003-05:00

After 32 years on this planet, I am still amazed at the level of ignorance that educated adults can exhibit. There is absolutely zero uncertainty within the scientific community that the average global temperature is on the rise. The polar ice cap is absolutely melting. Seasonal arctic sea ice is disappearing earlier and earlier each year. Animal habitats, breeding, and migratory patterns have been impacted. Swamps that turned to perma-frost a million years ago are thawing out and turning back into swamps. These things are facts. Yet, still, I actually heard a friend say this week "it snowed in Houston this year, how can there be global warming?"

Good point. I'll just tell all those climate scientists to find new careers. They've been studying trends over millions of years of course, using that silly "scientific method." How can all that research any analysis possibly stack up against your brilliant observation that it snowed, in one city, on one day. Got any insights on the US economy based on your own bank account? Any thoughts on the Chinese based on the guy who delivered your sesame chicken last week?

While it is true that there is still some room for debate on the causes of global warming, it just seems intuitive to me that human activity must be a contributor. Coal fired power plants, millions of vehicles burning hydrocarbons, massive agriculture and forestry production, a "hole" in the ozone layer, smog in every major city - how can this not be impacting our environment? The idea that the Earth is doing this to itself as part of some "natural" process that just happens to coincide with the industrial revolution is ridiculous. This isn't all being caused by volcanoes or some gradual warming because we're still emerging from the last ice age. Yes, Al Gore and a few scientists have misled people. The other 95% of the scientific community has not.

Here is a graph published just last week. If you don't see a trend here, I can't help you.

It's snowing

2009-12-19T15:59:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know, I've been neglecting my blog here. Here's a brief update on what's been happening in my life since September.

October, of course, is racing season at Keeneland. As usual, we had a steady stream of friends and family come visit to wager on the ponies. Keeneland started publishing its race meet statistics online, and I created a database to analyze them. Sounds geeky, and it is. I also won my first Superfecta with the trends I identified, so I'm geeky all the way to the teller window. The trends, by the way, were quite surprising. You want to bet on horses that have run a race within the past 4-6 weeks at a distance that is within 1 furlong of today's race. You want the last race to be on an all-weather surface or on the turf, and horses that start in the #3 starting position do well at Keeneland. Certain jockeys also do better with certain lengths of race and some are better at helping a horse transition between different surfaces.

October also marked another month of working from home for me. These past few months I've been working on a project that involves moving a client's computers into HP data centers. This client has computers currently at data centers in Dublin, Sacramento CA, Calgary, Pune India, Tuscon AZ, and a bunch of other locations I can't remember. Rather than flying around to all these places, I get to setup conference calls between the people in those places and the guys who are putting together the plan for how to orchestrate the actual "move" of computers. This task is as tedious and boring as you might imagine, with the added nuisance of dealing with people in 5 time zones ranging from 10.5 hours ahead of me to 3 hours behind me.

HP, my employer, bought 3-Com corporation in November, and closed the legal transaction of absorbing EDS Americas employees (including myself) into HP. They re-named the business unit to HP Enterprise Services (it was formerly called the Technical Solutions Group - whatever that meant). After working for HP for over a year now, I am happy to report that it is indeed a considerable improvement over the old EDS days. The culture at HP is much more performance oriented and fast paced, both of which I like. Now that they own EDS and 3-Com, they're also about the most well rounded technology firm in the world. We sell computers, printers, servers, monitors, networking equipment, tons of software, and pretty much any kind of service associated with information technology.

In other news, I studied for the GMAT, took it, did better than I had hoped, applied to Indiana University and was accepted. I start my MBA at the Kelley school of business in February, and I'm very excited. If anyone reading this has $50,000 they'd like to donate to the cause, call me.

We hosted Thanksgiving in November. This was a good time, and it's always fun when we can get both sides of the family together. We were able to do this for the Lexington Fest-of-Ales back in September as well. Over 40 breweries were represented, and the event was a huge success. I am certain they will bring it back next year. 2010 will be a big year for Kentucky, since we'll be the first place outside of Europe to hose the World Equestrian Games. I'm excited about this because it means lots of French people will come to Lexington and have no choice but to speak English. There will also be a big music festival at Churchill Downs next summer similar to the Jazz Fest they put on in New Orleans (same organizers).

More political rants coming shortly.

Change of venue

2009-09-14T23:30:00.002-04:00

I have decided to move my political ramblings back to my blog. I think my friends are getting tired of seeing all that stuff on facebook. This disappoints me, because I like to think of my friends as more politically savvy than most, but in reality I understand that 1) not many people share the interest in politics that I do, 2) people have good reason to believe that their views on the issues are irrelevant because the morons in Washington have to please more than just the electorate these days and 3) everyone is busy these days, and following current events is just not a high priority for some people.

Today's note is quite simple. This is a great article from Evan Handler. Yes, it's on the wacky liberal Huffington post. Get over it. I found it via Google news, which means bazillions of internet users (that's a technical term) found it interesting enough that some computer program flagged it as "popular."

In it, he points out exactly why Joe Wilson is a moron. Joe's "you lie" comment was a specific response to Obama's claim that health care reform will not benefit illegal "aliens." Sure enough, as I've said all along, if you READ THE @#$% BILL, it's right there in black in white.

"H.R. 3200: Sec 246 NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."

Sounds like a specific exclusion to me. If you're an illegal alien, you can't get federal dollars to pay for your the health insurance we're about to mandate that everyone carry. Simple enough? Specific enough? I think so.

South Carolina

2009-09-13T12:00:00.002-04:00

I'd like to take a quick review of South Carolina politics this year.

1) Republican Governor Mark Sanford hikes the Appalachian trail to Argentina, where he happened to run into his mistress.
2) Republican Senator Jim DeMint says “If we’re able to stop Obama on this [health care] it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” Nice.
3) Republican Congressman Joe Wilson calls the President a liar.
4) Republican Senator Lindsey Graham pulls an [Mythbuster] Adam Savage in describing the President's speech to Congress this week, going for the "I reject your reality and substitute my own" approach. Graham hit the press with repeated claims that Obama was "combative" and showed "little sign of compromise." Really?

If anyone reading this is a resident of South Carolina, could you please see that the Palmetto state puts some brighter people in office? Otherwise, we may need to take away your electoral votes. Thanks.

Something that should concern us all

2009-09-05T23:30:00.003-04:00

There was a news story that came out today which did not receive much press, but yet it's the kind of new story that should be front page news. This story is related to a court case brought against our government by a US citizen.

This citizen, let's call him Dave, a married man with two children,
was arrested at a Dulles International Airport ticket counter.
He was handcuffed, taken to the airport’s police substation,
and interrogated. Over the next sixteen days, he was confined
in high security cells lit twenty-four hours a day in Virginia,
Oklahoma, and then Idaho, during which he was strip
searched on multiple occasions. Each time Dave was transferred
to a different facility, he was handcuffed and shackled
about his wrists, legs, and waist. He was eventually released
from custody by court order, on the conditions that he live
with his wife and in-laws in Nevada, limit his travel to
Nevada and three other states, surrender his travel documents,
regularly report to a probation officer, and consent to home
visits throughout the period of supervision. Dave was NEVER charged with a crime.

By the time Dave's confinement and supervision ended, fifteen months
after his arrest, he had been fired from his job as an
employee of a government contractor because he was denied
a security clearance due to his arrest, and had separated from
his wife. He has been unable to obtain steady employment
since his arrest.

Dave was arrested under the Federal "material witness" statute. This law allows our government to arrest people that are important to some criminal investigation they are conducting. The Feds were investigating another guy, we'll call him Steve, for some crimes. The Feds told a judge that Dave had important information related to Steve's crimes, that Dave was a flight risk, and therefore Dave needed to be arrested. This pretense that the Feds used is only valid IF they could not get Dave to voluntarily testify against Steve. The judge signed a warrant, and the Feds nabbed Dave at the airport.

There are a lot of problems with this scenario, but the biggest one is that Dave was never called to testify against Steve. Dave was harassed, held for over 2 weeks, never charged with anything, and the Feds never "used" Dave as a material witness against Steve, which was their ENTIRE justification for arresting Dave in the first place. Arguably, Dave lost his wife and his job as a result of being harassed by our government. Dave is a bit irritated.

Dave wants to sue a bunch of people, including John Ashcroft, because Ashcroft was the Attorney General whose office was leading the investigation against Steve. Dave argues, in part, that the Feds never intended to use him as a witness against Steve, that they knew Dave was not a flight risk, and that the only reason they really arrested him was because they wanted to investigate Dave himself. John Ashcroft asked a Federal court to dismiss the charges against him specifically, claiming that because he was a federal official he is immune from any and all civil charges that Dave wishes to file.

Today, an appeals court told John Ashcroft that he is not immune from being sued by Dave. In the opinion written by the court, they characterize Ashcroft's actions as "repugnant to the Constitution." The judges who issued this decision were all appointed by Republican Presidents. You can read a good summary of the decision here. If you read the full opinion (here), you'll see exactly how far Ashcroft and the FBI "bent" the material witness statute to serve their own interests in the aftermath of September 11th.

Sure, if you're not Arab you probably don't have to worry about being falsely detained, but that's not the point. The Constitution is supposed to protect all of us, especially in times of national crisis. Dave was a US citizen, our government violated his Constitutional rights, they knew it, and they should be held accountable for their actions. That's one of the things that makes this the best country on the planet - no one is above the law.

This American Life

2009-08-19T17:33:00.002-04:00

OK, "This American Life" is actually the title of a (great) radio show from WBEZ up in Chicago, but the topics they cover are the topics we all deal with every day - what it's like to live in America in 2009. I've been on the bench this week (in-between projects), and I've been reflecting a lot about the state of affairs in this patch of land we call the United States of America. Here's what I've noticed:

1) There are still a lot of people in this country who think that Barack Obama is crazier and more powerful than any President in American history. When I say "a lot" of people, I not just talking about your typical right wing nuts here. There are people who think that his Hawaiian birth certificate is not real so he's not a citizen. The NRA has successfully convinced its members that he's going to take their guns. He's a socialist, a Marxist, a racist and/or a communist, depending on which Fox News anchor you prefer. He's just like Hitler. Or Stalin. He wrote the current health care reform legislation himself (Congress just thinks they wrote it). He wants to kill all our grandparents, he's going to "ration" access to doctors, put all private insurance companies out of business, and put the government in charge of setting the course of treatment for anyone and everyone who ever gets sick. Apparently he's the most powerful and evil American President ever.

Seriously? This guy was democratically elected. If you didn't vote for him, you're in the minority (of the electorate, anyway). Also, he's an American President - doesn't anyone remember their US Government class? Presidents don't make laws. Well, I guess there was the Bush approach (make laws in secret and then ask your own lawyers to convince you that what you're doing is legal), but let's hope he was just an exceptional case. Get a grip people. Are these the same people who think we faked the moon landing and there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll?

Observation #2 - A job in America just ain't what it used to be.
I know a lot of people who hate their jobs. I know an equal number of people who have no sense of loyalty to their employer because they firmly believe they could be laid off any given day of the week. Our pensions are gone. We get barely any vacation, and we live in a work culture where we feel guilty using what little vacation we have. Our 401k funds, which were never designed to be our sole source of retirement money, are no longer getting matching contributions from our employers. Many baby boomers lost their butts in the stock market anyway.

Most of my friends who work for publicly traded companies are fed up with the "we're having a good year but we're issuing a mandatory furlough. We're still paying bonuses to the executives though" memos. We make fun of the Europeans for their labor unions, and for good reason, but a little job security and collective bargaining sounds pretty good these days.

Observation #3 - "Real" news is no longer important to Americans
There's not much to say about this one. Listen to 60 seconds of the BBC World Service and you'll get more news than you would get from watching 60 hours of CNN.

Back on the Bench

2009-07-30T11:31:00.002-04:00

Here I sit in my lovely home office, killing time on a conference call. I think conference calls are almost worse than an in-person status meeting, especially in terms of the frequency with which they are abused/over-used. My own theory is that such meetings/calls are generally held for the benefit of just one person. In my own experience it's often true that the one person in question is holding the meeting or call simply because they are too lazy to do the leg work necessary to gather the information they need. Come on people! We're all busy these days. We're all working for companies that have laid off half the work force and expect the rest of us to absorb the additional work load. Don't ask me to join a call unless you need me to - how hard is that? I could be playing Mafia Wars or Rock Band or something.

Hopefully, this time on the bench will be short-lived. There has been talk of projects in New Jersey, Alaska, Montreal, and Cincinnati. Hopefully one of those will come through for us. Connecticut was nice, but I can't say I really miss the place. Frank's Navy stories and the beers at Old Heidelberg were really the highlights of that project.

Things in Lexington are actually going really well this summer. Ella is selling houses left and right. We've been going out with our friends to new restaurants as part of this "Lexington Dining Club" we started. I've finally been able to work on my golf game, which sorely needed some help. I've successfully convinced Ella that golf is a sport we can enjoy together - hopefully that proves true.

Why Kentucky Senate President David L. Williams should NOT be re-elected

2009-07-02T19:02:00.003-04:00

Check out this article from the town of Corydon, Indiana. Senator Williams decided to puff himself up real big and take a big stand against gambling, and the Indiana casinos couldn't be happier. Everyone knows that all this does is 1) delay the inevitable and (more significantly) 2) hurt the horse industry, Kentucky's biggest revenue generator. Way to go Senator Williams. I hope your fountain pen explodes in your pocket.

A victory for common sense

2009-06-29T12:25:00.002-04:00

The Supreme Court today decided that you're not allowed to use race as the grounds for promoting people. A bunch of firefighters in Connecticut took a test. The white guys (and the Hispanic) did better than the blacks. So the city threw out the test results and promoted the blacks. The white guys and the Hispanic took the city to court for discrimination, and today, they got a favorable verdict from the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2936044120090629

Squawk squawk...

2009-06-22T05:25:00.002-04:00

Ah yes, there's still nothing like the sound of pre-recorded predator birds squawking at 4:45AM. After the "double bird strike" of that plane that landed in the Hudson river though, I guess I should quit complaining that Bluegrass Airport is attempting to scare off as many birds as possible. We don't exactly have a convenient river to ditch in if we hit a couple birds on take-off.

This also means of course that I'm on the road again. This time it's off to Danbury, CT for a "reunion" project with the guys I worked with in Sweden a few years back. I'm also hoping that Danbury in June is warmer than Sweden in February, but I think that's a safe bet.

Speaking of bets, the Kentucky State Senate is receiving a bill today that just passed our House of Representatives; a bill that would allow video gaming machines at horse tracks. This is one of those things that still amazes me - that Kentucky can't pass a gambling bill. It's no secret there are plenty of bible beaters in this state, and to make matters worse their anti-gambling political action committee is funded in large part by Indiana casinos, who don't want any gaming in Kentucky. The irony there is nothing short of beautiful.

Come on people! We gamble here already! What these particular bible beaters who are lobbying against this sinful gaming bill fail to recognize is that, like it or not, the horse industry is the most important industry in Kentucky, and that thoroughbred racing is the backbone of that industry. We're not the only state with horse tracks, or even the only state with good thoroughbred tracks. The other states with tracks all allow gaming - all of them - and as a result they get bigger purses at their races, which draw bigger crowds... This isn't a matter of even moving ahead of the competition, this is just a matter of keeping up! The state needs a strong horse industry, and it also needs the tax revenue that video gambling will provide.

Sadly, the leader of the state senate has already puffed himself up real big and decided to get himself in the spotlight for a while by threatening that "this measure is dead on arrival." Fortunately, even in barefoot Kentucky, he doesn't get to make that call, a senate committee does. I'm hoping for the best.

If was a nice four weeks on the bench, but I'm looking forward to getting back into a project.

Negative Inventory

2009-05-17T15:04:00.002-04:00

That's the nifty airline term I learned today.

Me: Hello - I'd like to find out where I am on the standby list for this flight?
Delta Lady: You're first on the list, but right now we are in a negative inventory situation on that flight.
Me: I'm sorry?
Delta Lady: That just means that we have more people with confirmed seats on that flight than the total number of seats on the plane
Me: Oh. So it's oversold.
Delta Lady: You could say that.

She went on to explain that they were oversold by 6 people. In order for me to hop on an earlier flight home, I simply needed 7 people who had already checked in for the flight to vanish. I called "Condi" Rice and inquired about the possibility of a mid-airport rendition, but she told me she and Cheney were busy this afternoon frying ants with a magnifying glass. Bummer.

It was a long weekend, but a good one. We took a buddy to Miami this weekend for his bachelor party. Most of us had never been to Miami, and overall we were impressed. You wouldn't want to live there, but the night life truly is wild. Also, everything entertainment-related seems to cost about 10 times more than it should. The weather and the beach are spectacular. As an added bonus, I got to catch up with an old high school buddy who is now a co-worker. We pretty much picked things up right where we left off, which was cool.

I discovered some great rums, saw some fabulous cars, smoked some cigars, and picked up a cool set of flip flops.

Recession?

2009-04-30T20:31:00.001-04:00

I’d really like to be able to say that I’m not worried about the “recession” (or whatever we’re calling it) that seems to dominate the news these days, but that would not be completely accurate. While it’s not something I worry about, it is something that is on my mind a lot these days.

