How many scandals will it take?

There are 3 scandals blowing up all at the same time right now.

Benghazi

On September 11th the American Consulate in Benghazi Libya was attacked.  Several people died. Was this a consulate, or a front for the CIA (or both)? Were soldiers who could have been on the scene before the people died really told to “stand down”, if so by whom?

The first thing out of the mouths of our government was a blame game over a YouTube video. The second thing out of their mouths was a denial this was a terrorist attack. I seem to remember something President Obama said about Al Qaeda being vanquished for the most part. This incident was a house of cards moment for the narrative for the man running for a second term as president.

This should have been Obama’s “Mission Accomplished” moment. The MSM would have none of it.

The IRS schilling for Democrats

The IRS has been caught intimidating conservative organizations that want to be nonprofit. The IRS has apologized. The blame game is in full tilt. -It was low level employees-, -It was not just conservative organizations.- The deeper you dig the worse it gets.

The woman in charge of th4 part of the IRS that handled these requests is now in charge of the whole Obama health care thing at the IRS. She got promoted before the scandal hit. Every American is going to have to hand over their medical womb to tomb dosia to this lady and her minions over the next several years. Will she use this information to further the agenda of one way of thinking over another ... again?

Please never ask again why gun owners fear a gun registry. This is like Republicans asking fro an abortion registry.

This is Watergate all over again. This is worse than Watergate because Watergate was a couple of guys allegedly breaking into an office looking for dirt on politicians. This IRS scandal is an entity of government being used to squash the freedom to gather and freedom of speech for an entire genera of the citizenry.

Yet, the MSM will have none of it.

The DOJ getting 100+ AP reporter phone records

This has put the AP firmly in the camp of “What the Fuck Mr. President!?” The DOJ wants to know how the AP got information on a CIA thing that happened. That is not as important as the blanket -Give us the records of everyone and we will sort it out ourselves.- feeling that the reporters have been getting from the DOJ  lately.

I’m not the only one who feels the MSM has been the water carrier for the Democratic party for a long time.  Finally, said reporters are getting the idea that the idea of limiting the rights of individuals is a bad idea. For a long time it was just gun owners, people who think unions are bad for workers and anyone talking about religion except Muslims who should have their rights stomped upon. Investigating reporters who are trying to trip up the CIA activities is a bridge too far.

Reporters are starting to ask questions that the Obama Administration would rather not answer. Some have called this the MSM’s Tea Party moment.

Conclusion

At some point all three of these are going to tarnish our glowing commander in chief’s reputation as a great leader. he seems to be at the center of the storm. if one reads the news on a daily basis, one might have thought the man in charge at the moment could do no wrong. Well, until the AP thing happened. Now even the mainstream media is getting in on the act of demanding their rights. how dare they?

Maybe anti establishment people are not the best people to put in charge of the establishment. But, the Progressives are the ones in charge now. They use the IRS, FBI, CIA  to further their cause. Forget they are supposed to further the cause of the U. S. Citizenry.

There are whispers that a story is coming down the pike about voter fraud in the U. S.. This is another topic that i firmly believe will become front page news in the near future.  Something will have to give. The U. S. citizenry will simply not put up with getting slapped around like this for long. That is, people will eventually be drug kicking and screaming to their senses.

Work today

I’m having issues getting google drive working on the company network. I hope it is just first day connection stuff and not a policy. I only use google docs at work for taking notes about personal thoughts throughout my work day. It kind of works and kind of doesn’t. I’m going to have to keep an eye on whether the documents are really saving or if they are just caching locally.

Today was a big day at work. We “cut over” our network to the new company. I’d say things went well. The only blip was a broken main line between areas. That set us back a bit.  Other setbacks were minor.  Many people worked from home. That helped. Several people are in today cleaning up the labs and testing things off the network.

Fiber cables are fragile.

