Un Cachito

415

2010-07-12T16:29:25Z

415. That's how many days it's been since my last post. Since the home page on my web browsers on numerous computers is my blog, I see my delinquency constantly. I was going to make a new post on my 1-yr anniversary, but the place where my server was being hosted was having lots of power problems and the server was unavailable. A lot has happened to me in the last year, but I guess Facebook provides a medium with which to share enough information that I'm left with no desire to write a blog post. I think others are the same. I've also been quite busy and never seem to have enough time. I constantly think things will get less busy in another week or so, but they never do.

My son, Spencer, is nearly 10 months old now and is a very handsome redhead. The problem is, he won't sleep much - a trait he probably got from me. And when he doesn't sleep, his parents don't sleep, so I find myself in a perpetual state of grogginess. I've noticed my sleep deprivation in my hollow eyes, my resistance to laughing at others' jokes and in my making lots of little errors in different tasks. I naively thought he'd be sleeping through the night long before now, but I guess every kid's different.

As mentioned in my last post, I work in Monterey, Ca., a place which constantly reminds me of its beauty. It's a lot cooler than I thought it'd be, with highs hovering in the upper 50's to lower 60's much of the year. While I'd like it to be 10 degrees warmer, I love not having to deal with snow anymore. I live less than a mile from the beach and I don't have to go far to see sea otters and sea lions in the wild, with occasional glimpses of whales and dolphins. If the water were 25-30 degrees warmer, it'd be perfect.

My work is going pretty well too. I'm a contractor now, which means I'm only hired for the duration of a contract, which at FNMOC, last no longer than a year. The contract I was hired for expired in April, but I was able to jump to a couple new contracts fairly seamlessly and will probably be doing a lot of contiguous 6-month contract jumps. It's not necessarily the most stable way to work, but I have good bosses and it's not as bad as it sounds. In fact, I enjoy what I do quite a bit. There are politics, which I hate, and a small number of people I don't see eye to eye with, but I have respect, friendships and lots of interesting work to keep myself busy. So, in short, I enjoy my current job a lot more than my last one.

Life 2.0

2009-05-24T00:02:47Z

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. You'd think I'd have found time. Actually, although I've been unemployed, I feel a lot has happened. Enough, in fact, to say I'm making significant changes in my life.

I'm moving to the Monterey, California area.

I'll be a father in about 4 months.

How's that for a little change? I have a feeling it's going to be a hectic next two or three months. To begin with, I start a new job on Tuesday, although I've already been doing an enormous amount of paper work for it. The job is with SAIC, working at FNMOC. SAIC is a large contractor - one of those ginormous companies you've never heard of. FNMOC is a US Navy site and stands for Fleet Numeric Meteorology and Oceanography Center. They provide weather and other data for the US armed forces. When I worked at Linux Networx, I did a fair amount of work with some super computers at FNMOC and have a good relationship with the folks there. When they heard I was available, we started to talk and things eventually worked out (after some hoops to jump through). As you probably gathered, I will be relocating from Utah and will be seeking to sell my Utah house in order to buy a house down there, renting a small apartment in the mean time. It will be an adventure methinks, but one that I hope to enjoy. Plus, it's pretty much idyllic out there in the Monterey Bay area. As long as I don't think about selling my house here, I'm excited :).

On the baby front (and yes, I know I'm a little late to the game, but I don't care), my wife is around 5 months along and, if you haven't followed her Facebook updates, it's a boy. I think I'm pretty much in denial over how much my life will change and how much patience I'll be forced to develop, but I'm excited about this too.

So, anyway, wish me luck in the move and all the house stuff.