Specifically, I think this is the first time in my life where I’m actually wishing things were a bit more like the environment my parents enjoyed when they joined the workforce. You know, back when you could count on some degree of loyalty from your employer, back when pensions were still common, back when you couldn’t get a mortgage for a home you couldn’t afford, back when everyone paid off their credit cards each month…

Ella and I are just now getting on our feet. She’s making real money in real estate these days, after we’ve spent several years investing in her career. I’ve finally landed a job that I enjoy and that pays really well. We’ve spent 3 years fixing up our home and it’s finally getting to the point where it feels like it’s ours. Sure we’ve got lots of things we’d still like to do to it, but we’re trying to take things one project at a time.

The fact of the matter is though, that our lifestyle is very much tied to our income. I’m sure that was true for my parents to a lesser degree, but for my generation it is a different dynamic. In relative terms, we are not savers. Combine that with the executive greed that permeates Fortune 500 companies these days, where the approach to meeting the arbitrary expectations they set with Wall St. is to slash and burn first and ask questions later, and you’ve got a recipe for a lot of nervous people.

I saw a story this morning on the local news about a guy who lost his job and now he can’t pay child support. He loves his son, and he’s not some deadbeat dad, he just plain lost his job. So now he gets to spend all kinds of time with his son, he just can’t pay his ex-wife child support. If this guy and his ex can’t work out an agreement, he could get sent to jail for being delinquent on his child support payments. This guy has sent out over 600 job applications and just can’t find anything available in his field. So now he’s considering taking a lower paying job at a factory or something, just so he won’t have to go to jail. Sobering stories like that get me to thinking “you know, I have no reason to believe I’m immune to the effects of this thing.”

Obviously I’m not worried about child support payments, but we do have two car notes and a mortgage that unemployment won’t cover. Have I done everything I can to be prepared in the event that I lose my job? Should I be trying to make myself look more important at work? What if I need to change careers? I know that losing my job is something that’s pretty much beyond my control, but I feel like it’s still a possibility that’s “out there.” That annoys me. Maybe I can join the TSA. We all know they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.

Death to you, CNN

2009-04-27T21:14:00.003-04:00

I'm absolutely done with CNN. They've been annoying me for years, and today they finally pushed me over the line. "Outbreak Fears Spread" was their banner for most of the day. The swine flu is coming to get us all. Aren't you panicked? All my friends, family and co-workers are. Oh wait, that's not the case at all. In fact, I don't know a single person with "outbreak fears."

I remember in 2001 when the introduced the permanent ticker. I hate the permanent ticker, mostly because other news agencies felt obligated to follow suit. You're nothing in the news business these days if you don't have a ticker. CNN uses these ridiculous pseudo-headlines ending in question marks like "End of the world coming on Tuesday?" and "Dick Cheney actually a robot?" OK, so maybe Cheney is a robot but whatever.

You need the ticker in case there is some piece of news that's so insanely urgent that you have to get it out there to the public so fast, you don't even have time to get it into the teleprompter so your anchor can read it. Tony Harris is the only anchor more full of himself than Bryant Gumbel. CNN will cover the same news story for 8 hours and still list it as "breaking news" or "new developments." It's beyond sensationalist journalism; it's creating urgency where none exists. It's dumbing down an already dumb American public.

You're in the CNN newsroom. You're in the situation room. It's not just news now, it's a situation. And BAM!, you're in it. Take a look at their screen sometime - it's always got 25 moving elements on it - spinning logos, flashing backgrounds, scrolling tickers, pop-up banners... an epileptic could have a seizure watching it all. And worst of all, there is NO CONTENT of value behind any of it. They haven't reported a real news story since the election.

And who exactly is the jerk at every airport in the country that decided I wanted to listen to this junk for hours on end?! Every time I come home to the Lexington airport Nancy Grace is over dramatizing some poor missing child. That's not news either! Kids go missing every day!

OK, I feel better now.

P. Leroy Goes to See the Ponies, Again

2009-04-20T08:00:00.002-04:00

It was one of those beautiful spring days that makes life in the Bluegrass so nice. Jason and Kim.5 came down with Leo, and we all tailgated at Keeneland with the Parrotheads. I say Kim.5 because they're having another kid! With many of my friends two kids would concern me, but these two are probably the most grounded set of parents I know.

The Budweiser Clydesdales were at the track and boy did Leo think that was cool. Well it was cool, actually. Seeing a Clydesdale next to a dinky little Thoroughbred makes you wonder why they don't race draft horses! I'll bet the average Clydesdale poop weighs more than the average Thoroughbred jockey. We walked Leo around the barns to visit some of the big money horses racing this weekend, then I went inside the track to do my great grandfather proud by losing some money at the track. He's probably up there somewhere wondering why I was making those measly $2 bets.

Ella and I were going to do Thunder over Louisville, but her sister got married again which trumped our plans. Oh well there's always next year.

I'm off to San Francisco again. It's starting to feel like a 2nd home to me. I can give people directions and help them sort out the subway system, so I might as well be local. It's a long commute, but it sure beats Findlay, OH. On the up side the guys I'm working with are great and we have some favorite watering holes in town that we frequent. Next time you're in San Francisco and looking for a good sandwich, check out Giordano Brothers on Columbus. And come hungry.

Regulation

2009-03-26T12:28:00.003-04:00

Today, the new Treasury Secretary (Tim Geithner) announced his proposal for implementing some new regulations in the financial markets. In short, he has come up with a system of checks and balances to ensure that things like hedge funds, credit default swaps, and other financial instruments that have remained largely unregulated start getting some oversight.

There are a lot of people out there who will say "this is awful, the government should stay out of the markets," or "the government can't do anything right, they'll ruin capitalism." Republicans and conservatives will argue that this is just a massive expansion of government that's going to cost the taxpayers billions.

Newsflash - it's the absence of regulation that got us into this mess. People (let's call them idiots) theorized that the investment banks would self-regulate in a free market. Now, we're spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail them out and avoid the complete collapse of the credit markets because that "self-regulation" never happened. So let's compare the cost of implementing these regulations to the cost we've already incurred from not having them.
Geithner also took time to specifically explain the areas of the financial markets that he thinks it would be foolish to try and regulate, in some cases because it's impractical, and in other cases because it would simply cause too much interference in the markets. So this is NOT a government takeover of Wall St.

Best blog I've found in a long time

2009-03-09T22:45:00.003-04:00

Found this on the L.A. Times political blog today and decided to post it in its entirety:

President Obama today signed a document countermanding some documents signed by his predecessor and saying he won't sign so many other documents like that called signing documents.

This is another one of those little-known nifty Washington gadgets that cause the Real World out here to stare and go, "Say what?"

A signing document is basically an addendum that a president signs after signing legislation saying, in effect, yes, I know I signed this legislation but I really don't like/disagree with/suspect are unconstitutional/or all of the above the following parts.

This is basically his instructions/permission to the vast D.C. bureaucracy to ignore the disputed parts, even though the people's elected representatives passed it and the nation's chief executive officially signed it allegedly into law -- albeit with a Washington wink.

No, really. Like signing and initialing those 142 pages for your mortgage but telling the bank officer you don't like the one on page 67 so won't pay on time and he says, "Okey-doke." Sure, that'll work well outside Fantasyland. Don't try too hard to understand it; it makes sense ITB (Inside the Beltway).

Bill Clinton actually used signing documents way more than George W. Bush. But No. 42 is a Democrat and his wife currently works for Obama. So No. 44 is on a big tear right now to distance himself instead from No. 43, the Republican, who's back in Texas and doesn't care but just hearing his name trashed makes Democrats feel good. (See, also more Bush distancing in The Ticket on today's stem cell changes here.)

Our blogging buddy Frank James has more on this special D.C. gimmick over here. The losing Republican candidate last fall, Sen. John McCain, promised never ever to use them, if elected, because he thinks they're dishonest. And if you don't like the legislation, you should veto it, not go around back and ignore it. Obviously, the naive McCain just fell off the turnip cart. That's why he's still a senator.

N.B., as they say in academe, Obama doesn't say he won't ever use signing documents. He just says he'll work with Congress about them. Which means he will, of course, sign some, but right now he wants today's news coverage to be on more change to sort-of believe in.

Tax "Cuts" and "Hikes"

2009-02-25T14:16:00.002-05:00

Some friends got me curious about income taxes this week. I suggested that anyone who doesn't like Obama could send me any tax breaks he delivers for them. The response I got was "I'll give you Obama's tax break money if you'll pay for the tax increases that will follow." The implication of course is that Obama will eventually raise taxes. This got me to wondering - are tax hikes inevitable? Is it written somewhere that all Democrats raise taxes and all Republicans lower them? Do taxes always increase over time? Here's what I found:

When income taxes were first introduced (1913), the rich paid 7%, the poor paid 1%. Today the rich pay 35%, the poor pay 10%. The highest rates (and biggest gap) were in 1945 when war time increases had the rich paying 94% and the poor paying 23%. My own opinion after learning this is that any tax proposal that does not return us to the 1% and 7% 1913 rates is complete BS.

I was trying to see if Democrats or Republicans are truly consistent regarding increasing or lowering taxes. I think the answer there is no. Kennedy, Truman, and Wilson were Democrats responsible for some of the biggest tax cuts, and Bush Sr. and Hoover are two Republicans who raised taxes. I think we all remember "Read my lips, no new taxes." Also, seven of the biggest tax increases were tied to funding for WWI and WWII - do we count those "against" the Democratic Presidents during those wars?

In recent history, the wealthiest Americans paid (roughly) 70% under Carter, 50% under Reagan, 30% under Bush I, 40% under Clinton and 35% under Bush II. If Obama raises the rates for the $250K plus bracket back to the Clinton 40% is that BS? Absolutely. Do I care? Nope. We all know those people hide their money in tax "shelters" like trusts and stuff, and if I ever make it to that bracket I will too. They'll only pay 40% on the income they report. It's still 10% less than they were paying Reagan, God's gift to the Republican party and less than half of what their parents paid to help us win WWII.

If you raise taxes for the top 2% and lower them for the remaining 98%, is that a hike or a cut? Depends on your party affiliation, and that of the President apparently. Since I'm a registered Republican, I'm supposed to be saying "that big spender Obama is raising taxes!!!" while I quietly pocket the extra money that I'll see in my pay check.

Obama's tax cuts take effect on April 1, and he's not lying when he says that 95% of working families will see a tax cut. Married couples making less than $150K will see an extra $60/month in our pay checks from April through the end of 2010. This stimulus tax break is written to be temporary - in 2011 you'll go back to paying what you did in 2008. That will be a relative increase from 2010, but I would argue that's not a "tax increase" since it simply returns us to the same rates we were paying under the Bush "tax cuts."

It's certainly possible that Obama could increase taxes for the majority of Americans during his first term, but I think that would be unlikely. He campaigned on a "tax cut for 95% of working families" and, like him or not, he has delivered on that promise. I don't see how a politician as wise as he is could turn around and deliver a "tax increase for 95% of working Americans" during the same term.

The Good Life

2009-02-24T10:11:00.003-05:00

I've been fortunate this year to have already visited some of my favorite places - San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans. There are things about each of those three cities that I like to think will be with me all my life. To me, there's just something about a great city that inspires.

Our most recent trip was New Orleans for Mardi Gras, of course. We took some rookies with us who were great sports and let us drag them all over creation trying to cram in 200 activities in 4 days. The trip was a blast, and the only bad part was not being able to fit in everything we wanted to do. But then again that just gives us an excuse for a follow-up trip.

With all the talk of economic doom and gloom these days, I feel badly for people who have nothing to look forward to in life. I was thinking about this while we were on the Golden Gate bridge and we saw these signs.

An average of 19 people jump off that bridge every year, and that's just the ones they "recover." Most believe the actual count is much higher. Over 1250 have jumped since the bridge opened in 1937. Most are bay area natives, and most are men between 25-65. 26 have survived the fall. In years like this where times are tough, the numbers rise sharply.

I took a picture of this sign for the novelty of it. There's a phone right below it where you can reach a counseling hotline. In retrospect though, it's really a pretty sad sign. The more I look at the picture, the more it helps me put my own life in perspective. Sure, there are things I'd like to be going better in my life, but damn, I'm not going to go jumping off a bridge or anything. I'd never get to enjoy Mardi Gras again, or racing at Keeneland, or a good night of Blues music in Chicago. I love my wife, I've got two great dogs...

Last week my employer cut everyone's salary. Yes, I mean everyone. There were some angry, loud complaints of course, but at least we still have jobs. I'm actually of a mindset right now where I'm thinking, maybe my company will actually remember that I was one of the guys who helped the company through some tough times and will pay me back someday. Those of you who know me know that's uncharacteristically optimistic of me, but why not? A little optimism can't hurt now and then, right? Brunch at Begue's and a hot towel shave from Aidan Gill will do that to a man. Besides, if they cut any more benefits, I'll have to be my own doctor and dentist.

Stimulus

2009-02-20T11:27:00.004-05:00

I think it's just a funny word. The idea sounds good - that our government should give the economy a swift kick in the rear to snap out of this recessionary trend. How does taking out more debt help us though? I read the Economist every week, and I still can't make sense of it. And whether Obama wants to admit it or not, there is clearly some pork in the $787 billion spending bill that passed.

One thing which has not made much news but I am putting in the "it's about damn time" category is recovery.gov - the government's web site where you can track how they're spending your money. Why have we not had this before? I've argued for years that if Americans were forced to write Uncle Sam a check every month for the tax money coming out of our paychecks, that government accountability would be MUCH better than it is. Of course that's not practical, but hopefully you get my point. I give the government more in taxes every month than I pay on my mortgage. It's my single biggest monthly bill, but there's no 1-800 number I can call for customer service to ask where my money is going. Recovery.gov is a step in the right direction, I just hope it's more than a gimmick.

Lastly I want to give a shout out to the Boy Scouts of America. Among other things, scouting taught me to "do a good turn daily." Today, 4 strangers will check in for their flights at Lexington's airport and receive a free upgrade to first class, compliments of yours truly. I had 4 upgrade certificates that were about to expire, and I figured if I couldn't use them, someone should get the benefit! Delta prohibits me from selling or bartering them, but I am allowed to simply give them away, so I did.

Ice Storm

2009-01-31T15:29:00.001-05:00

In case you were wondering what an ice storm can do to a tree, here's a close up view. The sun came out today after about 4 days of cold and ice. The official weather report says we only got .5 inches of ice, but I think this picture tells a different story, especially when you consider the ice has been melting for almost 24 hours at this point.

Hail to the Chief

2009-01-20T22:45:00.003-05:00

The day has finally arrived. I watched today's inauguration in Plainfield, IL which is just outside Chicago. I know that nothing huge has changed in my personal life today, but still I feel a sense of relief. There is no longer an idiot in the Oval office. No more inventing words. No more giving everyone in the executive branch stupid nicknames like "Condi" and "Brownie." I hope this also means an end to bad intelligence (i.e. "Iraq has WMD so we need to invade..."), but that's probably asking too much. I do know for a fact that neither Obama's campaign or his inauguration were funded by unions, corporations, or special interest groups, and I know the same could not be said for "W." To me this means that at least our next President can start his first day in office tomorrow without feeling like he owes anything to anyone except the millions of citizens who voted for him. It's a shame that this is such a radical concept. Oh yeah, people, I'm drinkin' the Kool-aid. Try some... it's good.

You know how I know we're not any safer thanks to Bush? Because for 3 years now I have to take my shoes off twice a week at the airport. When we're safer, I won't have to do that. I got patted down this morning by the Lexington TSA, and you know why? It's because I was wearing "baggy clothing." How ridiculous is that? Is there anyone out there who knows me well who has ever seen me wear "baggy clothing?" No, because I don't wear baggy clothing. I was heading to Chicago today, so I threw a sweater on over my button down shirt. Thanks to "W" and the state of paranoia he developed, this now constitutes probable cause for an extended search at the airport. Because I wore a sweater, I'm suspicious. How ridiculous is that?

Can Obama fix the economy, health care, our infrastructure and schools, all while repairing the damage done to our reputation abroad by Bush's lies, torture, and secret prisons? Of course not. But if President Obama delivers on 10% of what he's promised, I'll be thrilled. I think it's funny that, based on what he's proposed, I will benefit more from Obama's tax changes as I did from Bush's. How is it that a Democratic President is about to help a "rich" white guy's taxes more than a 2-term Republican President did?

Another year gone by

2009-01-06T16:35:00.002-05:00

The holidays are always a challenge for me. This is primarily because I'm a real Grinch about Christmas, but I also recognize that it's important to spend time with friends and family celebrating all that I have to be thankful for. New Years and my birthday just remind me that I'm older, so that can be a drag too. So I guess I really like Thanksgiving the most.

This season was more or less like others in the recent past. Travel to Carmel, Asheville, spend time in Lexington with our friends here... This year included a trip to Kansas for my cousin Tim's wedding. We would've preferred that it was in Miami, but what can you do. They're a beautiful couple and it's great to see his life coming together so well. A few more weeks of training and they'll put his name on a Cobra helicopter and ship him to North Carolina. Sadly, that also means he's also that much closer to getting shipped off to "Afghani-Paki-really-really-bad" or wherever the "Global war on terrrrr" takes him.

