The Perfect Kiss

You've seen The Wedding Singer, right? Well, one of my favorite scenes in that movie is the scene where Drew and Adam have their practice kiss in front of Christine Taylor. I saw that movie the other day, and I always look forward to that scene, because to me, that's one of the greatest on-screen kisses of all time. The music's great, the chemistry between the actors is real, the reactions are nearly perfect. It looks like the kind of kiss we all dream about, the one with real love and feeling in it. It looks like the kind of kiss where you lose all pretense, open up completely, and share everything that is you with the other person...the Perfect Kiss.


("Not porno tongue, church tongue." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! What a great line!)

I loved that scene before, and I love it even more now, because I'm now with Heidi. Sure, a lot of our kisses are the quick little see-you-after-work pecks or the slightly better welcome-home-after-a-long-day smooches. But from time to time, we are still able to really feel the connection between us, and it opens up as we kiss each other, we begin to extend through our mouths, and then BAM! The Perfect Kiss. I never had the Perfect Kiss before I was with Heidi, and that makes that scene a lot more enjoyable for me. I hope each of you has had the Perfect Kiss at least once. It is not to be missed.

Proper Driving, Lesson 2

This is not completely mine, but it's excellent information. I actually remember this from Driver's Ed, all the way back during the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. Unfortunately, however, most folks treat their side mirrors as nothing more than an extension of their rear-view mirror. In the days before good central rear-view mirrors, this was fine. However, the rear-view mirrors now are much better when they're aimed to help you guard your blind spots (especially since the art of turning your head to check your blind spot before changing lanes has also been lost by many of today's drivers).

So the folks over at Car and Driver have come up with a very helpful article on how to adjust your side mirrors so that you can see what or who is in your blind spot a lot better. I have used this method for years, and since I learned it in Driver's Ed, I figured everyone did it this way. I have since learned that they don't. So please, read the article, and drive safely (and smartly) out there.

Valentine's Day

Since today is Valentine's Day, I thought I'd make mention of it. I've never been a huge Valentine's Day person, myself, though I have always worked somewhat hard to observe it, since the female I've been with has usually placed some sort of value on it. Heidi and I actually got a night to ourselves last night, as one of her friends (whose husband is deployed, and who does some childcare for extra money) gave a "Parents' Night Out" for her friends. She took all the kids while we all went out and had a good time. These days, Heidi and I don't get a lot of time just to ourselves, where we can enjoy each other's company, so it's great when we can take the opportunity. We went and got our hair done, which is much easier when you don't have the kids. We then went to the casino, but didn't have much luck there. We finished off with a late dinner and great conversation at Chili's. It was a wonderful night out with my special lady.

Alas, it's snowing again here today, though there's not supposed to be much. I told Heidi last night that Oklahoma is such a wonderful place, it's working hard for her, even providing greater-than-average snowfall so that she'll feel right at home. So we're not going to be going outside much...yesterday was much nicer. Instead, Heidi's going to get some rest this morning, and later I'll be trying to finish getting our junk moved out of the garage and into our storage unit, then I will be trying to take my online baseball rules test. We also need to get some laundry finished, and I have to get my gear ready for umpiring, since scrimmages start this week (assuming the weather cooperates). I have to wash some shirts and get Heidi's help in hemming my new umpiring pants. A word to any men out there who might be interested in a secondary career in officiating: it's good work, pays pretty well, and is lots of fun, but the up-front costs in training time, mileage, and equipment are non-trivial. I've been through this before, so I wasn't too shocked. But I did just spend $350 on new baseball clothes for umpiring...and I didn't even need the expensive stuff like a chest protector, shin guards, or mask. So be warned. Doing football isn't quite as bad, but I think I still spent about $150-200 to get ready for that.

You know what they say: you gotta spend money to make money. That's definitely the case here. Well, at least I'm having some fun, too. I have two jobs I love...not many folks can say that, especially these days when lots of folks would love to even have just one job that they hate.

60 Years of Indoor Plumbing Everywhere...

And there are still men who, it seems, don't recognize a regular toilet. These are men who couldn't hit a toilet bowl from 18 inches away with ANYTHING (urine stream, dirty toilet paper, etc.) if you paid them a million dollars to do it. And they are very good at using their lack of recognition and skill at every public toilet they happen upon.

