Recently in General Category

Recently, we've been having a bit of a coyote problem. Last week, we lost a chicken to those dogs; they live on the far side of the golf course near our house. Suffice to say, when the feathers were found, we knew the animal was gone, and we all went on high alert.

Tonight, one of our cats, the female, Scout -- went missing.

I only noticed it right before I went to bed, 2:30am -- high hunting season for those creatures. It was not a good time to realize that she was missing.

I wandered around the house, I checked the kids beds again (and again), then I got a flashlight -- I'd go outside and shout for her. Sometimes, at our old house, my shouting would cue the cats to come bolting towards the house, out from under whatever bush or tree they were hiding, ears back, eyes wide -- running for their lives from the coyotes that used to live there. I figured a good shout would bring her home here just as well as it did back then.

Standing outside, I shouted her name. I did it a few times, with pauses, to try and communicate that I was still there -- that she could make a break for it. But nothing happened. I stood in the dark, beginning to unpack the bad ideas, the ones that you first try on with a skeptical mind to get ready.

I shouted some more -- then went inside. That's when I had a moment with my cat.

Boo, the male cat, looked at me with big eyes and immediately wanted to go outside.

At first, I was annoyed. "No, Boo, you are not going outside -- no way!"

I went to another door of the house and shouted, and he made a break for it.

Aaargh -- I thought ... great. Then I decided I was too bored and annoyed to care anymore -- if these cats wanted to go out and have this sort of trouble -- then ... no, no -- I did care.

So I went to another door, shouted some more, and headed outside again.

That's when Boo rolled up on the door, saw me, and gave me that stare. It's the "yes, idiot, we do know what's going on, there is a universal understanding between all the creatures in the universe, and you have to follow me right now" stare.

So, of course, I followed him. He ran off around the house. I followed. I figured as soon as I came around the corner, I'd startle him and I'd break out of my little fantasy, he's just a cat, and there had been no moment.

But he was waiting for me when I turned the corner, looking over his shoulder, and waiting.

"What is it, Boo? Where is she?"

He looked around in one area, sniffed a bit, as if maybe that made some sort of obvious sense to me; but of course I'm just a stupid hairless ape with no nose power -- so I was clueless.

He wasn't going to be deterred in the least -- he immediately turned and headed back the way we came. With intent. So I followed.

We came around the back of the house, and he considered going inside the door I'd left open. We went in for a second, but then I looked at him and gave him the stare right back -- "No, I'm gonna keep looking.", I said with my body and eyes.

So he turned around and walked right back out, rolled up next to me... we were a team -- the men of the house ... we're gonna find this cat.

I had the flashlight on, and we headed through the wooded alley behind our house, towards the back yard, he was never more than three feet from me, pacing me, checking corners, roaming out to the side, but not doing that standard "co-wander" thing cats do -- he was with me on this.

Just as we got to the back yard, I heard a mighty rustling, something big was running away from me. Could have been a raccoon, doubtful it was coyotes -- they sing too much. But this thing was big, it was crashing through the bush, and Boo had known it was there the whole time.

He'd actually intentionally lead me to it. Against his own better safety. In response to my shouting for Scout. He knew, he knew what to do, and he did it.

As we'd passed the door, he thought twice about going with me, but then decided to come with me -- and, knowing there was a monster in the back yard, he paced me anyway and we flushed this thing out together.

Then we were standing together in the back yard, me and my cat, owning that space, checking the corners with the flashlight, and sort of awkwardly pretending to each other that we hadn't just broken the sacred human/animal language barrier.

He checked some other places, never more than a few feet from me, never jumpy, never needy, never startled -- a co-searcher ... and then he basically suggested we head back to the front door of the house, since we'd done a full circuit and removed the danger -- which is why he'd directed me there. He knew she'd be safer now, now that he'd gotten me to scare the monster away -- a monster I couldn't see, only heard -- but he knew all about.

I looked around, shouted for Scout a few more times, and followed him to the door. We headed into the house. No meows at the door, no pacing to be let in -- we knew what we'd done, and it was time to get back inside. I opened the door, and he walked in with me.

I went to the food area and threw him a handful of dry kibble to say thanks... he seemed to appreciate that... now we'd wait -- he seemed strangely unperturbed after all that.

I did one more tour of the house, then went and closed the door I'd left open near the alley. I noticed that the motion-sensor light was still on, so I shouted once more.

A few minutes later, Scout appeared out of nowhere in the dining room.

Boo seemed to think that was good enough. I pet her for a minute or two, he sat and watched. I think we'll likely all go back to pretending we don't understand each other. But it was nice to have that moment with my 10 year old friend.

I woke up yesterday with vertigo. Dizzy and not stopping. Crazy.

By noon, I was seasick and tired -- but so what? I just stopped moving.

Kathy and I got to the doctor by 4pm -- I've got Vestibular Neuritis ... not as dramatic as it sounds. The nerve between my ear and brain is inflamed in some way -- so I get dizzy until the inflamation goes away.

Maybe God wants me to sit still and write -- I think so. I'm flailing around with other things -- lost a bunch of money in the market in one swell foop because I tried something I didn't understand ... but again -- so what?

