tsunami

First of all, let’s take a moment to reflect on the tragedy of the tsunami in Asia. As of today the death toll is in the 150,000’s. Mother Nature is a fickle female, and we are powerless against her. When I started to write this post a few days ago, I had written that the toll was 70,000 and was probably going to remain steadily climbing. I wish I had been wrong. If you want to help, and please do, Google has created a site of ways to help with the relief efforts here: . Also, if you want to make sure that your money is actually going to go to a program that will provide the help in the right places, check out CharityWatch.org.

Well, then, did you have a wonderful Christmas? Did you have a wonderful New Year? I hope so. Where were you? Some of you reading were in Chicago, some were in London, some were in Korea, some in New York, some in California, and some of you in Detroit.

So, for the record, I looked up a photo of Kerrie Webb, the golfer that was born the same day as I was, and she is not a cute cat. At least she isn’t in this man’s opinion. That’s probably a mean thing to write, but that’s what I think. Perhaps that observation will save you a bit of time wondering and researching yourselves. Or not, do you even what the hell I’m talking about?

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Riding / Shopping

So I rode up Lakeshore Drive to the neighborhood north of the Lake. There’s much less traffic and good hills to ride in. It really has been a while since I’ve been on the bike, and it felt really good to be back there. I’m going to attempt a really long ride on Tuesday. It’s a ride I’ve done before, riding from downtown Woodside along Hwy 84 [Woodside Rd] to Hwy 1 at San Gregorio Beach. It’s about a 45 mile round trip, but I should be able to complete it. If not, well then … Nah, it’ll be fine. I took a rest at the Beach when I did it last fall, but I have no idea what the weather is going to be like at that time of the day [ass-crack of dawn early,] or what my legs will be like after 22 miles of damn big hills. So glad that I took the day off.

All done with Christmas shopping? I am to an extent thanks to Amazon.com. I hate malls and ‘shopping’ but I think that I’ll still have to brave them on Christmas eve for some last minute stuff. Ain’t the holidays grand? Mass consumerism at it’s best. Or is that worst? At least I know that the gifts I’m giving this year are going to be very useful and appreciated by the respective recipients.

Next year, maybe no gifts at all. Wouldn’t that be nice? Just enjoy the fireplace and the company of loved ones. We don’t need to feed the machine any more. There’s a lot of unneeded stress when it come to gift-giving at this time of year. For me and a few of the people I’ve spoken to about it. Or maybe I’m just lazy.

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He’s Alive

Just testing the waters again. If this is easy to update, I should have some things to post soon enough. Looking forward to actually being in CA for the next 12 days. Such a rarity.

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pondering again

So now I sit in the Hog Island restaurant in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Malinda is closing up her shift and I am sitting here in the midst of the rest of the waiters as they clean up the restaurant. I’m just going to let me mind wander as I write this, discussing the week, and my thoughts on what’s happened.

Small Software Company, Inc. no longer exists. Really Big Software Company officially acquired the company yesterday and they wasted absolutely no time in getting the sign on the front of the building swapped over to Really Big Software Company. Another Acquisition at least got to keep their sign, and have the addendum, “A Really Big Software Company Company” added to it. Not us. Small Software Company was wiped away, and a sign proclaiming nothing but Really Big Software Company Software was left. Let’s see how this whole transition to a new big company, I’m talking 6000 people, goes.

There was a conservative guest, the leader of a PAC for taxation cuts on NPR last night. He is also on some Libertarian committee. He fiercely backs Bush, and solely on the basis of the Bush Administration’s tax cuts. The funny thing, and I think contradictory thing, to me is that he is of the opinion, as a Libertarian, that people should be able to do whatever the hell they want so long as it doesn’t infringe on his own way of life. This doesn’t mesh with what’s been coming out of the Bush Administration. He gave the example of someone who wants to go home and smoke two joints in their room before going to bed, and he said that he thinks that he has no problem with that. A person smoking two joints in the privacy of their own home has no bearing on his enjoyment of life. Live and let live. Based on that alone, I think that I might need to investigate more about the Libertarian party. Sounds like something that I could jive with. I really hate legislating morality, and no matter how they spin it, the neo conservatives in the Republican party, Bush included, are doing just that with their proposed’In Defense of Marriage’ amendment to the Constitution. He wanted to define marriage in the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Would we be in the only nation in the world to have marriage defined in their countries charter? I don’t know for certain. I am so incredibly happy that is failed to even get a simple majority in the Senate this week. I guess what it comes down to, is that he, the fiscal conservative backing Bush, bases his decision on voting on the fiscal policies of the candidate, even if the social stances that the politician takes aren’t in line with his own way of thinking about social issues. I can’t do that. Or, at least I acknowledge that I’m in a position in my life where I can base my decision on social policy and not solely on fiscal policy. Don’t get me wrong, I like my money and want to keep as much of it as I can, as I think that unfortunately more money is the only means to freedom from the corporate monoliths of the world. Freedom from the system comes from more greenbacks in your back pocket.

Sigh … politics. I really hope you all vote in November. I’m done ranting for now.

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“Everytime I try to get out, they keep pulling me back in!” — Michael Corleone

Well, I’m back. Back to what, you ask? Well, back to some more regular posts, since I finally have an easy means of accessing the files on my website securely from home. I can now write an entry and have it to you, my loyal readers in about 1/100th of a second. Maybe not, but you get the idea.

As I type this I’m sitting here, quietly looking out my bedroom window at the shady backyard, hearing the faint goings on in the neighborhood, and observing, for the first time in a long time, that dusk is here. The sun is setting but there is still enough light to see everything through the window. Nothing in particular is on my mind. It will probably be fully dark within the hour, and I hope to have finished this entry by then. I would like to have a drink on the porch as the sun sets.