Ella's real estate business has really picked up in recent weeks. This is an unexpected but welcomed change of pace from the end of '08. Thankfully, she's got mostly buyers these days. No realtor in the US wants to list a home for sale right now. She does have one on the market right now, and it's a real challenge. The sellers are one of these families that has trouble understanding the concept of "market value." Just because you think your home is worth a million dollars doesn't make it so. Just because you've taken out 2 mortgages and a home equity line on your house doesn't mean that a buyer is obligated to bail you out of the financial hole you've dug for yourself. You're paying your realtor 6% to sell your home - listen to the advice they give you! There's a reason you hire a professional for this job!

Work has slowed down recently as I've reached the end of this project in Des Moines. I only had a minor role on this one, but in this case, that was preferable. I'm still impressed with Des Moines, but I'm glad we got out of there before the real winter hit.

After much haggle and hassle, I have managed to retain my "Platinum" status with Delta air lines. Traveling as much as I do these days, this is a necessary evil. It means I've flown over 75,000 miles with them in 2008. It entitles me to a discounted membership to their Crown Room Club. I like to think of the crown room as my personal insurance policy for all the times that I'll get stranded in an airport during they year (by Delta, no less). I get to use the "frequent traveler" security lines. I get free upgrades to business class, all year. I don't have to pay to check my bags. It means I can fly standby on an earlier or later flight if my travel plans change. Woo hoo.

Some of the guys I work with get platinum status at hotels too. In most cases this means they spend 75 nights a year away from home. That's a lot. I can't imagine living in a hotel for 2.5 months a year. Most of my trips are only three nights away from home, and I hope to keep it that way.

My next project is most likely to be in Chicago. I really miss that town so I'd enjoy spending some evenings there on the company dime. There's an outside chance I could be going back to San Francisco too, which is of course another favorite town of mine. I narrowly avoided spending the next two months in Buffalo, NY. That would not have been fun.

Ella and I have some new furniture in our party room. We've lived in this house for about 3 years now, so it's about time we got around to getting some furniture for this room. We're going with a travel theme. I've got 4 of my own photographs I want to frame and put on the walls. The last piece of furniture that remains is a bar - we really want a bar. Shouldn't every party room have one? The dogs don't like the new leather sofa at all, mostly because we won't let them on it.

Christmas Parties

2008-12-15T06:31:00.003-05:00

Let me cut straight to it. Tony de Movellan throws one helluva Christmas party. It may be the only Christmas related thing I look forward to each year. Technically, it's Ella's office Christmas party, but this thing is so far from any stereotypical office Christmas party that you wouldn't believe it. Some people at this thing I only see once a year, but they're all Realtors so they all remember me! Tony and his wife Barbara always pick a wonderful meal (roast pork this year) and buy a few cases of good Spanish wine. Tony actually apologized to me this year because he forgot to specify the vintage and they gave him "this awful '05 stuff." Yeah Tony - people were complaining all night about the junky Spanish wine you were serving. He then proceeded to break out a bottle of the '04 for me to sample, which was significantly better, but lets keep in mind that the 5% of invitees in the "oenophile" category were happy regardless.

Bob and Debbie Wolf throw a good party two, but this is another type of party altogether. It's a pot-luck BYOB in Bob's basement. The fun comes from the diverse crowd the Wolf's attract, the duelling Margaritaville blenders, and Bob's gazillion dollar home theatre and custom bar setup. An added bonus is that Bob lets me play bartender at his bar. For the longest time Bob was told he couldn't host any parties until he finished Debbie's kitchen upgrades, but she's a softie so she never enforced it. Somehow, in between working on his houseboat and keeping his custom home theatre business afloat in tough times, Bob actually managed to get the kitchen work done this year too!

weather trends

2008-12-08T10:21:00.002-05:00

I'm noticing a trend in Des Moines weather.

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
414 AM CST MON DEC 8 2008

...WINTER STORM CONDITIONS LATE TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY TUESDAY...

.LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTH CENTRAL PLAINS AND MOVE
ACROSS CENTRAL MISSOURI AND THROUGH THE OHIO VALLEY TONIGHT
AND TUESDAY. THE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE A MODERATE TO HEAVY
AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION ACROSS CENTRAL IOWA. THE SNOW WILL BEGIN
LATE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTHERN IOWA AND CONTINUE INTO TUESDAY
MORNING. FARTHER SOUTH THE PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN AS RAIN BEFORE THE
TRANSITION TO SNOW...WITH A BRIEF PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN POSSIBLE
DURING THE TRANSITION. INCREASING NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL CAUSE
BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND CONTRIBUTE TO REDUCED VISIBILITY AND
GREATLY HAMPER TRAVEL CONDITIONS LATER TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. EXPECT
THE BLOWING SNOW TO CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS EVEN AFTER THE SNOW
ENDS TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

Sounds like another great week to stick with restaurants accessible via the sky walk.

I had a really fun experience with ComAir last night. I've ragged Delta for at least the past 3 years about how awful their regional carriers are. Smaller planes, they're late more often... you get the idea. Last night just reinforced all this. My flight was delayed because the plane we were supposed to use had not completed its last trip (from DC to Cincinnati). Now, ComAir has a reserve fleet of regional jets it keeps in Cincinanti, but did they fire one up to get me to Des Moines on time? Of course not.

ComAir generally uses the "C" terminal in Cincinnati. There are no jetways at that terminal - you're always walking outside to your plane. This terminal is being closed because it's too expensive to operate, so most of the regional jet traffice will be moving to "A" terminal. I was looking forward to this because all the "A" gates have jetways. But what do the geniuses at ComAir do? They build stair cases at the end of all their jetways over at "A" terminal. How ridiculous is that? A jetway is a device specifically designed to serve as a climate controlled walkway between an airport terminal building and an airplane, but ComAir decides to re-enginner their jetways into stair cases. This makes about as much sense as running a fireman's pole through the middle of an elevator. So, I got to walk outside in the snow.

Then when I got to Des Moines, my luggage doesn't show up. It's still in Cincinnati. They're not sure why, but it could be because they had too many bags to put on this small regional jet they used to fly us from Cincinnati to Des Moines. WHAT? If you're going to put 50 people on a plane, and you're going to let everyone check 2 bags, then the plane needs to hold, um, wait, let me see if I can sort out the math here, carry the 1... yep that's 100 bags. So I got a nifty overnight kit from ComAir and a claim number so I can call some automated 800 number and check the status of my bag.

I think it's completely ridiculous that I have to tell them that they lost my bag. Shouldn't they know? They put a bar code on it when I checked in for my flight. If they kept it behind due to "weight restrictions," they should've scanned it at that time and at least been pro-active enough to tell me what had happened when I landed in Des Moines. "Sorry Mr. Brann, we didn't put your bag on this plane." I still wouldn't find that acceptable, but at least I would know what happened.

So now my bag might be put on the 9AM flight from Cincinnati to Des Moines. It might not though, because you know they can't guarantee that there will be room on that plane for my bag. Will they be able to tell me at 9:15 whether it made the flight? Of course not. They can't tell me if my bag made that flight until that flight lands in Des Moines (and my bag is either on it or it's not). I fail to see how this is possible, but then it wouldn't be the first ridiculous thing I'd heard from ComAir.

NWS Bulletin

2008-12-03T10:10:00.002-05:00

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
610 AM CST WED DEC 3 2008

...WINTER WEATHER EXPECTED TODAY...

.A STRONG UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL IOWA TODAY.
SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER NORTHWEST IOWA AND WILL
GRADUALLY INTENSIFY AS IT MOVES INTO CENTRAL IOWA THIS MORNING.
SNOW WILL THEN INCREASE OVER SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA BY MID TO LATE
MORNING. IN ADDITION... NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 15 TO
25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH CAUSING BLOWING SNOW.

This is what I woke up to today. Obviously, I'm still working in Des Moines. It's actually a really nice town, but the weather here is awful. Thankfully there is a massive system of sky-walks downtown that connect all the major buildings. Most importantly, they connect the Marriott where I'm staying to the Principal offices where I work. Nice.

The city of Lexington is after me again for yet another piece of fence that's apparently mine and is definitely falling down. We fixed one fence already, but when they came out to inspect that one, they realized there's another fence that still needs fixing. Get a site survey whenever you buy a home. It appears now that the people who built the fence on one side of my lot line were either idiots or were bribed by my neighbor - a chunk of our yard is on HER side of the fence. Nice.

I may not have mentioned it, but we got a new dog. Her name is Kylie and she's an Australian Kelpie Shepherd mix. She's 2, and we got her from the Woodford Humane Society. She's spectacular. Looks like a German Shepherd, but only 2/3 the size. She's the perfect playmate for Tobi. Sadly, Tobi now has arthritis and a torn ACL. We discovered this after $300 worth of puppy x-rays. The solution is to put her on anti-inflamatory medication and puppy glucosamine/condroitin. Nice.

Using taxpayer dollars to bail out the Big 3 AGAIN is absolutely stupid. That's what chapter 11 is for - you hold off your creditors while you re-organize your business into something that can actually turn a profit. Odd that Nissan, Honda, Subaru, Mazda, Toyota, Hyundai, Mercedes, and BMW are all building cars here in the United States, and they're not talking about bankruptcy at all.

A New President

2008-11-17T05:26:00.002-05:00

It's taken a while for it to sink in that we're finally getting a new President. I know we have an election every 4 years, and I know that you're only allowed to serve 2 terms as President, but somehow I just expected Dick Cheney to define a new position of "Supreme Leader" or something like that to allow "W" to rule indefinitely. All signs indicate this is not the case though, and that Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as our next President in January. Even though I still don't know what Gore or Kerry would've done, I think I'll always regret having voted for "W" twice. The tax breaks were nice, but was it worth it now that I have to take my shoes off every week at the airport?

Oh yeah, and I'm tired of people not using his middle name. We use middle names when we talk about our Presidents, and I think it's stupid to not use his just because it was (unfortunately) shared with Saddam. The name Hussein is probably like "Jones" in the Muslim world, Barack's dad was a Muslim, and I'm over it. Here's a news flash - not all Arabs are Muslim, not all Muslims are Islamic terrorists. Heck, Harry Truman was so distraught about not having a middle name he invented one.

I saw a great interview on 60 minutes last night with Barack and Michelle Obama and I couldn't get over how normal they are. They seem more human than the Bush family, more down to Earth. They're both really smart. They poke fun at each other, they're concerned about making sure their daughters can lead as normal a life as possible in the White House, they know the road ahead will be challenging. Watching the interview made me wonder what people felt like when JFK was elected. There's another beautiful family that brought change to Washington. I think America definitely likes its Presidents to be good looking.

I was excited to hear our President-elect talking about closing the terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo. To me, that's one of the most visible, embarrassing moves that has hurt our status in the world. You either kill 'em on the battlefield or they're POWs. You don't get to claim to be a democracy that values due process and then setup some Mickey Mouse prison camp and court outside the US so you can hold people indefinitely. It's ridiculous. There are also a few other things Obama can do just by rescinding some of W's executive orders, like making sure we REALLY don't torture people and we don't drill for oil in protected lands. He's reviewing those as well.

I'm off to Des Moines again this week and I can honestly say I'm more optimistic about America's future knowing that Obama will take office in January. I don't expect any miracles. He'll make mistakes, and probably some big ones. I know he can't fix the economy, or healthcare, or our status in the world in one fell swoop, but if he just makes some good progress on each of those fronts, I'll feel like my vote was well cast. I saw a bumper sticker that says "Regime change starts at home." Damn right it does.

A new project

2008-10-27T17:25:00.003-04:00

I've started a new project this week, this time in Des Moines Iowa. Hey, it's better than Findlay, Ohio. The people here are great and there's even a [fancy] Marriott hotel downtown. Plus everything downtown is connected via skywalks so you can avoid the cold wind that rips through town.

Ella and I recently completed our run on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our timing was great and the weather was excellent. Let me just say that road trips take on a whole new dimension in a Porsche Boxster. We took some hikes, saw some waterfalls and historic sites, and spent 3 days relaxing with the top down. It was wonderful.

At Ella's request, we have also picked up a sister for Tobi at the Woodford Humane Society. We haven't named her yet, but she's an Australian Kelpie Shepherd mix. Looks like a miniature german shepherd. I'm still deciding how I feel about having two dogs, but I have to admit that I think it was a wise move. Tobi was getting tired of laying around the house so much, and now she'll have a buddy to play with when Ella and I are away. As an added bonus, the new dog is much better at listening to commands like sit, stay, and come, so hopefully some of that will rub off on Tobi.

It was another successful season at Keeneland race course. We introduced two rookies to the sport of kings, and I suspect both of them enjoyed it. Our friend Jay Morgan came to town giving us another excuse to tour some bourbon distilleries. We took him to Buffalo Trace, had the best tour guide, and ended up getting the behind the scenes tour. It was incredible. Buffalo trace is the oldest and largest of the distillers, so they do everything on a much bigger scale than other places. They have grain silos that are larger than the co-op silos in most midwest towns.

The Arrival of Fall

2008-10-08T09:44:00.003-04:00

It's finally starting to cool down here in Lexington, and the leaves are starting to turn. Fall has always been my favorite season, and here in Lexington there is much to enjoy. We've started tailgating for UK football games again, which is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. UK is on the lower end of the SEC spectrum, but last year they beat LSU so you never know what might happen. Fall also means racing season at Keeneland. This is another excellent way to spend an afternoon. We've got family and friends coming into town every weekend.

As an added bonus this fall, Ella and I have purchased a roadster. After much searching, many test drives, and a lot of patience, we found the perfect road-trip car. Pictured here is our "new-to-us" Porsche Boxster. Yes, it's as fun as it looks. We bought it with 9,000 miles on it, and we plan to put a great many more on it. The first trip we've planned is a run on the blue ridge parkway after our Keeneland guests leave. It's got heated seats so I'm told that it's comfortable to drive with the top down well into the fall. We'll see if Ella agrees with that.

I am happy to report that I have an assignment at work now. I'll be helping our capability management group, who are responsible for creating the training and defining our standard processes. It'll keep me busy at least through the end of this year, and it's work that will help us deliver better projects.

The AH-1W

2008-09-13T15:02:00.004-04:00

This is the Marine Corps' AH-1W "Super Cobra" attack helicopter. It's an impressive piece of hardware. It carries all kinds of weapons, and is typically used for close air support. My cousin Tim tells me "everything we do is based on supporting the Marine on the ground with a gun." In the next 30 days, the Marine Corps will hand Tim the keys to one of these bad boys and teach him how to do just that. Between now and then, Tim gets to attend SERE training. That's Survive, Escape, Resist, Escape training. Sounds like not a lot of fun, but compared with other things he's done, I'm sure he'll do fine.

I attended Tim's winging ceremony this weekend and it was a real eye opener into the life of a Naval Aviator. In short, I am amazed at what these guys do, and so far they've only been in training helicopters. They learn the basics of flight in a T-34 airplane, then they fly the "mighty sea ranger" bell trainer helicopters. The "mighty" part is their own sarcasm of course. They have nicknames for the other helicopters too - things like "God's Chariot" and "The Battle Frog." This training can take a year or more and involves a lot of testing and flight time. They learn to use night vision goggles, for example.

The graduates of the program this weekend entered the ranks of the 29,000 other Naval Aviators. That's not the current count, mind you. In the history of Naval Aviation, there have only been 29,000 sailors and marines to earn the title of "Naval Aviator." That's a pretty short list when you think about it. Tim is #29586 or something like that. Nice. There were 24 in this weeks graduating class, and they have a graduation like this every couple weeks.

Now they all get to go fly Hueys and Chinooks and Cobras (among others). Let me tell you they are all very excited about this. Tim requested the Cobra, and that's what he got. He wanted to fly them out of California too, but they're sending him to North Carolina instead. It is the Marine Corps, after all - you can't get everything you want. Naval Aviators walk with a certain swagger. I'm not sure if that's an official part of the training or not, but they do it very well. Considering what they do and what they've accomplished, I think they've earned it. If I were the marine on the ground with a gun, I'd feel pretty good about knowing that these guys are just a radio call away.

Whole lot of nothing

2008-09-08T23:19:00.004-04:00

OK, so it's been a while since I've posted here. Like you people don't have better things to do. Frankly, I have little if anything to report. I've been bored out of my skull for about a month now. Nothing new at work, nothing new at home. We've got about 6 projects that should kick off any day now, but that's been the case for two months. I'm officially an HP employee now. The only change that affects me so far is that the HP travel policy does not allow anyone to fly business class, ever. Looks like I won't be returning to Europe any time soon.

I got in a minor car accident that could've been a major one. Ella sold a couple more houses. The two major presidential candidates are still lying to us, and lying about each other. The "decider" is still making awful decisions. August 16th marked a full TWO YEARS that the homeland security threat level has been at "orange" for airports.

I'm off to Pensacola today for what will surely be a welcome getaway from the Bluegrass. My cousin is getting his Naval Aviator wings. He's a Marine and Uncle Sam just finished teaching him how to fly helicopters. Should be exciting, and it's definitely a big accomplishment.

No news is good news?

2008-08-14T17:36:00.003-04:00

Nothing to report on the job front. Our merger is supposed to be complete in the coming weeks, but I'm not sure if I'll even notice a difference. I'm still hoping to get out to San Diego. Frank is optimistic we'll start a project out there in the coming weeks as well. After the Amsterdam trip got canceled, I'm not keeping my hopes up.