Nerves

2009-03-13T21:47:03Z

Over the past couple of months, I've been contacted by a number of friends and associates who have been laid off in this miserable economy. Since Fusion-io was doing great, they hoped to join on there, and I hoped to help them

I've worked at Fusion-io since Dec. '07 and although I've never really felt comfortable there due to my job position, I figured that since the company was doing so well, I didn't need to worry. Then on Friday the 13th of this past week, I was accidentally sent an email with a list of people to be laid off. I was on the list and the email was asking for a confirmation if I was really to be laid off or not. It took me a minute to figure out what the email was saying because it seemed a little incredulous, but after that, I got pretty nervous. The email was later recalled, but the damage had been done. I paid a visit to the CTO of the company to talk a bit about my job and maybe changing positions or taking a pay cut and he was pleasant but couldn't guarantee anything, saying it wasn't in his hands.

Often, lay-offs in tech companies happen by noon and when lunch came and went, I thought that I had been spared at least for that day. I slowly started to calm down, though was still a bit nervous. I was pretty impressed with myself that I was actually able to do some work and commit some code. However, when 4:30 rolled around and an officer of the company came to my cube, I figured my time was up. Sure enough, although the CTO talked to the person responsible, that person decided my job position was unnecessary. I had a suprising outpouring of support from guys working there and that was cool to see. I was sad to leave Fusion-io due to it's potential to be astronomically successful, but I'm also looking forward to having some time to relax and hoping that I'll enjoy my next job a little more.

If you feel like worrying for me, don't. Well, at least not yet ;). I have some job possibilities and savings to sustain me. I just hope to find something I enjoy.

Presidents, Part 3: Obama

2009-01-05T23:32:21Z

With Obama being deemed a Liberal and me a Republican, you might think I was fighting against the Obama campaign. If I was, it was a pretty weak attempt. You know that I wanted McCain to win, but as the campaign came into it's closing months, I became increasingly ambivalent about who really mattered. I felt McCain had the better policies, but that Obama had a lot to offer.

What worried me most about Obama were his standard "Liberal" positions of higher taxes and government spending, pro-abortion sentiment, and withdrawal of US troops from Iraq as soon as possible. Those issues are still concerns, although somewhat mitigated. Obama has tried to assure everyone that if you make under $250K/yr (which is certainly my case!), your taxes won't increase. On the other hand, he has promised dramatically increased government spending in order to pull the economy out of the slumps. It worries me the level of debt America is carrying right now, and at some point we really need to get back to fiscal responsibility. Abortion is an unknown, but I don't know that he'll try to push through any changes. Also, it looks like he'll be taking a more reasonable approach to Iraq, thanks to Secretary Gates, General Petraeus and the Surge. Those factors in Iraq have made an incredible beneficial impact in Iraq, making a pullout of troops practical. McCain actually deserves credit here as a proponent of the Surge. Obama, on the other hand, was loathe to admit the success of the Surge, but has since acknowledged it.

So there remains some concern as to what Obama's administration will do, but there are also many benefits. Very high on my list is Obama's image in the international community. America has long been a beacon of light in a sometimes-dark world - literally a land of opportunity. It has also been the lone superpower with a lot of bargaining power. Whether justly or not, that image has been dealt a damaging blow under Bush's presidency. Many in the Middle East think the US is anti-Islam and morally corrupt. The US has also lost bargaining power in Sudan, Somalia, Iran and other places due to overextension of it's armed forces and lack of respect by world leaders. That's not just disappointing, but also dangerous as rogue states become less likely to change their ways. Now, however, there will soon be a black man in the Oval Office who is truly half-African and who has a common Islamic name as his middle name. That diversity has broad appeal and I dare say the world has a crush on the guy :). That could change quickly of course, especially with US support for Israel in their war on Hamas (which I also support). But just Obama's being in the White House brings a lot of admiration and respect back to the US the democratic system that landed him there. I truly hope Obama is able to use that momentum to engage with the world and improve ties everywhere.

Another benefit, tied to the first, is that he has a calm demeanor and a coherent - even eloquent - manner of speech. This was especially evident in the last debate with McCain. Obama is a likeable guy who has a tranquilizing effect on public panic.

