Why, after such a long pause, am I writing again? Simple answer. I missed it. Writing is an exercise of the mind. Reading is great to expand your vocabulary. Dialog is one of the methods to exercise such. But, to me, writing is a much more effective workout for the mind. I am not good when it comes to metaphors, but you could say that speaking is to writing what anaerobic exercise is to aerobic exercise. You could say that my mind is preparing to run 1500 meters or something like that. Also, I am a firm believer that the written word shows a part of who you are as a person. It is a projection of yourself aimed at the reader. And you only get one shot at a first impression.

I have a confession to make. I am a grammar Nazi. I think that people make fools of themselves when their writing is not in line with the rules of English (or Spanish) grammar. I find that people are killing the language when their written word looks like atrocities and aberrations that deserve to be erased once they hit the medium of expression. Entire sentences written in CAPS LOCK, alternating lower case with upper case every other letter… *shudders* Sure, call me a conservative grammatic. I wonder if I should start a Tea Party to hinder the progress or eradicate things like l33t sp34k. The Glenn Beck of Grammar. But I digress. The language is evolving and I have absorbed some of these variations. But some of these changes need to be taken out back and shot.

Being St. Valentine’s day, I have to write something about it. This one was nice. I went on a lunch date with a new friend. She recommended a Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church. Long story short, the food was great and the company was very enjoyable. And hot pepper oil makes the food better.

One thing that is of concern to me, in regards to any major holiday (although you should not call St. Valentine’s Day a holiday because you have to work if it is on a weekday) is the commercialization. The media constantly bombards us (I use the pronoun “us” because I am not immune to it) with the need to spend money. Gifts are one of the many ways to express affection and I have no issues with anyone purchasing something as a sign of affection or care or love. I have done it in the past (with little or no success, I might add) and I am sure that I will do so in future iterations of this day.

I do have two points to make about this day. First, love, care and affection must be shown to those around you on a daily basis. We do not need a holiday to make it more special. And express it in whatever way suits your fancy; but make sure the expression is in line with how you truly feel about the person on the receiving end. In short, don’t get any of it on someone that does not want it. You’d get stuck with the dry cleaning bill.

Which brings me to point number two. I caught myself saying several times something along the lines of “every day needs to be Valentine’s Day when you love/care/appreciate someone” (the paragraph above being the latest instance). If every day were St. Valentine’s Day (or whatever other holiday has been mutated by the cancer of consumerism), we would be broke. Love is not a material thing. An act of love and kindness is more powerful than some random trinket. Don’t go crazy buying crap that is going in the trash eventually. And if you do want to give something, ask the recipient what he/she would like. It saves you the trouble of giving something that will be reciprocated with an indifferent reaction.

I wish I had some parting words which would inspire you, the reader, to be or do something grand. I think I do. Schroedinger’s cat. A cat stuck inside a box with a vial of poison that is opened when radioactivity is at a certain level. While it is possible that the cat is, for a specific moment in time, both alive and dead, you still have to open the box to see in which state the cat is. In life, things can go either good or bad when you do something. But you have to make a decision, or “collapse the probability functions” in quantum physics lingo (thank you, “The Big Bang Theory”), in order to get rid of the uncertainty of the situation.

Gung hee fatt choi!

Carpe diem.

I have heard stories about individuals who have had a friend confide in them the fact that they are of homosexual, bisexual, or transgender orientation. Sure, after hearing them, you express a reaction in order to go with the flow of the conversation and it tends to match the mood of the person telling the story. But it is not until one of your own friends comes forward with something like this that you know what the narrator was feeling when he/she heard it.

This morning, I had a very close friend of mine share with me that he is bisexual.

The closeness of the relationship with the individual is proportionate to the strength of the emotions running through you and its impact on your beliefs, ideals and values. I just had a thermonuclear device detonate in my soul.

The dust has settled over the last few hours and I am able to look at my soul. The damage is minimal… superficial, at most. The strength of our friendship, combined with the belief of equality towards the LGBT movement, makes for a resilient structure. I am still in shock. I think I may need soundtrack to match the ambiance… The Foo Fighters is not it. Neither is Green Day.

I am not sad. I am not happy. I am just rattled.

I believe that, as time pases, remembering this day will equate to walking past a memorial. You remember what happened thanks to the clues around it.

(While I pause to think what to write next, I reload “The Drudge Report” to see if any new headlines have been posted. At the top, I see Nancy Pelosi’s face with a green filter over. God, she looks scary.)