Another Olympic Travesty

I'm generally no longer a fan of the Olympics. I see it more and more as an opportunity for other countries to feel good about themselves in comparison to us. "We might not have even close to the standard-of-living or economic or political freedom you have, but we beat you in winter biathlon, you stupid Americans!" I also grew tired of the inclusion of too many subjective athletic competitions; if your "sport" requires the subjective judging of some guy sitting and watching you, rather than a concrete set of criteria that everyone can see, measure, and acknowledge, your "sport" is no such thing. Figure skating, ice dancing, synchronized swimming, freestyle skiing and snowboarding, rhythmic gymnastics (or just about any of the gymnastics disciplines, for that matter), and trampoline(?!) are just a few of the travesties to be included in the Games. It's just too easy for judges to shaft competitors because they don't like their country or just don't like them personally. And it happens all the time. Finally, I think the TV coverage, with its endless searching for human-interest garbage and its naive "We Are The World" nonsense (if world peace were gonna happen, it already would have, and no Olympic games are ever gonna change that).

Well, chalk up another fine moment for the Olympics and specifically the International Olympic Committee. Go check out this video (via Instapundit):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35320777#35320777

(My favorite line of the whole thing: "Are uteruses gonna fall out or something?")

I think this would upset me less if ski jumping (at least for men) hadn't been included in the Winter Games since 1924. It also clearly meets the "sport" criteria, as you basically measure the distance jumped...there's no "style points" involved. If you have bad form, you don't fly as far. Ski jumping is also one of the most widely-practiced winter ski sports worldwide, so it's not like most traditional Winter Olympics countries would have trouble fielding a team. (Note here that the Wikipedia article lists several well-known female ski jumpers.) Nor would any additional facilities or slopes need to be built; they exist for the men's events already. And for Heaven's sake, we have curling...CURLING!!! We can't we add three women's ski-jumping events?

I'm also really angered by the IOC's Dick Pound "shut up little girl" attitude..."if you embarrass us, we'll just keep putting you off." Well done, Mr. Jerkwad, well done. You just made these ladies' case for them! And YOU competed in the Olympics yourself, you say? Well, you already got your moment in the sun.

So what exactly IS holding up the IOC and the rest of the skiing world? Perhaps uteruses really ARE going to fall out.

The Technology Company Cycle

For those of you who are not long-time readers, I absolutely hate Apple and its products. It's not that the products themselves are bad...it's just that both the company and its users put off so much smug self-righteousness because they're Apple-heads, that I simply couldn't stand to live with such people. (I jokingly hold my breath while walking past any Apple store, much to Heidi's chagrin.) I've said before: I prefer tools, not lifestyles. As a security person, I'm a technology agnostic, anyway...all tech is created by humans, and humans are imperfect, therefore their tech will also be.

However, I realized today that I can take comfort that Apple's run is quickly approaching its end. Here's the basic pattern for a technology company:

1. Tech Company A comes up with awesome new product, and the world loves it.
2. For a few years, Tech Company A can do no wrong, and the world and tech press faun over them constantly, gushing about every new release and how great the upcoming product lines are/will be. No one even comes close to its obvious innovations, and "everyone" is using their products.
3. Cracks begin to appear in the dam, as Tech Company A begins to have issues with some of its products and releases. It becomes arrogant and complacent, or it ends up having to focus less on innovation and more on maintaining existing products, or the market catches up with it. Whatever, the shine is off the apple now.
4. People realize how bad it is that "everyone" is using their products, and begin to worry about lack of competition/product costs/loss of privacy/(insert individual concern here).
5. Everyone and the tech press begin to speak cynically and skeptically of everything Tech Company A does. People continue to use Tech Company A's products, but there's no longer the same excitement about new releases, and everyone begins looking for reasons to criticize the company and its products. In other words, fun's over, folks.

This pattern has played itself out with most of the big tech players of the past two decades. Just look at the track record of these other huge players in the tech game...and where their reputations and public standing are today.

