Pascha just won't be the same for me this year....

I won't be able to attend Easter services this upcoming weekend, I'm participating in the MS150 bike ride from Houston to Austin. It's Saturday and Sunday (4/22 & 4/23). The first day, we ride 99.3 miles. We stop overnight in LaGrange, TX. Day two mileage is 78.5 miles (LaGrange to Austin). The ride raises money for the Nation Multiple Sclerosis Society and last year's event had over 12,000 riders raising $9.6 million. I've been training, although not as hard core as I should be. My biggest challenge (aside from riding the full 178 miles) is finding a place to spend the night Saturday night. There are free camp grounds, I just need to round up a tent and get the bus to take my tent, sleeping bag and other miscellaneous items (like kolbasa, since I CAN eat meat as of 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning). I'm hitching a ride back to Houston with my neighbors, their 16 year old son is riding as well. He doesn't have to train quite as much as I do, he plays high school lacrosse 6 days a week. And he doesn't eat as many double cheeseburgers as I do. Ok, he probably does but his metabolism rocks.

Like most Orthodox Christians, I'll be in church five out of the next six days. We spent yesterday cleaning up church as well as decorating it for Palm Sunday. We cut down live palm tree branches and covered the interior of the church with them. It actually looks quite beautiful. Of course, I forgot to bring my digital camera to church.

Friday is normally spent (after church service) making homemade kolbasa. I use my grandfather's recipe for Ukrainian sausage. I took my secret family recipe to camp a few years back and forced the campers to make 25 pounds of sausage. I think we added too much garlic but the kids seemed to enjoy it. Since Friday evening will be geared toward preparing for my bike ride, I'll have to prepare/make the kolbasa over the course of several nights. Cut meat, add seasoning and water, stuff into sausage casings, cook, cut in to sections (what do you call a chunk of sausage that you cut off from a full ring of sausage?) add to sauerkraut, serve with vodka. Which reminds me....I also have fermented blackberries that I need to add to a nice big bottle of Stoli.

I think I'll make a little extra kolbasa this year and freeze for when my northern cousins (although I don't have any southern cousins) come to visit. I guess if I started making out with Alyona, that would make us southern cousins. That's pretty disgusting.

Reggie Bush #1. Astros in the World Series again.

Over a month between postings......nice......

As I mentioned earlier, work has been getting in the way of blogging. This time of the year gives us some of the best weather. While my northern brethren are still shovelling (is that how you spell it??) sidewalks, we're basking in low 80's temps. The garden was planted in late February and it's not uncommon to take a dip in the pool after mowing the lawn. The fishing's not too bad either.

And now, on to sports. The Texans should be taking Reggie Bush with the #1 pick. However, don't be surprised if we trade down because someone offers us a ridiculous offer. The Rockets aren't doing so well and the Astros need the Rocket to come back.

A concealed handgun permit is a way of life in Texas. You sit in a certification class for 8 hours, hit the firing range, take a written test, shoot a few qualifying rounds and viola! You're certified. My entire department (except for yours truly) is now certified. I need to find 8 hours somewhere..........

Last night was my first attempt at making sushi. I visited Hong Kong Market, which, as you guessed it, is located in the heart of Chinatown. My 6 year old daughter remarked "There sure are a lot of Chinese people in here." We purchased sushi grade tuna, crabmeat, shrimp, seaweed and Japanese rice. Also picked up a few cool Asian spatulas and spoons as well as a bamboo mat used for rolling sushi rolls. I'd say that for my first time, my sushi rolls looked pretty good.

Camp starts in 82 days. Will you be ready?

Ok, so I lied

I didn't have the time to finish my "All-Time Favorites" lists, I was busy. Work does have a negative effect on blogging.

Spent last weekend in Chicago where it was a balmy -20 degrees with the wind chill. Plenty of vodka helped raise the temperature. We played the "Fart in a Mug" game, it was awesome.