A long time ago, a friend spoke to me about a Hindu deity, Ganesh. The anthropomorphic elephant stated that everything falls into its place, but it may not be the place that you so wish. I have no problem with his choice of lifestyle, but it will take time to get accustomed.

If you accept or reject the LGBT lifestyle, then good on you. But right now, I do not care what you think. Your opinion is yours alone.

All I can do now is pick up the debris and clean up the area around my soul. However, I do not think I will fix the cracks in the wall. They’ll serve me as a reminder of today.

As for my friend… You are still that, my good friend. Anytime you want to talk, I am here.

Oh yeah. Saturday I spent it with my father doing errands and chores. Sunday I spent it, you got it, doing a few more errands and chores. Chores suck. But if you don’t do them, the place falls apart. Now the garage is clean, the laundry is done, and the shelves are stocked.

I did not watch the Pacquiao/Hutton fight, but I read about it. Pac Man did not mess around. If you want to see some pictures of events during the fight but outside the ring, go to this article on the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1176786/Ricky-Hattons-fianc-e-Jennifer-collapses-tears-suffers-brutal-knock-Las-Vegas.html). I think Hutton’s fiance took his pain to heart really bad. And Pac Man’s wife she is all grins. If I had to pick one, I’d go with Pacquiao’s wife. Then again, I would not mess with either woman. Husband (or fiance) boxer. Nuff said.

And the Caps beat the Penguins in the first of the series. C-A-P-S!! Ovechkin is the best thing to have happened to DC hockey. I do wonder if the Penguin fans are as rabid and fierce as the Steelers and Eagles fans.

In other news, Cinco de Mayo is this week. To clarify, it is not the independence of Mexico. It celebrates the defeat of the French forces at the Battle of Puebla. When in doubt, ask Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_mayo). But with the H1N1 influenza scare/threat going around, margaritas may not flow like rivers. They may trickle. Bummer.

Oh, and stop killing pigs around the world. It is not the Swine Flu! If you do, there will be a shortage of ribs, pulled pork, pork chops, ham, bacon, sausage and carnitas. That cannot be allowed to happen!

Ok, I am out. Nothing else comes out of this head of mine except a desire to drink chocolate milk. Good night!

But, life, in its ever desire to either A) challenge us with obstacles so we can overcome them and become better individuals or B) fuck with our heads and make things difficult for us, has put a small obstacle in my way. Of the two classes I have left, one of them is the Directed (or Dedicated) Research Paper.

The computer, with its flawed logic, tells me that to enroll the class it either has to be the last or next to last class. Stupid computer, it is the next to last or last class! Now I need to go to the campus and sort this out. *sigh*

And to make things worse, I will be forced to take a class on Saturday morning! Yes, there goes my weekends for three months!

There. I whined and I vented. Do I feel better? Somewhat.

1. Went to the town of Quantico and got haircuts;
2. Went to the Home Depot to purchase some items for the garage;
3. Went to Wal Mart and the Men’s Warehouse shopping;
4. Went to Chilis for lunch and Romano’s Macaroni Grill for dinner;
5. Cleaned the garage and driveway; and
6. Installed new curtains in my living room.

All in all, it was very productive day. We also get a lot of time to talk about random things.

I just wanted to post this to share with the world how great my father is. Great guy indeed. Thanks, dad.

Nah. At least, not yet.

While I won’t wave the finger at the governments for being overly cautious, I will call out those who like to spread ignorance across the communication media… And I do not mean the news bodies. I mean the people. Yes, those of you who are in ground zero of the event and start spewing your blabber without considering that, as a single individual, you do not have the entire picture of the situation. Just because you can type what you see in a text box, 140 characters long or otherwise, that does not make you a reporter. You may not think that at the time, but you are responsible for what you type, even if you do not feel that way. If you are going to type something, do not spread doom and gloom. In short, if you have nothing constructive to add, then STFU.

How is the world going to end? I dunno. Do I care? It would be interesting to know, but it does not affect my day-to-day matters. And I can bet my bottom dollar that one group of human beings would not kill another just because they want to be the dominant group. If I were to nuke a country, I am certain that the targeted country would retaliate. The Cold War created a lot of buzz words and my favorite one is “MAD” or “Mutually Assured Destruction”. It is because of that that the major powers in the world, to this day, have not nuked each other out. Nukes are deterrents. Nothing more.