Microsoft -- Our friends in Redmond put out Windows 3.1 and 3.11 in the early 90s, and things seemed to be going well for them. People liked them, anyway. THEN they released Windows 95...and THE WORLD LOVED THEM!!! 95 blew everything else away. Windows 98 and 98 SE were even better, and people complained some but Windows was still the best game in town. Then came Windows ME, issues with Windows 2000 service packs, complaints about anti-trust actions with respect to Internet Explorer...and now it's so fashionable to hate Microsoft that everyone does it (even their fans).

AOL -- These folks were at the vanguard of the "Internet for everyone" movement. They had HUGE market share, especially in the days before widespread local DSL and cable broadband connectivity. THE WORLD LOVED THEM!!! Everyone knew exactly what "You've got mail!" came from and what it meant. But they began filtering access, they imposed goofy rules on customers, they started overcharging, their software broke people's computers...and it all went downhill from there.

Cisco -- The ubiquitous networking company (and inventor of the network router, which makes the Internet possible) was the darling of networking companies in the late 90s and early 2000s, as they supported both their own proprietary protocols and products but also pushed and heavily endorsed creation and use of Internet-wide standards for networking. They had incredibly high market share, awesome world-class customer support (of which I myself partook many, many times), and pretty decent products. But they just became too big, took their eye of the networking ball and started branching into anything and everything that could possibly be related to networking: voice-over-IP (VoIP), security, management, storage-area networking (SAN). They bought and absorbed new products and technologies to support these initiatives at an incredible rate. And integrating all those products coherently just got too complex, plus they began scaling back their customer service. Today, people are still OK with them, but no one fauns over them like they used to.

Google -- Made famous by their "do no evil" slogan, everyone LOVED Google in the early days. Their search engine was leaps and bounds better than any of the others (and most others simply died, at least as serious players in the search space, as a result of Google's ability). They began offering cooler and cooler things, starting with Gmail, then moving to Calendar, Maps (with Street View), Apps, and Android. They're still doing cool, innovative things like Voice, Wave, and Buzz, but their issues in China (collusion with China's requirements for search filtering) as well as concerns about the environmental footprint of their datacenters and privacy concerns from Google Maps Street View, has really tarnished their once-sterling reputation. Much as with Cisco, people are still generally OK with Google, but are increasingly turning a wary and discerning eye toward Google's offerings.

There are many other examples of once-well-known names that I didn't mention, like Sun, Oracle, Motorola, Nokia...the list goes on and on.

So hear this, Apple executives, employees, and fanboys...your days are numbered. You are already arrogant, and you will overreach (as you have started to do with the latest imbroglio regarding eBook pricing for the iPad). And then, you might continue to exist but you will no longer be the darlings that you are today. The decline has already begun, and you can't stop it. Enjoy!

Hockey Returns to OKC!!

Hooray!!! This is GREAT NEWS! I'm a pretty big hockey fan, and while I was sad to see the Blazers fold up their tent, I'm really happy we're getting a AAA-level team. Better quality of play and no ridiculous league rules to promote "parity". It's true that ticket prices will probably be higher, but they won't be hugely so, and I would say the better play will take off some of the edge, especially if this team is able to perform well right away. Every town loves a winning team...I don't think the Denver area would've taken to the Avalanche as quickly as they did, if the incoming team (moved from Quebec City, for those of you who don't remember) hadn't won the Stanley Cup in their first year.

Now if we can just get a AAA-level football team here...oh wait, what am I thinking? We already have one. :-D

The Running Updates

I feel like such an idiot...here I was on a good track, getting posts out, and then I fall off the planet for over a week. Well, here are a few updates and thoughts.

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There's been a lot of discussion recently about America's future in space. NASA is, of course, first on the let's-cut-it list during these difficult times. I could talk about short-sightedness, but there are those who could just as easily counter by saying that I am short-sighted for not fully believing that cap-and-trade is needed immediately. So I won't talk about short-sightedness, but I will bring up two points in all of this that, while simplistic, still express my opinion fairly well.