Ella and I toured some downtown lofts this week. It was great to see how downtown Lexington is growing. Some of the places even reminded me of old town Chicago. Of course, Lexington downtown doesn't even have a grocery store, let alone a Red Head Piano Bar, so I don't see myself plunking down $300K to move down there anytime soon.

Got to visit my cousins last week who are back from Jakarta, Indonesia where they spent the past two years. They are quite happy to be home and will be returning to school this fall. They range in age from 7-15 so it was quite an adventure for them spending two years over there. My cousin Evan made me feel pretty old when he asked "what's a station wagon." Nice, kid. I explained that today they're called sport utility cross-overs, a term he recognized immediately.

I'm trying to get my mom to buy an Infiniti. They're a bit pricey, even used, but they're really good cars. The "certified used" ones come with a great warranty, and it's about time she moved out of the Oldsmobile world. Hell, they don't even make Oldsmobiles anymore. Way to go, GM.

I am happy to see that Senator Obama has passed the 2,000,000 donor mark. I am disappointed to see that Senator McCain (who I cheered for in previous elections) has gone back on his word and begun to make character attacks. He's claiming that 1) Obama is the world's biggest celebrity and 2) that's a bad thing. I suppose other famous/celebrity politicians like Reagan and JFK were bad for the country too. Ideally, this will come back to haunt McCain, but things never seem to work that way in politics.

I'm sick of this heat

2008-07-27T15:40:00.002-04:00

It's been in the 90s here for a few weeks now and I'm pretty much done with the heat. All the landscaping we did seemed like a good idea until now we have to water it several times a week so it doesn't all die from the heat.

Went to Ikea a few weeks back and picked up a new rail-light system for the kitchen. Ikea is a great store. We even had dinner there - Swedish meatballs with potatoes and lingonberry sauce, of course. At $4.99/plate, we may be dining there more often.

Ella went to her 2nd Buffet concert of the summer this weekend. Drove to Chicago with 3 girlfriends to see it. Kris and I went to the Horseshoe casino in southern Indiana last night and cleaned up at the craps table. It was Kris' first time playing craps, and it was great little road trip. Boston and Styx are in concert there tonight. Can't say I'm missing much there.

Last week, for the 2nd time in my life, I missed a flight. I checked in on time, but the security line at San Jose airport was 90 minutes long. I missed the flight along with 32 other people. We thought for sure Delta would hold the plane, what with 1/3 of the passengers "missing" and all, but they did not. Don't go to San Jose airport, ever. There really is no good reason to. San Francisco international is only 20 minutes north on the 101 freeway, and it's truly a world class airport. Oakland Airport is about 40 minute away and it's a decent airport too. San Jose airport is under construction. So even though their physical capacity is limited by the construction, they're still running the same number of flights in and out of there. Apparently the security line can be as long as 2.5 hours in the morning. I won't make that mistake again.

I learned from the Wall Street Journal that I will most likely become a Hewlett Packard employee on August 18th. EDS (my current employer) had been telling us the deal would close in late November.

An important news story about war

2008-07-08T10:29:00.003-04:00

This is arguably one of the most important news stories in recent memory and I doubt it will get the press coverage it deserves. It's not the kind of catchy McNews that CNN can easily dilute into a 30 second spot. It requires an understanding of how our government works and how we've handled "police actions" and "armed conflicts." A bipartisan committee led by Jim Baker and Warren Christopher has concluded that we don't have an effective policy that specifies how the President and Congress need to work together when the President determines that we need to engage in an armed conflict somewhere.

History buffs will recall that the last time Congress declared war was June 5, 1942, when we declared war against Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. Since then we have had a lot of cases where the President just sent troops to go fight somewhere: Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm (Iraq I), Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Iraqi Freedom (Iraq II), Panama, Grenada, Kosovo, Haiti... a full list is available here. Any rational person must agree that some of these things did not turn out well.

The War Powers Act of 1973 was a direct result of the Vietnam disaster, and it was intended to establish the rules by which the President has to consult with and gain approval from Congress when sending troops into battle. The problem is that it is almost never followed, it's probably unconstitutional, and the President has done pretty much whatever he wants to with our troops anyway. There have been 118 occasions where the President reported to Congress that he was sending troops somewhere, but in only 1 of those cases did the President (Gerald Ford) specifically state that the troops were being put into harm, a key provision of the War Powers Act. So basically, Presidents ignore it, and Congress has been too lame to press the issue. To me, this is disrespectful of the American people, and of our fighting forces who are being placed into hostile situations.

Baker and Christopher have proposed some revisions to the War Powers Act that would clear up some of these issues. I hope it gets enacted by Congress, and I'll be curious to see how the Presidential candidates respond to the idea.

Growing old

2008-07-01T23:32:00.004-04:00

I know it seems a bit silly for a 30 year old to be talking about growing old, but I am, and I've been reminded of this be several recent events. First, I attended the 30th birthday of a good friend here in Lexington, which reminded me that I've already celebrated my 30th. Second, we're making plans for Mardi Gras next year where we will celebrate another friend's 30th and for a cruise that will take place during Ella's 30th. Tonight I was watching Cream perform "In a White Room" during a 2005 concert at the Royal Albert hall and I was thinking "why are all the rockers that I like so old?" It looked like some kind of geriatric hoe-down on stage. Neil Young, Willie Nelson, BB King, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan - these guys are all older than dirt. I was waiting for Clapton to ask "where's my apple sauce?"

I offered my cousin some grape Nehi and Everclear today for the anniversary of her 29th birthday (I won't say which anniversary) and her immediate response was "oh I think I'm too old for that stuff." Maybe she's right, but I was still a little disappointed. I've got 4 parents now and they're all eligible for the senior discount on Wednesdays at the grocery store. I'm basing my choice of airline for my upcoming trip to Amsterdam on who has the widest, most comfortable seats because 8 hours is a long flight you know. I guess I'm just feeling old.

On the up-side, I met the Steve Beshear, the governor of the Commonwealth today and he's way older than I am. Nice guy, very Kentucky, but clearly older than I am. He was in Lexington to brag about getting funding passed through the legislature to properly fund the public employees' pension for Kentucky. Sounds like common sense, but none of the governors before him did it, so I guess it was about time.

On the down-side, I received a citation today from the city government, telling me that I have 30 days to repair the fence in my back yard. This is a fence I didn't even realize that I own when I bought the home. My fault. If you're buying a home, get a property survey. It could save you some hassle.

The days are just packed

2008-06-27T10:18:00.002-04:00

I got a new computer. Actually, EDS has leased a new computer which I get to use, but whatever. It's a Dell D430 and it's easily the nicest laptop I've ever had. It's an ultra-light which is great for taking on business trips, and it's screaming fast. Now if only it were an apple instead of a Windows machine...

My best friend Joe is buying a house. The details are not finalized, but it'll most likely be a town home on the northeast side of Indianapolis. I couldn't be happier for the guy.

I'm going to Amsterdam. Apparently we do a lot of work for ABN AMRO - a big Dutch bank. It's a 8-9 week project and I'm really looking forward to it. This week they banned smoking in the Netherlands with the exception of marijuana. Seriously. Hopefully I'll get to fly over there on KLM - a proper airline. I get to fly over there business class too. EDS may be one of the last companies that still allows its employees to fly business class on international business trips, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Funny though - my travel authorization (as with the rest of the team) had to be approved by five (increasingly senior) managers above me. The guy who ultimately approved it reports directly to the CEO.

I know a place to get moonshine. I went to yet another party here in town where someone showed up with a couple mason jars full of moonshine. Impressive. This probably happens at about half the parties we go to around here. When I asked about how he got the stuff, the story got even better. He drove out to Morehead (about an hour east of Lexington) where he knows about "a certain tree" where you take a couple jars and leave $10/jar. No kidding. A quick survey of others at the party turned up TWO MORE people who know about similar stashes east and northeast of Lexington. My adopted home state continues to impress.

I'm so happy that Hillary is not going to be out next President that I stopped harrassing my friends with "W - The President" stickers on their cars for a whole week. Sure, I voted for the idiot too, but I'm not going to advertise that on my bumper. I was sad to see Romney leave the race - I'd love to see him and Edwards come back in as running mates. I'm not holding my breath.

American Pie

2008-05-31T22:59:00.003-04:00

Ella and I are sitting in Hernando's Hideaway (the gazebo on our deck) this evening, listening to the 2 hours of New Orleans music that plays on Sirius channel 70 every Saturday night. We decided that we could come up with a pretty good list of things that one ought to do if one were seeking a slice of Americana. Here it is:

Spend a Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans, to include: Thursday night at the Rock-n-Bowl and Kermit Ruffins at Vaughan's, Friday plantation tour and an airboat ride on the bayou, Saturday parades and an evening at the Tropical Isle.
Spend a Spring Saturday at Keeneland- ideally Bluegrass stakes weekend. Start the day with a tour of Woodford Reserve distillery, one of the better producers of "America's Native Spirit."
Spend a Friday night on Broadway in Nashville.
Spend a Saturday night in Chicago at Buddy Guy's and the Redhead Piano Bar
Visit Phillip's harborplace crab house in Baltimore with some friends. Order steamed crabs by the dozen and bring your appetite
Spend a night at a country & western dance club in Texas. Learn to two-step, and ride a mechanical bull if at all possible
Attend an authentic crawfish boil.
Attend the Indianapolis 500
Visit the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
See Graceland

Good Music

2008-05-31T01:56:00.002-04:00

It's quite possible that the most beautiful country song ever recorded was Willie Nelson's version of "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain." It's a tune that Fred Rose wrote in 1945, but no one had ever heard of it until Willie recorded it in 1975. Sometimes good songwriting skills just aren't enough - it takes a certain voice to deliver the message. Ask John Sumners or his wife Lisa - they know.

This is part of the reason I absolutely despise American Idol. A good 90% of that show is a combination of awful songs performed by awful singers who have no sense of the true meaning of the lyrics. It certainly appeals to 15 year old girls and a frightening number of women my age, but it's just not a talent competition. It's a popularity contest which confirms to the world that Americans have no taste, as if there was room for doubt.

On the latest season, they featured Niel Diamond as a guest artist. I know this because my wife will record all the episodes on DVR, so I'm obligated to watch some of them if I want to make use of the kitchen or family room while she's watching them. Anyway these teeny-bopper no-talent clowns butchered some of Neil's most beautiful works one at a time. I could've punched my TV. I wanted to scream "the privileged life you've lead up until the ripe old age of 17 should exclude you from even attempting to accurately portray the emotion that Neil felt when he wrote these songs." But yelling at my TV (or punching it) would be equally foolish. So I make my Nespresso and return to the other room to watch real TV like COPS or "Man vs. Wild." I'll show 'em.

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-28T05:29:00.003-04:00

Well, I have to say it was a successful memorial day weekend in Indianapolis. I took a first timer this year and I have to say I was very excited to see the crowds getting bigger rather than smaller at the speedway. Hopefully the new drivers and the merger of IRL and Champ Car will continue to improve the popularity of the sport. Plus it makes Saturday night on Georgetown road all that much more interesting.

Three women started the race, but only one finished though, and it wasn't the one everyone wanted (Danica Patrick). Jim Nabors was back to sing "Back Home in Indiana" and I have to say I shed a tear. There is something to be said for tradition. There were over 400 military on hand too, which was great to see, and we certainly showed our appreciation.

Today I'm off to NYC to begin wrapping up this latest project. I'm doing it as a one day trip, which means trusting that Delta won't leave me stranded in NY tonight. I'm also sporting a brand new Dell laptop. I opted for the ultra-light and I already love it. Time to board.

The Disappointing Truth

2008-05-21T09:09:00.003-04:00

The disappointing, yet predictable outcome from the primary season (which is over, Hillary), is that these now infamous "working-class white voters" are racist. Of the Democrats surveyed leaving the polls in Kentucky yesterday who said that race was a factor in their decision (1 in 5), 90% of them voted for Hillary.

Way to go Kentucky! Congratulations on confirming to the rest of the World that a great number of our citizens have not yet joined the 21st century! Way to vote for a sneaky, phony white woman, funded by special interests who's lived in Washington for 16 years now over an honest, intelligent black man who's a Washington outsider, who won't accept special interest money and might bring legitimate change to America.

Let me summarize Hillary's strategy with these working-class white voters - "Lie." Tell unionized labor that you're going to save their jobs. Tell them you're going to cancel NAFTA because it's shipping American jobs south of the border. Tell them you're going to revive the rust belt and re-open factories. In reality, Hillary Clinton cannot and will not do any of these things.

I saw an article today that I believe summarizes what will happen over the course of the coming months, and why Hillary is still in the race.

"The scenario I see is this; Hillary will stay in the race until the bitter end, inflicting as much damage on Obama as possible along the way, deepening the racial divide that she has started within the Party. Then after Obama gets the nomination she will go through the motions with a half-hearted effort in the fall campaign, all the while hoping that her white supporters hold true to their word and vote for John McCain.

If they do and McCain is elected, Hillary will be screaming "See, I told you so" from the rooftops, positioning herself perfectly for the nomination in 2012."

FYI - P. Leroy voted for Romney.

GOTV

2008-05-20T11:25:00.003-04:00

It stands for get out the vote. I learned that last week when I volunteered a day of my time to work for Barack Obama, the man I believe is the best choice for President. Spending a day working for a campaign was interesting. I made some phone calls and did some data entry for them, but what was more interesting was watching the real campaign workers in action. These were certainly some passionate volunteers who really believe that they have the ability to affect Senator Obama's showing in the Kentucky Democratic Primary today. I hope they are right.

What really gets me is how many media outlets are comparing Kentucky with West Virginia. Yes, we both have coal mines, Appalachian poverty and, statistically, poor dental hygiene. Take a look at the Daily Show excerpt from West Virginia's primary day. Now, they can probably find some people like that in Kentucky, but those people moved here from West Virginia.

Sadly, I think the march of Robo-Hillary will continue. I wonder if they plug her in at night to re-charge her, or is there a big wind-up key in her back?

A summary of recent events

2008-05-13T10:59:00.002-04:00

Attended an Indian engagement ceremony between my brother-in-law and his soon to be bride. Way cool. Ella got to wear a Sari - even cooler.
Got to stay at the 4 seasons hotel in Atlanta while attending #1 above - highly civilized
I'm still in between projects at work, which also means I'm bored out of my mind
Hillary Clinton's KY Derby pick (the only filly in the field) broke both ankles and had to be put down after the race.
By the end of this year, it appears I'll be working for Hewlett-Packard.
My mom again secured Indy500 race tickets. I think this will be the 14th year that Joe and I have attended together.
We had an outstanding crawfish boil thanks largely to the work of our chefs - Dennis and Diana Charles. In addition to the crawfish (80 lbs.) we had BBQ shrimp, alligator, and a gi-normous pot of jambalaya. We also killed a keg of Abita Amber.

Life is good.

Consulting 101

2008-04-17T09:48:00.003-04:00

That's what they called the orientation sessions at my first consulting job back in 2000. They had some senior partner teach us how to shake hands and smile at our clients. He told us to wear clothes made from synthetic fibers because they look more expensive than natural fibers. Let's just say this guy wasn't exactly in touch with reality. He was pretty much just teaching us how to not make our new employer look bad when we were out on an "engagement" - what us consultants call a project.

I've moved around to three different consulting organizations since then, and I can confirm that consulting is a funny business. Companies hire us to tell them things they should already know, and to solve problems that they should be able to solve on their own. We charge high hourly rates, and we charge our clients for our travel expenses as well, both of which are standard practices across this industry. Still, consulting in the US is a multi-billion dollar a year industry, so we must be doing something right.

I like to think I'm a good consultant at this point. My co-workers seem to think so, and since I'm finally at a company where I respect my co-workers, that makes me happy. Words like "deliverable" and "out of scope" just roll off my tongue. I never did switch to polyester, but I've managed to get by.

The Coming of Spring

2008-04-07T13:47:00.003-04:00

Mrs. Brann and I just returned from a week on St. John, which is quite possibly the most beautiful 20 square miles of beach front property in the US. Spring has been slow in coming to the Bluegrass this year, so the weather down there was a nice change of pace. Most of St. John is a national park, and I can't think of a better way to put our tax dollars to work than maintaining some of the finest beaches in the world. There is even an underwater snorkeling trail, and I can now say from experience that it will take your breath away.

Upon our return, we were able to lose some money during opening weekend at Keeneland. It was cold and overcast, but this just solidified my long standing theory that there is no such thing as a bad day at the races. We even got to meet up with Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Branic Esq., who were visiting from the Circle City. Sunday I was able to talk them into a trip to Woodford Reserve distillery, my spiritual home (HAHAHA!!!), and I think it's safe to say I've opened two more sets of eyes to the wonders of "America's native spirit."

This week I am back in the Big Apple working on a project for a Dutch company with a big US presence. This project will take me to Chicago next week and Wichita, KS the following week. I can't wait. In addition to being a major hub for airplane manufacturing, Wichita is home to the soon-to-be-famous "Wingnuts" baseball team. I can't make this stuff up.

Quick Notes

2008-03-26T12:25:00.003-04:00

1) Today, Ford finalized the deal to sell both Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors. The irony of an Indian company owning these two icons of British industry amuses me. Heck, H.R.H. queen Elizabeth II was Queen of India when she ascended to the throne in 1953.

