Snow?? In Minnesota??

Another foot-plus of snow since Sunday night. (It's now Tuesday morning.) When I got home from work Sunday, I had to shovel and snow-throw about 8" (about 16-20" deep just to get my vehicle past the plow-drift left at the foot of my driveway). Then again Monday morning, I spent about an hour shoveling, snow-throwing and (again) removing the 12"-deep plow-drift at the foot of my driveway. Monday evening when I got home I had another six inches to remove -- and, a plow drift almost twice as deep.

Tell me again: why do we live here?

I debated yesterday morning whether I should or should not drive into the office - the Interstate freeway I take to go to the office was like a pitted dirt road from snow and ice build-up. My family got stuck in a snow drift after hitting an icy patch on the highway. We've had ice-dams on our roof and leaks in our ceiling. We've gone through at least 30 lbs of salt on the path and steps to our front door. I have to drive 20 miles before I feel warmth in my car.

What is it about this place that is so alluring? Whatever it is (or was), it's losing its appeal.

Recent Response to an Ayn Rand YouTube video comment

I am conservative (not Republican, not Libertarian, but with libertarian philosophies), living paycheck to paycheck, paying off thousands of dollars of debt. I refuse to ask for government help BECAUSE for the government to bail me out, it has to first take money from [another]. If [one] wishes, [one] may contribute, but it isn't government’s role to force [one's] contribution. To do so makes [the one] a slave and me the master, makes me greedy and [the one] a victim.

Cloud Computing

I  don't want to boast that I'm a visionary or anything, but I really do think that cloud computing is the way to go, and I think most companies will be using it by this time five years from now (or less). And I think they'll be subscribing to clouds, not hosting their own. And to be honest (no disrespect for the work Google has done to pioneer the way), I think that people will have clients on their local machines that, when launched, log into their cloud account (rather than being browser-based services).


I use Evernote on Windows at work and Mac at home, and my iPod is synced to it. I use Dropbox, ZumoDrive and MobileMe, as well; all platforms are synced. So much easier than logging into Gmail on my browser, or Google Docs, though I am using those services as well, across all platforms. Yes, I have synced my iCal info with Google Calendars - or tried, more accurately. I was able to sync only one of my three calendars; the other two got errors.


Anyone new to this technology will go into this discussion asking, "What's in this for me? What's the compelling reason for change? What we have is working and, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' You're suggesting I fix something that isn't broken."

I think that he, she or they are going to have to start using the convenience of cloud services before really seeing the benefit. 

I think most people see only a remote access solution (Citrix, VPN) as cloud service. That's fine, as far as it goes. But it doesn't come close to the "thin-client" model I think will have to be put into place for people to really see the benefit.

Anyway - just a random observation as I have been looking at the last week at a cloud services model for a local organization. My guess is that I'm just seeing the tip of the iceberg. I predict you'll see this take off in the next year or so and will become a predominant model in the next five.

I'm a Curmudgeon

Sometimes I get fed up with stupidity.

Oh, who am I trying to kid? ALL the time, I get fed up with stupidity.

People, as a general rule, are stupid. Oh, you can find intelligent people who have thought things through, who have developed a system based on principles. But they're rare.

(They're certainly not in government. The government rules by reaction. They do not legislate according to principle. If anyone in government ever comes up with a winning combination of principled legislation and reduction in costs for consumers and business, he or she will be immediately recruited away from his or her government role into private industry. The people who work in government, by and large, are following instructions created by reactionary legislation. They are not making positive change. And they lose money. Your money.)

Taxes, up. Spending, up. Entitlement programs, up. My take home pay: down. Do I have a say in this? Hell no. The government comes along with their reactionary legislation saying that someone else has a right to money I have earned. The consequence, MY consequence of that right, is that the government takes money I have earned and they give it to someone else.

Actually, I mis-spoke earlier. I do have a say; it's called voting. I vote for the people who advocate the lowest possible interference by government, the lowest possible tax, the fewest unions, the lowest social (i.e., entitlement) programs. Is that you? You're on my radar as someone to vote into office.

And, if that is you, you can kiss re-election hopes good-bye. (But at least you can make some progress toward reducing the size of government during your one term.) Let me know what you plan to accomplish during your only term in office.

ATLAS SHRUGGED!!!

Visit the Official Atlas Shrugged Movie Web Site!

Epic book. My fervent hope is that the movie makes the case as strongly (or more so, since a picture is worth a thousand words, and there are literally 30 "pictures" per second in a movie!) as the book did.

I've read the book probably four or more times - each reading is an investment in time. If you can check it out of the library and renew it a time or two, it's definitely worth the effort. It has the power to change your perspective on the entitlement attitude.

JEEZ It's Cold!

It's -9 F outside this morning! That's MINUS NINE DEGREES F! The car started, I let it idle for a few minutes, backed it out, and drove two miles before the temp gauge stirred. As soon as it got the slightest bit above the "frigid" temp mark, I turned on the heater. Drove 25 miles with my gloves and winter coat on, heater on high, and I was still cold when I got to work.

I was so focused on how cold it was I drove off with my daughter's backpack and lunch box still in the back seat. So guess what happened when it was time for my wife to drive her to school.

I lived in Alaska for almost two years, and don't recall ever feeling this same bite in the air. Maybe because I was living on Kodiak Island, and the sea tempered the air -- whatever: Minnesota winter this year is ridiculously cold.

The snow in my yard is about three feet deep. And of course it's accumulated on the roof as well -- and ice dams are building up and if we don't get rid of them, we start getting leaks in the roof. There are some places adjacent to my driveway where the snow mound is five feet high!

I don't ever want to live through this kind of winter, ever again.