Got plenty of family and friends in this weekend for a wedding, it should be good times. Surprise dinner party and drinking on Thursday. Rehearsal dinner and drinking on Friday. Wedding and drinking on Saturday. Blini on Sunday. Nice.

All Time Favorite Albums

This list runs the gamut, presumably because I started listening to all types of music at an early age. Yes, I was one of those white bread kids that turned to rap in the mid 80's. Not necessarily as a rebellious act but because I liked the music. However, most of these lists are now being blown to pieces by the releases of even more "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" albums.

1) Maroon5 - Songs About Jane
2) Van Halen - OU812
3) Run DMC - Raising Hell
4) U2 - Achtung Baby
5) Gypsy Kings - The Best of the Gypsy Kings
6) The Beatles - 1967-1970
7) Beastie Boys - License to Ill
8) Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
9) Metallica - The Black Album
10) Peter Gabriel - So
11) Ice Cube - Death Certificate
12) Elton John - Madman Across the Water
13) Simon and Garfunkel - Greatest Hits
14) Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-1978
15) The Eagles - Hotel California
16) Dave Matthews Band - Crash

All Time Favorite War Movies

Since I'm somewhat of a WWII history buff, I thought I'd have this list full of WWII movies but it pretty much covers most wars that have happened over the last 70+ years. I don't include any "non-traditional" (at least to me, anyway) war movies like Master & Commander, Lawrence of Arabia, or Braveheart.

In this order:

1) Saving Private Ryan - Taking War movies to a "whole new level". The Normandy Beach scene was amazing, leaving people crying in the theaters.
2) Band of Brothers - I'm putting this in the movie category even though it's a mini-series? This has flip-flopped with Saving Private Ryan as my #1 all time favorite war movie. Once you watch the last DVD (The Making Of Band of Brothers, real interviews with the soldiers, etc), you'll appreciate the series even more.
3) A Bridge too Far - The sheer number of great actors in this film make it a top 5 film. The sheer number of actual WWII tanks, planes and weapons (filmed in 1977) used in the film (without any CGI BS) make it an amazing film. Film focuses on Monty's Operation Market Garden, to send paratroopers behind enemy lines to capture bridges.
4) The Longest Day - Along the same lines as "A Bridge too Far", it's got a great cast. This film focuses solely on the Normandy beach landing.
5) Schindler's List - Another of Spielberg's masterpieces, in theaters five years before Saving Private Ryan. A moving film. One of the most haunting images in the movie was the road to the concentration camp...using tombstones as the road.
6) Enemy at the Gates - Yes, my heritage plays a roll in this pick but the cinematography and special effects in this one make an eye opening film. All of the WWII focus was on the Germans vs. the Brits/Americans. This is one of the few films that focuses on the Eastern front.
7) Bridge over the River Kwai - The song makes this movie! A 1957 film that focuses on POWs.
8) Platoon - Yet another Vietnam War movie that shows viewers the crazy things that went on during the war.
9) Full Metal Jacket - From Boot Camp to war zone, this movie has produced some memorable lines. We always knew Boot Camp sucked.......
10) The Great Escape - A classic, starring Steve McQueen. They say that Steve would star in this movie only if he was allowed to do his own motorcycle stunts.
11) Black Hawk Down - I'm told this was supposed to be an anti-war movie but I didn't see it that way. Based on the real-life heroics of two snipers that volunteered to be dropped in the hot zone to assist the downed chopper pilot.
12) Twelve O’Clock High - A classic WWII movie starring Gregory Peck, a General takes over a "rag-tag" group of bomber pilots and whips them in to shape.
13) U-571 - The 10 minute depth charge scene was amazing.
14) Memphis Belle - I don't know why I like this movie, I just do.
15) The Deer Hunter - I was exposed to this movie at an early ageApparentlyly, most Russian Orthodox Americans watch this movie because of the Orthodox wedding scene early on in the movie. This focuses more on the Vietnam veteran after he comes home.
16) Good Morning Vietnam - A movie that starts out funny but ends on a serious note.
17) Apocalypse Now - I only recently saw it and I must say, it's a pretty disturbing movie. There was some crazy stuff going on in Vietnam.
18) The Dirty Dozen - This movie is supposed to "expose the hypocrisy and stupidity of the officers high up."
19) Stalingrad - One of the few that I haven't seen. This movie depicts the war in Stalingrad from a Nazi platoon's point of view.
20) The Pianist - Extraordinary detail and scenery. Along the lines of Schindler's List, in terms of portraying what the Jews went through during WWII.
21) Empire of the Sun - I too saw this at an earlier age (high school, actually) and since the movie was told from a kid's point of view, I "understood" the movie.