1. The space program and its related technological developments will be a boon for spin-off technologies well into the future. Perhaps we don't discover some incredible new element or other material as a direct result of flying off to the Moon or Mars or some asteroid nearby. The benefits from all of the tremendous technological innovations and expenditures required to make that happen will benefit all of mankind.

2. Talk all you want about not having goals or going anywhere, but let's keep in mind that the REAL goal of human space exploration was best stated by Captain Kirk himself: "To boldly go where no man has gone before." If we're not doing that, then what ARE we doing? What more needs to be said?

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In my busy-ness over the past week or two, I neglected to post anything about Julianna's amazing first birthday. She's such an awesome little girl. Here's a picture of her enjoying her cake:



And here's her cake in full, which Heidi spent a great deal of time putting together (nice work, babe):


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULES!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

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We're noticing a disturbing trend, however, one that I really hope doesn't continue next year. When Julianna was born, we were recovering from a huge ice storm. In fact, I had to drive Heidi to the hospital on the rather treacherous roads. This year, as Julianna's birthday approached...yep, you guessed it, ANOTHER ICE STORM. If we get another one next year, I'm going to be really mad.

Oklahoma has had two of the stormiest and coldest winters on record, in fact. So let's recap: we had a horrible ice storm last year. We had some huge stuff two years ago. We had a horrible, uncharacteristic cold snap in the middle of the fall. And now, two big snow-and-ice storms just within the past month or so. I gotta be honest here...forget the claims of man-made global warming, you're going to have a lot of trouble convincing anyone around here that any global warming claims are legitimate these days.

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I'm kind of tiring of all the talk about how "lifestyle change is required" for America and how we're supposed to start "sacrificing" the things we "don't need". So on that score, I'm writing a post in which I defend my choice of vehicle, and why it does indeed fit my needs (in spite of others' claims, who obviously know my own life better than I do). It dovetails nicely with a great post over at one of my favorite blogs, Car Lust, that just came out yesterday. They must have been reading my mind.

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I am the first to admit that I generally don't waste much time watching NFL football. Yes, yes, I know this is odd for someone who enjoys football as much as I do, but frankly, there's just nothing compelling in it for me. It's a bunch of guys running the same plays over and over, playing for nothing in particular. (At least in the college game, the players are looking to the future, or merely playing for pride or the love of the game, since 99% of college football players will simply graduate and move on with their lives.)

But all the noise surrounding this just-past Super Bowl really has me confused. What on Earth was so interesting about Indianapolis vs. New Orleans? It apparently wasn't even all that good, as it turned into a 31-17 blowout. Really, if anyone out there can explain what made this Super Bowl so much more compelling than any of the 40-something others, there's a Comments section on this blog, so feel free to use it.

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One of the great things about working in IT is that it has allowed me to do some interesting things that I never would have expected. You might think we IT folks just sit around on our duffs all day, playing with computers or typing in boring commands. Yes, there's a lot of that, but there are other things we do, too. I've been on roofs several times. I've been in elevator shafts and steam tunnels and over hanging-grid drop ceilings. I've gotten to travel a fair amount, even some to Canada. And now, I've gotten to use a scissor lift 25 feet in the air. Here I am on it, running cable for one of my father's clients, a new Hyundai dealership in Ardmore:



And here's Dad, in a different area (I needed a break):



Sorry for the marginal quality of the photos, I took them with my Pre, as it's the only camera I keep around.

Scissor lifts are not all that difficult to drive and use...they're kind of like a tank with a platform on it. I will say, though, that when you get up pretty high, it's kind of disconcerting, because it does sway sideways a little bit. You get used to it, but you never quite lose the tense realization that if you're careless, you could easily tip the thing over. It's lots of fun, though, to zip up and down on that thing. I was up probably a few hours all told. Maybe one day I get to drive a bulldozer or something...not quite sure how that could be directly related to IT work, but you never know.

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Finally, we got a new addition to the family on Sunday. A little Jack Russell terrier named Charlie who was found abandoned in Arkansas and brought back here by a very nice family who just couldn't keep another dog. Charlie is a good little dog, very active and playful. He's been really good with the kids, too, which is the key.



That's it for today...another post is coming soon.