2) I bought a new roof this week. It cost over twice as much as my new big screen, and it's not nearly as entertaining to watch. My crazy realtor wife though seems to think that a functioning roof is an important feature of a home. Whatever.

3) I learned that I might as well skip the Kentucky primary elections. I wanted to change my party affiliation to "other" but because Kentucky has closed primaries, that wouldn't do my any good. Right now I'm registered as a Republican, and the deadline to switch to Democrat and still vote in the primaries was December 31st of last year. Oops. So I can show up and vote for John McCain. Whoop dee do.

4) Leave it to the students at Butler University to put Indianapolis in the news. This week a student at Butler asked Chelsea Clinton if she thought her mother's credibility was hurt at all during the Lewinsky scandal. Chelsea was campaigning for her mother in the Circle City. Chelsea responded with "I don't think that's any of your business." Well, Chelsea, if you're going to help mom campaign for the presidency, expect some tough, rude questions. Of course Hillary's credibility was hurt when she pulled that "stand by your man" act. You can't call yourself an independent, strong woman and then stand by your man when he's messing around with interns (and others). Look at the signal she's sending to women across America - if your husband sleeps around on you and you leave him because of it, that makes you a quitter. As long as the Butler student was being rude, what he should have asked was "does it bother you that your dad is a philanderer?" At least ask her a question we don't already know the answer to.

New York City

2008-03-24T08:59:00.002-04:00

Here are some highlights of what I did last week on a business trip to New York city:

Developed and delivered a sales presentation with a team of colleagues
Won some new business for EDS
Got to experience commuting from White Plains to NYC - not something I'd do on a daily basis, let me tell you that.
Got "Delta'd" - my return flight was canceled for no apparent reason at all, though Delta blames the weather so that they don't have to compensate anyone
Took a $106 cab ride to Jersey City, NJ, the location of the nearest hotel with an available room (a lot of people got Delta'd at Laguardia that day)
Spent the night in charming Jersey City. If you're thinking about taking a vacation there, consider Gary, IN instead.
Wrote a complaint letter to Delta and got a "sorry about your luck" in response.

On the up side, I may get to spend a good portion of the spring traveling to NYC, which would be an interesting change of pace. I'm tired of being on the bench.

Protest Rock Lives

2008-02-26T11:48:00.004-05:00

George is in the jungle
knockin’ on the door
come to get your children
wants to have a war

Brownie's in the outhouse
Katrina on the line
government's a disaster
but George, he says it’s fine

Come on, lord you’d better run,
be a long dark night before this thing is done

The above lyrics are the opening to John Fogerty's "Long Dark Night," one of many great songs on his "Revival" album. I highly recommend it. I also just picked up:
1) Porter Wagoner - Wagonmaster
2) Gloria Estefan - 90 Milas
3) Willie Nelson - Moment of Forever
4) Bruce Springsteen - Magic
5) Blind Boys of Alabama - Down in New Orleans
6) Mark Knopfler - Kill to get Crimson

I also broke down and got a big screen TV - should get it home this week. It's a plasma, so you can't lay it on its side. Who knew? Mostly I'm looking forward to watching Dirty Jobs in high definition. I love that show. Oh, the TV is a 50" model from Samsung.

In the coming days, we will help Ella's aunt Gena and uncle Jim celebrate 35 years of marriage. Pretty cool. I'll also hold my first meeting as President of the Park Place neighborhood association. You can read all about the exciting happenings in our neighborhood here. I hope none of you are that bored.

I'm still on the bench. That means I'm playing a lot of Nintendo and looking for things to fill my time. I just got a book to help me prepare for taking the GMAT this spring. Exciting stuff. The upside to being home during the week (aside from catching up on Price is Right and sleeping in my own bed) is that Wednesday nights are bowling night for the "I shot 6 holes in my freezer" bowling league. The simple pleasure of bowling with friends just cannot be beat.

Cities that work

2008-02-13T13:18:00.004-05:00

This is my last day out here in San Francisco, and on my walk to work this morning I found myself reflecting on what a great town this is. This is a city that works. If functions well, especially for a city of this size. With such a diverse population, it's hard to think of San Francisco as a true "American" city, since we're really not all that diverse. San Francisco feels more like the hybrid of a major financial center and a mid-size European city.

The tip of the SF peninsula is a collection of micro-neighborhoods that often overlap. There's Chinatown, hippietown, yuppietown, old money on Nob Hill, the Castro and the Mission... a place for everyone. You can walk around town or take public transit - no real need for a car. Sure, the homeless people smell awful and they annoy you, but that's a small price to pay.

The locals eat well here and live healthy lifestyles. Real estate prices and salaries are ridiculously high. The city council just passed a resolution requiring taxi cab companies to buy hybrid vehicles as they replace their fleets.

I guess what I'm getting at is that this is a city that has some faults, but the positives significantly outweigh the negatives. There's just something captivating about the pulse of a properly functioning city - the way it wakes up in the morning, the way it functions throughout the day and evening, the way it quiets down at night, the pulse of life on the weekends. Good cities have a tangible energy about them, and I'm not just saying that because I've spent all these months in hippie San Francisco.

So many cities have become sprawling megalopolis cities. The patterns of white flight and gentrification are ones that no mayor wants attached to his or her city, because they both have negative implications. San Francisco got spared much of this simply because it is land locked. There was nowhere to sprawl. Poor people and rich people have always lived downtown. You can live outside of town and commute in, but again there are as many rich people doing that as poor people. The result is one of the most balanced places I've ever seen.

Sure, California is full of fruits and nuts, but I'd take San Francisco over Los Angeles any day of the week. Broken cities like Detroit, New Orleans, and Atlanta could learn a lot from this town.

good news

2008-02-13T01:30:00.001-05:00

Mr. Obama’s triumphs [2/12/08] capped a week in which he went undefeated in states across the country, in many cases by big margins, over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

And his strength on Tuesday sliced across nearly every major demographic line, with one element standing out: in Virginia and Maryland, according to surveys of voters leaving the polls, he beat Mrs. Clinton among women. (emphasis added)

New Shoes

2008-02-04T06:50:00.000-05:00

I bought a new pair of shoes this weekend. That's not particularly noteworthy, except that I noticed an interesting characteristic about them this morning. What I realized is that my choice of shoes was actually influenced by al Quaeda. Seriously. I bought a pair of slip on dress shoes because I have to take my shoes off twice a week for the TSA, because some Muslim extremists hijacked some planes back in 2001. Upon further investigation though, there's a bit more to it than that.

When you travel as much as I do, you notice the small things. For example, the PA system at Lexington airport (formerly and more appropriately known as Bluegrass Field) tells me every Monday and Thursday that "The Homeland Security threat level has been raised to orange, please be aware of the increased threat." In contrast, at ATL, CVG, and SFO, the PA says "The Homeland Security threat level is orange." There are a couple small differences there, but enough to get me curious.

In reality, the national threat level is at yellow (elevated). New York City has been at Orange since the inception of the advisory system (March 12, 2002). The threat level for the airline sector is at Orange, and THIS is the reason we all must remove our shoes. If it were yellow, for example, you would be allowed to walk through the metal detector with your shoes on, and you would only be asked to remove them if they set off the detector. There are blue and green levels to the scale, but they have never been used. Nice.

Back to that PA announcement though - especially the parts about "has been raised" and "increased threat." In fact that threat level for the airline sector was raised to orange in August of 2006. Overall, the national threat level has been raised to high (orange) five times. So they raise it, they tell you "we've raised it" like a broken record, and, statistically, they never lower it. Now the obvious question: why do we have a threat level advisory system that appears to do nothing more than scare people? Where are the statistics to back it up, such as "we raised it to orange because of specific intelligence about a terror threat, and we successfully thwarted 5 planned attacks by doing so?"

The simple answer: because he's the decider.

Nothing New Here

2008-01-28T06:11:00.000-05:00

As January comes to a close, it's still much the same routine each week for me. Do laundry and pack Sunday night. Monday morning wake up at 4:45AM to get frisked by the TSA and then deal with ComAir, the worst regional airline in the business. Delta has been upgrading me to first class the past few weeks though, so that makes the 4 hours from Cincinnati to San Francisco a bit more tolerable. Three nights in San Francisco, then fly home on Thursday. Three day weekends with Ella and our friends, then repeat.

Ella is having a stellar start to the year, with 3 or 4 real estate deals in the works. I am happy to report that she is no longer president of the Parrothead club, although I myself have picked up the presidency for our neighborhood association. Apparently showing up to two consecutive meetings qualifies me for that position.

We're wrapping up our work at PG&E, which is a good thing because I'm pretty much done flying to California every week. Our projects normally aren't this long, so I'll be looking forward to a shorter one that's closer to home. No next project in the works at this point, so looks like I might have a few weeks off.

I continue to follow politics with increased trepidation these days. If Hillary and Barack keep up the spitting contest, it'll really hurt the Democrats. I did take note that Caroline Kennedy gave Barack a glowing endorsement this past week, going so far as to say that he would be "a president like my father." I still think John Edwards is a decent candidate, but I think he's clearly the weakest of the three leading dems. I am thrilled to see Giulliani falling in the polls, I'm unclear why McCain is doing so well, and Mitt Romney made me feel good this week by proving that there are guys out there who are whiter than I am.

While staying in San Francisco I have moved from the union square area down to fisherman's wharf (a.k.a. tourist trap central). I wanted a change of pace, plus the rest of the guys are staying out there which makes it easier to go out for dinner and such. Ella and I have trips coming up to San Diego, St. John, and New Orleans, so I'm very much looking forward to those. We're going to head down for JazzFest, which is one of the things I really miss about the Crescent City. Ella wasn't sure about it until she learned that Jimmy Buffett is playing down there on her birthday. I'm so excited.

Also, has anyone seen Osama? How about those weapons of mass destruction? I work with a guy who swears that Iraq did have them, and in fact they simple moved them out of the country while we weren't looking. This man also has a concealed carry permit, and a 2008 calendar featuring photographs of George and Laura. Remember, he gets a vote just like the rest of us.

Milestones

2007-12-28T14:24:00.000-05:00

I passed a milestone in my life last week when I turned 30. I don't feel any older though, and the idea of being 30 doesn't really bother me. I think if I were really unhappy with my life, maybe things would be different, but overall my life is pretty good these days. Two of my friends also had 30th birthdays recently, and another friend is turning 30 this weekend. So really, 30 is no big deal to me.

Ella and I visited my parents and went to Chicago last week. I don't miss Chicago anymore. There are plenty of things I still love about the city, and it's still a great town, but I am certain at this point that I would not like to move back there. I'd like to visit more often, but there's no way I would move back there. It's too expensive, too cold, and too cumbersome. Part of that is because I've become lazier over the years, to the point that I don't want to fight with traffic on the roads or at the airport. Sure, you get lots of direct flights out of O'Hare and Midway, but it also takes you 2 hours to get to the airport and get through security, and parking is twice as expensive. Oh yeah, and snow shuts down the Chicago airports several times each winter.

I was, however, happy to return to three of my favorite places in the windy city - BLUES on Halstead, the Red Head piano bar, and the Field Museum. The first two places are up there next to Harry Denton's and Top of the Mark, the Flora-Bama and the Slippery Noodle, Spotted Cat and Vaughan's on my list of best-in-class, all time favorite watering holes. There is just something about a great bar that draws you in and makes you feel right at home and shows you a good time. It's a combination of good staff, good atmosphere, and good clientèle that just can't be manufactured. You've either got it or you don't.

The Field Museum has an incredible exhibition on maps, including this outstanding animation of the civil war. This web version is a little blurry, but basically it shows the shifting of territory controlled by the north versus the south throughout the course of the civil war. One second in the animation is equivalent to 1 week in the war. There is also a running tally of casualties (not deaths) during the animation. Also in the exhibit were Captain Cook's chronometer, Lindbergh's flight chart, and hundreds of other unique maps, some of which were thousands of years old.

I've got another week here in Lexington then it's back to San Francisco for a final push to wrap up our project out there. I'm not sure where I'll be headed after that, but it sounds like we've got a number of interesting projects coming up, so I hope I'll have some good choices.

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Now playing: Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
via FoxyTunes

overheard in an airport

2007-12-10T16:38:00.001-05:00

while typing the girl's night post below, I heard:

"Tom, I love you, and I mean that with no homosexuality involved, but I hate Ohio. ... Do you know where I am? ... I'm in Cincinnati Ohio [actually, the caller is in Hebron, KY, but I didn't want to interrupt]. They took my seat that I was confirmed on and bumped me to a later flight. ... Just one more reason to hate Cincinnati, as if the Reds and the Bengals wasn't enough. ... You gotta stop sending me down here. ... I know, I know, everyone at this airport is trying to get out of here too, and they're trying to get to Pittsburgh, you know, to God's country."

Never assume that no one is around listening to your conversations. If I'm not listening in, Dick Cheney probably is.

Girls' Night

2007-12-10T16:22:00.001-05:00

When I returned home last Thursday I had the pleasure of witnessing girls' night at our house. Ella and some friends watch Gray's Anatomy every Thursday, and it was Ella's night to host. What an eye-opener this was. The intensity with which these 7 women watched a soap opera was unsettling. Of course they have favorite actors and characters in the show, but it goes much beyond that. They have theories about why certain events on the show took place, and other theories about what will happen next. They have favorite couples on the show and other cases where they hope guy A will hook up with girl B or C but definitely not girl D because she sucks.
Oh yes, and all the while there is blood and guts all over this show. In this particular picture, some guy's carotid artery has just ruptured. Nothing goes with romance like spurting blood, that's what I've always said. The ladies at our house that night (and I imagine this is the case with most women who watch the show) are pretty much split into two camps - you're either for McSteamy or McDreamy. I thought I was for McSteamy, but the more I thought about it, that reminds me too much of the latrines at boy scout camp, so I'm moving over to the McDreamy camp. At least McDreamy might be a McDonald's dessert.

Overall the show is not bad. It's definitely shooting for a female audience, probably trying to pick up the slack where sex and the city left off. It's filled with all kinds of double-meaning philosophy of life stuff too - way too much. But it's definitely hit the mark with Ella's girlfriends. It was worth it to tolerate the show just to observe estrogen-fest 2007 in my living room. At some point they stopped talking about the show and started talking about romances that they and their friends are experiencing these days, but the dialog was so similar, I missed the transition entirely.

site o the week

2007-11-27T18:09:00.000-05:00

NASA put together a cool image collection of Antarctica. I'm not sure how useful it is, but it's cool.

http://lima.usgs.gov/

on the road again

2007-11-26T23:34:00.000-05:00

Here I sit, in the lobby of one of San Francisco's great historic hotels, reflecting on what it means to be "on the road again." When Willie sang it, of course, he wasn't talking about IT consulting. I am certainly not making music with my friends, so between those two things, the musical version of on the road again is out of the question.

I ran into a nice Australian couple at the bar tonight (John Foley's Irish house, best fish and chips in the city), and it's always nice to meet new people. The husband in this case is a pilot for Quantas airlines, and he brought his wife along for a "holiday" here in the city. They weren't sure what to do with their time here, so of course I offered some suggestions. The conversation then turned to politics - I asked them about Australia's election last week. Here are some key points from that discussion:

1) I learned that voting in Australia is compulsory. It's against the law not to vote. The theory behind the law is that plenty of Australians died to ensure that Australia maintained a free government, so the least the public can do is honor those patriots by showing up at the polls. Works for me.

2) Jerry theorized that the reason the opposition government gained so much ground in last week's election is that the electorate was hungry for change just for the sake of change. Australia's economy is doing well, unemployment is low, so it's hard to identify any major drivers for change other than that the current regime has been in place for around 11 years, depending on how you count it.

This 2nd point makes me nervous, because it got me to thinking about our upcoming. I wonder how many Americans will vote for the anti-Bush (whomever that turns out to be) just for the sake of change? I don't have a problem with change. I'm certainly sick of Bush. But change for the sake of change I think is at the very least risky, and quite possibly foolish. I don't want America to vote for someone just because he or she is "not" Bush. Obviously I don't get to control these things.

Jerry and Linda then asked me to explain American Football to them. Those of you who know me well know the irony of this - I am NOT a football expert. I did the best I could, and they were both intrigued and appreciative. We all agreed in the end that it's a silly sport, and that it's a shame so much of what's popular on TV in America is determined by what programming generates the most valuable ad revenue for the TV networks. Why can't we play a 1 hour NFL game in, say, 1 hour?

And so it goes. Another week on the road. Two more after this week before I can take a winter break. Another 30,000 sky miles. Another few frustrating adventures with Delta. Another few meals eaten alone. Another few laughs with the guys on my team. Another few homecomings to my wife and my dog. Another few beverages on the company dime. Another 9 nights at the Sir Francis Drake. Another few visits to Harry's Starlight Lounge. As Jeff Bridges' character "The Dude" says in The Big Lebowski "Strikes and gutters, ups and downs." The Dude abides.

Not all kitchens are alike

2007-11-22T01:02:00.000-05:00

How many refrigerators do you have? I have one. I'd guess that's the case for most families. Sometimes you retire an old one to the garage, and then you have two, but you only really use one. Diana Charles has 2 refrigerators, and a freezer. This isn't because she's retired one or anything like that - this is by design. Tonight she sent me downstairs to "get the andouille and a bag of crawfish tails" in preparation for the breakfast casserole she'll be making for us tomorrow morning. I missed the andouille on my first attempt - it was hiding behind the tasso and the alligator meat. This is a glimpse into what it's like to enjoy thanksgiving in a Louisiana kitchen.