I'm sitting here, music in head, bound to the ground until I get over the ear thing -- which could be days, could be weeks.

Nothing to do but write, and then write some more. I think I'll enjoy it. Or not. Who cares?

Like I have a choice -- gotta do what the man in the sky says -- so write I do.

Meanwhile, the vertigo makes me feel weird -- I'm definitely in a strange brain space. Gonna try to get to the office tomorrow -- that should be amusing.

So, America is a place divided, America is a place that only cares about money -- America is the new imperialism... these are all things people say about our country.

I'm tired of it. America is a jingoistic paradise -- look it up.

America is a constantly changing free-zone - a Greek Acropolitic dream made true -- America is made of heroes and kings -- we're all in charge and all responsible.

Politicians, fat cats, deviants and secret dealers -- the light always comes back -- and America is where it lives.

Believe in America -- that's all there is to it.

God Bless you. God Bless America. Be an American -- be a free, ever-changing King.

So, where have I been? Well, LWB is all about keeping things lightweight -- meaning that my weekend gets to be about my weekend, not business and blogs and such. I spent the weekend, if you must know, moving my chicken coop with my family -- as well as cleaning up the exercise room, which had become a storage facility.

With those two changes, I run a pretty good chance of getting better sleep. The chickens will no longer wake me up in the AM (they were situated right outside our window), and the exercise will help me get to sleep more easily.

I wanted to buy a bike with thin tires, but it seems that Walmart only sells knobby tired monsters. Such is life -- little bits of life quality at a time I guess.

Weekends are for focusing on God, family, and self -- in that order.

So, I had a chance to speak with my landlord today and found out that they will be doing limited competition with me directly -- so my choices are to get up off my duff and compete (thus, potentially overwhelming my notions of Lightweight Business) or sit around and hope for the best.

Well, as with all things, the right way to proceed is lazily -- seeking only to do what one must and then do that with vigor. Currently, I see no threats on the immediate horizon, but it's clear that, once again, the new adage holds true, "when your eggs are in threat of being stomped, get more baskets."

I'm going to look hard and long at the viability of extending out into other physical areas beyond the current building. That, of course, requires cash (check, sort of), and effort -- here's to watching how well I maintain the LWB (Lightweight Business doesn't involve typing THAT all the time) approach to expansion.

I find myself at the end of another day, the beginning of the business year, with the desire to do the biz equivalent of make resolutions, start exercising, and lose weight.

This time, I'm serious -- no really.

I was plugging through www.nytimes.com, enjoying the subscription benefits I get in digital form for the wonderful gift I received in wood-pulp subscription form; when I saw a section on small business and how blogging is a great marketing tool for small businesses.

Wonderful -- but what do I have to say? Well, actually, quite a bit. What do I have to say that people want to read? Not as much as the former, but still -- some.

See, I've run a business for 10 years that has lived and survived in the white-hot center of the Internet sun. I provide colocation services to some very recognizable brands, I book a few million a year in revenue, and we do it with a team of 3-4 people, plus contractors and outsourcing. It's what I've decided to call Lightweight Business -- and I've gotten the domains to prove it.

So, here's the first step in setting up THAT blog, www.lightweightbiz.com ... coming here to my old stale blog and seeing if I can just put up a post once a day for a month. If I can do that, I'll have developed the right new habits to justify a small-business blog. If not, well, you're the only other person who has read this post -- thanks for coming by.

Total sleep: 52 hours

Watching a bunch of movies, having a nice time. Giving a bunch of prayer for the YG in my absence. All is well. It's all about the rest ... it's beginning to dawn on me that I only have a few days of rest left -- so I'm gonna use them.

Total hours of sleep to date: 23

I've been here two days, seen two movies (I saw Red Flag on the IMAX screen ... pretty cool).

I got a massage, which helped with the pain in my back. Hmmm... had a nice cuban cigar ... and ummm... ate some food.

So far, pretty good. Enjoying stuff.

Might go get a Video Ipod tomorrow :)

Work hard, play hard :)

God Bless.

So, it would seem that I AM actually pretty tired. I slept for about 13 hours or so last night -- and will probably do likewise again tomorrow. I got up at about 2pm, which was wild for me, and now it's 8pm and I'm thinking about dinner or something.

I saw the The Illusionist last night, which was a pretty good movie. It was a little funny going to the theater near my hotel -- it attempts to equate being run-down and under-managed with "avante garde" and artistic.

There was a fan running on the ceiling of the theater the whole time going "squeak squeak squeak" ... which was slightly less than enjoyable, and they had glue traps set up for mice right in the main entryway to the theater (which was kinda funny in a gross way).

I went and purchased two games for my computer -- Civilization IV and Sims 2

Two older games, I'm sure -- but something to entertain. Not a LOT to think about or report -- just some basic calm brain-healing. Wasn't aware how tired I am.

Given some time, I might consider updating the look and feel of this website or the company website -- probably company one should come first.

This woman spent three years taking snapshots of herself every day -- this is the result of the work -- it's kinda cool and sorta mesmerizing.

So, I'm on my own in the company again -- pretty much. God's got me where he wants me, and I'm glad for it.