Today I heard someone from the cabling company helping us get our network describe all the cable lengths in metric. That was interesting because normally in conversation people revert back to imperial units for comparison. Not these folks. I like it.

Distance Estimation (best guess)

4 inches is about 100 mm (101.6)

1 foot is about 300 mm (304.8)

When you change IP addresses on servers, the virus checker flips out and takes 30 minutes to calm down and let people back on the machine. This is not as disruptive as it sounds because most systems are not going to have their IP change that often, hopefully.

Wreck one Westheimer this morning

I wasn’t in one. I just had to avoid the aftermath of a wreck.

I’m on the bus. The bus rolls up just past Dairy Ashford on Westheimer. The bus I was on stopped and the driver rightly suggested going back to the stop before Dairy Ashford because they will probably turn and use Richmond.

I did. I waited. I got on the bus. I turned. the left turn on to Richmond took 15 minutes. By the time we got back to Westheimer, the wreck had cleared for the most part and traffic was mostly flowing.  If I had stayed on the original bus, I would have made it to work earlier.

You just don’t know how these things are going to play out.

Fortunetly, today turned out to be a good day to be late. That is a different post.

Lunch conversation

• Work
• Soda machines
• Now include Mt Dew among other new drinks.
• The debate was between Coke zero and diet Pepsi I think.
• Something about $230,000,000. I missed the details.
• Projects
• New network
• How the labs will work
• This one was mostly me assuring people nothing would be lost, you will just have to get to it differently.
• Who gets a high speed connection.
• Old phones and the last page that will happen
• New repository software
• Not looking forward to the learning curve.
• Difficult to do everyday things.
• Our past leaders
• Mobile phones and plans
• Access points
• Mobile vs landline
• Contract vs month to month
• Weekend plans not including work.
• Someone will probably end up taking a couple pictures at the beach.
• Adam will probably take one of his 3 sec videos.
• Weather should be perfect.

Not mentioned

• Video games
• Government (I tried to bring it up)
• Women

Mostly work today. A few other things, but not much outside of what is going on with the massive changes we are all under. It is funny, but I feel like anarchy is the norm at work these days. Things keep breaking and getting fixed in a different way than before.

I wish iI could elaborate on some of them, but the information is proprietary.

Adam, you missed a pretty good lunch conversation.

Notes

I woke up this morning around 3:40. I couldn’t go back to sleep. I tossed and turned. Then I went to sleep and two seconds later, my alarm went off. This doesn’t happen often, thank God. I have been on the back foot all day from it. I am starving because I didn’t want to spend money on lunch. I know it is bad because I’m looking forward to eating a sausage sandwich when I get home.

The thing I mentioned yesterday, where I intend to be alive more and refrain from letting myself be too tired to do things has kind of worked. It has helped a little bit. I fear it had something to do with the lack of sleep. I mowed yesterday after work. I shot a crappy video about it. Those count as things.

We are finally getting IP phones at work. I’ve only been waiting for about 12 years. My old company talked about getting them. Then, the smaller company laughed at the idea. Now, we get them. It will work so nice compared to the old copper system. I guess it is still over copper. It is just a much more digital copper.

Lawn POV

Field	Data
Title	Lawn POV
Description	Just me messing around and mowing the lawn. Never a dull moment. My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, mowing lawn, domestic, house, home, lawn care, yard  work, mower, cowboy hat
Bullets
Link	Link

Jeans

Had to throw away a pair of jeans this morning. I blew a belt loop yesterday. I thought I could just ask someone who knows how to sew to put it back together, but I noticed that the material round all the belt loops looks frayed and all the seams appear to be under strain. The whole pair of pants is falling apart. The brand was no longer readable.

It has been a while since I purchased jeans. That pair might be the first of a couple that have to go. Knowing how cheap I am, I’ll probably wait for a sale and buy 10 pair. Watch for me at Sam’s.

