Happy Saturday morning all:

“Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical” ~ Yogi Berra

This year’s World Series has me hoping that the best team wins. What I am really saying is that I am rooting for neither.

Turmoil – in my electronics world. A year ago I purchased a basic flip-style phone built to military spec – or so they said. Dust and dirt proof, water resistant, compass, large display, it had it all. All, that is, except for the fact that Casio installed about the weakest power-plug connector possible on their Boulder O’zone.  I bought the thing, the last in the store, for use up north where today’s smart-phone is useless and knock-around strength is important.

Now I am unable to even charge it. A bit of research and I discovered that there is a “cradle” I can use and that I ordered. So, since the 24th (earliest delivery day) I have been getting up at the crack of dawn waiting for our mail delivery. So here I am, with my hot coffee mug in hand, anticipating the delivery to happen shortly.

Day two of the possible delivery of the cradle had the mail-man toss a small package in the mailbox. I tore into the thing and found a pair of HP jet ink cartridges. We do not have a HP printer. Clever that I am I decided to look at the label prior to pointing a ‘flame thrower’ at e-Bay. Good thing I did. It was supposed to go to a neighbor. One who has an inherent bit of paranoia as it is. Solution? I carefully squeezed the little box back into its original squarish shape and warily placed it by their front door. I don’t think he suspected a thing.

Over the summer – At the cabin Marcia and I learned to live and eventually quickly enjoy life without television. I should point out that we did have satellite radio and had access to the two-hundred or so stations it offers. One channel was number 119 (now #120) which offered C-Span.

Not familiar with C-Span? It’s the commercial free broadcast that covers Congress, congressional hearings, speeches, and during off times will bring in guests who answers questions from individuals calling in on one of three lines; Democrat, Republican, and independent. We have come to love those broadcasts.

Now that we’re back home television has promptly crept back into the picture. However, there are still chunks of time where we’ll have C-Span playing. These days there is ample fodder for the C-Span broadcasts. This week the hot subject was the new healthcare on-line entry portal and its struggles.

President Reagan – at his inauguration announced a radical change from the way things had been. He advocated limited government and a projected strength. He went so far as to tell the Soviet Union (these were still Cold War times) that having overrun a nation did not mean permanent possession of that nation – the Reagan Doctrine as it became known.

But I think that one of his greatest insights was not that. One of his best comes through in a story he told a journalist. Reagan tells that he and his wife Nancy were visiting with President Marcos in the Philippines. He woke up during the night only to see a large spider on the bedroom ceiling. The journalist asked what he did. Reagan answered that he lay there trying to figure out the best way to get rid of that spider without waking and scaring Nancy.

That story is the perfect analogy for the modus operandi of his presidency; slay the ‘beasts’ while allowing the people to continue uninterruptedly with their goings on. Every leader has his/her philosophical bent. However, applying that ‘bent’ needs to be done in a manner that allows people to proceed along their personal chosen path, unobtrusively.

Hearings – This week C-Span broadcast all 4 ½ hours of a congressional hearing probing four individuals on exactly what went right and what went wrong developing the Obamacare entry-point web site. These four represented companies named CGI Federal, Serco, Optum/QSSI, Equifax Workforce Solutions. By the way, years spent in IT and I’ve never heard of any of these companies. Four and a half hours of protestations and finger pointing. At its root, what prompted all this, was due to a new program beneficial to possibly 15% and hugely unpopular with about 85% of the population. We’re watching the administration jumping about the bed swatting at the spider and it’s just not comforting.

Mr. President, it might be a little presumptive on my part, but why wasn’t “the best IT talent in the entire country”, your words, applied in the first place while developing this thing? Surely $500+-million would have perked a few ears in Silicone valley.

And, not to belabor this, but exactly where are the various IT Czars you appointed? People such as your much touted “whiz kid” Vivek Kundra, as “federal chief information officer,” or Aneesh Chopra, or Todd Park, or Farzad Mostashari; why not use these “brightest and best” for this new “tech surge”? Why did you not study this healthcare ‘spider’ and seek a way to bring it to bay in a way that would not impact the 85% who were perfectly happy while satisfying the rest.

Maybe some reflection on Reagan’s insight would have been helpful for us all.

Fini – A magic moment for Derek this week as he enjoyed his very first school overnight camp out. Marin expressed interest in finding music by playing keyboards and has started piano lessons. And, our eldest, must have had a great time last night at her “gall’oween” party— we’ll hear all about it sometime this weekend. Finally, Vai is finally at peace after figuring out the ‘here’ of “they are now staying here?” after a bit of confusion about exactly where her Oma and Opa were really living. Huh?

Be safe everyone especially when out trick-or-treating.

Make it a great week.
Cheers.
Dirk

From the Archives
Saturday, October 28, 2006

Morning all:

This morning I got up a few minutes earlier than usual—could it be preparation for tonight’s roll-back to Daylight Time? In any case, it does make me ask whether or not there is a magic ‘crossover’ time from tea to coffee. In the afternoon and into the evening I’ll drink tea, but in the morning I don’t (unless traveling in the UK). So when does that exact moment occur?

I traveled more over the last few weeks than I had in some time, the final week being out of country. So, this week I was at home and realized just how pleasant it had been the week prior with absolutely no political spin messages being pounded into my head constantly.

I have seldom been as disgusted as I am with the ongoing stream of political junk thrown out at us. And I am firmly convinced that the absolutely negativity of the ads, coupled with the consistent stream of negative news reporting is doing real and long term harm to the nation. The news and political campaign’s negativity mostly comes under the guise of “balance” with use of the “but” word; i.e. “the sun is rising into a brilliant clear blue sky, but in the meantime this will cause sun delay problems on your commute and darkness can be expected to return later.”

“Crazy as a wedge.” One of my favorite periods in our history deals with the Great Depression and the wonderful stories that come out of that era. A favorite choice, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men carries a Depression era theme that no matter how difficult or seemingly impossible the situation is that this was America and through it all there shines an inherent optimism and “can do” attitude, one which can not be erased. The character George speaks to Lennie, who is huge and also mentally challenged, “you’re crazy as a wedge”. Tough as it was, Lennie held on to a dream of eventually owning a piece of land and raising rabbits.

Americans held fast to a dream of a better future, be it land, opportunity, or life itself. Americans became known as a people always affirming the strength of the human spirit.

In fact it has been this optimism that the rest of the world has been in awe of and what brought many of our parents here. It was this part of the American dream which allowed us to fight a previous “axis of evil”, over 60 years ago, without there being any doubt of eventual victory.

I am afraid that the stream of negative media we are bombarded with and its constant and consistently ongoing “doom and gloom” message that are chipping away at our nations’ sense of inherent optimism. If I am correct then this is more than sad. If true it would mean that for the first time we, collectively, will lose the belief that our children will be able to enjoy a future that betters the one we have.

On a whole different note comes this bit from my time in Lima, Peru. Part of the meetings included a trade show. The hotel – Marriott-Lima – is a brand new and gorgeous complex. What it does not have – whoops, just a slight oversight – is any exposition space. This meant that the month prior to our arrival hotel staff worked diligently to build a temporary floor and roof over the outdoor tennis courts and pool. This was not as crazy as it seems since the climate is quite cool and desert-like.

As it turns out, the space I had rented for my stand was one of those placed directly over the pool area—still filled with water (my humidity twisted literature confirmed this).

You can now safely say that you know someone who has actually “walked on water.”

Make it a great week everyone; work for a brighter future.

Cheers,
Dirk

10/28/2006 07:17:00 AM