bradbrown.net

The command line is preferable to a graphical interface and scripting is better with UNIX shell (bash, ksh) than an actual interpreted language (Perl, Python, Ruby).  This is my current estate and it is hopelessly old school, but it fits the current requirements.  Many apologies to those occupied with the modern era of software engineering.  Life does not always require the latest technology.

The year 2010 is passing much too quickly.  After 2009 Christmas holidays, work has been one long marathon leading up to a milestone on Feb. 26, 2010.  Several more of these marathons loom in 2010, so certainly in no time Christmas 2010 will suddenly materialize.  Each marathon requires incredible concentration and some ability to make decisions that evade disaster.  It is like mountain biking over large chunks of concrete and very sharp rocks.  But it is also possible to exaggerate the real importance of this work.  It’s fun to be preoccupied.

There is some certainty that much is afoot today.  Oppressors are working overtime.  Even the ground is nervous.  Guaranteed outcomes come out wrong.  Wealth is supposed to provide security but instead disappears like a morning fog.  Achievement was advertised to satisfy but disappointment is the unexpected guest.  Reality is now popular prime time viewing – as though there is a shortage of it in everyday experience!  Truth is sought out but not often discovered because it’s not welcomed when clearly understood.  There is a way ahead.

The Hebrew work expressing this way is “derek”.  It really ought to be carefully examined.  Conduct is everything in a universe governed by this way.  Better to slow down and consider this way before reaching the end and finally inviting truth in for afternoon tea.

I wonder what tomorrow holds.

Reaching Grandpa-dom this year was a real highlight! After nearly thirty years of raising kids (hey, one is still at home), it’s good to relax and watch the offspring take their turn at the impossible. Grey hair arrived well in advance of the first grandchild. For some, this is disconcerting. Overcoming it requires all manner of vanity. It is better to acquiesce to the phases of life and accept old fogey-dom before the segue into grandperson-dom.

There is something victorious in reaching older age that is both enigmatic and murky to the young. The elder appreciate the difficulty of life and do not often faint when affliction visits. Perhaps it is due to nearness of the afterlife. Or the challenge of the Garage.

Ah, the Garage. For Grandpas – at least those without a real outdoor shop – it is the Garage that taunts, tempts and tries the true Grandpa. If not used to collect old toys, bent golf clubs, disabled bicycles, stained kimchi jars and obsolete computer peripherals, then it must be the domain of the amateur mechanic and Norm Abrams New Yankee Workshop wannabe. This is my Plight.

In younger days, the garage was the place where brakes were fixed – usually in the bitter cold of winter. Or, for the daring, the cracked engine valve head was removed, toted to the machine shop and bravely reinstalled once engine block sludge was removed. Some cursing occurred. Tools were required. Thus, the Garage is crucial to any family economy.

The Garage is the corral of a herd of woodworking tools. Some were collected as Father’s Day gifts. Others were purchased at Sears for the promised – and still unfinished – Mother’s Day spice rack. Many were acquired much like lost strays were added to the family. And it is those old, carefully maintained tools that give the Garage its charm.

The new Grandpa is acquainted with only one power tool – a good TV remote. But, once kids leave the nest, a garage bay opens and grand-kids arrive, the Garage begins its siren song. Capitulation begins with some kind of power saw – preferably a table saw, then the drill press and scroll saw are uncovered, a router or shaper is added and hand tools begin to gather. Like great clouds of gas and dust swirl and mix to form a star, such a cluster of tools carry Grandpa to the brink of great Creative Power.

The end of the story is distant. Years of labor with the aim of raising a family eventually give way to the mission of the Grandpa. The pressures of a job, family and a mortgage leave many a pitiful shell suitable only for watching endless hours of baseball, basketball and football. This condition led prehistoric man to invent croquet, the hammock and retirement.

But the Power wielded by the Grandpa exceeds that of the Planets, the statist Politician and the Pope. Planets like Pluto are downgraded. Politicians enslave millions but eventually die and perish in Hades. The Pope pontificates endlessly. But a Grandpa with Power Tools is like God at the Creation. Wood is collected, planed, jointed, ripped, crosscut and assembled into everlasting works of art useful for some Purpose.

And here is where life began.

This past summer was *extremely* busy: a return to road biking; hard work to temporarily automate (!) my job so I could take one week (!?) of vacation; more hard work to support an end of summer software release; self-study of the Python language; a return to choir rehearsals; worry about an apparently failed root canal on #8 (dang!); preparation for ceramic tile replacement in kitchen/utility/bath. Most of this spilled over into September and was accompanied by a week of babysitting tile installers, a recent week of rain totaling over 10 inches and the discovery – and quick fix – of a roof leak! I would take a vacation, but that job automation was only temporary. Hey, cron and expect can only take you so far.

I write this as I watch the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Giants. I’m ambivalent. Romo intercepted three times resulting in Giants TDs. Ugh. I am still down over Nebraska’s loss to Virginia Tech yesterday 15 to 16. Nebraska just could not punch it in while in the red zone despite several key opportunities. Go Zach Lee. Go Suh. Go Helu. Go Big Red. I’m down but not out.

So my conclusion is that rambling is easy. Good content is difficult. So I ramble.

Don’t go away, though. There is more to come.

Pro 10:28 “The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.” Pro 11:8 “The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead.” Pro 13:15 “Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.” Pro 16:5 “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” Pro 19:21 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” (ESV) Maintain your steeled jaw. The current administration has revealed its true colors. It is set against those who would pursue life and liberty. It has mocked those who would dare to challenge its actions, ideas and policies. Stand against it by refusing to succumb to dejection and disappointment. Support the political candidates of the loyal opposition and pray for God’s will to be done. Sixties styled radicals feed off of chaos, fear, terror and a dispirited opposition. They seek to steal your freedoms and wealth and crush your hope, but they cannot stand against true, liberty loving Americans. Nor can they stand against God.

On the eve of that mythical 100th day, Obama is known with certainty to be all The Radical He claimed to be in the presidential campaign.  He “religiously” follows the Rules for Radicals and seems to have no qualms about buzzing Ground Zero (only emblematically present) in his new Air Force One digs. “Ha! That swine flu stuff? Hey, once I’m off the back 9, I’ll consider your supplications for deliverance. Uh, My will be done!” I find it curious why Obama has not yet released the Stone Tablets Revision 2.0 from the D.C. temple mount. I’m not an expert in the theory of morality, but I suspect that my worn out conservative Republican precepts need a good overhaul now that The Messiah is installed. But, hey, I’m a quick study. I already begin each day with a hearty “I hate America!” gestalt shout and then genuflect toward D.C. three times.

On the heels of Obama’s 100th day in office (April 29) is the emergence of a new strain of the swine flu. Now, by this statement the reader may conclude causality is the intent. Rather, this potentially pandemic and destructive illness is emblematic of a less dangerous albeit widespread phenomenon known as “Obama fatigue”. Such fatigue could lead to greater susceptibility to disease, so please take precautions. Rather than the fashionable third-world surgical mask a la Mexico City, I recommend the Level A hazmat suit. If such around-the-clock fashion grips world renowned clothing designers, think of the potential for enduring the stresses of the next 1,360 days! If this same suit could also recycle carbon dioxide – the research alone generating thousands more government jobs – think of the worldwide benefit when coupled with cap and trade!