Time Rolls On, and With it Change

Good afternoon everyone. Let me start by saying the state of the ranch is fine, save for slight neglect. T-Rex, Princess P-Chop and the wife are good. We spent the weekend at Lake Camanche, CA on a rental pontoon boat. The weekend before that, we visited the Avenue of the Giants, walking around and staring at trees taller than football fields are long, standing when Christ walked the Earth. The place is amazing and humbling.

I started my MS in Project Management at USF last week. I go every Wednesday from 6 to 10 at night. I still need to get my homework done (reading 6 or so chapters and writing a 3-4 page essay), but that will be no problem.

I do not think I mentioned this, but the site I work at is on a military installation, and due to BRAC, it will be closing 3-4 years from now. I wanted to capitalize on education benefits over the next few years to really sharpen my skills and resume. Ideally, I would like to stay with my present employer and have them move me to another site to work. I just need to continue to do a good job and get my resume to the point where I am attractive in many situations. I have a good reputation with them, so I think I'm on the right track.

I also have about 100 folks working for me at the site, and I am trying to motivate them to do the same; ready themselves for opportunities in the future. It is hard to get folks to do these things. Change is a tough thing to ready people for, to get them to realize the only constant is change, paraphrasing Heraclitus. I have so many great folks that could really open up doors if they would just spend the next 2 years getting that degree done, that cert completed, etc. For some, it is fear. They're afraid to go back to school and fail. For some it is conceit. They don't believe they need the degree...they're just fine and a degree is nothing more than paperwork. Our company even gives employees money to pay for the training! Ugh....

So, I hope by the end of my 3 years I will:
-Get my MS in Project Management at USF
-Get my PMP Certification
-Get multiple ITIL Practitioner Certs, maybe the big IT Service Mgr Cert (tough one to get!)
-Get my Security+ Cert, maybe my CISM

I think that's a healthy set of professional goals for now.

What else should I look for to continue in my IT/Telecommunications Manager career? If you have any ideas, don't be afraid to holler!

An Old Hand Returns to the Ranch

Immersed in study and self-actualization, your intrepid logic hand has not entered anything relevant to this blog-spot for many moons. I thought it best to simply abandon these 40 acres of reason ranch; let the weeds grow, the ponies run free and the fences fall. Who is reading, anyway?

Well, I will update on my status now although I think no one is watching. This is more for me than you anyway. Perhaps Howard Roark is rubbing off on me.

Thomassaurus Rex had a swollen lymph node that scared us. The doctors would not rule out the “C” word, specifically leukemia, until they removed the gland and let Stanford Hospital do a biopsy. They removed it and he was released, and then his wound became infected, he had a fever and the wound swelled up to the size of a tennis ball. This looked significantly scary on a 3-year-old boy’s neck. After a week, they released him to come home again, and the wound eventually healed.

Fanning the flames of rebellion, Princess Pork Chop has fought her parents tooth and nail regarding cleaning her room, doing her homework, completing her chores, brushing her hair…you name it! Confrontation leads to nothing more than denials of fault or control over her own responsibilities. Sending her to “time out” in her room only results in muttering of “Attica” under her breath, and Barbie-doll legs being sharpened into shanks “to stick it to the man” when he is not looking.

Buzz Lightyear is full-grown and very hairy. Someone told me that dogs see their human family as a pack, as they would see their own families of dogs. Buzz sees himself somewhere above both T-Rex and Princess PC in our family “pack”. He herds T-Rex, nipping him gently on the ankles and heels when they are on a run. He also puts up a fight with Princess PC, who acts a little too wimpy with Buzz for a 10 year-old girl.

Mrs. Ruslfish has started her Graduate program in Project Management at U San Fran. She is eating it up, but also far too nervous about her writing skills and ability to grasp course content. This is same strong, intelligent woman who received all A and A-s except for one B in her undergraduate program. I need to be nicer to her about this silly fear, but it just seams ridiculous at times.

