(no I am not back really -- Twitter and Facebook just don't have room for all this)

So as some of you may know (and the vast majority probably do not), I recently [1 month ago to the day] started a new job. I'm basically doing the same stuff I was doing before, just with more latitude and resources, which is nice. The first thing that I had to do when I started was go through all of the equipment that was in the cube, decide what I wanted to keep, what I wanted to archive, what I wanted to destroy, etc. Well, there was a keyboard that I found -- Apple Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard -- that I tested out and found worked. Now the Mac that I use at the office has a wired keyboard that works fine, so I didn't pursue the whole Bluetooth keyboard option. I just put it back on the shelf 10 feet behind my desk and went about my merry way.

Fast Forward to yesterday -- I'm sitting there at my desk busying myself with all manner of incredibly important tasks, when I notice that my Mac is typing periods. Fast. And cannot be prevented, stopped, paused, or otherwise interrupted. I tap the period key on the keyboard. Nothing. I tap the decimal key on the keyboard. Nothing. I tap EVERY key on the keyboard -- nothing except increased frusration. I decide to call it a day, as no good can be accomplished for the remainder of my day.

I come in this morning. I try to unlock the Mac with my password. MOAR FRUSTRATIONZ. I type a key and it just all keeps getting worse -- caps, periods, the works. I start in a RAGE tapping the Caps Lock key, and I notice... it's not on. But the computer says it's ... what th... oh.

Right.

See. By accident I printed out a metric ton of paper yesterday by printing a spreadsheet in standard-size portrait rather than scaled landscape and... well, let's just say EPIC printing fail. Where did all that paper go?

Right on the Bluetooth keyboard, up on the shelf. Which I forgot to turn off. Almost a month ago. So what's the lesson we learned today?

I have no idea, but it's probably important.

At the end of the day, this is what matters.

http://www.zefrank.com/from52to48withlove/

I sort of don't know what to say. Those who know me best - including several of you - know how completely unusual this is.

I'm excited, naturally. But also nervous. Do I think that President-Elect Obama is qualified to guide the country for the next 4 years? I do. Otherwise I'd have never cast my ballot for him in the first place, let alone a second time. The other component of my primary vote was do I think he can win - and he's proven that yes, he can. To me, a great deal of what's required for the Presidency is based on intelligence and judgement. In my view, Barack Obama has sound judgement and has a genuine intellectual pedigree.

Last night somebody said to me "You don't seem that excited...". Now, relative to the city I live in, I was on HORSE TRANQUILIZERS. Honking of horns well in to the wee hours of this morning, gunfire, fireworks, hooting, and no shortage of hollering.

I'm happy for the win, but not just because of the candidate, not just because my guy won.

I'm happy for my oldest brother and oldest sister. Both of mixed ethnicity, tonight is a larger night for them than it is for me. I am encouraged by what this election means for my generation and for the generations to come - race, while certainly never going to be eliminated as a factor, matters less. Are there people that voted for Barack Obama because he's African-American? Yes. But there are also millions who saw it as a non-issue. Who listened, rather than watched.

I'm happy for the international community, who got the candidate that they overwhelmingly wanted. Something like 23 countries were polled and the numbers were staggeringly hopeful for an Obama presidency. I respect Senator McCain, Governor Palin, and count among some of my closest friends some Republicans, but I cannot look back on the last 8 years of Republican rule and wince slightly at the international rough-riding that's gone on. To me, a great deal of healing to America's reputation abroad and reaching out to our allies is needed. I've long said that I believe that Barack Obama's ability to connect with people makes him the best person to handle those tasks.

I'm happier than I can fully express in words for the youth vote in America. Voters 18 - 25, many voting in their first election, have always been written off. In past elections, yes - there has been enormous apathy. However, the media never really seemed to fully believe in the youth vote in America. They never seemed to take seriously the idea that millions of young people would be mobilized to actually get out the vote. With respect to voter registration over the last 18 months, it appeared to be nothing but young people registering to vote in DROVES, SWARMS, HORDES. It's one thing to register, but it's another to take the time - in many instances several hours - to go out and complete the process. To cast your ballot.

I'm happy for my parents, who have watched this country transform over the years from segregation to integration to hesitation, to last night, jubilation. In talking with my father last night, I asked him if this was the fifth happiest night of his life, fifth only to the birth of his 4 children, and he said he thought that it very likely was. My mother for her part just could not stop screaming and crying and laughing and audibly smiling, leaping through the telephone. With my sisters and my oldest brother, I spoke yesterday. It's the first time that I think I've spoken to my whole family in a single day in a very long time.

There are a great many people who are devastated by the reality of President-Elect Barack Obama. I hope that each and every one of them is motivated by policy matters - not by racial, ethnic, or other factors that shouldn't color one's view of a person. In much of what I read, I'm happy to see people fearful not of Barack Hussein Obama the pseudo-Muslim, but the Socialist (to the extent that I'm happy to see anyone fearful, of course). This country's not going to go socialist, folks (not any more than it has already in the last 3 months, at any rate). You can all breathe a little easier - socialism and communism are never going to come to America. There would be genuine upheaval. The rich would truly never stand for it, and when you have cash, you have influence.

