Category Archives: Other

Writing that doesn’t fit neatly into other categories.

Searching For Change

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I received a call from the Oregon Democratic Committee a few weeks ago asking me for money. I said no. I’ve gotten to the point in my life that I can’t relate to either party and, after this call, finally filed the paperwork to become an independent.

I don’t usually talk politics here but feel so strongly about what’s happening to our country. I’m worried. David Brooks wrote a tremendous article recently that gets at the crux of the problem. As a nation we have moved away from the hard work and thrift ethos that made us the world’s greatest.

Personal debt has gone from 55% of GDP to 130% of GDP over 60 years. Finally, in the past year, we seem to have gotten the message and are saving more. But the government can’t stop spending. We will be closing in on $1 trillion per year in interest payments alone by 2020!

It’s both parties. The control-spending Republicans seem to be all but gone now. Instead of fighting the Democrats urge to spend, the party seems to have devolved into a spitball throwing organization. Instead of smart conversations about affordability of health care and the smartness of government hand-outs, we get lunacy like “death panels.”

And the Democrats, never one to say no to a government hand-out, must be drunk with power, handing out dollars to everyone who asks without requiring anything in return. (Yes, I’m talking to you, car companies and financial institutions.) The party owned by fiefdoms of lawyers and unions and PERS programs can’t say no to the very people that put them in office.

I get the sense that there’s a backlash coming. And I get the sense that those of us who care about such things are struggling for a way to fight back. Running a start-up (in essence) as we re-invent Infinity Softworks for the third time, I’m working and supporting a family of four on less than the median US wage, while I save money each month at the same time.

And it seems, with each passing day, that doing what’s best for me and mine is not nearly enough. It seems that something more is needed. The problem is I don’t know what to do.

A Weekend Without the Internet

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My wife’s father and aunt grew up in Northeast California, almost at the Nevada border. It’s high desert country, lots of cattle and farming. The largest town in the area, Alturis, has a population of 3000. The nearest McDonald’s is in Klamath Falls or Susanville, each one and a half or two hours away.

We drive down every year over the Labor Day weekend. My wife, her brother and her aunt still own some property in a private area there and over that weekend is the property owners meeting. It’s a very pretty area. We saw deer running down Main Street. Lots of birds and pine trees.

But what we didn’t have was an Internet connection. My cell phone had EDGE network access, so I kept up to speed on the rest of the world, but I couldn’t get my laptop to connect to the motel’s wifi.

I intended to get some work done while we were there but almost everything I do depends on the web now. I write apps for the web, I write documents and do spreadsheets on the web. I’m used to being able to do a search when I need to, check email, Tweet and read news.

I did plan ahead, just in case, bringing a business book to read. At least in my work life, I’m really dependent on the Internet. Back home in Portland, Oregon, I never have a problem. I have some connection the entire time. But in the country it’s a different matter entirely.

Oh well. It’s good to check out occasionally.

A Light Moment In A Dreary Week

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A Software Engineer, a Hardware Engineer, and a Departmental Manager were on their way to a meeting in Switzerland. They were driving down a steep mountain road when suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of control down the road, bouncing off the crash barriers, until it miraculously ground to a halt scraping along the mountainside. The car’s occupants, shaken but unhurt, now had a problem: They were stuck halfway down a mountain in a car with no brakes. What were they to do?

“I know,” said the Departmental Manager. “Let’s have a meeting, propose a Vision, formulate a Mission Statement, define some Goals, and by process of Continuous Improvement find a solution to the Critical Problems, and we can be on our way.”

“No, no,” said the Mechanical Engineer. “That will take far too long, and, besides, that method has never worked before. I’ve got my Swiss Army knife with me, and in no time at all I can strip down the car’s braking system, isolate the fault, fix it, and we can be on our way.”

“Well,” said the Software Engineer, “before we do anything, I think we should push the car back up the road and see if it happens again.”

This joke is courtesy of Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg. The book is the successor to Tracy Kidder’s The Soul of a New Machine, outlining the multi-year software development effort of an open-source Personal Information Management application called Chandler. The company was founded and funded by Mitch Kapor of Lotus fame.

Both books are great for people who like case studies of software development.

Responsibility As a Four Letter Word

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When I was a kid, my stepdad rarely got on my case except if I did a half-ass job of something. And then he would ride me for it. In time, I translated this into taking pride and responsibility for the job I am doing. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

I met with an old college professor the other day for lunch and we were talking about the stock market. His broker works for AG Edwards, owned by Wachovia which will soon be owned by Wells Fargo or Citibank. He made a deal with his broker, who was bemoaning the value of his retirement (meaning stock price). My professor made a deal with his broker that he would buy at $10 per share. He did and the stock fell all the way to $1.80 before rebounding to $7. He bought again at $4. He said to me that he made a deal with his broker and my professor is a man of his word, even if it isn’t in his best interest. He took responsibility for his actions.

This is what he tells me is so great about the military, by the way. He was a Colonel in the Marines. It teaches young men to take responsibility for their actions.

I know an alcoholic. Her alcoholism is everyone’s fault but her own. Take responsibility for your actions and deal with it. Get therapy, get off the booze, get a job and do what you need to do. The first step is admitting you have a serious problem and you can’t handle it alone.

I know a husband and wife who had an abortion because they didn’t want any more kids. Try taking responsibility and use a freakin’ condom.

I know late 20-somethings who still live at home with their parents. Christ, move out and take responsibility for paying bills and having relations and, you know, being an adult.

And it feels like both Democrats and Republicans in my government are desperately spending their days figuring out how to relieve us of the responsibility for our actions. I don’t want my government to act like my parent. I don’t even want my parents acting like that any more.

I feel like I have lived my adult life in some alternative universe where only a minority of people take responsibility for their actions, responsibility for the loans they take and the money they earn and the decisions they make.

I have two young children and every time I look at them, I see the future. It seems very bright to me. But it is only bright if I can teach these girls how to be well adjusted, productive members of society. At least in my house, I will take responsibility for teaching my girls responsibility.

Sports and Doping: Where’s the Scandal?

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I have gotten into watching the Tour de France the past few years. Now, now… before you roll your eyes and move on to the next article, here my out. It partly helps that the only cable sports channel we have is Versus, which shows the event. It also helps that I am a bike commuter so riding interests me (plus my dad’s a fanatic).

But that’s not what I want to talk about here. I want to talk about the following words:

  • “scandal”
  • “tarnished”
  • “doping”
  • “cheaters”
  • “damaged”
  • “credibility” (my favorite since it is referring to the event and/or the sport as a whole)

Read an article about the Tour de France and these words are in every one.

Let me shift course here. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and am cursed to be a Cleveland sports fan: Indians (baseball), Browns (football) and Cavaliers (basketball), in that order. In those three sports, very few athletes have been suspended or thrown out for doping. Does this mean no one is doping in those sports? Highly unlikely.

So the question is, in which sport should the results be questioned? The one where those who use performance enhancing drugs get caught or the sports where they use them and everyone looks the other way?

At this stage, I have more faith in the Tour de France.