We're spending the long weekend with the Louisiana side of my family, which always makes for some fun times. Good food is as much as guaranteed. Here is the menu for the weekend:

Wednesday:

Dinner

Smoked Stuffed Beef Roast

Onion Roast Potatoes

Pea Pods & Carrots

Grilled Salad

Birthday Cake

THURSDAY

Breakfast

Crawfish-Andouille Casserole

Cowboy Cake

Pre-Bird Peckings

Pre-Bird Peckings:

Shrimp Mold

Fruits & Veggies

Cheese Plate

Cranberry Margaritos

Thanksgiving Dinner

Citrus-brined Smoked Turkey

Honey Baked Ham

MeeMaw's dressing

Pineapple Sweet Potato Boats

Green Bean Casserole

Grilled corn

Shrimp and Mirliton Casserole

Hot Rolls

Cranberry Relish

Turkey Gravy

Apple Pie

Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

FRIDAY

Breakfast

Kentucky Hot Browns

Lunch/Dinner

Football Feast

Wings & Gator & Sausage

Stuffed Peppers & Shrooms

Grilled Jalapeno Shrimp

7-Layer Dip

Fruits & Veggies

SATURDAY

Breakfast

Breakfast Buffet at the

Grove Park Inn

National Ginger Bread Competition

Dinner

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Tossed Salad

Italian bread

Chianti

I can't make this stuff up. You've probably never had a Mirliton, and I guarantee you don't know how to pronounce it properly. They're serious about the gator sausage and wings for game day too. This is how the Charles family does Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm just happy to be part of it.

Ahh, Turkey

2007-11-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

It appears that I've worked my way straight through the end of October and into November. While the travel is still a royal pain, it sure beats flying coach class to France for (literally) weeks on end. I was reminded of this recently when I learned that the French transit workers are on strike yet again. You may recall they went on strike this exact same time last year, leaving me stranded at Charles De Gaulle airport. "C'est un grieve." If you find yourself traveling through France, you can't figure out why your plane/train is canceled, and you hear those words, you may wish to consider extending your vacation in, say, whatever town you happen to be standing in at that moment. Some transit worker has just informed you that there is a strike going on, and you couldn't leave town if you wanted to, except perhaps on a bicycle. Vive la France!

San Francisco is truly a dream compared with most other towns, really. Just ask my wife, who came out to visit me recently. I was able to show Ella around the fog city, and I think it's safe to say she had a good time. A day trip to wine country was especially nice, since the vineyards are all decked out in fall colors. Our trip focused on the southern end of the Napa valley, from the town of Rutherford south. The highlight was a trip to Artesa vineyards. The wines are outstanding, it's run by a Spanish family that has made wine since the 1500s, and a visit to the place is worth it just to tour their grounds, which include a sculpture gallery and art exhibitions. No kidding.

In other news, I am now officially one of those guys I used to make fun of at the airport - a Platinum Medallion. In case you're unfamiliar, this is Delta's way of recognizing that I've spent more time than I care to on their planes this year - over 75,000 miles flown, to be precise. Yippie. Now I get to but in front of other people in the check in and security lines at the airport - there's a great way to make friends. Don't get me wrong, I'll take it. I just don't view it as an "accomplishment."

I'm officially on vacation this week, which is great. We're heading up to the mountains of western NC tomorrow to visit my "new" parents (in-laws is such an ugly term). I know Ella and I have been married over a year now, but I still like this idea that my family has grown. Plus I'm an only child and I got a brother and a sister out of this gig. Dennis and Diana will no doubt be cooking up a storm all weekend because, well, they love to do it and they're great cooks. One of many ways you can tell that they like me is that they've made sure to incorporate some Hoosier traditions into the meal just to make me feel at home - things like green bean casserole and corn. Man I love corn. Should be a fun time.

word for the day

2007-11-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

Saponification is the hydrolysis of an ester under basic conditions to form an alcohol and the salt of a carboxylic acid. Saponification is commonly used to refer to the reaction of a metallic alkali (base) with a fat or oil to form soap. Saponifiable substances are those that can be converted into soap.

Monday update

2007-11-05T16:43:00.000-05:00

Greetings from the Bluegrass. It's cold and rainy here today. The drought made for a quick fall, and tomorrow we're dropping to the 40s.

A tip o' the hat (thank you, Stephen Colbert) to the Naval Academy midshipmen, who, after a 43 year stretch finally beat Notre Dame. Coach Weiss, if you're looking for employment (and you ought to be), the Ace Hardware down the street from us is hiring.
A wag o' the finger at Pervez Musharraf. In the past week Pakistan's president fired the supreme court because he learned they were about to declare his recent re-election unconstitutional. Then he locked up 3500 people because they don't agree with him. He is also sending out the riot police to any political protests, and has suggested that because of this [self-invented] state of emergency, he might need to postpone elections for a year. While some countries have frozen their foreign aid to Pakistan in light of these alarming developments, the US continues to send them billions.
Requirements for Delta Stewardesses, from a 1960 brochure: "Applicants must be 20 through 26 years of age, between 5'2" and 5'7", weight in proportion but not over 130 lbs., never married and in radiant good health." My, how times have changed.

I've altered my travel plans for this week so that I can be here to vote for governor in person. Hopefully, Beshear will walk away with this thing, but you never know.

As they famously say at Rick's Cabaret on Bourbon St. ...

2007-10-31T20:38:00.000-04:00

"No sex in the champagne room"

Go Mitt

2007-10-30T12:06:00.000-04:00

I read this morning that Mitt Romney is polling well in Iowa and I couldn't be happier. I saw an interview with him last week and he continues to impress. I'll be the first to admit that I had written him off as un-electable, but I'd really like to be proven wrong on that point. I still don't know who is my favorite these days, but if the republicans don't at least pony up a decent candidate, I fear that Hillary may walk away with this thing, which means I'll need to move to Canada.

So what makes a decent candidate for the republicans? Let's start with the basics - competence and eloquence. He'll need to be a family values candidate to pull in the 20% of our country that falls into the wack-job bible beater category. I can't stand 'em pushing their agenda on the rest of us, but one thing that's for certain is that they show up at the polls on election day. I also think the republican candidate needs to run on a reform platform, moving us back to smaller, common sense government and fiscal responsibility. You don't veto health care for kids giving cost as your reason and then ask for $46 billion in extra funding for Vietnam. Ideally he can avoid taking a stance on issues like abortion and gay marriage that do not belong in government. I think I'm being optimistic again there too though.

Another way in which Airlines are Evil

2007-10-28T20:12:00.000-04:00

So, I got around to reading Delta's contract of carriage today. In case you were not aware, the airlines have a ridiculous amount of control over their passengers. If you read through the fine print and make it to page 48, there is some interesting information in here.

Commercial flights are extra full these days. The past two weeks, I've been on 8 flights that were 100% booked. This holiday season will probably be the worst since 2000. So it's in your best interest to read through this junk for whatever airline you're flying to see all the rights you don't have. There is one key right you do have, that most people don't even know about.

When a flight is overbooked, don't be so fast to "volunteer" to give up your seat for an "airline voucher" good for future travel. These vouchers are full of fine print and often difficult to redeem. If the airline doesn't get any volunteers though, and they have to "involuntarily deny boarding" to passengers, those passengers get CASH, in addition to getting put on the next flight. In the case of Delta, they'll pay you cash equal to the value of your remaining flight segments, and in some cases they'll pay you twice that much. Again, this is all spelled out in the contract of carriage that each airline maintains.

Of course, the airlines ask for volunteers first because they don't like to pay out cash, and the average voucher redemption rate is around 10%.

Why I won't vote for Mitch McConnell next time

2007-10-24T19:44:00.001-04:00

The Senate today looked at the American Dream Act. Sure it's a dumb title, but the concept is one I think most people can get behind. There are a lot of illegal immigrants here in the US. In Kentucky, we call them the backbone of our horse and agriculture economy, or at least we should, because that's what they are. I don't care how they got here, I don't think they're a national security threat, and based on my understanding of the Dream Act, I'm considering the idea that we ought to look at "illegal" immigrants in a different light. The Dream Act offers the children of illegal immigrants a fast track to citizenship if they

a) go to college OR
b) serve in our military

They'd still have to pass a background check, but that's about it. Can someone tell me why this is not a good idea? We're talking about children age 15 or younger when their parents brought them here "illegally" - why punish them for their parents coming here "illegally?" Why not encourage them to become productive members of our society?

Senator Mitch McConnell sees things differently

Good thinking Mitch. Let's build a big wall while we're at it. Legal immigrants have made great contributions to our society, but illegals haven't done jack, right? Wrong.

This is why the Republicans will lose again in 2008 - they've still got people like Senator McConnell who can't see the reality of what's going on in our country today, and what's truly important to the average American.

link-o-the-week

2007-10-17T16:42:00.001-04:00

Here is one of the coolest interactive graphics I've seen in a long time

Places the candidates have visited over time

It shows where the Presidential candidates are making visits. You can slide the bar across the top to show different time periods, or just click the "play" button to view the visits over time (in a moving one month window.

Isn't it just nuts that Iowa is getting all this attention? I know it's not a new concept or anything, but seriously people - Iowa?! I'm a big fan of corn too, but why do we have an election process where a state like Iowa gets all this attention and some other states have had no visits at all. Is Iowa really any more or less important than the Dakotas?

Baby Boomer No. 1 applies for Social Security

2007-10-15T18:15:00.001-04:00

(from USA Today)

One down, 79,999,999 to go.

The "first Boomer" applied for Social Security benefits today.

The honor goes to retired Maryland teacher Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, born at 12:00:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 1946. This afternoon she filed to receive early retirement benefits when she turns 62 in January. The Baltimore Sun was there.

USA TODAY's Richard Wolf wrote about her last week, and Bloomberg noted the milestone today.

Many people are worried that if the publicly-financed retirement system isn't modified, rising health care costs and federal budget deficits will drain the Treasury long before each of the roughly 80 million people born between 1946 and 1964 gets his/her slice of the Social Security pie.

"It's the beginning of an era. It's symbolic, but it reminds us that we're not doing anything to prepare for this,'' Bob Bixby, head of the bipartisan Concord Coalition, which advocates for a balanced budget, told Bloomberg.

sounds like fall

2007-10-15T06:36:00.000-04:00

I heard somewhere that our sense of smell is the sense most closely linked to our long term memories. I don't disagree with that, but for me I also tend to associate sounds with events. I took a week off last week to enjoy some down time at home, and it was well worth it. Here is a list of the sounds I heard, and the circumstances that surrounded each one.

1) "The Call to Post" This is the short little tune the bugler plays at Keeneland before each race. I was at the track 4 days over the past week with family and friends, so I got to hear this sound about 40 times. Trust me, it never gets old.

2) "Go baby, go!" This is the battle cry of the horse track gambler cheering for the horse he/she just bet the farm on. The Commonwealth of Kentucky makes a distinction between "wagering" which is what you do at a horse track and "gambling" which you only do at casinos. I think this distinction is ridiculous.

3) "My Old Kentucky Home" This Stephen Foster classic is played before each UK home football game. This weekend I watched LSU lose to UK in triple overtime. The rude LSU fans started some stupid cheer during the singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" which may be a contributing factor to their demise. It clearly (and understandably) irritated the UK fans, for whom this song is at least as important as the national anthem, if not more so. Also, LSU racked up 103 yards of penalties which didn't help anything. I was of course wearing purple, because Ella is an LSU alum. Next week, I'll switch back to blue and white, thank you very much.

4) "[insert incredibly obvious comment about how a football game works, spoken like a true Neanderthal]" That's the sound of John Madden calling a football game. Sunday afternoon we went to Harry's pub to watch some NFL games and catch up with friends.

5) "Screeeeech Awwwwwk Awwwwwk" This is familiar sound of a screech owl. I get to hear it every Monday morning at 6AM when I arrive at Bluegrass Airport. They pipe the recorded sound of a screech owl, loudly, ALL AROUND THE AIRPORT PERIMETER to scare off other birds. It's a lovely way to start any travel experience. Yes that's right, I'm back on the road this week. It's raining in San Francisco right now.

Observations

2007-09-26T20:33:00.000-04:00

Here is a brief list of things I've observed lately.

1) There are still way to many people who wear socks with sandals, especially among the vacationing public. Get a clue people - they're sandals for a reason.

2) People in San Francisco do not seem as happy as you might expect them to be. Any given weekday, walking from PG&E's offices back to my hotel, I pass scores of unhappy people. Maybe they're just tired from a long work day. Maybe they're tired of the "rat race" in general.
3) The percentage of the California labor force that belongs to a union is 50% above the national average. This week the security guards were on strike for "justice" and "civil rights" according to their picket line signs. After reading their website I learned that they're pursuing justice and civil rights in the form of "paid vacation, paid bereavement leave, retirement pensions, and higher wages."

4) You could not pay me enough to be an airline flight attendant.

5) The New Orleans Saints have had only 8 winning seasons in the past 40 years - the worst record in the NFL.

6) Hillary Clinton takes campaign money from special interest groups. Barack Obama has committed to NOT accepting any donations from these organizations. Mr. Obama's position is that once you accept money from these groups, you might feel like you owe them something. Mrs. Clinton's stance is that she is strong willed enough that she can resist any such feelings of obligation.

7) While the Democratic candidates are talking about different approaches to immigration reform, the Republican candidates are offering plans about what kind and how many fences to build along our border with Mexico. This is why the Democrats will win more of the Hispanic vote. Immigration reform is a national issue that hits home as well - without immigrant labor, the zillion dollar horse farms around Lexington could not operate.
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Now playing: Kermit Ruffins - If You Want Me to Stay
via FoxyTunes

Random notes

2007-09-18T14:28:00.000-04:00

The NY Times has a great site that lists all the Presidential candidates' web sites. Barack Obama is certainly fighting hard (and effectively) for my vote. Everyone should go play the energy game that Chevron has developed. It's not perfect, but it is free, amusing, and based on facts.

Also, the hardest working guy in the bourbon business is NOT the master distiller, as many might think. It's the barrel house worker. Watching the "barrel rolling competition" at this year's bourbon festival, I was amazed at the strength and skill of these individuals. A full barrel of bourbon weighs just over 500 pounds, and once it gets rolling, it's hard to stop (or turn, for that matter).

Jason and Kim got to take Leo home this week, which is really cool. They're easily two of the best people I know, and certainly deserving of all the happiness that I'm sure Leo will bring into their lives. I know Katy and Andre are also getting along well with little Charlie, who has been home for a while now. Katy is an educator and Andre serves our country, so I am also happy to see that Charlie continues to beat the odds. Now that I think about it, Ella and I have great friends. Also, the thought of having kids (which has always scared me because of the responsibility involved) now scares me even more because two couples so close to us have had unexpected surprises in the process. Tobi, on the other hand, is fairly predictable.

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Now playing: Alison Krauss - Dreaming My Dreams With You
via FoxyTunes

We love to fly, and it shows

2007-09-14T23:41:00.001-04:00

No, I promise this is not another rant about the airlines. I did find this old Delta ad though, and got a kick out of it. I never knew Delta even flew the 747 - boy was I wrong. Not only did they fly it, they got a special configuration of the plane from Boeing. The Delta 747s had 362 seats instead of 490 (so passengers could have extra room to spread out - what a concept!), custom designed seats, and a "penthouse" for 6 - see floor plan in diagram. They even had a special dining menu for their 747s - which only flew domestic routes, by the way.

This weekend, Ella, Tobi and I will be tailgating for the UK v. Louisville football game. Today, we got our second golf lesson. Tomorrow morning we're heading to Bardstown for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. So it's shaping up to be quite a weekend.

Still Waiting

2007-09-07T01:02:00.000-04:00

That is the title of the documentary I watched on PBS tonight about families in St. Bernard Parish. It's been two years since Katrina now, and there is no possible excuse at any level of government for why St. Bernard Parish is (effectively) still a wasteland.

I'm not going to get into the details of the documentary except to say that it was very good, and that it really got me to thinking. I have a tendency to distance myself from the lack of recovery in New Orleans for several reasons:

1) I didn't lose anything in the storm.
2) I didn't grow up there, I don't have family there, and the friends I do have there are all doing very well for themselves.
3) The place had HUGE problems when I moved there 3 years before the storm, so the fact that it still has problems (though they are exacerbated by poor government) is no surprise.
4) I am a cynical person, so I feel that any town that effectively prides itself on corruption, a welfare state, and doing things backwards needs to be willing to reap what it sows.

That said, I am also certain that the failed recovery in New Orleans is in fact a national tragedy, the magnitude of which has not (and might never fully) be realized. The poor response to the immediate aftermath of the storm is one tragedy, to be certain. In my view, the tragedy of the storm also created an opportunity to change for the better, start with a clean slate etc., and that would've been the best thing that could've happened to New Orleans. For some time shortly after the storm, I remained optimistic that this would happen.

At a superficial level, New Orleans is a national treasure. Its history and its culture today are unique, and worth preserving. You will not find better food, festivals, or music in any American city, period. We are a country that claims to celebrate diversity, and New Orleans could be a poster child for diversity.