For Christmas, I typically ask for cloths so I won’t have to go buy them myself. Those are the real gift. Last year I asked for slax or business casual kinds of trousers for work. I didn’t have any left that were serviceable. The last pair I bought were from a second hand store. They were in far better condition than what was in my closet.

My father has given me many good shirts lately. He seems to buy some and then never ware them much. I had no idea he was a clothes horse.  out of the huge pile he has given me, I have seperated about 5 that don’t fit. I’ll donate them one of these days. This has saved me a fortune in shirts.

Notes

This morning was a bit foggy. I noticed on the way in, but the view out the sixth floor window eastward toward the rising sun gave me that sense of an old village getting ready for the day. I know it has nothing to do with reality, but it was cool for a second.

Still not feeling the need to shoot videos. I feel kind of ashamed of myself. I have people on the hook for watching them and yet, don’t make them very often.

Yesterday I stopped wearing my wrist watch because it has reset itself a couple times. I have looked at my naked wrist 316 times in the past 24 or so hours. I know it has been 24 hours because as I write this the watch is back at midnight.

I’ve been sluggish for a long time. I need to be if not up, at least alive. I don’t have to be happy, I do need to be alive. This trend of mine to be down as in tired, needs to stop. I need to find the energy. I need to learn front the children I envy for their energy, that it is not a matter of energy inside me, it is a matter of will and drive. Every time I found a second wind.

POS software is Point of Sale. Think cash registers and credit card processing.  I suppose you could have a POS software package that is a POS.

NFLW - News from Lake Wobegon.

One of the VPs walked by in tha hall today and looked at Mark and me. he commented that both of us smiling at an internal joke made him more worried than just about anything else. We said we were weeping on the inside. I find it interesting that a VP of my current company knows who I am.

Notes

That watch I got with the nice large numbers (I keep saying letters) has reset itself a couple times. It goes back to all zeros and needs to be completely reset to the time and date. This upsets me. It seems to be related to getting banged around. That means the battery is not connecting properly.

We have a couple of those huge UPS systems. It is nuts. it is one of the old systems. It is getting old and we have to call in on it more and more. At some point it will be more trouble than it is worth.

Had an interesting morning at work today. We had an issue with a gigantic UPS. this lead to a 3 hour lunch for many folks. I hung around for most of it and shooed people away from the trouble area. One of those days. We have so much to get done and something like this goes down.

Field	Data
Title	Growing up
Description	Some advice from me to you. Like I know what I’m talking about. Original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EHGPUzPGI_Y#! My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, realism, cyniicism, life, life advice, growing up, aging, truth, forties,
Bullets
Link	Link

Notes

We have some computers we need to use for specific tasks. Normally we turn them off when they are not being used. We need to leave them on for the next couple months to make sure those who need to verify they are properly patched can get to them to verify. I had to explain to someone that security is more important to the company than the electricity bill, at least until we get over the first few checks.

While walking through the grass along side Westheimer this morning, I got a bunch of grass goop on my pants. The grass is mostly waist high. It is getting to the point it is difficult to walk through. I really should call the people to come cut it, but there is some construction going on and there is no time at work to do so. I have to have the time at work because the people charged with doing the work are of course only open for phone calls during normal business hours.

Network

We have a bunch of network people hooking up a bunch of equipment at work.  This is normal for big companies to go through this kind of thing. I’m right down the hall and I help them hunt down connections and wires and such. I helped put in some of the equipment. I’ve learned a lot about big companies and the background behind the scenes stuff that happens.

• People who design the system do not bear responsibility for failures in the wrong equipment showing up.
• People who order the equipment do not bear responsibility for failures in the wrong equipment showing up.
• People who deliver the equipment do not bear responsibility for the wrong equipment showing up.
• People who install the equipment do not bear responsibility for the wrong equipment showing up.

Noticing a trend here. None of those sets of people overlap.

Who designed the setup, who ordered it and who shows up to install the network are three different contractors who have never spoken to one another.

