Dude, this cool. Engadget is reporting that Sony has applied for a patent that, utilizing 3D TV technology and shutter glasses (a la those $100 3D glasses kids keep breaking at the Best Buy 3D TV display), will allow two people to play a video game, sharing the same screen, but both seeing different images.

I remember the days of playing GoldenEye for the Nintendo64 and trying to see what was going on in those tiny squares on our already tiny TV when I was a kid, and this is cool. Even now on my substantially larger TV, split-screen can be distracting when there's a lot of action going on, like in Left 4 Dead. This idea is awesome, and a little trippy.

Apparently Microsoft is doing the same type of thing, only sans the glasses.

Man I love living in the future.

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Well, Fort Sam had started blocking ZA a couple months ago, which was making it hard to update. Finally an order allowing all social media sites unless specifically blocked came out so I submitted my site to have it unblocked again and, voila, I'm back on the air!

Speaking of Fort Sam, last week on Friday I turned in my two week's notice to my boss and our Director. I have accepted a job at the Installation Management Command (IMCOM) HQ as a GS-13, which is a promotion for me. Right now I am going to be the Configuration Management Lead, which is something I have some experience with as I actually created and run the Configuration Management Process where I work now. I was told today, however, that apparently the organization is in flux and that my job may change before I even get there. I guess as long as the pay is the same I can tackle anything that they can throw at me.

I'm genuinely sad to be leaving my team at the Network Enterprise Center, as I have worked hard to put together a good group of people and they are all really great guys. We have been through a lot together, and I consider most of them to be friends. I am also excited at the potential of this new environment, and I am confident that I can succeed there. It's an organization that is growing and I think that a truly motivated individual can stand out there. I hope so!

I started working at the NEC as a contractor when my friend Tony called me up and asked if I was interested in working over there. It was a substantial raise from my salary at the time, and I had enjoyed working with Tony when we were in the Air Force together, so I took the opportunity. After he had taken the GS supervision job and then left, I positioned myself to replace him. It almost didn't happen, as the NEC Director at the time had a thing about contractors getting government jobs (even if they had Veteran's preference, as I did) and didn't want to negotiate pay with me. I ended up getting the job, but not without a nearly $10k a year pay cut. It was worth it to me for the opportunity, however, as I knew that this could be a career. So for the past three years this is what I've been doing, working hard to make the Networks team the best in the NEC while having an impact on the other groups around me as well. It's been a lot of hard, mostly gratifying work.

These last two weeks are going to be full of prepping my team, my replacement, and myself for my move. I can't believe that this day has arrive and that I'm leaving. They say the only thing that's consistent in life is change, so here's to the next big change for me!

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It doesn't take a team of professors led by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist to see that the tax-payer funded stimulus has had little tangible effect on the economy or on the bottom-line of job creation, but I guess some Nobel prize winners see nothing but good times ahead this summer as the Obama Regime plans a "Recovery Summer" to celebrate the gains and accomplishments created from the last go-round.

  But that's not all, of course. Since it worked so well the last time, Obama is once again seeking taxpayer money from Congress to extend programs from the last stimulus bill.

  This is especially important now because there are tens of thousands of workers in the Gulf area alone who are about to join the unemployment rolls if King Obama doesn't lift his moratorium on offshore drilling. I think that the Census Bureau is still taking applications so that the Feds can continue to inflate job numbers, though, so take heart if you're about to lose your job on an oil rig. And don't worry, they'll hire you even if you have a record.

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So yesterday morning I attended a church by myself for the first time in years.

As part of my effort to get myself back into the Christian community and remain a lone-worlf no more, I attended Billy's church as we had discussed last week. I was very interested in what it would be like as it is a Lutheran congregation, which I haven't attended since I was probably thirteen with my father once (he was raised Lutheran; my mom and pop attend Church Of Christ, which is how I was raised). Needless to say when I was thirteen I wasn't paying much attention and we ultimately never went back; church wasn't really my dad's thing at the time.

I have driven by the Immanuel Lutheran Church building a few times; it's on my way home from Dallas and stands out as a quaint, little white church building. Right up the road from where I live, it's also conveniently located which is always a plus (though not a pre-requisite).

Sunday morning I got up at 8am which is earlier than usual for me on a weekend day and got ready to go. Hill had a dog adoption event that morning so her day was already scheduled, meaning I was on my own. Fortunately Billy was going to be there so I didn't feel too intimidated. At around 8:30 I got in my car and, just to be safe, punched up Immanuel Lutheran into my GPS. Oddly, I found that it was taking me up the freeway instead of straight down 775, but I tend to put more trust in my GPS than I probably should and started off.