As an engineer, I also see a benefit in having a younger president who seems much more in tune with technology than past presidents have been. The US's digital infrastructure has stagnated, but hopefully, with his expansive infrastructure projects, the US can revamp itself and be on par with Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Obama hasn't even taken office and the US - and indeed, the world - has a lot riding on him. I'm optimistic that he can make the US a better place than in the past, and here's wishing for the best.

Immigration's broken

2008-12-30T23:05:16Z

You've heard me rant before about how the immigration system is broken in this country. It's so hard to get in legally, that unfortunately - but understandably - some people choose to come illegally.

My latest disappointment with the system came this morning. I've spent a fair amount of effort, time and some money trying to bring a man from central Africa over here to Utah to go to college. He was accepted by the college. We then spent a lot of time and some money trying to get all the necessary documents in order to obtain the necessary F-1 visa. We were racing against time, but I was fairly confident we had all we needed and that he'd get the visa.

He had his appointment at the embassy this morning and was rejected? Why? Was it because he messed up on one of the many forms or because he didn't have sufficient funds? No. It's because the interviewer decided that even though my friend's visa would expire after a couple years of school, he (the interviewer) wasn't convinced there was a compelling reason for my friend to return to Africa (which they want to see). Besides the fact that my friend helps run a business in his country and is needed, perhaps the biggest problem is that the decision is incredibly subjective and really affects a life. My friend said that there were several other interviewers there at the US embassy also, and he said one seemed to just be handing out visas, even to people who couldn't really speak any English (which my friend speaks natively). Had he had a different interviewer, he very well may have been able to start school here on the 5th. Now he has to do the forms over and spend a bunch of money to try again. The system's broken.

Presidents, Part 2: McCain

2008-12-28T02:42:35Z

If it seems like a post about McCain is out of date, it's because I have procrastinated writing this for so long. Sorry. I'd still like to give some of my thoughts about him.

Way back in November of 2006, I posted that I wanted to see a McCain-Romney ticket. It's interesting how close it came to being a reality. I think a lot of people think having a business man (Romney) in the White House during this financial crisis would be a good thing. But alas, it's not to be. But, keeping in line with my wish way back in '06, I supported McCain both in the primary and the general elections. In fact, I was one of the very small 5% of Utahns who voted for McCain in the primaries (some 90% voted for Romney, who I felt had become disingenuous). I liked McCain's more moderate positions: his willingness to be bipartisan in order to actually get things done; his immigration policies; his support for the surge while condemning the way the Iraq war had so far been run. His military service also demands respect, even though he apparently does talk like a sailor. He's not the most charismatic or eloquent guy and I can't say I ever really liked McCain the person, but I liked his policies and voted accordingly.

You also might be interested to know however, that as the campaign wore on, I became increasingly frustrated with McCain and was very near the point of not caring if he lost. The main reason? His negative campaign. McCain had a reputation of talking straight and being above the fray. Yet he allowed his campaign managers to plan the direction of his campaign and constantly attack Obama on things that were pretty much lies. Obama wasn't completely innocent either, but McCain was the worst offender. That's not cool and it's not the McCain that started out running in the campaign.

I also have to say that I wasn't all that enamored with Palin. I'll admit that at first it seemed like an exciting pick - a fresh face. However, as the campaign wore on and it became clear how little she knew of the world - such as the fact that she had just barely obtained a passport - I became disenchanted. I was also somewhat put off by the fact that she seemed to have been chosen to capture the evangelical right. I felt at times like they are treated as the the only ones who matter to the GOP, and as such, they've accumulated a lot of power. I was looking forward to a McCain that was more centric - that wasn't beholden to them.

It was sad to see McCain's image slide down so far from the summer. I hope now that he's back to being Senator McCain, he can go back to the old bipartisan, get-things-done guy that he was before. For now, I'm cautiously optimistic about Obama - my next subject.