I overheard the following from one of the installers speaking to a tech on the other side of the phone call. “What was our motive for using this router?” This is not encouraging because this tells me the installer has no clue what this piece of equipment is doing on the rack.

I’ve looked at the tornado of wires in some installations of networking equipment and wondered why they needed all the bits of equipment to connect a couple computers together. Well, now I understand about 10% of what is going on. That is just about enough to feel the butterflies in my stomach when they hit the power  button for the first time.

Notes

If you get a job based on a friend’s recommendation or some other kind of networking, there are people out there who call that favoritism.

Spent most of my day diagnosing old wires hooked to an old wifi network that will be gone in 10 to 15 days.

Installing a network printer should be as simple as get the IP, install the correct driver and point the driver to that IP. Why is it so difficult to get these entities to meet in the middle?

Astronaut squeezing a towel Flame in space

Dr Karl got me on this tangent.

Carbon Monoxide sticks to the blood better than Oxygen. Thus, if you breath a bunch of Carbon Monoxide, it will prevent your blood from holding oxygen for a long time. Breath enough and it will kill you before you body can flush it out.

Dr Karl again.

Lawn

Field	Data
Title	Mowing ard.
Description	Mowing yard. Music: Cattails Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) My Links * Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/zhsy00001 * Google+ https://plus.google.com/110920679448216202152/posts/p/pub * Blog http://plastickelly.blogspot.com * YouTube RSS http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/zhsy00001/uploads
Tags	vlog, vlogging, time lapse, yard, house, fisheye, work, sun, fence, home,
Bullets
Link	Link

Notes

I have to remember to only get oatmeal that has no extra stuff in it that can even remotely be mistaken for a bug. I’m eating some oatmeal right now that has raisins, dates and walnuts in it. I have spit out a couple bites because there are just too many different textures all at once. Squishy, chewy and crunchy.

Some of the blogs say the jobs situation is “treading water”. When you do the math and count people who have given up and people who have been pretty much pushed out of the market, there is a hint that many more people are working under the table than were a few years ago. Interesting way of telling how many people are dodging high taxes and working for less in order to get a job.

Cut my finger today. I moved a drive in a box, not a computer, a cardboard box full of drives, and it bit me. I didn’t really even know until I felt stickiness on my finger. It bled like a stuck pig. You have to be careful around electronics when you cut your self.  Blood is very bad for electronics. So is milk. Funny, milk is basically white blood. Anyway, the band aid I used filled up with blood. The bleeding stopped. I put on another bandaid and it seems to be better. Now, I’m just afraid of reopening it if I grab something.

Lunch conversation

• Houses
• Someone inquired about a media room build by I-Max that was a cool quarter mill.
• I want to tell them that I would love to get the carpet fixed in our living room, but I can’t afford it.
• Work
• Tons of work stuff
• Travel
• Meetings
• Networks and pending changes
• IT questions (I’m at lunch dammit)
• Banking issues
• How boring world economy is
• How Europe is teetering on the edge and few people know it.
• Kids - Stories, you know the kind, where the kid would be mortified if they knew.

I needed today. We went to the same place we always go to. I ate the same thing I always get. I was the first one prompted for my same old order and that threw me off. Still, a good lunch over all.

It was a little touchy. The wind picked up a bit as we walked out the door. The weather held. No one got hit by a car crossing Westheimer.

Wage Inflation

I had heard of wage inflation before. One of the guys at lunch finally give the simple example that made it click in my head. here it is.

There are only so many resources to go round. Not everyone can afford everything all the time.

Year 1, you make $10 and every one else makes $2. You will be the target for all the sales of high end stuff.

Year 2, you make $12 and every one else makes $8. Suddenly you do not have the attention of every high end product.

This is what is happening with places like China and India. They are experiencing wage inflation. The only place left seems to be Africa. Until we find some broke ass Martians, that will pretty much be the end of hyper groth markets.