I'm happy for myself, finally. The people that I work with and the people that I work for are continually baffled by my unbridled love and passion for election day. I said to a colleague yesterday that election day in mid-term years in my Super Bowl, and that in Presidential Elections, it's my World Cup Final. It's my Christmas, because I get to give my vote to my country, and in return, I get a new government. Sometimes it's the government that I want, sometimes it's not.

As a closing thought, I'm naturally fearful of the potential for assassination - I can't NOT bring it up. Listening to John McCain's speech last night - which was truly a wonderful speech, well-written and well-delivered - I heard boo's from the crowd (and saw John McCain silence them swiftly). I hope that it goes no further than that, and my faith in America tells me that it won't. But there is a small part of me that looks at the Kennedy and Reagan presidencies and is especially nervous. I have faith in Joe Biden, but I hope to never have to rely upon it.

Since that's a horribly sad thought to go out on, I'll close with my happiness about the other issue I shared with my cousins on Monday evening. I went to their house for dinner, and during dinner discussions I shared my two biggest most pressing frustrations with the state of the election and its coverage: the enormous discounting of the youth vote by the media, and the constant chorus of "WILL THE SYSTEM WITHSTAND THE MAJOR TURNOUT? WILL THE SYSTEM FAIL?". The system worked. The system held up. The system did not fail. Neither Democrats nor Republicans are out calling for blood, or recounts, or litigation. The system worked.

For better or for worse, the next 4 years are only the next 4 years. In 4 years, we all have another opportunity to change the government.

I'd love to hear what 1st Basement talk about with runners at First Base.
They always seem to talk to each other, even though they're on other teams, playing against each other. I'm always interested in knowing what they talk about - they seem to like each other.

I find it interesting :)

Back when I was working at Penn, I asked John Mulhern*, authority on nearly everything, a simple question.

"John, why is Honda such a great car company?"

John replied...

"Honda is not a car company. Honda is an engine company. They make great engines, and just put things around them."

Well, my Honda is certainly testament to this (knock on wood, cross your fingers, avoid cracks, ladders, mirrors, etc.) - the engine has yet to give me a problem and I'm well in to 6-figure mileage in under 5 years.

It got me thinking though. The two best-known consumer computer companies are arguably Microsoft and Apple. Both create software and hardware**, and both do it differently.

But one can make the argument that neither is primarily a software or hardware company. Both companies are primarily MARKETING companies, with products around the marketing core. If you ever work for a Microsoft-centric partner organization, you discover the true extent of this. I imagine it to be even more the case with Apple, and its egomaniacal marketing guru Steve Jobs.

But I think that in the war of marketing competition between these two products, Apple consistently trumps. For how long, they had the Mac vs. PC ads with John Hodgeman [PC] and Justin Long [Mac]. And then Microsoft had the Seinfeld / Gates ads (huh?) and now has the "I'm a PC" ads with everyone in the whole universe being a PC.

And then Apple came out with new Mac vs. PC ads, and they're better than the Microsoft ad, again.

...or do I say that because I'm an Apple zealot and now exclusively* use Apple products at home [but never get to even see a Mac at the workplace]?

Food for thought. No pun intended.

* - John J. Mulhern III
** - Microsoft does, in fact, make hardware. XBOX? XBOX 360? Keyboards and mice? Don't tell me they don't make hardware. Nyah.
*** - Okay, except for PokerStars. And Simtower. And Intel IV50 video. But it's all on my MacBook Pro. So that sort of counts.

Recently, I heard the following conversation snippet:

"High 50's, low 60's?"
"320."
"THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY?"
"Sometimes they were 2 at a time."

Okay, so 320. 2 at a time for some, figure 200 separate instances. But if you want to get really precise, with 2 every time, figure 160 separate instances from 320.

That got me thinking. 160, 320... those are really familiar numbers for me, and I can't remember why. And suddenly, more numbers come in to my head, and I realize what 160 and 320 mean to me. Here are those two plus the other two numbers that came to mind:

80, 160, 250, 320

What do they have in common? They're the most common sizes for external hard drives.

I started thinking about other numbers that I think about together. See if you can detect the common thread among them.

360, 365, 380, 385, 580, 585

76, 81, 90, 95, 295, 476, 495

1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100

1, 29, 66, 202, 422

6, 19, 20, 21, 27

Leave what you think these things might have in common. If you get it right, there's no prize, but I'll confirm. :)

If you were listening with one ear to the debate, you might've heard Barack Obama talk about an "orgy of spending" and then say that something was "hard to swallow". Man. How does that not get people more interested in politics?

Let's talk about gimmicks.

A friend of mine who's big in to wrestling uses the term "gimmick" frequently - it's some ruse or hijinx or silliness that a wrestler uses to draw attention to themselves and gain fanfare. The average gimmick is short-lived, although some have been known to go on far longer than they ever should have.