By the time I got about twenty miles from the house south instead of north-east I realized that I was probably going the wrong way. I stopped and did a search on my iPhone and found that there are at least three Immanuel Luther Churches in San Antonio, and apparently the one I was going to was not in my GPS database. Now I was half-an-hour away and class was supposed to start in 15 minutes. I punched the address for the church building into my GPS and got the quickest route and hit the gas. I felt weird speeding on my way to church so I ended up going (mostly) the speed limit on my way there, and sure enough arrived about 15 minutes late. I guess even I can't break family tradition.

It turned out that there was no morning class that day and everyone was just hanging out and socializing. Billy teaches the young adult Bible class in the morning so he had some of his friends standing by for my arrival, and a very nice guy named Brian was waiting for me. He introduced himself and his wife (whose name escapes me, of course; that's going to take a while!) and some others (a gentleman who coaches I think for a local high school team named Dave, for one). We had a really nice talk about various things for about half-an-hour, and then the second service started to begin. Most of the people I'd been talking to went to the first service so I was kind of on my own in the actual service.

If there's one thing that going to church has taught me about myself it's that I'm very judgemental. I think that, in a way, a part of me has gone beyond looking for a place that is challenging and now I actually judge the message and how it's presented, which is a really bad attitude and sets me off on the wrong foot immediately. I found myself critiquing every little thing and looking for flaws and where I differed with what was being said, instead of just going with the flow for my first service with them.

I was off-put at first by the liturgy, which really there isn't anything wrong with. It's all very structured and organized, which while isn't necessarily what I want in a service I can sort-of see its appeal. In fact I think getting a little audience participation keeps people focused on what's going on.

So as we were going along I had to force myself to let go of my pre-conceived notions of how I thought it should be done and allow myself to experience the service the way they were presenting it. When I did that I was able to relax more and enjoy it. The only part that I found rubbed me the wrong way was when the pastor turned and said that, by the power vested in him or some such thing, he forgave of us of our sins. I am going to have to research that and see where they're getting that from; I don't remember anyone but Jesus (and maybe the Apostles) being given the power to forgive sins. Of course, I tend to believe that a lot of the power and authority that was granted to the Apostles are confused as being given to all Christians by today's church; I don't know about you but if I get bit by a snake I'm going to the doctor!

Some of the liturgy is done in a sing-song way that was very reminiscent of how Jewish services sing the Torah, which I thought was kind of cool. I wonder if most of them even realize where that tradition comes from?

He also said some things that struck me as being a bit Calvinistic, but Billy doesn't think that he means it in that way. Things like saying that his faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit make me wonder, though.

All-in-all I think I enjoyed myself; getting to mingle with other Christians and enjoy some light fellowship and service was neat. Right after I left I felt a little torn about whether this was the place for me or not, but upon reflection I think I need to attend a few more times, go to some Wednesday night and Sunday school classes and meet more people and see how that's going before I make my decision about whether to plants roots there. It would be unfair to do otherwise, really.

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This damn mountain cedar is killing me. My allergies are dragging me down big time and I feel like absolute crap. Allergy meds aren't cutting it; I was thinking about going to the doctor tomorrow and seeing if I can get an allergy shot or something. This is just too much to deal with on my first week back at work after a two-week vacation.

Bleh.

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Can we please get socialism going here as soon as possible?

Venezuela is clearly the paradise that the U.S. could be, and I want to live the exciting lifestyle of waiting for my two-minute afternoon shower and electricity rationing as soon as possible!

What is it that lefties see in these socialized and/or communist nations that they want to repeat in the United States? Oh yes, centralized government power and an elitism that they could revel in. Chavez isn't having his power rationed, I guarantee it.

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Well, it's back to work tomorrow after a two week vacation. I am not really upset about going back, even though I know this week is going to be super stressful. I look forward to seeing my team tomorrow and getting Billy's debrief for the past two weeks. I always enjoy the animated recounting of his time in-charge when I am gone.

Speaking of Billy, I am going to talk to him about possibly attending his church as a guest next Sunday. My primary concern is that it's a Lutheran church, and researching their core values there are a lot of little things that they do that I am not necessarily in agreement with. Feels a little bit like trying to build my house on a foundation of sand. Though Billy is in the same boat there; he was raised and tends to hold the beliefs of a Baptist, and we had a great Bible study together for a few months and I found him to be a powerful Christian brother in the short time that we studied together, so I know that he would be a good support for me (and hopefully vice-versa).