My "all-time favorites" lists....

This week, I've decided to publish my "all-time favorites" lists at one list per day. The lists will have my own comments added, for further clarification of why I chose the particular order for the category. The categories include:

All Time Favorite War Movies
All Time Favorite Albums
All Time Favorite Songs
All Time Favorite Cars
All Time Favorite Basketball Players
All Time Favorite Food Dishes
All Time Favorite Beer

They're all pretty much machismo categories.

Game of the century? My first kolbasa order?

I, along with the rest of the nation, watched the USC/UT game. Being from the state of Texas, I'm surrounded by UT fans. Naturally, I was rooting for USC. The game was see-saw, back and forth. Vince Young (who I remember being hyped up back when he was playing High School ball back in Houston), looked like he was playing in a very relaxed manner. It didn't look like he was rolling over people but when all was said and done, he had 200 yards rushing. Unbelievable. You should hear the sport talk Radio in Houston. Everybody wants the Texans to draft Vince Young.

I still like the makeup of USC: drop back passer, explosive RB/WR/KR, bruiser RB, amazing O-Line and a gutsy, gambling coach. Any coach who routinely goes for it on 4th down is A-OK in my book.

I can't seem to do anything constructive at night except play COD II online. I must say, the Russian weapons seem to kick everyone else's arse. Especially the PPSh, with it's high rate of fire. Actually saw a video clip online of a guy firing a real PPSh. Supposedly, they named it the PPSh because that's the way it sounded when you fired it. I couldn't tell on the video.

A family friend has ordered 10 lbs of Ukranian sausage from me for his Superbowl party. Seeing as he is a family friend, I couldn't take his money. I did, however, suggest that he *trade* me a nice bottle of Vodka for the sausage. He thought this was an even better idea! He liked it so much that he will be *paying* with a liter of the best Vodka he can buy and a bottle of Cognac. Next up, my very own deli with a sign hanging out front - "Snika's Fine Meats and Flavored Vodkas"

And with a new year comes.......

.....new changes. The Houston Texans will fire their head coach today. His record in Houston was 20-47 and overall, it was a dismal 49-82. Except that he's not really the reason the team did so poorly.

Had a very nice new years, spent time with the family at the lake house. My daughter rode her Christmas present; she would have made her country-uncle Vic proud of her. He's currently in San Antonio where he's working the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. This bowl game features high-school All-Americans playing each other in an East vs. West team setup.

Oh, BTW, Houston homicides are up 23% from 2004. Surely, the influx of "evacuees" has nothing to do with it.

Thanksgiving weekend means..........

AUTORAMA! Every year, my father, brother and I would attend the Autorama at the Houston Astrodome complex. The car show features classic cars of all makes, models and years. My brother and I would routinely walk the aisles of classic cars and say something to the effect of "Oh man, I would drive that car......" This year was special for me. I put my 1967 Pontiac LeMans in the car show as an exhibitor. Actually, my car was one of six that the Gulf Coast GTO Club of Houston displayed in the show. Now I know what you're thinking, a LeMans isn't a GTO but in reality, the GTO is a LeMans with a bigger engine. I helped set up the booth and volunteered for a shift manning the booth during the show. The old man and I will go pick up the car tonight after the show is over. BTW, he's in the market for a 1965 GTO.