Now, it could be an ailment, like the swine flu. If left untreated, it could spread and kill thousands, if not millions. However, countries are stepping up and keeping those who are infected in quarantine and under control. I am sure that this will not grow into a pandemic, considernig the countermeasures being implemented. Even if these countermeasures were not implemented, the disease would kill thousands, if not millions, but the human body would naturally develop its own antibody and would be able to cure those who are sick by spreading a cure based on his DNA. Sure, thousands, if not millions, may die, but humanity will find a cure within itself (in the form of an antibody or something similar).

I am of the opinion that there is a slim chance that humanity will have its world turned upside down by something that is man made. If humanity is going to be truly screwed, it will be because of something that they had no hand on. The first thing that comes to mind could be a natural disaster. But those are not available in world wide magnitude. Too small potatoes, if you will. I do like the scenario presented in this blog from Wired Magazine. The link is http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/storms2012/. Read it.

But since I know that there is a good chance that you will not read it, here is the TLDR version: The geomagnetic shield that surrounds the planet has a “hole”. There is a forecast that severe space weather conditions may happen in the form of solar flares, which spew electromagnetic energy in vast quantities. The electrical grids used to power developed countries can serve as an antenna to catch the energy from the solar flare, knocking out electrical power.

Sure a blackout or a brownout is not a bad thing. But imagine entire countries losing power and communication for days, weeks. Can this cause a breakdown in our societies? It might. It might not. So do not go and prepare yourself thinking that you are the next Mad Max or Postman.

What can you do? Well, the first thing you can do is prepare yourself as if you are going to deal with a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. Provisions, batteries, first aid kits, a radio, cash… a couple of guns might help (just ask the folks at New Orleans after Katrina). Second is be prepared to live in substandard conditions for a few days or weeks. Again, think New Orleans waiting for FEMA to respond. It could be that bad. What else to do? I dunno. If things look like civilization is down the tubes, well might as well revert to farming the land and raising animals… which may not be a good thing.

So, don’t fret about things like a pandemic. Trust multiple sources of information and reach your own conclusions. Just because someone is being heard does not mean that that someone is right.

One final thought. If I were to live through some sort of end of the world scenario, I would like for it to have zombies. It would be very George Romero or perhaps Max Brooks. And the strange thing is that a zombie is not a predator, but a virus. It does not target specific individuals. It wants to multiply and expand. Like this swine flu or, even, like the human race.

In short, a dream job has crossed my path: an IT job within the federal government as a contractor with a 30 minute or less commute. However, it comes with a price in the form of a salary loss. The question lies in whether or not I should take it. I want to, but I fear that my budget will be hurt due to the slash. Taxes should be on my side, since I am a home owner and that is a nice yearly break. But I have a student loan to pay back and I am greatly concerned about its effects when 2010 begins.

I want to take it… Especially since there is a $5000 yearly budget in training per employee. IT certifications, training equipment, a bit of travel…

“Qui audet adispicitur.”

“Who dares, wins.”

I am going to take my chance. This is a hell of an opportunity and I do not want to look back when I am older and regret not doing this. Money grows back. I am afraid of the uncertainty, but such is the price of risk.

It is 12:13 on Monday and I am thinking about what will my next sentence be. I guess I pulled an Edison. According to urban myth or some other unreliable source, T. A. Edison, the inventor of the incandesecent light bulb, worked at night. Personally, I rather be sleeping, especially this late at night. Meh… I just roll with the punches.

So the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Yes, I saw the game at a friend’s house. It was a great game, but I am suprised at the amount of personal fouls committed by both sides. It was like they were antsy or nervous. Also, I got free dinner… If you call finger food “dinner”. I got my fill and all I had to bring was the drinks. Thanks, Pat and Ebony.

My kid side got a kick of the movie teaser trailers, especially the “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” teaser. I expect a movie that will not win any awards of worth. It will be a popcorn movie where I got in, sit down, shut down my analytical side, and enjoy shit getting blown up. And, unlike a few comments I saw with regards to how bad the commercials were this year, I got a kick out of a couple. Remember that humour is not funny if you have to explain it.

And Phelps is apologizing for smoking pot. Cut the guy some slack. Pot is not going to kill him. Hell, pass me the brownies, dammit.

Roger Federer lost the Aussie Open and broke down in tears. I guess Kurt Warner and crew are feeling equally shitty. And I was cheering for them, too. Next year they’ll get another shot.

