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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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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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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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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On Facebook, my sister posted a comment about the nature of humanity and how different political groups tend to view people as either basically good or basically bad. The conversation inherently became about the different approaches to social problems by the government, and I began writing a response and realized that it was never going to fit into the comments box, so I decided to post my thoughts here. Below are some but certainly not all the reasons I believe that the Federal government shouldn't be involved in dealing with social problems:

1) The cumbersome and bureaucratic nature of the Fed is not conducive to the fast-paced and constantly-shifting needs of the populace. Hurricane Katrina was a perfect example of this. The Fed was never designed to be a quick-reaction force; in fact our system of checks-and-balances was specifically designed to prevent that type of Federal government. The reality is that the only group in Washington designed for that type of situation is the military, which is not supposed to be operating and running operations in/for States. They're not quite there yet, but I have seen first-hand that we're not very far from that scenario.

2) The Fed's response to every problem is to throw money at it, which has proven time and again to be a losing philosophy. Remember "give me a fish, teach me to fish"? In point of fact, there's not much else it COULD do, because as originally designed its function was pretty purely legislative. Congress passes laws and creates budgets. So their only method for tackling social issues is to pass laws to combat them and budget to fund the programs these laws create. Does anyone look at Social Security as a successful program? But Congress is never going to fix it, because it's a huge source of income for the Fed and it rattles too many cages when anyone steps forward in an effort to do so. That leads me into my next point.

3) Unfortunately, we have a system where politics has become a career for many of the people in Washington, and instead of seeing themselves as civil servants they see themselves as elitist leaders who must guide the nation through every turn. So these people promise all sorts of money and benefits to voters in an attempt to buy another four years in Congress. The more they get for their constituents, the more dependent their constituents become, and the more sure they are to be elected to keep the benefits coming. It's a vicious cycle that has very evidently created a burgeoning welfare state that in just the past few months has grown into a disgustingly-bloated trillion-dollar investment in failure. And try ending a massive program that generates tons of revenue for the government. It virtually never happens, unless that program is tied to the military, which sadly is one of the few Constitutionally-defined responsibilities of the Fed to fund and maintain.

4) The Fed is not poised to help anyone at an individual level. Issues that are small in scale or affect different people differently cannot effectively be fixed by wide-sweeping legislation. The Fed usually hits issues from a 30,000-foot view, so if the problem isn't "one size fits all", there's really no chance that everyone is going to be helped. And honestly, what problems are generic enough that a massive Federal program is going to fix them?

5) As a big believer in the 10th Amendment and the limits that it was designed to create on the Fed, I firmly believe that all these social programs are unconstitutional. If States want to enact their own social and welfare programs, then that's for the States to decide. People have a lot more power and control over what their States do by design. The Fed was supposed to be a quorum of the States, which is why state legislatures used to elect Senators. Not to get off on a different tangent, though.

These are just some of the reasons I hold the opinion I do on this. If one were to begin invoking religion, I would challenge that Jesus never said "Give to Cesar what is Cesar's to make sure those tax dollars get into the welfare system". I firmly believe that the Bible strongly advocates individual responsibility and real, personal love for your neighbor. Not the impersonal, bureaucratic systems that the Fed creates to tackle these issues. I just can't accept that Jesus would be satisfied with us waiting for a broken system to get fixed in Washington to help the poor and needy.

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Well, my running career ended pretty much before it began. I guess God decided before I was born that my family would never be winning any gold medals in running events, because I have learned that us Michaelsons don't really have the knees for it. I was in agony last weekend when it really started to rain, and the pain lasted nearly all week. My Uncle Rick called it the curse of the Michaelson genes. I guess I'm going to have to bust out the elliptical trainer that we bought for the heavy stuff, and stick to walking when I'm outside. I hate the elliptical because I'm stuck doing it inside; I want to get out into our neighborhood.

Speaking of self-improvement, a couple weeks ago my friend Shad and I agreed to start a Bible study together once a week, since neither of us is going to church and we need the encouragement. Since then, I invited one of my employees named Billy to join us, and the three of us had a really great fellowship yesterday. It was incredibly refreshing, and I thank God that He's opened this door for me. I am just now starting back on my path back to salvation, and having these two incredible brothers there to support me is a real blessing.

I think that what I really found fascinating about our study is that, at first I thought we were just going to tear through the material that we had and run out of conversation quickly, but after going over really just a couple of verses we got into such in-depth conversations that we basically talked for an hour-and-a-half. There's so much depth in everything in the Bible if you open yourself to it, and there are so many different lessons in just a couple of chapters. Right now we're looking at the authority of the Bible and I myself found it interesting how self-supporting it is.

I am really looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship with this study group.

Hillarie is cooking dinner as I write this and it's making me hungry, so I guess I'll cut this short. Glad it's the weekend!

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I just went on my first walk/run in a long time. I mean, a long time.

It was about 2.5 miles, which doesn't sound like a lot until it's been nearly two years since you've seriously done any aerobics like this. I was using the eliptical trainer that we bought a year ago for a while, but the novelty of running in-place for 30 minutes at a time wore off pretty quickly.

As I've mentioned many times before, we live out in the country. It's the perfect place to actually get outside and move. Except for the fact that there are no sidewalks and when I have my headphones in I am oblivious to motorized vehicles behind me. I learned quickly to start walking on the left side of the road today.

When I got home I did some sit-ups and push-ups, too. Sit-ups have never been an issue for me, even though I have developed a bit of a gut thanks to years of ridiculously delicious cooking. Push-ups, on the other hand, can get me pretty quickly. I used to have pretty good upper-body strength, but have completely let all my workouts go since I got out of the Air Force. Not to say that I was ever a shining spectacle of physical fitness, but it's a bit ridiculous now. It's easy to ignore it when you've been at a mentally-demanding job for eight or nine hours when you get home and want to do absolutely nothing.

But I'm 27-years-old; turning 28 this summer. If I don't get in some kind of shape soon, I'm going to get to that point where it becomes infinitely more difficult to workout.

So here I am, sweaty and tired, sitting with my laptop writing about how I'm sweaty and tired. My goal is to do this everyday when I get home from work, take Saturdays off for fun and frivolity, and then start again on Sunday afternoons.

I can do it if I really want to; it's just a question of forcing myself to do it. We'll see.

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