I completed all my classes for my Organizational Behavior undergrad degree at USF. I still need to complete three general credits and then I graduate. Graduating from USF will also enable me to return to Foothill College and get my AA in Philosophy. Foothill allows a student to forego the math requirement if the student already has an undergrad degree. I tried to CLEP out the three units on Saturday, and totaling failed! I could not get a 50% on a College Algebra exam. Sure, I am more an English/history/philosophy type, but for crying out loud! College Algebra is logic! So, I have to hit the books again and find 3 general units I can complete. I am banking on Management Principles.

Work moves on. I have been making many trips to CO Springs and FL for a proposal called NSOM, which will be the follow on contract for my present contract. I am a defense contractor and a program manager working in telecommunications for the US Air Force. My type of work involves 5 year spurts of employment, followed by re-competing the work and hoping your company makes the best business case to the government so they retain your company. I feel confident in our abilities on this one.

I have nothing to say about Imus, VA Tech, or anything that has been going on recently. I have been reading Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, but do not spend enough time reading it as I should. I will remedy that tonight. Cool book so far, though.

I’ll have something more witty and thought provoking later this week. Or not.

O’Reilly vs. Coulter...the chick wins

I am almost done with Godless, Ann Coulter’s latest sharp satire with the thesis that liberalism is a godless religion. It is a good thesis with a lot of supporting facts and ideas that Coulter slaps down on the table like my daughter slaps down mean Uno cards. “Ha! Draw Four!” I can “feel” Coulter’s sense of intellectual victory in each point she makes. This lady just loves her work. The book shows it.

Argue against her points if you can, but I cannot.

She Argues that Liberals:

• Incorrectly believe everyone can be rehabilitated and too often opt for prisoner paroles
• Believe in abortion and do not want to face the logic or science against it, instead labeling all opposition bible thumpers
• Put up victims in front of them to make their ridiculous liberal points and then cry foul when you challenge the point, claiming you are attacking the victim
• Only use scientific information when it benefits their argument and ignore it when it does not, treating scientific data and tabulations as relative information to apply only when it benefits their cause
• Deeply “believe” in the theory Evolution when it fails every scientific test, and then hypocritically brand those who believe in the theory of Intelligent Design and backwards
  

Anyone attracted to her dry dark humor can also appreciate the well-researched facts she brings to the argument.

However, to be in the argument, people need to know you are arguing, or you are just alone in the room talking to yourself, as Bill O’Reilly often does.

Check out this recent column from Factor-Man.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/oreilly061906.asp


If Ann Coulter did not shake people into paying attention by using hard-hitting satire, no one would listen. I love how Bill writes that he has made the same points all along, even on the Letterman show. Really? I do not remember what he said being a big subject of conversation around my water cooler, or on TV (except for his show), or in the papers or anywhere else. How wonderful that you were able to make your points in a polite manner, Bill. I’ll hug the other 3-4 people who got your point later today.

Meanwhile, as Bill lifts up his pinky-finger while sipping tea, Coulter roles up her sleeves and jumps into the pit, fighting to be heard and succeeding. Now she looks like the bad person to some, but how many times will the liberals try to use the victim shield for their ridiculous logic and succeed? SHE DID IT, and Bill failed.

O’Reilly’s argument is stupid. I have a better analogy. Let’s say Bill O’Reilly figured out the cure for cancer, and politely told everyone he did, but those who prefered their treatment for cancer diminished and ignored him. Coulter figured out the same cure for cancer, but jumped into people’s laps on TV shows, called anyone who attempted to argue with her "retarded", made sure her cure was accessible for popular review and even insulted the alternative treatment’s crowd? Well, people would think she was a kook, and then would use her cancer cure and survive.

She is a true believer. True believers are not polite and sacrifice their time, treasure, reputations, and sometimes blood to ensure what is right happens. She is a crusader, with both its positive and negative ramifications.

This guy agrees.

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/article.jsp?content=20060626_129699_129699#continue

O’Reilly is slowly becoming what he fought against early on. Truth outweighs civility. Getting out the truth will not wait for the civil.