I did a massive deep-cleaning of our cat room yesterday afternoon, and Hill and I are talking about putting together a weekly chore schedule for us to follow to help get this house into a better state. Well, actually Hill laughs at me when I talk about organizing a cleaning schedule because she doesn't think that way; she tends to be more "seat of the pants" whereas I work best when I have everything laid out into a neat tidy plan. I can only imagine what will happen when I present a spreadsheet to her. I just think that if everything is broken down and we know what we're supposed to be doing on a given day that the idea of cleaning will become less overwhelming and we'll be less likely to ignore the problem. I mean, it's really not THAT bad in here, at least considering how many animals we have, but that cat room highlighted to me that we've gotten too good at ignoring clutter and dirtiness over the years.

We're going to Costco today to get more rawhides for the dogs and to get lunch together, so I guess I should start getting ready. My allergies are punching me in the face this morning and I don't want to go anywhere, but we have stuff to do and this is the last day of vacation so I should enjoy it!

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It's been a long time since I've posted anything here. It's kind of a shame because I used to find it pretty cathartic. Life, though, tends to dictate what you are and aren't going to be doing at any given moment, and writing posts on a blog that three people read dropped on the priority list about three-hundred places.

So what's changed that I decided to post something here again? Well, I guess the first thing is that I am smack-dab in the middle of a two week vacation. So it's 10am and I am still laying in bed with the laptop in its rightful place having just eaten a chocolate donut (the only kind I like aside from plain no-glaze) and a coffee brought to me by my adorable wife, still trying to figure out GRUB2 and wondering if my Pop tried to load Linux on his laptop yet. Wish we had done it while I was there to help!

I got back from Dallas on Thursday, where I spent the better part of a week just hanging with the family. I missed seeing my sister, brother-in-law, and brand-spanking-new nephew by just a couple of hours which was lame, but she and the kid will be back in March so it looks like another roadtrip is in my future. Driving I-35 through Texas has become old-hat as we do it at least four times a year. Nice being so close; if they decide to make the ironic move to Arizona it's going to tip my world out-of-balance. That move is ironic, by the way, because I basically moved to Texas from Arizona (with a three-year stopover in Iceland). God works in mysterious ways to be sure, and whatever He's got up His sleeve I know it's for the best, but it sure would be nice if someday we could all live within driving distance of each other.

Had a lot of fun in Dallas; we saw a couple movies (Avatar and Zombieland at the dollar theater). Avatar was really good but the 3D is not ready for me yet; my eyes felt like they were out of focus the whole movie. I would like to see it again in 2D; the effects were awesome and though the story was clichéd, as people say, it is so because it tugs at your emotions everytime.

Zombieland Hill and I had seen when it first came out (obviously, ZombiePete isn't missing a zombie movie) which even for the second viewing is hilarious and awesome. Woody Harrelson really stole the show in that one, and even though Pop said it was sick he had a big grin on his face the whole time. I knew my Mom would like it because, like me, she likes sick over-the-top movies (most of the time). Hey, she watched The Evil Dead with me, that makes her cool in my book.

Not much else to speak of; for the most part it was just enjoyable and relaxing. They did get me a book for Christmas about the differences between the New Testament church and the church of today, which I am finding interesting so far. I'm sort-of wondering if it isn't going to turn into a advocation for Communism (not political communism or Marxism, mind you, but the original sense of a community trading goods and services with each other). A lot of what it has said already flies in the face of a lot of what we as Americans have fought for and believed for years; but when you really think about it, can't the same be said for Christianity in general? The American culture has grown so apologetic and corrupt over the past sixty years; the tired yet stark comparison to the fall of Rome is even more apt today than I think it was even ten years ago. More and more people that I speak to agree with me that the United States has reached its peak, and is now on the inevitable decline. There's never been a better time to declare your citizenship in the Kingdom of God and cast aside your reliance on worldly governments and systems, because the worldly ones will die away. That is not to say that we should secede from the US or move to a remote island somewhere (though wouldn't that be nice...as long as they had broadband and coffee), but from a mindset perspective I get no satisfaction from our secular government any longer.

And it's not just because Obama is there either. Democrat or Republican or Independent, ultimately they may be using different rulebooks but they're all playing the same game, and it ends the same way.

Anyway, enough of that. I could go on all day and I should really get up and take a shower soon. Dang, I don't think I have any clean socks today. Should've done a load of laundry last night.

I am going to make an effort of keeping this site more up-to-date; I have an idea for another site that I may start in the near future with help of my old Bible study group which I need to start again. I also need to finally get serious and find a Church family to join and stop trying to be a lone wolf Christian; it doesn't work and I am living proof of that.