Presidents, Part 1: Bush

2008-12-05T22:36:45Z

This is part 1 of a 3-part group of articles I've been meaning to write for the last month (I'm slow!) on my feelings on US presidents and the recent campaigns. And now that you know my politics, I want to share my thoughts on George W. Bush.

There has been ongoing debate and commentary recently about how bad of a president George W. Bush has been. Some pundits say he's the worst and some say he's the second worst. I don't have the historical knowledge to argue definitively on that topic (neither do most people), but my feeling is that those statements are just hyperbole.

Throughout the last 5 years (coinciding with the war in Iraq), I've heard increasing rhetoric about Bush and how he's a "liar," a war criminal or worse. Sources range from the ridiculous Al Sharpton, "Clearly, [President Bush] lied. Now if he is an unconscious liar, and doesn't realize when he's lying..." to those high in government like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "President Bush is a liar...I think [Bush] is a loser." His job rating is around 29% - a fall that has been stunning when you consider that just after 9/11, he a record high rating of 90%. Does he really deserve the flak he's been taking? Is he really a liar and a criminal as some attest?

I'm an avid news reader, and I have read many articles about his "illegal" activities and still read many comments about how Bush lied to everyone. The problem is, none of these claims seem to have any merit. I won't say he has never done something illegal or lied, but the people making these claims don't have concrete data to back them. The opposition claims he lied about Iraq, but that just doesn't seem to be the case. If you go back to the beginning of 2003 and put yourself in Bush's shoes, without any benefit of hindsight, you'll see that pretty much everyone in the world thought Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and he had obstinately refused to comply with some 12 previous UN resolutions. Of course, if you're going to war, you should make sure your claims are true - and the info that was declared by the CIA and others did in fact support Bush's theory that Saddam was a threat. It was determined he (Saddam Hussein) needed to be eliminated. Whether the analysts reported false information is a different story, but can't be blamed on Bush. Also, whether you think the war was necessary or not is again a different story and not relevant to Bush being a liar or a criminal.

Some say the war was illegal, but there was a UN resolution authorizing force (though some claim they think Bush should have gone back to the UN again) and the US Congress did declare war. Therefore, the war was not illegal. On the issue of illegal wiretapping, the media has routinely called them illegal, but the problem is that it is a gray area where there wasn't explicit law prohibiting Bush from doing what he was doing. If there were, then it would have had to be stopped. Instead, Congress passed a bill to clarify the issue - effectively saying that the president had the right to order non-warrant wiretaps on international calls in order to combat terrorism.

I think beyond these hot-button legal issues, there are three other issues that have hurt Bush's reputation (and these aren't in any order). One is the long, costly and problematic war in Iraq. The original execution of the war - the "Shock and Awe" - was brilliantly run by Donald Rumsfeld, but as we now know, there appeared to be highly erroneous assumptions of how things would carry out after Hussein's fall, and no real follow-up plan. Based on those assumptions, Bush's "Mission Accomplished" stunt wouldn't have been a big deal, but of course, it now seems a big blunder. Rumsfeld's specialty was the use of a relatively small, powerful force to quickly wipe out a visible enemy. But when the nearly-invisible insurgency kicked in, that force was inadequate. Whether due to Rumsfeld or the top military brass, I don't know, but significantly more forces weren't committed to Iraq for too long and that gap gave the insurgency time to gather money, weapons and power. Disaster ensued. As tired of the war as I was however, I still felt it was our duty to fix the mess we got into - as did Bush. Fortunately the defeatists were ignored and "The Surge" went forth and has worked wonders (mixed with other happenings like the 'Sunni Awakening'). Looking back, I don't know how much direct input Bush has had in the running of the Iraq war, or whether he just let Rumsfeld and Cheney run it, but he does bear some responsibility.

