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GRAFFITI -- December 18, 2006 thru December 24, 2006 >> Link to the Current Week << Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week Search this site : Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable.     About eMail - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message.

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December 18, 2006

1948 - Good evening. Exciting news in the pipeline, stay tuned to this space. Thanks for your patience.

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December 19, 2006

0833 - Good morning, more or less. Less, because I was still awake at 0100, thinking "I can't oversleep. I can't oversleep." I was up at 0530 in order to press a button at 0605. But I didn't because the corresponding data wasn't on another website yet. More, because it was finally up at 0807, and we went live with the news. My employer, NFR, is being acquired by Check Point Technologies. Links here and here.

I've been working on bunches of stuff that might have lead to assumptions about corporate activities, so I just got quieter than usual (and been working pretty hard, too). Now, if I'm lucky, they'll make me a job offer one of these days really soon now. Really tired now, and still a full day of work ahead. Have a great day.

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December 20, 2006

2040 - Yo. Sorry about that, long day. I was in the chair at the dentist's office for the last of my thrice-yearly cleanings of 2006 at 7 this morning. Then horrible traffic followed by a day of meetings and Power Point overload, interspersed with phone calls and interesting work. I got home about an hour ago.

Thanks for the kind thoughts from several of you. To answer some questions ... No. No. Yes. 42.

Okay, a bit more verbiage might help. No, there's not much to consider yet - I haven't gotten a competitive offer yet. But I've not been in a position to earn overtime in over 20 years - A salaryman from way back am I. The hours sometimes suck, and the pay is never enough ... except that we have a house, and I have enough toys ... so I guess the pay is enough. There are going to be significant challenges ahead, and I'm looking forward to finding out just what they are. I guess that one way or another I'll still spend a lot of time working with security gear and networking. That's a shocker. And yeah, 42 is well behind me.

Okay, headache impending, and I need some dessert. Have a good evening.

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December 21, 2006

No Post....

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December 22, 2006

No Post.....

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December 23, 2006

0955 - Good morning. It was a week full of guests, information, meetings, PowerPoint presentations, and decisions. There's not much for me to discuss publically yet, though. So all the stuff that I can't talk about has been eating about every free minute, leaving me with precious little to say here. So I haven't.

The Christmas shopping is done. Two three-day weekends in a row are nice (not as nice as two four-day weekends in a row, but there you go. We'll get out today or early tomorrow to do our grocery shopping for the coming week, and probably avoid other stores like the plague if at all possible. Neither Marcia nor I have the inclination to bargain-hunt to the degree necessary to venture out to the post-holiday sales and returns.

I guess I'll see what trouble I can get into ... while my lower back is paining me at the moment, I don't feel like being utterly lazy.

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December 24, 2006

1237 - Good afternoon. The other night, while it was still almost winter-ish, I caught that picture of Molly. Because she's really too big a puppy to share the bed with us most of the time, she sleeps on the floor. Once I found her shivering. So now on cold night I wrap her up at bed time. Occasionally she stays that way all night. Not that it's cold now. A very un-wintery Christmas is in our future. Yesterday I was outside in bare feet, shorts, and a t-shirt, comfortable at least as far as the mailbox and back. But I'm told we'll pay for this "good fortune" in January. But our little shrine to Christmas is overflowing with cards from friends and family ... perhaps my favorite part of the season, to tell the truth.

Molly wrapped in her cold-weather blankie	Our little Christmas shrine with gifts, cards, nutcracker and a small ornament tree.	Some of the holes in the family room wall, there's more above.

Yesterday I started the wall repairs in the family room. There's a hole not pictured up at the top of the wall, where I needed to be able to guide the CAT5e down past the insulation. At the bottom are exploratory holes that were all needed to get to the place where I could drill down through the bottom plate and get those wires accessibly into the basement.

The backing boards are in place, to support new sheetrock	The sheetrock, sized and screwed into position	The first pass of spackle filling the large voids

I started by clearing furniture and such away from the corner. Then I used some scrap quarter inch plywood cut into appropriate sizes to act as backer boards for sheetrock attachment and stabilization. I cut chunks of sheetrock to the correct size for each hole, picking one right-angle corner as my basis in each case. Then, measuring from that corner, I could get something very nearly the perfect size for each hole, leaving perhaps one eighth inch all around for filling. With sheetrock screwed into the backers in each hole, I spackled the inset screw heads and all around each filler piece.

Today I'll sand down the highest points, then re-fill with a wide-blade knife. As a thin coat, that should dry quickly, and I may get to prime before the day's out. Color coats will certainly have to wait until tomorrow.

As we're surrounded by the joys of the season, my thoughts are also with our troops in harm's way in the Middle East. I wish for them a safe and Merry Christmas. I hope that things stabilize enough that many of them can be home with their families by next Christmas. And the losses continue to mount. My heart goes out to the families of the fallen, and my pride in and gratitude to our armed forces is boundless.

• Staff Sgt. Joseph E. Phaneuf, 38, of Eastford, Conn., died Dec. 15 in Mehtar Lam, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations.
• Lance Cpl. Nicklas J. Palmer, 19, of Leadville, Colo., died Dec. 16 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Capt. Kevin M. Kryst, 27, of West Bend, Wis., died Dec. 18 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Matthew W. Clark, 22, of St. Louis, Mo., died December 14 due to injuries suffered from enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Luke C. Yepsen, 20, of Kingwood, Texas, died December 14 due to injuries suffered from enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.<
• Staff Sgt. Henry K. Kahalewai, 43, of Hilo, Hawaii, died Dec. 15 at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, of wounds suffered Nov. 21 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker vehicle.
• Pfc. Joe L. Baines, 19, of Newark, N.J., died Dec. 16 at Taji, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV.
• Staff Sgt. David R. Staats, 30, of Pueblo, Colo, died Dec. 16 in Taji, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his HMMWV struck an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol.
• Spc. Matthew J. Stanley, 22, of Wolfeboro Falls, N.H., died Dec. 16 in Taji, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his HMMWV struck an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol.
• Pfc. Seth M. Stanton, 19, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died Dec. 17 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his HMMWV struck an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol.
• Cpl. Joshua D. Pickard, 20, of Merced, Calif., died Dec. 19 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Staff Sgt. Brian L. Mintzlaff, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas, died Dec. 18 in Taji, Iraq, from injuries suffered when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle rolled over.
• Spc. Andrew P. Daul, 21, of Brighton, Mich., died Dec. 19 in Hit, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Abrams tank during combat operations.
• Spc. Robert J. Volker, 21, of Big Spring, Texas, died Dec. 20 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV.
• Spc. Scott D. Dykman, 27, of Helena, Mont., died Dec. 20 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device.
• Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Burgess, 21, of Sanford, Mich., died Dec. 21 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
• Lance Cpl. Ryan L. Mayhan, 25, of Hawthorne, Calif., died Dec. 21 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.

Have a Happy Christmas Eve, if you so celebrate. Otherwise, Gouranga!

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Visit the rest of the DAYNOTES GANG, a collection of bright minds and sharp wits. Really, I don't know why they tolerate me <grin>. My personal inspiration for these pages is Dr. Jerry Pournelle. I am also indebted to Bob Thompson and Tom Syroid for their patience, guidance and feedback. Of course, I am sustained by and beholden to my lovely wife, Marcia. You can find her online too, at http://www.dutchgirl.net/. Thanks for dropping by.

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