And this just in......the Houston Texans STILL suck! They led 24-7 going in to the 4th quarter and lost 30-24 in overtime.

A Texas Thanksgiving tradition is a deep fried turkey.

Back from the Aloha state.........

Spent a week in the Aloha State (Rainbow State is much too metro for me......) with the family. Had a very relaxing time, the weather was average for Hawaii. Several days of rain dampened the hula spirit. We were on the north side of Oahu where the surf is big. It actually got too big, they had to cancel a surf event on Thursday. I was talking to one local surfer, he got knocked off of his board and had to grab on to a piece of coral reef (under water) to keep from getting bounced around by the wave. After the wave passed, he came up for air. Ridiculous. A lot of surgically enhanced moms walking around......

Maybe my pilot cousin can explain the flight patterns we took. Houston to Hawaii - we flew over LA and then to Honolulu. Hawaii to Houston - we flew over Mexico and then to Houston.

Texans are 1-9, we suck.

It's been a while, and a lot has happened

First of all, the evacuees have left the Reliant Park area but they continue to stay in the city. More and more reports of crimes committed by evacuees are surfacing in the local papers. Once again, New Orleans keeps thanking the city of Houston for *removing* all of the riff-raff from their city.

Secondly, the Astros made their first trip to the World Series against the Chicago Crap Sox. We lost in four straight games but they were actually very entertaining games. And I'm a HUGE bandwagon fan. Actually, I can't stand baseball. Too slow. Too boring. The players aren't athletic enough.......as in you don't have to be a really good athlete to play baseball. You need good hand/eye coordination, but you don't have to be a good athlete. To illustrate this, open you dictionary up to the words "baseball player" and you'll see:

Main Entry: base·ball
Pronunciation: 'bAs-"bol
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive: a game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine largely out of shape players each on a large field having four bases that mark the course a runner must take to score;very difficult game considering that most baseball players are non-athleticc; SEE John Kruk, Cecil Fielder, Tony Gwynn, David Wells, Babe Ruth, and the big fat closer for the White Sox - Jenk.

Thirdly, the Texans recorded their first win of the season against Cleveland. We were 0-5 and were actually favored to win the game.

Fourthly, the mrs. and I took a weekend jaunt up to the church camp near Chicago. Weather was great and the weekend was productive. Ate some great ethnic food after church.

Fifthly, I just felt like adding ly to the end of all of the number words in my posting.

Sixthly, Call of Duty II is out for the PC and it rocks. Check out screenshot here. Some of the old maps from COD have been amped up (most of the credit goes to the updated engine that the game uses) but the online play is definitely fast paced. No vehicles in multi-player, though.

And finally..........my favorite Halloween stat - According to the National Confectioners Association, of adults who buy and distribute Halloween candy, 35 percent said they buy their own favorites and not their children's.

In San Antonio (again)........

In San Antonio, working the Saints/Bills game. The Saints stats crew is understandably taking care of personal issues at home so working a Sunday game isn't that important. We decided to trek up from Houston and help them out.

Had an expensed dinner and drinks last night. Watched many hours of college football, something that I normally don't get to do.

I'm told if the Saints don't move back to New Orleans, they'll have 90% staff turnover. Looks like the owner is the only one who wants to leave New Orleans.

A horrible story made worse....

One sad story from the Hurricane that hit close to home....a bus carrying elderly people from a Houston nursing home to Dallas exploded on the side of the road. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3367695 It seems that the bus had some sort of break problem and pulled over. Then, the breaks caught on fire. Since the bus was carrying elderly, there were several oxygen tanks on board. As my father explained, the oxygen tanks didn't explode or cause the fire, the oxygen merely fed the fire. It seems that the bus company had buses and drivers with numerous violations.