Issue number two is the alienation of much of the world. This is largely due to the Iraq war and Bush's unilateral and sometimes arrogant approach to it - think, "You're either with us or against us." When he talks, it is sometimes with a smirk that can be frustratingly maddening and further enforces this idea of assumed supremacy. Mix all that with the fact that much of the Middle East thinks (erroneously) that the Iraq war is just a war on Islam, and you have a situation where the US has really lost a lot of stature and power in the world. Some countries like France didn't help things by matching Bush's haughtiness with their own. Regardless, both our friends and our enemies were angry at the US. That is sad and even a little scary - our ability to push for change in Iran and Palestine has been seriously weakened. I'm hopeful that Obama can get some of that back.

Issue three is the response by FEMA to Hurricane Katrina. It is still mentioned often by the media and considered a major blunder. This one stymies me though and I don't think the media is on the same page as the general public here. While the news organizations love to bring the point up, comments tell me that much of the public is sick of hearing about it and sick of the fact that so many in New Orleans seem unable to take some responsibility and rebuild. Now, I'll admit that the damage was devastating and there was a lot of real loss and suffering. Where I disagree is that it is FEMA's responsibility to take care of all the citizens there 100%. The mayor, Ray Nagin, along with the governor, Kathleen Blanco, politicized things early on and were somehow able to remove much of the spotlight from their own inability to take care of their constituents. That is where the real crime happened. The federal agencies should be there to assist and augment the local efforts, but the media would like you to believe that FEMA is responsible for all the problems. That's just not true and even after years of living in FEMA-provided trailors, many citizens there are still expecting the government to take care of them. A minority will always need help, but I hate what I see as a major lack of personal responsibility by so many.

Wow, so I've covered what I think are the major contentions here but I haven't even mentioned some of the good works he's done. Bush is responsible for perhaps the largest investment in anti-AIDS work in Africa in world history - tripling the previous investment to some $9 billion. He reformed Medicare to give seniors more plan options and save them bundles in prescription costs, although the returns here differ depending on who you ask. He has passed the No Child Left Behind bill, which, while a target of criticism, has also been hailed by both political parties as a major benefit to the education system and the bill will likely be renewed. Additionally, Bush created an enormous pristine marine preserve northwest of Hawaii. He tried mightily to pass a much needed, moderate immigration bill only to be defeated by his own party. Bush tried to push Social Security reform after being re-elected but was defeated in those efforts as well, putting into question what will happen when I reach retirement age. I'm sure there have been other notable accomplishments as well.

In closing, Bush has failed to efficiently run the war in Iraq and has hurt the US's image due to that war and his sometimes arrogant approach to things, but he really hasn't been as bad a president as everyone makes him out to be. I hope history proves me right.

My Politics

2008-11-20T03:45:31Z

I have a few articles I want to write that touch on politics, so I thought I'd state some of my views as a prelude.

Those of you who have followed my blogs long enough to have read my last blog, Current Events, will know that I was generally a good, conservative right-wing Republican. Well, in the last several years I have moved decidedly left and now consider myself a center-right moderate.

There are some areas in which I am still decidedly conservative such as small government, fiscal responsibility and social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. However there are other areas in which I strongly disagree with my fellow Republicans and which I feel push me farther away from the GOP (though not necessarily to the Democrats). This list of disagreements includes my positions on illegal immigration, the planet Earth and general intellectuality. Let me expound.

