Fall or Autumn

Well the answer to that particular question is Fall. At least it is and always has been in Texas. The only reason that I grew up even knowing there was an alternate word for it was some mention in an obscure first grade reader schoolbook. It was probably written and published by someone from the north. Of course I immediately filed that word in with the other useless words written in primary readers by some yankee writer. You know, words that have no meaning or reference to a Texas native. Like mittens or snow or golashes. It's a good thing they included a pictoral reference or I would have assumed it was a medical condition. Lost her mittens or lost her mind sounds like the same thing to me.
As a matter of fact, there are probably a lot of cross culture words that I could remove and never miss. There are also some that have more that one meaning like stoop. Down here it means bending ov a little closer to the ground. Up north stoop is a tiny front porch. In Texas we just have different sized porches. Little ones, big ones, medium sized are all called porches. Of course when you get a great big one and your family wants to put on airs they call it a veranda. It's still a porch to me.
A word of caution. This story has no moral, This story has no end...
Bye now.

Amazing Feats by the Government

Wow, they now have an "interim" security clearance . I have been informed that I have one of those. So now I can do real work on my assigned project. That is amazing because it means that the gov actually changed an existing procedure. Remember that these are the same people that still say it is agianst the law to carry wirecutters in your hip pocket is certain states. However, back to the subject.
I wonder how that works?? I think "interim" means that it is still in the investigation phase but they have got far enough along to assume that I will probably test out all ok. That's all right if I make it, but what if I don't? Do they have one of those 'Men In Black' thingys that make you forget the stuff I am not allowed to see?? That is a scary thought! Maybe that's how Reagan, Ollie North, and Clinton were able to state that they just could not "remember" some incriminating items. That definitely means that the device wasn't around during Nixon's term.
This could be a real hoot !! You could finally forget that really cute girl in High School that turned you down. There are lots of really embaressing moments that I could definitely do without! Besides that I could re-claim that room for storing things now that I keep forgetting.
I gotta go think about this... later folks

Security Clearance Blues

Well here I sit waiting for the U.S. government to get off of the couch and declare that I am not a threat to sell or give away any secret stuff. So far it has been only 2 weeks. That last time, it took almost nine months exactly. Coincidence ?? I don't think I want to go there.
Meanwhile I am bored to death.

Ipod vs. Boze

Well looking back it ain't so bad. This blogging thing at least gets me up off the couch. It is a kind of wierd feeling when you suddenly realize that you can write anything here. And I do mean "anything".
For instance. I don't particularly like the Ipod. Nah, It is not because I'm an old geezer. The functionality, the physical package, and the interface are Great! It is just that the quality of the music is so bad. At a maximum data rate, the highest quality MP3 is 4.28 times worse than a Compact Disc at reproducing the sounds.
The generation before me and my generation spent a lot of sweat and money and time taking recorded music from the old wind-up players, to platters, to "hi-Fi", and to Stereo. Speakers were designed and built to help reproduce sounds as close to the original as possible. Now they seem to be throwing that away.
What's with that?? I do not buy the story that the music is so bad that it is not worth being faithfully reproduced. What do you think?
Pretty risky huh?? Saying that I don't like the most popular music reproducing on the planet? Not only that, It is made by Apple which happens to be the most famous underdog on the planet as well. Shame on me...

Negative ego trip

It's a good thing that I am not dependant on the number of people that read this for my daily bread. Woo Hoo... That would be a buzz kill for real.
I never thought that There would be a large audience for my ramblings during the job hunt, But I did think that the number would be larger than Zero. Insert picture of deflated Ego here.
Seriously folks. I did not even tell friends and family about my venture into the blogging world. That would be too much like selling girl scout cookies. I really wanted a place where I could spit out anything with no fear. However I kind of vicariously like the thought that you can't take back what you spit out. I wonder if it will withstand the time test. You know, read it a week later and think " Wnat a lame thing to think !! Even lamer to write it down where anyone could stumble across it ".
Oh yeah, on the job front... So far So good... still employed. But getting up at 5AM kinda sucks.

Still Alive and Kicking

Just a short note to let anybody that cares know that I intend to continue updating. Yeah, I know... my entire audience is me, myself and I. However that will not deter me.
The past two weeks have been busy times. My new employer works a 9-9-9-9-4 work week. And the day starts at 7:00 AM so I have to be up at 5:00 AM in order to drink enough coffee to stay awake for the drive in to work. Give me a few weeks and I will settle into the new schedule. If I repeat that to myself enough times maybe I'll start to believe it. The only time I ever got up at 5 AM before was the first day of hunting season!!
That's all for now. See Ya.

Woo Hoo, I was wrong!!!

Yep I was wrong. Apparantly I did not completely blow the interview. I start the new position Monday morning . That is part of the reason for the length of time between updates. The other part is you suddenly have 15 million things to do that you have been letting slide. At the same time, you really want to go collapse in front of the TV and just veg out for a couple of days.
Now having said that, I have to also relate the stress relief that I feel. It is amazing. It's almost like I feel externally justified in my existance. Most of the doubts that were beginning to creep in have vanished. Trust me, there were some doubts. Was I "out-of-date"? Too old? Too geeky? Too "out-of-touch"? Too specialized? Not specialized enough?Etc. ?? I am not sure about other people in this position, but I was on an emotional roller coaster.
You have to believe in yourself in order to sell yourself to potential employers. But if you are so damned good, then why did they let you go? Yeah I spent some nights with very little sleep. During the day, you don't dare let your friends, family, or potential employers see any signs of doubt or stress.
One other strange thing is when you tell someone about your success, you are a little disappointed that they don't immediately run around in little circles waving the flag or something. The usual response is "Cool, I knew it would happen". Man, I wish they had let me in on the secret! It was getting pretty lonely out there!