Super-Size Me or Proselytize Me: Free Will v. Mob Will

There is a certain grace inherent in my parent’s faith. They are Catholic and attend church every week, revere the holy days, believe in the virgin birth and the resurrection of Christ. They believe to follow Catholicism; one must adhere to papal edicts. They hope my family (wife, 2 kids and me) will take Catholicism as our own religion too. They will not disown us if we do not follow their faith. They do not browbeat my family or me into going to church. They are pleased when we attend on our visits to see them. They would NEVER vote for a government that would force a religion on their populace…or at least they would not vote one in knowingly.
But all this would be expected, right? In America, with Catholicism, they do not proselytize people; force them to praise God the way the majority or the powerful dictate…or do they?

The definition of proselytize is to
1. Induce someone to convert to one's own religious faith
2. Induce someone to join one's own political party or to espouse one's doctrine
3. Convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another

Islam has always wanted to force conversion on those not Muslim. Dennis Prager had four interesting quotes in a recent article that made me think about this. Four famous and powerful Muslim leaders said the following. I quote from the article.

The Prophet Muhammad in his farewell address: "I was ordered to fight all men until they say, 'There is no god but Allah.'"

Saladin (great 12th-century founder of the Ayyubid dynasty that included Ayyubid Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and much of present-day Saudi Arabia): "I shall cross this sea to their islands to pursue them until there remains no one on the face of the earth who does not acknowledge Allah."

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (father of the Islamic revolution in Iran): "We will export our revolution throughout the world . . . until the calls 'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah' are echoed all over the world."

Osama bin Laden in November 2001: "I was ordered to fight the people until they say 'there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Muhammad.'"

My mentors taught me while in the church and through my theological studies of Catholicism that Catholics believe God gave all people free will. We must acknowledge, with our free will, that God is omnipotent and our salvation and the individual must sacrifice openly, knowingly and freely to God’s divine truth to be truly worth notice of Heaven. That is what duty is: giving up more than you get in return because you want to, like voluntary slavery. To force and subjugate people, compelling them to adhere to the tenants of a religion does not create true, faithful followers, but slaves. It turns that religion into a tyranny, a totalitarian entity, not a path to salvation. Islam has no problems going through the motions and creating slaves, as the previous quotes prove.

Liberalism also believes we should do “good things” by force. I am forced to donate much of my money to programs for people who make less money than I do. I am told I owe the population these “taxes” since the country allows me to make money here. BULLSHIT. The country did not give me wealth. I created my own wealth, through my own initiative, diligence and creativity. The United States does not control me. I control the United States. The nation does not allot me the power to run my life. I ALLOT THIS GOVERNMENT THE POWER TO MANAGE MY NATION. Liberals believe we all owe the country. Sorry, slick. The country has my loyalty, but I owe it nothing. I have a duty to my country that I will take up, but duty is voluntary.

The socialist “redistribution of wealth”, like unbalanced taxation to give those who make less money more wealth, is supposedly done to be “fair” and “equal” for all people; to ensure that everyone has their basic needs satiated. That is not fostering free will, and is un-Christian. Doing good deeds for those less fortunate must be voluntary to be worthy of merit, not forced on a person through the mob rules philosophy of socialism. They, the government, takes the money (by force) that I obtained through hard work, sacrifice and ingenuity and gives it to people who did not work hard for it, sacrifice for it or come up with an ingenious way to create it (unless you call the scams out there today ingenious). Do not give them money, and they will survive still on their own merit and through their own hard work. No, they may not make as much as me or Bill Gates or Brad Pitt or Tiger Woods. And so what? We are guaranteed the right to make that money, not the right to that money. The government does this taking of my possessions by force. If I do not give them what they want, they will take it at gunpoint.

Again, the definition of proselytize is to
1. Induce someone to convert to one's own religious faith
2. Induce someone to join one's own political party or to espouse one's doctrine
3. Convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another

What is the similarity between the Socialist agenda and the Islamist agenda? The liberal with the socialist goal wants to take away my freedom to work and own through force so they can control power, carve out a world of their design. The Muslim radical with the Islamist goal wants to take away my freedom of choice through force so they can control power, carve out a world of their design.