As horrible as this is, it gets worse. My brother's good friend, Sean, has a sister-in-law. The sister-in-law's grandmother was on the bus, she did not make it. Worse still, the nursing home called all three sons to take the lady with them (instead of evacuating her by bus). All three said that she'd be better off on the bus and with the nurses. THREE CALLS. THREE NOs. Absolutely disgusting. The driver managed to get a few of the elderly off of the bus.

Please pray for her and the rest of those who didn't survive this disaster. Her sons will have an unbelievable guilt to live with the rest of their lives.

Safe and Sound

We survived Hurricane Rita, it veered NE of us at the last minute. However, people had to make their decision on whether or not to evacuate on Wednesday/Thursday and at that time, the Hurricane was a category 5 and it was headed straight to Galveston (which is 50 miles due south of Houston). So, at 4:00 in the morning on Thursday, we decided to leave Houston. We headed up to our lakehouse, normally a 2 hour drive NE of Houston. It took us 13 hours. Brutal. Temperature in the high 90s, people and their cars were overheating. Cars were being left on the side of the highway, people were running out of gas. By Thursday afternoon, there was no gas within a 150 mile radius of Houston. It was like a war zone, almost the entire city was evacuating. Over 2 million people evacuated, we were averaging less than 5 miles an hour on the highways.

Watched hurricane coverage on every local channel ad naseum. On Thursday evening/Friday morning, the Hurricane was turning away from us and heading toward the Texans/Louisiana border. One man's good luck is another man's misfortune. Less than .5" of rain at home, had some wind and rain at the lakehouse. Ironically, the hurricane passed close to our lakehouse (the NE track that it took).

Had to come back to Houston on Saturday to get the office networks up and running. The drive back was uneventful, aside from the mayor of Houston on the radio telling people to NOT come back to Houston. For me, duty called. Police presence was evident throughout the city. The only people looting in Houston were people from Louisiana...go figure.

Spent the rest of the weekend cutting up fallen branches and trees. Huge pile of wood in front of the house, waiting for the City to come pick it up.

I don't care that it took 13 hours to get out of town. I'd do it again.

It's been a little bit crazy.......

The number of evacuees is dwindling but there are still quite a few who don't want to leave. Why? Because they're being given everything, that's why. They've got better living arrangements now than in Louisiana, they've got three hot meals plus a snack, they've got clean (for the most part) restrooms, they don't have to pay bills and they're getting a gift from FEMA. Why would they leave? We still play dodge-the-evacuee on the streets near Reliant Park. They don't seem to give a sh*t about traffic laws.....or laws in general. I even heard one evacuee say that he *deserved* $20,000 from FEMA, not $2000. People helping people. People taking advantage of people. Great.

I spent last weekend in Buffalo, NY on a business trip. Weather was very nice but the buffalo wings were crap. I mean, c'mon, it's where they were invented! The Labatt's Blue on tap was excellent, howeverl. I also didn't realize that Toronto was only an hour away. I would have visited some friends had I known they were so close.

Doing my part to help the hurricane victims.........

I've b een in San Antonio helping set up the temporary offices for the New Orleans Saints football team. The Saints were able to get in to their facilities late Friday/early Saturday and load up their football and business equipment. We helped them unload their trucks and begun setting up their temporary office spaces in the Alamodome. It appears that FEMA set up their New Orleans office in the Saints offices/facility, with military buzzing around the complex and helicopters landing on their practice fields.

Reliant Park in Houston as become the number one stop for hurricane refugees. Now, it seems, that all refugees are going to Reliant Astrodome first to get "processed", then sent elsewhere to less crowded shelters. The City of Houston is doing all it can to avoid the Dome and the convention center in Houston to turn in to copy of the similar sites in N.O. We've got law enforcement and the Texas Air National Guard on site to assist. All people entering the premises are being searched. As of this past Friday, we were estimating 15,000 refugees at Reliant Park (the Dome, the Expo Center and the Arena) and another 25,000 at the Houston Convention Center.