At a deeper level, there are many aspects of New Orleans social life - specifically family structures and a "sense of community" - from which other American communities could learn a great deal. Just as there are certain foods and traditions unique to New Orleans, there are communities in and around New Orleans that are entirely unique, AND WORTH PRESERVING.

The fact that so many families have been mistreated down there, that we have a food and shelter crisis in our own nation that the Federal government has failed to take action on (while we dump billions into Iraq) is beyond my comprehension. The fact that this crisis has caused irreparable harm to some of the most tightly-knit families and communities in the country is appalling.

New Orleans still only has 66% of its pre-Katrina population back, and St. Bernard Parish has a mere 35% of its population back. The more time passes without significant, tangible infrastructure improvements, concrete recovery plans, and a long-overdue infusion of resources into the greater New Orleans area, the less likely it is that any recovery will meet with any success. There are some extremely patient people out there who are still waiting to return home, but as each day passes, more and more of those people join the ranks of former New Orleans residents who have found a better life for themselves in another city and have no plans to return.

Priority Points

2007-09-05T18:02:00.000-04:00

An interesting excerpt from the copious rules and regulations surrounding the allocation of "priority points" - the point system that determines what kind of tickets you can buy for LSU football games.

May Priority Points be Sold, Pooled or Assigned?

Priority points are not property, they are part of a system endorsed by the University and its Affiliated Organizations to determine the order in which donors may be offered certain rights and benefits; therefore, priority points may not be sold under any circumstances, and subject to the following exceptions, priority points may not be pooled or assigned in any way.

Exception Number One: In the case of a husband and wife while married, where spouses have established accounts in their personal capacities under different names, priority points resulting from donations made by either spouse may be pooled if the spouses combine their individual accounts into a single joint account. Where spouses combine their individual accounts into a single joint account, priority points for the joint account will be re-calculated as though all donations made by either spouse had been made to the joint account. In the case of a husband and wife who subsequently divorce, priority points resulting from donations made by the spouses, whether jointly or individually, may no longer be pooled. [blogger's note - there is a separate section dealing with how points are divided in case of a divorce]

Exception Number Two: In the case of a business entity that merges with one or more businesses with priority points and there is but a single new or "surviving" entity following the merger, accounts for the merging entities will be combined and priority points for the new or "surviving" entity will be re-calculated as though all donations made by a merged entity had been made solely on behalf of the new or "surviving" business entity.

Exception Number Three: Following the death of a donor, priority points accumulated by the deceased donor (in addition to any ticket rights or other amenities) may be transferred only to the deceased donor's Surviving Spouse or Direct Descendants. Absent written direction to the contrary received by the appropriate Affiliated Organization prior to a donor's death, following the death of a donor, accumulated priority points, tickets and other amenities shall be transferred in the following manner. The deceased donor's priority points (in addition to any ticket rights or other amenities) shall be transferred to the deceased donor's Surviving Spouse. In the event that the deceased leaves no Surviving Spouse or the deceased donor's Surviving Spouse does not accept, the priority points (in addition to any ticket rights or other amenities) shall be divided equally among the deceased donor's Children who wish to accept the available benefits. In the event that an individual either leaves no Surviving Spouse or Children, or the deceased donor's Surviving Spouse or Children do not accept, the priority points (in addition to any ticket rights or other amenities) shall be equally divided among the deceased donor's other Direct Descendents who wish to accept the available benefits. Rights of Surviving Spouses, Children and other Direct Descendents shall be subject to the requirement that Surviving Spouses, Children or other Direct Descendents receiving priority points or other rights or amenities pay all required donations, costs, fees and surcharges.

Exception Number Four: It is recognized that in cases involving hardship where, for example, a donor makes a permanent move to a distant area or is no longer physically able to attend athletic events, a donor may wish to transfer his account to his Spouse, Children or other Direct Descendents. Under such circumstances transfers of a member's account to the member's Spouse, Children or other Direct Descendents may be allowed subject to the following conditions and written approval by LSU and the priority point advisory committee: (a) hardship transfers should typically involve a member's entire account (all tickets, all priority points and all other amenities), however, for good cause shown a sport specific transfer of tickets may be granted; (b) hardship transfers may not be utilized to circumvent limitations on the number of tickets and other amenities available to individuals (c) hardship transfers are irrevocable.

Exception Number Five: A donor may designate in writing the individual(s) who will receive priority points attributable to donations made by the donor following his death (such as testamentary gifts and gifts made via life insurance). Absent such a designation, priority points attributable to donations made by a donor following his death will be assigned to the deceased's Surviving Spouse, Children, or other Direct Descendents in accordance with Exception Number Three.

Exception Number Six: Prior to or at the time that a donation is made, a donor may request in writing that priority points resulting from a donation be credited to another party. This exception shall not apply to donations made by publicly traded business entities to the LSU Foundation or the LSU Alumni Association.

The one to watch

2007-09-04T17:03:00.000-04:00

Here comes Fred Thompson. I like the guy, but I'm not sold on him yet, personally. I am certain however that his campaign will be the one to watch.

88 Keys

2007-09-04T08:06:00.000-04:00

My loving wife bought me a piano for my 30th birthday. Our local piano store was having a good sale, so I got this present early - it was delivered last week. I understand that other family members have also contributed to this gift, making it that much more special.

I've wanted my own piano ever since I left home, where I had one available to me at all times. That was just over 10 years ago. Playing piano is something I've always enjoyed, so to have it back in my life after so long is really a shock to the system. I walk by my new piano every day now, and it still hasn't quite settled in that it's mine, and it's here to stay. I have no idea how to say thank you for a gift like this. I did make my way to the music store last week as well, and picked up 3 books:

1) 19 popular works by Chopin
2) Norah Jones' "Come Away with Me" words and music
3) A book on jazz theory, specifically chord structures

Let's just say that cracking open some sheet music and trying to plunk out a tune has been a humbling experience. I'm having to re-learn a lot of what used to be second nature, but so far I can safely say that it's been an enjoyable experience. One of my goals this week is to find a way to practice while I'm on the road.

As a side note, my friend Will is also pursuing his artistic side. He has put together an Alfred Hitchcock exhibition at Northwestern Universitiy's Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art. The exhibit runs from September 28 - December 9th. Will is featured in this month's issue of Chicago Magazine for his efforts - it's really quite an accomplishment (the exhibit, I mean - the magazine interview is just icing on the cake). Well done, Will.

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Now playing: John Prine - Dear Abby
via FoxyTunes

September Morn

2007-09-04T05:38:00.000-04:00

It's Tuesday, I got to enjoy a week at home, and now it's off to fly the friendly skies once again. At Delta, they love to fly, and it shows. Delta is one of a number of US air carriers who recently emerged from bankruptcy, and they're a little too quick to point out that "you're now flying on 'the new' Delta." It bears striking resemblance to the old Delta. Then again, when you have to get up at 4AM to fly anywhere, it can be a rough start to the day. The plan was to fly on Delta's 5079 from LEX to ATL this morning. One of the simple pleasures that I've come to enjoy is watching the sunrise on this particular flight. I always pick a window seat on the port side just so I can enjoy the show. You have to find simple things to enjoy when you travel this much, otherwise you'd go bonkers. This was the plan today, but the Delta agent at LEX told me that routing me through Cincinnati would provide a better opportunity for an upgrade, so I decided to take my chances there, and I'm writing this from the B terminal at CVG. I've also added a new feature to the Blog here that allows me to document what I'm listening to as I type.

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Now playing: Cornelis Vreeswijk - Blues För Inga-Maj
via FoxyTunes

Fred Thompson enters the Presidential race officially later this week. I'm excited about this because he's a good actor, he's from Tennessee, and you'll always know where he stands. It frustrates me that so many people I speak with are focusing on some particular issue, rather than looking at the candidate's overall qualifications. I would think that if our adventures with "W" taught us anything, it's that intelligence, public speaking ability, and character (the ability to admit when you're wrong, for example) are some of the most important attributes to look for in a President.

Statistically, Americans don't care about gay marriage or abortion - why is so much attention focused on where the candidates stand on these issues? Only 30% of Americans say they'd like to overturn Roe v. Wade - the rest of us think the Supreme Court settled the matter just fine. Currently, 50% of Americans oppose gay marriage, which is down from 65% just 10 years ago. In 1948, 90% of Americans opposed interracial marriage.

My prediction at this point is that we'll see some combination of Obama/Edwards and Thompson/Romney on the ballot next fall. I'm being optimistic here, because I just really can't stand Hillary or Rudy. I have lost all confidence in McCain, not because he'd make a poor President, but simply because I think he is unelectable. He's old, he's being way too stubborn about the war. I think the showmanship that Thompson will bring to the Republican debates will finish off McCain once and for all. Bill Clinton proved that "talking the talk" is enough to get you into the White House even if you're not the best candidate.

Persecuted

2007-08-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

Main Entry: per·se·cute
Pronunciation: 'p&r-si-"kyüt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -cut·ed; -cut·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French persecuter, back-formation from persecuteur persecutor, from Late Latin persecutor, from persequi to persecute, from Latin, to pursue, from per- through + sequi to follow -- more at SUE
1 : to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict; specifically : to cause to suffer because of belief
2 : to annoy with persistent or urgent approaches (as attacks, pleas, or importunities) : PESTER
synonym see WRONG

This is the word that the NAACP used today to describe how Michael Vick is being treated after abused and dead dogs were found at his house, and he plead guilty to running a dog fighting operation. Isn't it awful how the media has so ruthlessly publicized his crimes? The NAACP also believe it would be unfair for him to lose his NFL career over this matter - AS IF HE IS ENTITLED TO A CAREER IN THE NFL?!?!?! I mean, just because he makes a zillion dollars and enjoys being in the spotlight; just because millions of young fans look up to him as a role model, by no means should he be held to a higher standard. In fact, I think the authorities were out to get him in this case specifically because he was black. If it was a white zillion dollar quarterback who was caught dog fighting, surely the public would've reacted completely differently. Yep, this is definitely a race issue we've got on our hands here, so I'm glad the NAACP is involved. Now if only we could coax Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to voice their concerns as well, maybe we could set things right. They're pretty bashful about public speaking when it comes to non-issues like this, so I'm not sure we'll be able to convince them to spend 5 minutes each in the spotlight here to further solidify their irrelevance...

Michael Vick is guilty, he's a jerk for what he did, he deserves to be punished according to the law. If the NFL (a private, for-profit organization) sees fit to kick him out for whatever reason, more power to them. I think it would be a wise thing for them to do, and I could care less if his skin was purple.

a week in the life

2007-08-08T15:58:00.000-04:00

Recently, a couple friends and family members have asked me "what exactly is it you do?" It's a fair question, so I will now provide you a glimpse into my weekly routine by detailing my activities this week:

Monday:

5:30 wake up, finish packing, check flight status
6:15 discover that Delta has managed to already screw up my flights for this morning and decide to call Delta customer service. I'm a "Gold Elite" frequent flier with Delta, which means they provide me with a unique 1-800 number that connects me to an American in Atlanta rather than "Mike" in Bangalore. Nice. I got a hold of Stephanie at Delta who tells me that the crew who flew the MD-80 into Lexington last night got in late, and they need to rest more before they can fly again. Delta has re-routed me on some flights that get me into San Francisco at 6pm (instead of my original 11AM scheduled arrival) and includes a 4 hour layover in Atlanta. No thanks, Stephanie, what else have you got? She routes me through Cincy instead of Atlanta, which gets me to SF at 10:30AM.
6:30 hop a cab to the airport. I normally drive myself but my car is getting its 25,000 mile service. I've had that Scion for 2.5 years now and it's never needed anything but scheduled maintenance. Don't ever buy a BMW, ever.
7:20 - a 24 minute flight from Lexington to Cincinnati with a male flight attendant who thinks he's a real comedian but ought to just shut his trap. No one wants to hear his cheezy humor at 7:30 in the morning (or anytime during the day, for that matter)
8:00 - arrive at departure gate for flight to SF. Delta reminds us that although this is a 4.5 hour flight, there is no meal service, so we should feel free to hit the food court before we board. Thanks. I'm on the list for an upgrade to first class, but don't get it. Typical.
8:45 - cram onto a 757. I've got the window seat but no one likes a plane with 3x3 seating. You've either got to ask everyone to get up when you need to hit the can (if you've got the window) or you get your elbows bruised by the service carts and you have to get up every time someone else in your row needs to hit the can (if you're on the aisle). We all know about the middle seat. When I'm president, it'll be illegal to have a row with 3 seats and only 4 arm rests. Most people I know have 2 arms.
9:15 (EDT) - we've crossed the 10,000 ft mark so I can break out my noise canceling headphones. These are a must-have for the frequent traveler, as they not only drown out the noise of the plane engines, but they also significantly muffle the crying kids, loud women yapping, and many of the other noises that so often molest your ears on a plane. I plug in my phone which is also an mp3 player and fire up some tunes. I've also downloaded a Sudoku game which is a great diversion.
10:45(PDT) - arrive in SF, claim bags, catch BART train for downtown. Lug bags up to office, and I'm the first one to arrive. My co-workers have all been delayed in their travels too and don't show up until after lunch. This is officially the worst summer for air travel since the Bureau of Transportation Statistics started keeping track in 1995. Neat.
Monday afternoon we spend catching up, planning our tasks for the week, and arranging meetings. Also, the refrigerator for our floor is right near our workspace, and some jerk has left some milk product in there for (apparently) 10 years or so and it's well past science project at this point. So every time someone opens up the fridge, we get blasted with the noxious fumes of beyond-sour milk. It's terribly uncivilized. These California Hippie IT folks who sit near us have posted signs around the office featuring a cute little kitten named "Misty" to remind us that "everytime you download a virus or use mp3 file sharing applications, Misty cries. Please don't make Misty cry." So I created a sign for the refrigerator that says "every time someone opens the door to this refrigerator, Misty gets sick to her stomach. Please clean out your old food so Misty doesn't gag." We'll see how effective this proves to be.
5pm - walk to the hotel with Brian. He and I are both staying at the Sir Francis Drake (SFD), and considering the way we eat out here, we need to do all the walking we can. The folks at the SFD love me and have again upgraded me to a "towers suite." Upon check-in to hotel, call Ella.
6:30pm - meet Mike and Brian in the lobby to head for dinner. Sometimes the team eats together, other times we don't. Tonight we hit the E&O Trading Company for some outstanding Asian cuisine (shrimp, cliantro & lime pad thai for me).
9pm - Get home from dinner, crash. I've been up for 20 hours at this point.

Tuesday

7:00AM - rise and shine. walk to work, still full from dinner so I skip breakfast. Meet with some PG&E folks to collect more information about their software applications. Work on our master spreadsheet where we track all our research
11:20AM - lunch at the cardiac cafe. It's actually called the Beale St. grill, but we have re-named it (appropriately) in light of the greasy-spoon nature of their food. Still, we love the place and eat here at least once a week. We normally head for lunch at 11:30 to beat the rush, but someone has decided to take one for the floor and clean out the fridge. The smell was so overwhelming that we left early today.
2pm - meet with a senior IT director at PG&E. ask him about other (previous) projects that have attempted to do what we're doing, why they failed, and what kind of information he can provide me about PG&E's software portfolio. He's extremely helpful, interested in our work, and extends our 30 minute meeting to 60 minutes just so we can get into more detail. This is typical of the meetings we have with PG&E folks. They are excited about the work we are here to do, and all have been very helpful.
5:30pm - head back to hotel, call Ella
7pm - meet Mike at our favorite Irish pub for a beer, then wander down Columbus ave and find "Joe Dimaggio's" where we decide to have dinner. Garlic herb roasted rotisserie chicken with yukon gold potatoes and carmelized onions. Nice. I told you we need the exercise.
~8:50pm - Barry Bonds hits #756 and the entire bar erupts with cheers. It was a home game for the Giants so all the locals are glued to the tv.

Wednesday

6:30AM - rise and shine. Brad has scheduled us for a day of meetings today starting at 8am. We will make him pay for this upon his return - he's working from his home in Colorado this week.
Most of the morning and afternoon - blah blah more meetings and research. We're making good progress again this week, it's just tedious information gathering work.
11:32 - at exactly 23 hours and 59 minutes before my flight, I check-in online and print my boarding passes. This places me at (or near) the top of the standby list for an upgrade to first class. They're rare, but oh so tasty when you can score one.
11:45 - discover that I can order from my favorite deli here online and have my order waiting for me to pickup. The additional bonus is that online, they take American Express. At the store, they only take MC/Visa. Us EDS types prefer to use our corporate AmEx cards because it minimizes the amount of cash we need to use, and for our expense reports EDS will pay AmEx directly. This also means that whether or not a restaurant takes AmEx can be a deciding factor in how often we frequent it, if at all. I introduce my co-worker Mike to the deli as well. I order two cookies - one chocolate chip, and one peanut butter chocolate chunk (for Brian). Mike orders a salad - he tries to stay away from the carbs. We walk to the deli, pick up our goodies, and I hit the Jamba Juice next door to grab a smoothie (which will be my lunch).
6:30 - leave work, call Ella.
7pm - walk around Union Square, find an Indian bar/restaurant and enjoy a fabulous Madras Tamarind Chicken dish. Eating by yourself is never fun, but if it's good food you can eat at a good bar with fellow business travelers, that makes it more tolerable. Try eating on your own in in a foreign country - that can really stink.
9pm - return to room and call Joe to discuss Barry Bonds. Pack, Pop in my dvd of Office Space to laugh at all the painfully accurate office humor in this spectacular movie.