Any wonder why the liberal says we are loosing the war with radical Islam, we are infringing on civil rights when we monitor the enemies’ phone calls? Why do they protest the war while waving old Soviet Union flags and wearing Che shirts? Why do the communist groups like ANSWER run these anti-war protests? How can they combine the protesting war on terror, their hate of the patriot act, and the incompatible arguments of keeping illegal immigration strong, doing a better job protecting our nation and raising the minimum wage? Check out this on the fence film on the little green football site and see what I am talking about last paragraph.

Why are we submitting to an irreligious religion? I am looking forward to Ann Coulter's new book and looking for answers in some of her arguments.

The Ugly Face of Moral Relativism: who is Madeline to judge?

Check out what Madeline Albright said in the LA Times today.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-albright24mar24,0,5251258.story?coll=la-home-commentary

Moral relativism once again shows it’s ugly face. And damn, Albright is fugly!

Leveraging the obscurity of what the word “is” is may have worked in the 90s, but not today, half way through a decade scarred by terrorist appeasement no more. There are no half-truths or rational opposing viewpoints when it comes to what is good and what is bad in the world today. Killing indiscriminately and doing so saying, “Allah wants it that way, just ask me” is evil. These morons cannot even accept responsibility, but blame their god.

Forget it, Madeline Notbright. You cannot compare the Western ideal to fundamental Islam. That is like saying the Union’s ideals in the Civil War versus the Confederacy’s manipulation of “states rights” argument in order to continue to enslave people is morally equivalent. It’s like saying the Civil Rights movement in the sixties is morally equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan’s outlook on how American Society should run.

Terrorists attacked us. We warned the world we could no longer allow the support of fundamentalist terrorist organizations. The globe has shrunk and terrorists easily traverse it when mayhem and murder is the goal. We went into Afghanistan to clear out a regime that supported terrorism. We went into Iraq to do the same. Iran now looms as a problem. In each case, a totalitarian, oppressive government that kills for thoughts and imprisons/tortures for disagreement threatens our safety by supporting terrorist organizations and creating/threatening us with weapons that could kill thousands to millions.

Yet we should not judge, right Madeline? Bull crud. We must judge, for our judgments save lives, free the enslaved, bring fairness and justice and freedom to oppressed people in America and across the globe.

Yeah let’s put the liberals back in power. Watch us capitulate and die.

Marketing a Mountain

“Sherpas are mystified that Westerners spend so much time and money to see what to them are sometimes sacred but not very interesting mountains.”
-Jim Fisher on page 90 of Everest, Mountain Without Mercy

“The wolves pounced on him in a flashing tempest of teeth and claws. And as they tore through his parka and closer to his flesh, Josh had to laugh. For as bleak as this looked, it was still like puppy time at the petting zoo compared to the first time he was attacked by the pure and natural peppermint in Everest – the mint gum without mercy.™”
-Author Unknown, from “Merciless Tale #103” on the inside wrapper of an Everest Powerful Mint Gum tin.

During our first session in the Mind-Surfing class, Dr. Lankford told us to write down what we knew about Mount Everest. One of my favorite gums is Everest Powerful Mint Gum. They are little chunks of mint gum that pack a real punch. They use Everest to signify how powerfully cool the mint flavor is when you chew one. That is a catchy sales pitch.
When I read about how the commercialization of Mount Everest increased the tourism trade and how the Sherpas did not quite understand the big deal about it (on pages 90 and 91 of the assigned book), I figured they were just accustomed to the humongous mountain. They did not see it as an icon of a huge challenge, great height and bitter cold as many Westerners see it. To them, the gum would be like one of us looking at “Los Altos Chewing Gum.” I am sure they sense a level of majesty related to the highest peak in the world, but they are so familiar with it that the impact is smaller.
The ad executives that put together the Everest Gum concept saw a similar opportunity to capitalize on the iconic mountain to make money as the natives of Nepal. And what a concept! I noticed that on the inside of the package there are small stories of great challenges in the daunting cold. These main characters, like X-Game action figures, go hiking in the forest or climbing a mountain of snow boarding off cliffs and get into some horrible trouble. In each story, they are about to meet some grizzly fate, but hearken back to the first time they chewed an Everest Gum and realize that challenge (the powerfully strong mint flavor) was a much greater test. Pretty funny.
Along with the story is a URL to their website: www.everestgum.com. I checked it out. They sure put a lot of time and talent into it. They have interesting information in the site like the equipment used to climb. They also had a “Sherpa” in there that they treated like a cartoon. It was a picture of a native with the mouth cut out that would move up and down when it talked, like the pictures in a Monty Python ‘s Flying Circus cartoon sketch. I am not the type to get all offended by things like that, but I could plainly see that others would feel it denigrated the Sherpa.
When you think of the tourism, the books, the movies, the mint gums and all the other things that go along with commercialization of Mount Everest, you wonder if all this capitalism is exploiting this majestic icon. I hope the natives around the mountain gain greater comfort and do not lose their identity and traditions. They are not inanimate mountains for catchy product manipulation.