There’s been a couple of recent developments in my life, some big changes.

I quit my job. I am no longer a customer support engineer as of the 23rd of July. What next? Well, let me tell you what the original plan was, and what the current plan is. After I quit, I was going to spend the rest of the summer here in CA, enjoying some time off in this state without the day-to-day worry of having to go to a job. I was going to ride my bikes, sleep, and go on some multiday camping trips. There is much to see in this state that I have not yet seen. I was then going to go on an extended couch surfing trip; selling a lot of my bigger items, putting the rest in storage and then hitting the road. Staying, undoubtedly, on the couches of you who are reading this right now.

However my life isn’t going to happen quite like that any more, and what follows is the current plan. Last week, I went for a run with the Director of the Field Services division of my company, the consultants. We talked about the company, the buyout, where we were going, and his need for someone in his department. He asked me to consider the position. I spoke with the man who’s going to be my new boss, and after a few days of consideration, I’m on my way to becoming a full time traveling consultant.

I still want the couch surfing trip, want it desperately in fact, but in weighing my options, this offer was too good to pass up now. If I don’t like it, I can always walk away as I had already. I’m going to do it for a while, perhaps a year, and during that time, I’m going to reassess where it is I want to go with my life. Am I too old to be thinking about what I want to be when I grow up? No, and even if you say yes, well, poop on you, I’m going to change anyway. That’s my story.

It’s getting harder to see anything in my shady backyard, so I’m going to wrap up and head to the kitchen for the G&T I’ve been thinking about. Hope everyone has [had] a good 4th of July weekend. See you soon.

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The Corporation

I am on the Caltrain heading back down to Sunnyvale. It is 12:11 AM on Thursday now. I came up to the city to see the last showing of the documentary ‘The Corporation.’ The premise of the film is to psychologically profile the entity of the corporation as though it was a person, as that is the status of the corporation as it stands in the eyes of the law. It can do everything that a live flesh and blood person can do: buy and sell property, open accounts, buy and sell goods, lend and receive money, and on and on. Using a standard questionnaire from the DSM-IV [a psychologist’s clinical definition manual] we see that the behavior of corporations fits that of a psychopath. A pretty brutal assessment for corporate America, no? I don’t recall ‘psychopath’ as being a clinically defined mental diagnosis, but I am giving the benefit of the doubt.

The film was shocking, as it was designed to be. It was also enlightening, I learned things about the history of some American corporations that I had never heard. It was at the same time a sad reflection of the society we’ve let develop, with corporate interests at seeming to be driving factor in many of the major decisions of the nation. It was also a call to arms to make a difference. People from coast to coast should see this movie. People from coast to coast should care more about their government to learn how the decisions that they make affect them. People should be more aware of their place in the biosphere, of their place in the world. People should just reflect on the sheer amount of garbage that they produce weekly.

People should do a lot of things, but will they? Will you, will I? What have I done for my world and everyone in it? What have you done for the world?

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G/G Wedding

Was in D.C. for Jon and Kathryn’s wedding.

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pondering

OK. I was reading some of my old posts going back to last year, and at this time I was in the merry olde country of England. Just being in England gave me enough to write about almost daily, but realistically and actually, weekly. Looking back on those old entries I realize that it was the new locale that prompted my need to get it all in writing for all of you, my loyal readers.

Now that I’ve been back in CA for the past eight months [has it already been eight months?] I have posted very infrequently if at all. This is a shame. I love this state as much as I did living in England. This place is as new to me after four years as it was in the year 2000. I will be a more frequent poster, and I’ll write my love letter to CA.

Last week, Saturday, I went biking in Saratoga. Probably going there again today, or up to Marin. Let me think for a bit.

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Moab, UT II

Hey all! Welcome back to www.ronnyd.com. Your home away from home on the internet. If that’s the case for you, then you’re in more a sad state that I’ll ever be. So, what have you all been up to? Are there daily readers of this thing. Send me some mail, and let know if you’re lurking out there.

I made it to Detroit, Chicago, and Moab since the last time I posted something here. Detroit was laid back, Chicago was fun, and Moab was challenging and the most fun i’ve had on a vacation in a long time. Riding everyday kicked my rear end something good, but in the end it was ll worth it. I took a ton of photos, some of which I’ll get up here very soon. The Photos, while nice in themselves, do not do the place justice. Moab, and the great desert of the southwest, is just a place that you have to see to believe.

The trip consisted of my friend Jeremy, my cousin Dan, and myself. While we were there, Dan’s girlfriend Kathryn was on the verge of labor any day, and there was always a moment when we thought we’d have to get Dan to SLC as soon as possible. The constant stream of communication between Dan and Kathryn kept everything calm, and all worked out in the end. Dan is now a father, Kathryn now a mother, an I am the proud uncle of Mackenzie Orion Morris. Let’s see some of the those new baby pictures I know you have now, Dan-o!

This is us:

Three Dudes in Moab, UT

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Moab, UT

Well, Dan, Jeremy and I are in Moab, Utah. After a quick week in Detroit, which, as always, is much too short to see everyone that I want to see, I left at 7 am EST this morning.

Was layed over for 4 hours in Atlanta, GA. Didn’t do much there except to call a few people, spend my www.wheresgeorge.com dollar bill on a New York Times, and eat the shittiest meal at TGI Friday’s. Yeah I know, I haven’t learned anything in this life if I’m still eating at TGI Friday’s, but I was tired and hungry and needed someplace to read my paper.

Slept most of the way to UT, and was greeted by my cousin Dan and My friend Jer, who were having fun watching me from afar answering my phone, and immediately losing the signal. When I saw them finally and saw the tears running down Jer’s face, I knew he was just screwing with me. Ah this is what the week is going to be like. 😉

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