I'm doing all the coding in the company now, using Eclipse and loving it. If you code for real, and aren't some HTML/Javascript script kiddie (ok, there are some of you out there who are really "masters" of JS and so forth -- my sincere apologies to you), then you need to get Eclipse or some other IDE into your life.

If you don't know what an IDE is, it's an Integrated Development Environment -- which means that it does a LOT of the thinking for you. It may seem mundane, but having a code editor that can lookup the original location of that function you're calling, color code your syntax and check your validity is key to success.

Tomorrow, two teens in our YG are going to be baptized! I think that rocks.

Not a lot else to report, no opinions or attitudes. Just sitting around thinking is all. Still trying to get blogging into my daily routine.

You'd think that the owner of a small business in one of the most concentrated buildings for Internet in the world would have something interesting to say -- and I do -- but the question really is -- do I want to put it onto the Internet for all of you to read forever?

So my brain's totally wandering.

Not much else to light into -- what's it all about, etc. I'm writing code again, that's a change since the last few years of my life. I'm motivated to start writing things that do real stuff, not just diddle and fiddle.

I'm currently listening to Iggy Pop -- what's THAT all about?

Hmmm... not a lot else to report. Just a mini post. I'm getting my habits lined up again for a new phase of productivity (this is how I do it, btw) -- and first, when you find yourself face down and the skis are all spread out everywhere -- you just get up and start moving -- you don't really think about it, you don't ponder, you just move.

That's what this post is -- it's a "keep moving" post -- just get it going. It's not too bad. I don't like mySpace, so I'm preferring to put my links here.

One thing I gotta do sometime soon is fix this site to look good again. It's been too long.

Ok -- nothing else -- noise -- nothing.

Time to stop.

Go love Jesus, He's watching you.

I have no idea what category to put this in -- or anything to say -- it's really good that this is happening, yes, but it's just too freaky for words. Boffins create zombie dogs | The Other Side | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (27-06-2005)

Slashdot | Washington State Outlaws Spyware. I'm finally proud to be in Washington State.

Ok -- I've always wondered about this, but I guess that playing songs backwards actually does reveal the evil plans of satan... just check this out: Stairway to Heaven Backwards. And for those of you who can't read sarcasm -- yes, I'm being sarcastic -- I do have to admit that this is wierd -- but well ... we all must calm down sometimes.

So, the main page of the site is up and looking relatively good. I'm still going to have to take the template and translate it into the archive pages, so if you go to look at old posts... prepared to be "shocked" by the rawness of the pages.

I'm still going to tweak the main page a bit, but it's ready for me to put up some posts.

Ok... I have new blog software installed (yay!)

That's why this site is so pretty right now. If you're reading this later, and the site looks better, well, sorry to be confusing. But for now it's the standard default, ugly and plain look. I'm working on it.

But this will enable me to do much more with the site (including the safari pictures), as well as allow others to have a blog too!

So things are going pretty well for the company, and for the family. I'm beginning the work of preparation for my trip to Africa (which will possibly end up with it's own blog category here) in November.

The Anglican Church is in disarray, I've got a nominal "sleepy" headache and overall, I'm beat. But tomorrow is Angie's birthday, so who cares?

Day two... ok, it's actually day three... but I didn't do anything yesterday

I've installed, deleted, installed, overwritten, re-installed and finally just installed WordPress... this blogger.

So what? Well, it's basically a place for ME to put down my thoughts for me.

Things are going well for Angie, the Company is trucking along relatively well... organization is coming out of its hibernation, nice nice.

How weak has the web gotten that people are just sitting at their virtual microphones and talking into the ether like this? It's almost time for the next wave of new tools. Gonna be wireless and instant, I assure you.

Mead's law: to review the potential of any technology, compare it's current status to the absolute of putting two people in full "sensaround" immediate contact at any time from anywhere and you'll see where it's going. Disks need to get bigger, bandwidth needs to keep getting bigger, monitors need to get lighter and tougher until they're feasible and driven by a phone (not a tiny thing, but something like a projector that only your glasses can see).

Places that need help?

1. Phone numbering/directories. I should be able to find you by virtue of having met you, or by describing you loosely ("Jane Doe, works for Microsoft").
2. Keyboarding/input. Voice is nice, but your computer's gonna have to be much more intuitive to really "get" what you're saying


3. Data transfer. My cell phone, PDA, computer, home phone and your computer should be able to share a phone number without a physicist's intervention

I picture a day when I'm wearing a pair of glasses that are "tuned" to my "data unit", along with an earbud-esque thing so I'm getting projected images on the surfaces around me (yes, I want the computer to figure out my angle to the wall so that the image looks like it's ON the wall, not floating in space). That's the future, baby.

Also, while I'm there, I'd like my magic glasses to have a pleasant little blue light on them so you know when I'm on the phone, instead of me just walking around the street, talking to myself... aka cellchotic.

Yep, that's right, I gave in and went for the blog thing. If you're reading this, you're either bored, a webbot, my wife or really bored. My intention is to make this thing a blog about what it's like to run a small "survivor" company in the post "dot-bomb 2000" landscape.

Watch this space.