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GRAFFITI -- April 04, 2011 thru April 10, 2011 >> Link to the Current Week << Last Week << Mon   Tues   Wed   Thu   Fri   Sat   Sun >> Next Week 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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April 4, 2011

Wait for it ....

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April 5, 2011

2012 - Malcolm Thompson died this evening. He was a good dog, a wee bit loonie, but I sure loved that BC. He was a great guest dog, and almost always (within his limits) kind and forebearing to our mutts. He could get into it with Molly, because she was almost his size. But the smaller dogs never drew his ire - I presume they were like puppies or small children, in his eyes. I recall a snarly fest that happened down the hall at Thompson's, one Thanksgiving ... down the hall trotted Malcolm with Lucy dangling by her fangs from his neck. The look we got from Malcolm was "Will someone please remove this annoyance?" As you can see in the picture above, Malcolm was a loving, happy dog, much of the time. Duncan taught him to be paranoid, but Barbara taught him love. I'll miss Malcolm. A lot.

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April 6, 2011

0834 - Thoughtless of me to not even mention Bob, who surely feels the loss of Malcolm every bit as much as Barbara does. I pretty much had Bob's statements in mind, "Malcolm spends all day every day with me, but he's Barbara's dog." Argh.

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April 7, 2011

1031 - Many thanks to Derk, who just sent an email to let me know that the date math was hosed on this week's page. There are a couple of variables that I set at the top of each page, but with the news of Malcolm heavy on my mind ... well, I forgot. Thanks again, Derk!

I managed to break out for a while and attend a meeting of our local LOPSA chapter (chapter site == crabbyadmins.org). It was an informative and fun session, and I came away with a copy of O'Reilly's Security Warrior that needs reading and reviewing. We're very happy that O'Reilly has chosen to sponsor our chapter. Thanks to Tim and the gang in Sebastopol for that! And thanks to Evan Pettrey who got the ball rolling with LOPSA for us. I want to stay involved, but balancing school, life, etc. ... I need to be cautious not to overcommit. But I'm looking forward to the interaction with this group. Oh, yeah, and thanks to Theo Schlossnagle and OmniTI for hosting the meeting.

Now, back to work... Ciao!

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April 8, 2011

No Post.....

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April 9, 2011

No Post......

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April 10, 2011

Spring tulips in bloom

2148 - So the front flower garden slowly comes into bloom. Our daffodils are past their peak, and the tulips are coming into bloom now. The whites and yellows seem to get an earlier start, but the reads and vari-colors are now starting to bloom, too. I still don't have anything but chives going in the back yard, but it's early days yet - two days last week were below freezing.

Today I got my early birthday present - a Motorola Xoom tablet running Android 3.0. It's shiny, and pretty darn nice. The conversation went something like ... "Well, sure, I'd like a Kindle, but I'd also like a tablet, and most tablets run the Kindle app, so if it were up to me, I'd say tablet over Kindle."

Just because Marcia rocks, she said "Okay, Mr. Fancy Pants. I can return the Kindle I just got you, hidden in my office, and you can get a tablet instead." So that's how it happened.

I spent some time with that this afternoon, but all of Friday evening and all of Saturday went to schoolwork. I'm in the home stretch on the History course, with a paper due at the end of next week. And the workload on the CCNA class appears to be doubling up in the final four weeks, so it's a good thing I'm about a week ahead there. I've a quiz and some discussion participation to do yet this week for that, but the hard part: lab work and the documentation thereof is completed.

A bad week in the war zones relative to recent reports. Our condolences to the families and units of these fallen warriors:

• Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, 21, of Santa Clara, California, died April 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• 1st Lt. Robert F. Welch III, 26, of Denton, Texas, died April 3 in Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his base with indirect fire.
• Sgt. Jorge A. Scatliffe, 32, of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, died April 3 in a non-combat related incident at Mosul, Iraq.
• Capt. Wesley J. Hinkley, 36, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, died April 4 in Baghdad, Iraq, as a result of a non-combat related incident.
• Staff Sgt. Scott H. Burgess, 32, of Franklin, Texas, died April 4 of wounds suffered from small arms fire in Faryab province, Afghanistan.
• Staff Sgt. Michael S. Lammerts, 26, of Tonawanda, New York, died April 4 of wounds suffered from small arms fire in Faryab province, Afghanistan.
• Staff Sgt. Quadi S. Hudgins, 26, of New Orleans, Louisiana, died April 2 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his position with indirect fire in Babil, Iraq.
• Sgt. Christian A. S. Garcia, 30, of Goodyear, Arizona, died April 2 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his position with indirect fire in Babil, Iraq
• Spc. Gary L. Nelson III, 20, of Woodstock, Georgia, died April 5 in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
• Staff Sgt. Jeremy D. Smith, 26, of Arlington, Texas, died April 6 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Seaman Benjamin D. Rast, 23, of Niles, Michigan, died April 6 while conducting a dismounted patrol northeast of Patrol Base Alcatraz, Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Staff Sgt. Jason A. Rogers, 28, of Brandon, Mississippi, died April 7 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• Spc. Keith T. Buzinski, 26, of Daytona Beach, Florida, died April 7 in Logar province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire.

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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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