I consider myself a caring and emotional person. I have no problem helping others. In fact, sometimes I go out of my way to assist. When I get back from San Antonio, I'll probably volunteer for several shifts at the Dome helping with the infrastructure. We have a full medical facility as well as pharmacy on site. Refugees are getting three meals a day plus a snack. People are coming from all around to help. In fact, we've gotten too many donations. Overall, it looks like a giant flea-market, in a bad sort of way.

I really don't want to rant about the things that are going on in New Orleans now (shooting at military/supplies helicopters, shooting at contractors brought in to repair bridges, etc). I'm REALLY pissed off about that. But what I do want to say is I can't understand the complete disintegration of common sense that has happened to these people in the last week. Yes, they've been through so much. In fact, there's no way I could ever understand what they've been through. Does that give them the right to start looting? Not looting for survival. Looting for fun. Looting for the sake of looting. Looting to get back at *the man*. Just this past week, three refugees were crossing the busy street in front og the stadium, without any regard to traffic signals, traffic laws, and traffic in general. We're helping them out here! They're allowed to ignore all rules? All laws? I can't comprehend it.

I have taken up arms. I will make sure my family is safe. I will purchase more ammunition. I will use all mechanisms that make my house safer. The world was slowly flushing itself down the toilet. I think someone poured some Mr. Tidy Bowl liquid in and unclogged the toilet.

What comes around......Goes around.

Or is it, what goes around...Comes around? In any case, I firmly believe in this theory and have seen it in action many, many times. Is it Karma? Is it Divine Intervention? Is it luck?

I don't feel like approaching it from a religious point of view (since a priest DID tell me that the Orthodox religion doesn't believe in Karma) but I will say that what ever IT is, IT exists.

I used to work with a young man (yes, younger than me) and he had the worst attitude and personality at work. He was extremely rude, would use others to get ahead (including having them do his work for him and he take the credit) and would routinely badmouth coworkers. After several years, this 25 year old complained of chest pains. He went to the doctor and after diagnosing him, they had to operate on him immediately. They found a torn aorta that needed repairing. BTW, he was revived three times on the operating table.

I would never wish this thing on anybody but you have to stop and wonder, would something this serious have happened if he was a little nicer to people? Medically, it might have still happened if he was the Jolly Green Giant. Who knows about his family history but I believe that bad things happen to bad people.

Unfortunately, you can blow my theory out of the water by saying that bad things happen to good people too. It's really in God's hands but it sure makes it easier on God when your not an evil person.

Stop......sushi time.

Yes, we have a sushi buffet restaurant. Like the old college proverb, "It's quantity, not quality". Quite a wide variety of dishes/rolls to choose from but all are of average quality. But if you really want to analyze your restaurant experience......

restaurant can have the following attributes:

Good food
Inexpensive
Fast service

Except it can only have two out of the three. So, you need to use the following formulas:

Good food + Inexpensive = Slow Service
Good food + Fast Service = Expensive
Inexpensive + Fast Service = Crappy Food

Very rarely can a restaurant have all three. And don't even try to use Taco Smell as one that has all three attributes.

I'm having some issues.......and I'm expressing them all using cliches....

It's amazing how many lazy people are out in the world today. Getting stuck doing other people's work is no fun and you really can't get away from it. In a Customer Service oriented field of work, this is becoming more than just an occasional occurrence. And of course, when you stand your ground (and refuse to do their work), you're labeled as "not very helpful". In other words, "You're damned if you do, damned if you don't".

You can't avoid it. You can't escape it because the grass is not greener on the other side. As one U.K. co-worker used to put it, "Better the Devil you know...." So, you suck it up and wait for "What comes around, goes around". And I've seen it come around on a number of occasions.

All of the fellas have been playing Half-Life 2. I just can't get in to a game that focuses on weirdo alien creatures and silly, proton-raybeam-lightning bolt guns. Being a WWII buff, I tend to play COD, Brothers in Arms, Medal of Honor, and the one that started it all for me, Day of Defeat. Of course, the responsibilities at home don't really allow me to play as often as I used to. Plus, I've been getting up at 6:00 a.m. to put in 15 miles on my road bike.