I've become somewhat passionate about the illegal immigration issue in a large part because I have several acquaintances or friends who are legal and illegal immigrants, and have come to understand the issue perhaps a little more than the general populace (which doesn't say much). The general argument of the Right is that the illegals committed a crime coming here and thus have no rights. They opine that we should round up all the illegal immigrants, send them home unconditionally and punish those who employee them. Some even wanted to criminalize the providing of general assistance to illegal immigrants. Now, I can see logic in the general argument - that they are criminals, so treat them as such - but I strongly feel the premise is faulty. It's overly simplistic. If you break the speed limit or jaywalk, does that mean you are a criminal and should be locked up? (Of course not; there are different degrees of breaking the law.) The main problem, per my understanding, is that it is nearly impossible to immigrate legally (I've seen it take years for someone's foreign spouse to get residency). If the situation back home (for instance, in Mexico) is terrible, you are going to want to find a way to better your situation. If the country up north won't let you come legally, you take a lot of risks and come illegally, trying to eke out a living. And let me be clear; it's not at all something I condone, but I do understand the rationale. I also realize there are a lot of problems that come with illegal immigration, but I know many who work very hard, pay taxes without receiving tax-payer benefits, and are an asset to the country. Plus, a lot of those problems (like identity theft) would would largely be solved by legalizing in some fashion the immigrants. My desire on the immigration issue is to find a way to bring those who are assets into the legal citizenry and deal humanely with all. I believe in a 3-prong approach of making it much easier to come legally (even as a guest worker), make it harder to come illegally (I'm OK with the border fence) and deal reasonably with those who are here. Those who can pass English proficiency tests, don't have criminal records (ignoring of course their immigration status), and in general are a boon to the economy should be put on the path to citizenship, paying any relevant fees. This is similar to what Bush and McCain tried to do and I was in favor of that (although, for skilled laborers I wouldn't require them to go back to their home country first). If you want to call that amnesty, then so be it - I call it an approach that could do a lot to solve the problem.

Wow! That was longer than I had planned, but let's move on to Earth. I don't share Al Gore's conclusion that the planet is on the precipice of doom. I'll agree that it is getting warmer, but my priorities are more on taking care of the planet more than aggressively preventing further global warming. There's definitely overlap between those two ideas, but good stewardship of nature is my focus. Two of my personal hobbies are cycling and scuba diving and I can tell bad air from good and polluted seas from pristine coral reefs. Basically, I want clean air and clean seas. The GOP doesn't have a good environmental record and while there has been some progress, I don't see the Right doing much. On a positive note, Bush did set up an enormous marine preserve northwest of Hawaii which is commendable.

On the intellectuality issue, I feel like the politicians are dismissing any intellectuals as "elitists" and basically trying to pander to the less educated - saying they are the "real America." Well guess what, if you want to progress, you need to learn. Intellectuality, science and higher education should be prized, not scorned. There was a great Op-Ed in the NY Times that talked about this issue.

MT-4.21 Upgrade

2008-11-07T15:19:52Z

After rescuing my blog a little while back, following a lot of meticulous labor and custom scripts, I thought I was finally good to go. However, I've had the nagging problem of RSS feeds having wrong dates. I've looked at the problem for a while and couldn't figure out where the wrong dates were coming from. So, I went for a band-aid and upgraded my archaic Movable Type 2.66 to version 4.21. It has a significantly different interface and method of publishing.

So far my test comments to past entries after upgrading weren't showing up on the web pages (but were registered in MT), so I'll have some playing around to do.

Update:
I still have the RSS feed problem with wrong dates. I'm fairly sure now the problem is with the back-end database and since I don't know any good way to rebuild it, I will most likely need to blow all entries away and then re-import them, which is a fair amount of work. If anyone knows any way to help me or is a wiz with mysql and the MT db format, please advise :).

Update 2:
I was just notified that comments have not been working. I can't quite figure out MT's new method of doing things yet so for now, I'm allowing anonymous comments. Chances are that I'll have to disable those as the spammers find me, but for now. Feel free to post, and please let me know if you encounter problems. Thanks!

MTV Music

2008-10-30T13:43:51Z

Not many people associate MTV with any actual music. It's kind of a shame - I remember way back in the day when they played music video after music video. Well, whether you like A-ha, the Metallica Black Album or Britney Spears, you can see many of those long-lost videos again thanks MTV's new MTV Music web site.

Warning: this could be a serious time waster as you catch up on the 80's.

Jack's Mannequin

2008-10-14T21:56:02Z

Strangely enough, I was one of the first five callers on a little contest on a local radio show and ended up winning a new CD: The Glass Passenger by Jack's Mannequin. One review classified it as "piano rock."