People wonder what it is going to be like when the wage race levels out a bit. What happens when pretty much everyone can afford what they need and or want most of the time? Will there be wars over the last cup ofr joe at Starbuck’s? There has always been disparity between people from one place vs another. There just might be a global stagnation as people all over the place figure out that there is just nothing left to fight over.

Maybe we will find space travel just in time to guarantee the inequality we have grown up with over the last several millennia.

Notes

Sat down today and started to figure out the learning thing at work. We have a push to take so many hours of career advancement learning. What they are talking about is skill advancement. When you read the FAQ it almost comes right out and says you are expected to spend personal time taking training at work. It doesn’t quite make the statement though.

I am a high information voter. I have read. I have watched. I have listened. I have shaken my fist at the heavens and the TV. I have pounded the table and cursed at my computer and the contents there on. I weep for our future.

The above paragraph is too large for Twitter.

Notes

Homeless people have the right to private property same as those with homes. When someone steals from them, the police have to pay attention and at least pay it as much lip services as a homeowner.

Having a full page of stuff in my Google Drive documents slows me down from adding more information. There is something about an empty page that makes me want to put some data down on the page. There is something about a full page that makes me think I’m done.  I want to keep the momentum up regardless of how much is on a page.

Nothing like a good stretch. I feel better after a good stretch. I feel more awake and alert. The older I get the more this difference is apparent. Does this mean my circulation is getting worse? Maybe I just need to stretch more.

The professional wire folks have wire winders. they manage to run wires through the roof without massive tangles (that I’ve noticed). They run fifty thick bundles of wire fifty yards through that minefield above the tiles without insane effort. I’m impressed.

A guy kept asking me questions about a program on his work machine. He would ask me a question and then come back to me with more questions and prints of screenshots. I tried  to explain to him that his computer is a laptop and he can bring it with him. I even have a power cord we can use temporarily. He wouldn’t have it for a long time. He finally came round and I still failed to help him, but I failed much faster with the laptop right there.

We are in the process of migrating off GoDaddy to my company’s existing web support structure. I will almost miss GoDaddy. Not too much because the things I did were always emeergency status and I never had a clue what I was doing. I did figure out in early days that Googling godaddy questions worked better than using GoDaddy’s support search.

I tried to figure out if a page I use was having a Denial of Service attack or DoS attack. I tried googling them and got Disk Operating System DOS hits. Forgot that company had a DOS back in the day.

Notes

Delusions of qualifications. This is the term used to describe young people coming out of college lately. The blog mentioned that young people are very confident in themselves, but that does not mean they can do the job. They are also very unprofessional and easily distracted. The problem is people keep telling young people they are perfect just the way they are.

I’m just about to finish off the 1 liter bottle of Johnnie Walker Black label. I think it has taken me 10 years. Nat just got me a much smaller bottle to replace it muttering something about being a light weight.

Chrome is killing X11 on my work machine. I have Red Hat 6.4 installed. The Chrome comes from a repo provided by Google or the open source people or someone out there providing it. This crashing is caused by normal surfing in Chrome. It doesn’t matter if it is internal or external. It does seem to matter if it is running some scripts. I just click on something and wham, I’m at the login prompt for Gnome. This is a pain in the ass. When this happens, some programs died and some did not. If you have 1 session only program, you can’t run them because they are already running. Config and lock files are still active. Basically, it is time to reboot.

I hit the spacebar with my left thumb. This is an issue only because most keyboards seem to stick extra keys for the left thumb to hit that cause the spacebar to move to the right. This means I’m hitting the edge of the spacebar only. This causes funny reactions on some keyboards. I get missing and misplaced spaces in my everyday typing.

At lunch today, I found myself mumbling about 3d printers and wishing they would catch one better. It sounds like the thing that is holding them back is the software for generating the models upon which the item being printed is designed. The tools take a degree in engineering to understand.