Thursday

Up at 6AM and in the office by 7. I had been working on some important research finds this week, and I want to bring some closure to them before I fly home for the weekend. I think mostly because of the effort involved in traveling to a client's site each week, I find myself wanting to be super-productive while I'm on site. Part of it too is that work serves as a distraction from the fact that I'm 2,398 miles from my wife, my dog, and my bed. The travel on this project is a lot easier though because San Francisco is such a wonderful city. I once had a project in Findlay, Ohio and man was that awful. It's a friendly, all-American town, and I'm sure it's a very nice place to raise a family, there's just absolutely NOTHING to do there.
7:30AM - Brian arrives and takes on the task of putting together an Excel formula that will greatly reduce our workload. We both know what we want to do, but neither of us has a clue how to get this spreadsheet to do it. God bless Google - 30 minutes later Brian has worked up exactly what we need.
8-9:30AM - continue working on our findings, print boarding passes, report our progress to Frank, our fearless leader. Check Delta.com periodically to see if they are going to delay my flight. Oddly, they do not.
9:30 head for the BART station to take the train to the airport. It takes a little longer than a cab but it's way cheaper and (contrary to what some may think) we do try to keep our expenses reasonable. Most times when a company hires consultants on for a project, the contract will specify that we must keep our expenses to x% of our total bill. The percentage can range from 12% to 18% depending on a number of factors. PG&E I think asked us to keep it to 17%, but of course we'd really like to keep it even lower than that. Spending $10/week on airport trips versus $90 in a taxi is an easy way to do this. We also rotate people home as the project progresses. Each of the next few weeks, at least one or two team members will be working from home. There is rarely a need to have 7 people on the ground, and keeping one or two guys home is another easy way to save costs.
11:30 - Delta's flight to Atlanta boards on time. I again do not get upgraded to business class. The list for upgrades is 20 people long, and I'm number 16. They had 2 open seats. Really, they shouldn't even advertise that "we'll upgrade you if a seat is available" if in fact it never happens.
7:45PM EDT - land in Atlanta and try to hop an earlier flight home to Lexington. I'm booked on a 10pm flight that gets me home at 11, but there is an 8:15 flight that probably had some seats open on it. I am informed that they can't put me on the earlier flight because I would be "voluntarily separating myself from my checked baggage." After some investigating, I learn that if my 10pm flight was delayed, I could've asked them to put me on the earlier flight. Now, my bags still wouldn't have come with me on the earlier flight, so I'm not sure of the logic here. Wait, did I just use the word "logic" in talking about an experience with an airline? I apologize for that.
11:16pm touchdown at LEX, the most beautiful airport in the world, even at night. I cannot stress enough how wonderful it is to have my home airport be Lexington's Bluegrass Airport. It's basically 1 step above a grass strip but we get jet service, there are maybe 10 gates total, only 2 baggage carousels, never a long line at security - it's wonderful.
11:20pm Ella and Tobi pick me up at the terminal and drive me home.

Friday

Sleep in
Do some work - file expense report, time card, check plans for next week
Write letter of complaint to whatever airline I flew this week
Play Nintendo
Water plants
Watch DVR shows

And there you have it, a week in the life. It's tough work being an international man of mystery, but someone's gotta do it.

P. Leroy on the road

2007-07-26T11:19:00.000-04:00

It's been another busy week here in San Francisco, and I couldn't be happier. The project is moving along well, and we're really going to be delivering something valuable here. The weather here is still perfect, and the city continues to provide an endless supply of dining and entertainment options. It is the antithesis of Findlay, Ohio (thank God). As Ella and I like to say, it is also "not France."

When I was entrusted with the safekeeping of some of P. Leroy's (my great grandfather) personal effects, one of the items among them was a St. Christopher's medal. As all good Catholics know, St. Christopher was the patron saint of travelers until 1969, when the Vatican decided there wasn't enough historical evidence to even support his existence. Then again, what does the Vatican know? Most of us (myself included) still consider St. Christopher to be the patron saint of travelers. For additional good measure, the reverse of this medal features St. Rapahel who is regarded as a protector and healer. I think he's still in good standing with the pope, but don't quote me on that. I decided to start taking this medal with me on trips. It's less fragile than the pocketwatch, and it's probably a good idea for me to invoke the spirit of St. whomever to look over me, lest I go ballistic on some poor airline employee.

Last week, P. Leroy joined me at the symphony, after which he suggested we hit the "Top of the Mark." This outstanding jazz club at the top of the Mark Hopkins hotel has been around for generations, and is still one of the finest night spots in the city. Last night, P. Leroy suggested we find a good Irish pub for a proper pint and a hearty meal, so we did. I took the guys back to O'Reily's where Frank shared his travel horror stories from his recent vacation. Actually, his vacation was great, it's just that getting home on American Airlines turned into a nightmare. Frank is one of those guys who is cursed with bad luck when it comes to travel, but he's also a great storyteller and he had us roaring with laughter at his misfortunes. I just hope he and I are never on the same flight out of Dallas.

update from SF

2007-07-18T16:05:00.001-04:00

I am now in my 4th week of what is proving to be a great project out here at PG&E. As Mark Twain put it though "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." He may have over stated a bit, but we're topping out in the high 70s this week and that's about as hot as it gets out here. The bluegrass is experiencing a bit of a heat wave so I can't say I miss that.

Things are busy at work, but wanted to update on a few developments of note:

1) Had lunch today at Yank Sing, the finest Dim Sum restaurant in San Francisco. They are only open for lunch, and I was lucky enough to snag a reservation. It was a real treat, and several of the team had never dined in this traditional Chinese style.

2) I'm attending a summer performance of the San Francisco symphony tonight and couldn't be more excited. Nothing against the Lexington Philharmonic, but I'm a sucker for the big city symphonies. Tonights program: "A program for the romantic at heart. Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy-Overture from Romeo and Juliet is full of longing— reminiscent of the most tragic of all love stories, while Strauss’s Don Juan is unabashedly seductive and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is as lush and beguiling as new love. These are melodies to seduce your ear and stir your emotions." There are some clips online for those of you less fortunate. HAHA!

3) Tickets for Keeneland go on sale August 1 so get your reservations to me ASAP if you have not already done so. If you don't know what Keeneland is, you have my sympathy.

4) My poor dog Tobi has an ear infection and an eye infection. No doubt these were both agitated by her recent evening running around out in the countryside of our friends' home, but I hate to see her sick regardless. Thankfully Ella is taking good care of her and the vet gave Tobi some drugs that should clear things up in no time.

5) American Airlines is still as chincy as ever. In addition to charging for food, they now also charge for beer in their Admiral's Club lounges. These lounges were once the gold standard in terms of VIP treatment, but no more. My recommendation is that you avoid flying American at all costs. Delta may run late now and then, but at least their snacks are free, and they serve Woodford Reserve on all flights.

6) Formula 1 is no longer coming to Indianapolis. It's a shame that it never caught on, but I can't say I'm surprised.

7) I am now cheering for Mitt Romney for our next President. By no means am I saying that I agree with all his positions on the issues, but I do think he may be the best man for the job. He's smart, has charisma, and he let's you know where he stands on the issues. People are concerned that he is a mormon, but I am not. Two of his sons are Eagle scouts, and he is the only Republican candidate that is (admirably) still on his first wife. Giuliani is on his third - who's the polygamist now?

Week of July 9 Update

2007-07-12T19:56:00.000-04:00

Well I had a delightful 4th of July at home with Ella and Tobi. Ella and I actually walked in Lexington's parade, carrying the banner for K.E.E.P., an organization that promotes legislation to improve and solidify the horse industry as one of Kentucky's key industries. The 7th I spent the day out on lake Cumberland with friends Kris and Michelle. A good day on the lake just can't be beat.

Monday however I was back on a plane to the city by the bay. This time I stayed in the Sir Francis Drake hotel. What a joy to be staying a short elevator ride away from the Starlight Room. Of course, I made the most of it. The place was closed down Monday night because several (un-named) major league ball players rented out the entire lounge for a private party. Nice.

Work at PG&E is going very well. I still love walking to work and I really don't mind the travel. I'm really only away from home for 3 nights a week. Compare that with the 43 consecutive nights that Atos Origin (my previous employer) asked me to stay on the road and it's a cake walk. As an added bonus, my dog actually remembers me when I come home now.

I have received a great deal of support from friends and family for my photography exhibition in Lexington. Not only did a great many people attend the gallery hop, but several friends and family have gone out of their way (some made a 3 hour drive) to see my work. I am greatly appreciative of this support, especially because it already has me thinking about where my next show will be.

On a down note, W and McCain further solidified their standings as D.C.'s village idiots, and it appears we may all be rallying behind Obama like it or not. I'm not convinced he's the best choice, and it really bothers me that the (media's) implication is that whomever raises the most money the fastest will obviously be the best President. On the contrary, it just means he/she is good at pitching a product. What we need is a diplomat, a statesman, someone who can address both out domestic and foreign policy needs at the same time without eating their own words on a weekly basis and needing a vice president who tries to hide anything and everything from the public. I heard that Dick Cheney is now denying that he's even the vice president. O that we could be so fortunate.

Full Circle

2007-07-02T16:42:00.001-04:00

A chapter in my life came full circle today as I was able to have lunch with my good friend Bruce Bartolf. Bruce is a Senior VP and CTO at Gensler, an internationally reknowned architecture and design firm with a client list that is truly impressive. Bruce went to Miami a few years before I did, and we met back in 1998 when he was visiting campus. We had a few beers uptown, he offered me an internship for the summer, next thing you know I was living in San Francisco for 3 months. It was my first insight into the IT world and I will be forever grateful to him for the opportunity. I hope that someday I can pay it forward. 10 years later I am impressed to see that Gensler has retained some of the same staff. Out here in the Bay area job market, that says a lot about Bruce and Gensler.

A wise man explained to me in high school about how people pass in and out of your life all the time, and the significance of the impressions that they leave with you, and that you leave with them. At the time, it seemed like some kind of hippie nonsense, but through the years, I've learned that it's true. Whether is someone I drink a beer with at an airport bar, or a taxi driver who's taking me around town, I always try to see if there's something interesting they have to share, and to leave them with a good impression of me.

Speaking of which, yesterday I learned that the street value of a SF taxi medallion is now over $200,000. Don't ever underestimate how hard it is to make a living driving a cab.

The days are just packed

2007-07-02T13:16:00.001-04:00

I had an exciting weekend here in San Francisco. I went to the Federal Reserve Bank, the Museum of Modern Art, shopping at Union Square, the Fillmore jazz festival, and "Pinot Days." Along the way I met up with Puja who is out here doing a swanky internship at Yahoo.

The FRB is an interesting place. It's a semi-government organization, it's non-profit, and it's a major force in the US economy. Aside from setting monetary policy, the Fed provides a number of services to banks, including check clearing and currency services. The FRB San Francisco has on display the most complete collection of US currency anywhere, including an original $100,000 treasury note, and bank notes signed by Ben Franklin and Paul Revere. They also have some US military (WWII) currency on display. I didn't know it, but we actually printed our own French, German, and Japanese currency for the allies to use.

At the MOMA I saw a great exhibition of photographer Martin Munkacsi's work. He had an outstanding talent for capturing candid shots of people, which is something I've always thought was very difficult to do.

The Fillmore Jazz Festival was, well, the Fillmore Jazz Festival. The name should speak for itself. If it doesn't, then me rambling on about the history behind Fillmore St. would be, well, just me rambling on, and I'm sure you all get enough of that anyway.

Pinot Days was probably the highlight of my weekend though. It's a whole festival dedicated to Pinot Noir, which is a way more complex wine than I had ever imagined. They filled a warehouse with literally hundreds of wineries offering samples of their latest and greatest vintages. Almost all these wineries were from California and the west coast, so it was really a chance to sample how many different ways you can make a Pinot. Don't worry, I'm in no danger of becoming a wine snob. I just think it's interesting how much soil conditions and processing differences can make hundreds of different vairants of the same grape juice.

I'm still eating well of course, and walking everywhere I can to try and make up for all the "eating well." I did give in and ride the cable car yesterday, which is always fun. They jacked up the price from $3 to $5 recently though, I imagine because they know that only tourists ride them.

Ding ding

2007-06-29T22:04:00.001-04:00

Here you can see the massive wheels and motors that turn the cables through the streets of San Francisco. The motors are GE electric motors that put out 510 horsepower using 500 volts and 800 amps. These are big motors. The simplicity and mechanics of the whole system just astound me, so I'm going to ramble about them for a bit.

Your average cable car line is about 5 miles long, which means it needs a 10 mile "loop" of cable to operate. This powerhouse (pictured above) is located at the approximate center of all 3 lines, which means at some points, these motors are moving a cable car full of passengers that is 2 miles or more away. Oh yeah, and your average cable car weighs 16,000 lbs before you fill it with oversized American tourists. Oh yeah, and there can be as many as 4 cars on a given route at a given time - some cars will be moving, and others will be loading/unloading passengers. Yet all cars on a given line use the same physical cable.

So these big motors pictured above to quite an amazing job. They fire them up in the morning, and shut them down at night. During the day, these motors keep the cables turning through the streets of San Francisco at a constant 9.5mph no matter what. They don't start and stop, they just run. Doesn't matter if they're moving 4 cable cars or just the cable itself. That amazes me. Plus it's 100 year old technology that is still relevant, yet for some reason computers and cell phones become horribly outdated after a year or two. And in my opinion, a cable car system is much more useful than either of those other two gadgets.

Better than I left it

2007-06-27T12:05:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to report that San Francisco is even better than I left it some 10 years ago. The streets are cleaner, public transit has been improved, and new sky scrapers are going up in areas that were "dead zones" last time I was here.

I'm staying in union square with a couple other guys from the team. Dinner Monday night was curry garbanzo bean soup followed by shrimp risotto at Scala's Bistro. Last night we found the perfect Irish pub (O'Reilly's) off Columbus Ave for a few beers after work, then wandered over to Mangarosa where I had homemade gnocci in a garlic cream sauce followed by strawberry bread pudding for dessert. Breakfast today was a Jamba Juice smoothie - $4, 300 calories, 5 servings of fruit, 100% of the RDA of vitamins and they taste great.

I got in touch with Puja yesterday and we are going to try and meet up this weekend sometime. So pretty much I'm having a great week.

Brilliant!

2007-06-26T21:42:00.000-04:00

The best idea in air travel... ever. Some airline in Ecuador is offering lingerie fashion shows on its flights.

San Francisco

2007-06-26T19:05:00.000-04:00

After a nice relaxing anniversary weekend with Ella at Disneyworld, I'm happy to report that I'm back on the job with EDS. I'd been on the bench for several months so it's good to be once again practicing my trade. IT strategy is a lot more interesting than the other types of consulting I've done, and this time it takes me to the city by the bay for a project at Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). Many of you may remember PG&E from the movie Erin Brockovich - these are the guys who poisoned the water supply of Hinkley, CA, lied about it, and ended up settling to the tune of $333 million. Not the kind of PR you'd like to be remembered for, but this is a matter of public record.

On a positive note, all signs indicate that they've learned from the experience. You can't get on an elevator at this place without reading about the importance of safety, protecting the communities in which they work and protecting the environment, and corporate ethics. They've even launched a campaign to move away from fossil fuel power generation to "green generation" power plants. One proposal involves creating a "tidal plant" that creates electricity from the (massive) flow of water each day in and out of San Francisco bay. This, at the same time Kentucky is trying to convince people that "clean coal" is the energy of the future so we can keep our mining industry alive a while longer. Show me a coal miner who actually believes in the idea of "clean" coal. Does clean coal still involve blowing mountain tops to bits with dynamite and miners dying of black lung? I hate to be so cynical, but these PR campaigns about "balanced energy choices" (meaning let's not throw out coal yet) and how it's unreasonable to force the big automakers to design more fuel efficient vehicles are really getting on my nerves these days. If thinking that we should be responsible stewards of our environment makes me a tree-hugger, so be it. The Governator is a Republican, and look at the environmental reforms he's put in place.

Anyway I'm staying at a nice hotel, right across the street from one of my favorite bars of all time - Harry Denton's Starlight Room. The guys I'm working with are great, PG&E is really excited about the work we're going to do for them. Plus now that Bob Barker has moved on, I have no desire to stay at home and watch Price is Right anymore. I'll keep you posted on my adventures in SF.

God Bless Richard Lugar

2007-06-26T12:55:00.000-04:00

For saying this week what our President has needed to hear for some time now from a member of his own party. Lugar is arguably the most respected senator in terms of foreign policy, and one of my favorite politicians.

He ran for President in 96, but dropped out before the GOP convention. In my opinion, his campaign should be counted among the losses from the Oklahoma City bombing. The bombing took place literally hours before Lugar publicly announced his candidacy and, rightfully so, the news coverage in the following days and weeks was dominated by the tragedy that took place that day. One effect of this was that very few people even learned that Lugar was running for President until a week or two later.

I was in downtown Indianapolis for Lugar's announcement, and I still have a "Lugar for President" poster from that day. I wonder how different things would be today if we'd skipped a 2nd Clinton term and put a real diplomat in office. Zbigniew Brzezinski knows.