I first heard a couple songs on my way from the studio back to my work and immediately liked some of the songs, which is a little strange because it usually takes a few repetitions. When I got back to work, I loaded the CD into my iTunes and have now listened to it a few times.

Basically, I like it. I'm going to keep listening to it to get more familiarized with the songs, but some of the songs I'm liking are:

Crashin
Spinning
Swim
The Resolution
Suicide Blonde (Not an INXS cover)

As an added bonus, there aren't that I don't like yet.

Frustrated at House GOP

2008-09-30T14:15:12Z

I've always voted Republican, but it seems like more and more the GOP is pushing me away from their party. I'm not keen on the Demos either, but currently, I'm steaming over the GOP's rejection of the $700B bailout bill yesterday.

I'm not at all a fan of big government or a huge national debt (or making it $0.7 trillion more), but this is a time of crisis where we're on the brink of a deep recession and potentially a depression. Was this bill a sure-fire fix to the nation's problems? No. But it was desperately needed in my mind (and lots of others) to restore confidence in the financial industry and loosen up credit world-wide so that business is not straight-jacketed. This plan is about rescuing the national (and to some extent, global) economy. Did you see what happened because of the rejection? The DOW dropped 777 points - biggest drop since the 1987 crash.

Many who are glad the bill was defeated think the money is just going to pad the bank accounts of rich executives. That is not the case at all. Sure there may be some wealthy people who benefit from not losing everything they own, but so will Joe Blow. This plan imposes stricter limits on executive pay (I'm staunchly opposed to the golden parachutes given to departing execs of failing companies), and gives some ownership of the companies to the federal government - returning dividends and profit to the treasury. In fact, this could actually be profitable to the US. I'm not saying it will, but where everything is linked together, we need to get the first step going and put confidence back in the economy and let it grow again.

Pelosi's partisan and political speech before the vote yesterday was plain stupid and uncalled for, but the House GOP needs to look past politics, re-vote on this bill and pass it.

Recovery

2008-09-25T22:46:18Z

Well, I'm mostly back.

A month or so ago, a co-administrator of the web server my blog is on decided to rebuild it (wipe all the software off and re-install). There was a valid need to update the OS, and he asked what I wanted backed up, and we backed those things up. What I didn't think about was the SQL database running on the box that held all my pictures and their data from my picture gallery, held all the info for a web-based gift registry my family uses extensively, and held all the info for my blogs.

It was a tough blow to have all that blown away. Fortunately, I was left with a bunch of static web pages and such for my blog, but a lot was lost.

However, in the past while, I wrote some python scripts to go through each static html file from my old blogs and assemble a file that can then be imported into a new Moveable Type Blog. It's taken a fair bit of effort, but it's mostly back. You'll see a few quirks here and there that need to get straightened out, and pics on the blog that link to my gallery are all messed up, but I'm a lot closer than where I was :).

More on Customs searching

2008-06-26T14:16:00Z

Back in the beginning of May, I posted an article on some scary Customs practices of searching and/or seizing electronic devices of people coming into the U.S., especially people of a certain ethnic look.Fortunately, there are a lot of people (like me) who think this is an unacceptable invasion of privacy and have taken up the fight. Yesterday there was a Congressional hearing about it, and while it doesn't appear anything concrete came from it, there are some notable opponents to the practice. You can read more about it here.

Gas prices and income

2008-06-09T15:07:00Z

I realize this is a little random, but everyone is aware the gas prices are somewhat painful right now (although much worse in most of the rest of the world). I saw this chart on the NY Times today that I found very interesting. There are 3 tabs showing 1) how hard gas prices hit people, per county income; 2) gas prices around the country per county; and 3) median incomes around the country, per county. One interesting thing I realized too is that while Utah has a reputation for fairly low salaries relative to other places, it's still not doing too shabby.