My Mountain Manifesto Entry 1: Companionship and the Mountain

“Breashears, the fax continued, is safe but is joining the rescue effort.”
-Tim Cahill on page 14 of Everest: Mountain Without Mercy

“Climbing with you was easy as a vow”
-W.H. Auden from his poem “The Climbers”

Tim Cahill wrote one of the first stories in the book Everest: Mountain Without Mercy. He explained his feelings when his friend and colleague, David Breashears, was in possible jeopardy while climbing Mount Everest. He did a good job expressing his feelings, making the tension of wondering if his friend was all right analogous to the feeling you get when you see a child run in front of a vehicle.
Cahill and Breashears held a common interest: their wish to scale Everest and make a movie in the IMAX format of the ascent. Cahill said, “No one had ever attempted this before because everyone knew it was impossible.” Cahill went on to describe Breashears as a “tireless worker, entirely professional”. They worked well together and there was a bond in place, a bond forged by mutual admiration and respect for one another and the tallest mountain in the world.
W. H. Auden wrote many great poems about companionship and love. One of these poems, “The Climbers”, uses scaling a mountain as a metaphor for the arduous journey he and a partner had in their relationship.
The first stance of the poem describes Auden’s escape from the mundane people that live around him. To escape, he must climb “the mountains” of his fears. His fear of being different, recognizing he is not like others, is a vast obstacle to conquer. His journey does not allow for valleys (cols) or water or anything that would make the obstacle easier, especially excuses or victim-hood.
The second stance turns the subject away from his own climb and focuses on a friend who is sharing the task. The first line is so powerful! Vows are easy when you take one for what you believe in. Auden could have also been alluding to a wedding-type vow, but a general vow feels more powerful to me, so I am sticking to my first interpretation.
Cahill showed his strong feelings of respect and admiration, and explained the great stress he felt when there was a possibility that Breashears could have been hurt or killed. They forged their relationship with the obstacle of Mount Everest as a common goal. Auden’s mountain represented the same thing: an obstacle. His mountain also honed a relationship he had with another. Although Auden’s mountain was not a physical height to climb, there were dangers, discomforts and tough points to overcome.


The Climbers

Fleeing the short-haired mad executives,
The sad and useless faces round my home,
Upon the mountain of my fear I climb;
Above, the breakneck scorching rock, the caves,

No col, no water; with excuse concocted,
Soon on my lower alp I fall and pant,
Cooling my face there in the faults that flaunt
The life which they have stolen and perfected.

Climbing with you was easy as a vow;
We reached the top not hungry in the least,
But it was eyes we looked at, not the view,
Saw nothing but ourselves, left-handed, lost;
Returned to shore, the rich interior still
Unknown. Love gave the power, but took the will.

-W. H. Auden

My Mountain Manifesto

I wrote about Mount Everest when I was reading a cool book titled Everest, Mountain Without Mercy. I have some various journal entries relating Mount Everest to various things, and I want to start posting those entries. This was an idea that Dr. Scott Lankford put out in an English Seminar that he calls Mind Surfing. So be it!

I'm sick of doing anything else, and I want to re-inspire myself. I hope they inspire you some too.

First one is coming up....