I'd like to think that professional wrestling is where gimmicks live - where they begin, and where they end. But I don't live in the world of scripted professional wrestling, I live in the real world. I live in the world where gimmicks are funny things between friends, but not so haha between world leaders - past, present, and potential. And that's sort of what rubs me the wrong way about the McCain campaign.

When reading what I'm about to put forth, please don't rashly go "YOU CANNOT CRITICIZE JOHN MCCAIN!". I'm not criticizing John McCain - I like and respect John McCain. It's his CAMPAIGN I have a problem with. My genuine opinion of John McCain is that he is an honorable, decent man, whose personal values aren't nutty, right-wing, fringe or fear-mongering. However, I don't think that the party with whom he is affiliated (a move necessary to advance his career and agenda) shares that same set of characteristics. I personally find the Republican party wildly hypocritical (especially with regard to "family"), quick to use fear for political gain, and for my tastes, too motivated by individually-held religious beliefs when making legislation that impacts the entire nation.

The latest news from the McCain campaign is that Senator McCain will be suspending his campaign to return to Washington and begin efforts toward repairing the economy and passing legislation to enable the Treasury to bailout shaky assets.

To me, this SCREAMS "gimmick". To me, it seems like it's a great big TIME OUT. Let's put everything else on hold, and focus solely on the economy.

That's great for now, when you're running for President instead of being President, but the President doesn't get a time-out. The President gets to focus on one thing and one thing only for what I would imagine isn't more than a couple of hours, unless we're under genuine terrorist attack (which while the economy may be, we as a people are not). The McCain campaign has been suspended, and forced what would seem to be a political lose-lose situation for the Obama campaign.

If Obama doesn't suspend, he looks like he's purely interested in winning at all costs, like he doesn't care about the economy, and like a partisan politician. If Obama does suspend, he's following McCain's lead, and McCain's the smarter candidate on the economy. There's no upside. Unless he goes on the offensive and says "No. Enough. You don't get to press pause as President, and the campaign for the Presidency should be no different." Which thank heaven he has finally gathered up some testicular fortitude and done.

If this were the first gimmick of the McCain campaign, I'd be fine with it - really, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal. Life - politically and otherwise - goes on.

But then there's Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin is, without question, a woman of strong character and values. I don't in any way question her abilities as a mother, a wife, a woman, or a workhorse. I just don't think she's got much on substance. When she was first announced as the candidate for the vice presidency, I remember actually saying (via text message to the wrestling fanatic) "Gimmick." I openly questioned when it was that they'd announce the REAL candidate.

It was a legitimate question - at the time, it seemed like a direct play for Hillary's supporters, which was a slap in the face to all women ("LOOK! She has a uterus! YOU ALSO HAVE A UTERUS! Vote Sarah Palin! SHE'S A HEARTBEAT AWAY!). It seemed like little more than an open, somewhat banal play for female voters, ignoring the fact that not all women share common views based solely on their sex. But then I saw the appeal of Sarah Palin - she's the right-wing to John McCain's center. And that's what scares me.

She gave an INCREDIBLE speech at the Republican National Convention. And I truly do believe that given enough international exposure to world leaders, international issues, and an economy that can't be considered anything but global, that she might one day make a great President. Just not now. I just don't see it. I believe that Sarah Palin would bring to the White House much of the same thing that George W. Bush brought to the White House that scared me the most - a strong belief in "God's Plan". That scares me. I don't agree with her religion, and a lot of what she espouses comes directly from it.

Sarah Palin is a gimmick - a flash in the pan. It's the only reason I can think of that the media was largely barred from her meetings with the world leaders at the UN yesterday. If you've got overwhelming confidence in your candidate, because you've picked a strong leader, put them up before the media and demonstrate what an ace selection you've made. Somebody somewhere put out some statistic that's very difficult to believe - that Joe Biden has given 84 interviews in the last two weeks; Sarah Palin has given 2.

Maybe I just don't know Sarah Palin yet. Maybe I just haven't gotten to see what her real positions are. Maybe there's more than meets the eye. But what I've heard - and not just from the liberal sources, but from FNC, from redstate.com, from the Weekly Standard - doesn't make me feel comfortable with her as Vice President, and even less so as President. Not just because she's weak on issues that I can't stomach the idea of a President being weak on, but because I believe that given the opportunity, she would steer the nation in a direction that I'm uncomfortable even considering.

She was a brilliant pick for a couple of weeks. Now the shine and luster are wearing off. Just like a gimmick that's run its course.

And now, as I ready my mouse to click "post", I can already feel the angry comments from the usual suspects telling me that I'm wrong, misinformed, and hypocritical myself, what with my membership in the Democratic Party. But those are all comments to be read tomorrow, because I'm dragging my butt up to bed.

Happy Birthday to Crys!
Happy Birthday to Crys!
Happy Biiiiiiiiiirthday Dear Crystalyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyn
Happy Birthday to Crys!

AND MANY MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

It's computerblonde's birthday. REPRESENT!