Lance is my hero and it's football time again

Rode 15 miles this morning on my road bike. This after I went on a 33 mile ride Sunday morning. I'm happy and pleased with my new road bike, I should be in good shape when it's time to break out the MTB. In case you're wanting info on the latest MTB trends and equipment, check out www.mtbr.com.

The NFL season is upon us. Those of us who are stats geeks are preparing for the upcoming Fantasy Football draft. Remember to draft an RB or two early, that's where all the points come from. I usually wait to draft a QB until the 6th or 7th round. My personal favorite FF website, The Huddle.

And the hits keep comin'......

Dinner and a movie, at the same time? You bet. Sheila and I went to see Wedding Crashers on Thursday night. In the past, we'd hit dinner first, then attempted to see a movie. Dinner usually runs late and we end up missing the movie. What's the solution to this problem? Why not have a restaraunt in the movie theater...... Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has the answer. We got to the theather about 15 minutes prior to the movie starting. We grabbed our seats and perused the menu. They have a good beer selection and basic bar food (chips/queso, burgers, chicken sandwiches, and the like). I ordered a local HefeWeissen, Sheila had a glass of Pinot Grigio. The appetizer came, and the movie started. We submitted our sandwich orders and about 10 minutes later, we had our dinner. Again, it was bar food but coupled with the movie it overall was positive.

BTW, summer is officially over. Camp has ended and everyone's getting ready for school. Don't speed through the school zones, please.

I see that you can now bet on the price of gasoline. The bet is which city will reach $3 a gallon for gas before New Years Day - NYC or LA. Current odds are 14:1.

More evidence on the work-related problems of blogging.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"

Great quote by Spock. This quote really holds true in the Customer Service world where, it seems, everybody tends to bitch about everything and that they're the most important. The only thing worse is people who occupy a position and don't do their job. Of course, you can only worry about yourself.

And the greatest quote of all time by the legendary John Wooden - "It's amazing how much you can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit." I think I'll get that printed up and hang it in my office for all to see.

After MTBing for a while, the feats of Lance Armstrong have made me take up road biking. Not only do I need the workout, it's a workout my knees can handle. Check out my new ride.

I'm no longer a blogging virgin!

Although I am a bit pissed now. Pop-up blocker blocked the Spell Check pop-up window and I lost my original, first blog entry. So, here goes again.

I've finally decided to set up a Blog site. Harcore technology experts have been blogging for years, it's the network security (and HR) people that view blogging as a risk. Since I fall in to both categories, it took me a while to determine which route to go. I guess the *expert* in me won out. Still, I'll probably be fairly tame in my postings since your blog is backed up, cached, mirrored, linked to and copied. No sense in leaving something sitting around for someone else to use in their quiver. Internet access, however, is a much bigger debate. Should internet access be restricted? An internet connection in the workplace is a must now. Hell, ATM machines are running on Windows OS with a connection to the internet. However, if the company is providing the access, the machine and the network, you really should play by their rules. If your neighbor is providing the access (and you're *borrowing* it), you probably have less restrictions (although your ethics are questionable). Hey kids, turn SSID broadcast off, enable encryption, create a fairly cryptic WEP key/WPA Passphrase and, if you really want to be cool, enable MAC address filtering. What does all of that mean? $125/hr will tell you.

I used to think that Jesus Jones' "Right Here, Right Now" was the greatest song ever but then Maroon5 came out with "This Love". All of you Zepplin, The Who, Stones and Beatles fans pipe down. All of those groups have kick ass songs but afterall, it is subjective. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine came out with their list a while ago.

Surfing at an early age has taught me to respect Mother Nature. This has caused some to call me a "Tree Hugger". How about the food chain being disrupted because global warming has caused plankton to die off?

F.O.B. means the same for everyone, regardless of nationality.