Until next time, kiddos, keep your thinking hats on.

ZP

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I tend to be an early adopter of new technology, particularly when it's free. But when Google's browser Chromium first appeared, I was hesitant. I am a big fan of Firefox. It was the first web browser I tried after years of using Internet Exploder and I did it with trepidation. After all, there was no way that a free piece of software could ever compare to what years of investment and development power that went into IE.

Of course I was dead wrong. Firefox quickly became my defacto browser, offering features and add-ons that IE would only begin to emulate years later. To this day I don't think that IE has gotten tabbed browsing or bookmarks right. It's only been recently as we were forced to use IE exclusively for a short period of time that I really came to appreciate just what Firefox has gotten right. You can't imagine the shock of going back to an internet unprotected by Adblock Plus and NoScript after years of using them.

So the idea of moving to Chromium, which is still in a technology preview stage on Linux, made me cringe a little. It doesn't have the add-on base that Firefox has, and it definitely hasn't been around the block like Firefox either. On the other hand, it is DAMN FAST. If there's one thing that Firefox has going against it, its memory management can be pretty awful. If you leave it running for a long period of time, it can end up eating all your processor resources. Chromium doesn't have this issue, and it loads up websites in no time at all. I downloaded Chromium the first day it came out on Windows, and while it was definitely immature, I couldn't believe the difference in speed.

Last night, I decided to give it a whirl and see how it looked in Ubuntu. I added the repositories to Synaptic, ran a quick update, and then ran the install command. As usual, it was a seamless process that required zero input from me (after the initial prep work; since this isn't an official release, it's not in the package manager yet). Of course my internet connection decided to be a pain in the butt and it took about five minutes to download 18MB.

Now, supposedly with some quick fixes this version of Chromium was supposed to support Flash on Linux. I made the changes outlined but it didn't work. I tried doing them again and still nothing. I don't know if anyone else had that issue, but I never was able to get Flash working.

Other than that, though, the browser worked flawlessly. I have to admit, the speed difference is less noticeable on my up-and-down connection, but I could still feel the difference. The other difference I noticed right off the bat were the incessant ads all over every webpage I browsed. Quickly the missing add-ons from Firefox outweighed any perceived speed improvements.

Chromium is a fast browser, no doubt about it. But right now, in my opinion, that's all it has going for it. As a user, I find it less intuitive than Firefox is just general use. I don't like how it immediately opens a bunch of tabs and I couldn't quickly find a way to change that function. There also didn't seem to be a lot of options in general. Now, this is a tech preview so it's not ready for primetime yet, and I understand that. These are just my initial impressions.

In any case, it looks like I'll be sticking to Firefox for now. What can I say, in the end, I'm sentimental.

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Man, I had an irritating day at work today.

I can't even really pinpoint what it was that got to me so badly. Part of it was our Monday morning engineering board that I run...or don't run...I'm not sure because another guy is the actual chair of this board but I run the meeting. Anyway, he is completely disengaged from the process, so he often makes decisions that don't really make sense or don't follow the spirit of the process.

It doesn't really matter anymore though because the entire process is being given to someone else to manage now that I've gotten it up-and-running. Neat!

Frankly, that doesn't bother me so much except that the guy they're giving it to is brand new here and I already get the "at my last job we did it this way" vibe from him so I can just feel the radical, pointless changes that confuse everyone coming. On the other hand, I am also seeing that he's a smart, reasonable guy, so hopefully he can overcome his urge to reinvent the wheel (that just got invented from scratch in March by yours truly) and ease into the whole thing.

Yeah, I think this is what's really bothering me. I've worked really hard to make this whole thing a success, and now I am seeing that I am going to have to let it go and it kind of frustrates me. Such is the nature of the beast, of course, and I am sure that over the years I'll develop lots of processes and systems that will end up someone else's. Hell, even the network that at one time had my signatures all over it has become something more than me. It's now the sum of the hard work that my entire team has put into it, and where once I knew all the IP addresses for all the different devices and had logged into every network device at least three or four times, now I find myself asking how things are setup because I'm not in it everyday. And while at one point I thought this would bother me, I find myself feeling a sense of pride because while I didn't necessarily run every command on each switch and router, I put together and trained the team that's doing it now.

So I guess I am going to have to start separating myself from the process now. I will always play a part in it, and I'm sure the new guy will still ask for my input from time-to-time, but it's not going to be mine anymore.

In less than a year it will have been ten years since I joined the military. The kid who enlisted in the Air Force in June of 2000 never imagined that when he was 28 he'd be getting melancholy over a change management process, that's for sure. What a horrible geek I've become. lol

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