It is 12:21 AM and I am reading over the headlines at The Drudge Report while the dryer is buzzing that it has finished drying its latest load. I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

Obama states that the economy recovery will take years, not months. I want Obama to repeat what he did with Gitmo but with the economy. He stepped over everyone’s head, issued an Executive Order and told the Senate and House to kiss his ass. If the stimulus package gets shot down, maybe he can tell them off and approve. If you, the reader, wish to argue and go into the specifics about the how and why it may or may not happen, go ahead. I will not present a counter argument because I am an engineer, not a politician.

It is 12:26 AM on Monday and I am already checking both the topics and assignments for the 4th week of my grad school courses and my grades. Computer Security Fundamentals: 84%. Communications Technologies: 93%. I am sure that I can bring that 84% to a 90% plus. I just have to work a bit harder.

Wow… I hit a mental block. What do I type about next? How about the Cthullu plush toy I saw earlier today? Or perhaps what does Tony Stark do when he needs to pee and he is wearing his Iron Man suit? What about the similarities between Nicole Ritchie and a mummified corpse? I want to buy a Slinky.

“Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan” as an opera. Very funny, particularly when he calls out Khan.

It is 12:40 AM. I am getting sleepy, but not enough to merit my return to bed. Perhaps I will remain awake for a few more moments. I need to be rested to run errands tomorrow, especially my appointment with the podiatrist. Plantar fascitis, annoying and painful… Grr.

Started messing with World of Warcraft for a bit. It is 12:56 AM. Sleep is starting to take its toll. This is what I wanted.

So, with this, I close this blog entry. Good night, reader. May you rest well and dream beautiful dreams, for the reality of tomorrow sets off as soon as the alarm clock goes off.

2. I went to the gym yesterday and I injured my upper left arm, near the elbow. So, I say that I hurt my elbow. It is an incorrect statement, but since it is in close proximity to the elbow, I will say it is elbow. I am an engineer, not a kinesiologist. Yes, there is such thing as a muscle doctor/specialist/person/thing.

3. I had a nice lunch. Chili, a pork chop, and corn on the cob. Fine cuisine indeed.

4. I skimmed over an article on how sperm is actually a form of mind control. I thought the headline was screwy, but it turns out that it somehow causes the female body to not desire sex after copulation. Some hormonal stuff… Wierd.

5. I grow bored at work easily. No challenge, little work, poor management… I think it is a sign of the end of times… of me working here. Time to finish my degree and GTFO!

6. I love Monster.com. One click and you apply for a job. Fucking sweet.

7. I am having a mental dilemma. I have been offered a Dachshund puppy for adoption, but I am concerned about the expenses I may have to incur, as well as the care when I travel… Decisions, decisions.

8. Did I say I was in a angry mood? If I did not, well, guess what? I am pissed… I have to get out of the office and clear my head. I have too much pent up energy… I think I could wipe out an entire species.

1. I am not sure that the appointment of Panetta as the head of the CIA is a smart move, even though the idea is to bring someone who is more of a manager than one of the Good Ol’ Boys of the intelligence community.

2. I am pissed and disappointed with the decisions that the customer I am working for is making regarding risk management of security vulnerabilities. And after discussing it with my colleagues, it turns out that another company underbid a contract to provide a certain service and complains at all the security standards we point out because they would go over the allocated budget for the contract. Greed. It’s what for dinner.

3. I learned a secret from one of the cooks at the cafeteria at work. No, they do not serve magic meat or whatever it is called. I asked him about a broccoli/mushroom/zuchinni blend and he mentioned the blanching technique. I must use this blanching technique for my own culinary benefit.

4. I am sad and disappointed that, at this time, there are no tickets available to see The Killers at the Patriot Center in GMU. *cries*

5. Ticketmaster has very few alternative music concert events of bands I am interested in announced for the next two months in the Metro DC area. *cries even more*

6. I start the first of three remaining quarters at school. Two classes for every quarter and I will be done. Yay! And I start paying back them students loans. Boo!!

7. I have caught myself typing here and reading a concept from work. I much rather be typing here than reading the stupid paper, but it has to be done.

8. Went to the gym today. I love the elliptical machine, did some weight lifting and chilled at the sauna. I love that place. If you live in the Woodbridge area and are looking to join a gym, let me know.

9. Working on my new year’s resolution has been fruitful. Being less of a procrastinator is seeming to be a bit easier than I thought. But the year just started, so let’s see how it comes along.

That’s all the rambling in less than 10 items.