A better person

Moving on.
Those words can mean so much and at the same time, nothing at all.
We get on with our lives in one way or another. There are a few major events people refer to as milestones. First baby tooth pulled. Start of college. Moving out of your parents house. Buying your own house. Marriage. Divorce. Grandchildren. The cycle goes on.
I'm looking for a word to describe what happens to me every few weeks. Somewhere in between the big and small things in life.
If marriage is an event and finding a twenty in your winter coat is a happy moment, I'm searching to describe what occurs in between those two.
The euphoric relief you have after accomplishing a daunting task. A sense of pride after repairing a broken appliance.
I feel happy after I've fixed a child's toy, or replaced the disks on the truck, my toy.
With the changing of the seasons, I muck around in the garage for a bit, trying to bring order to chaos. (I'm writing this to put off that particular task.) There's a discard pile that is bigger than my hang on to pile and it must go. My garbage man is going to have a retroactive hernia one day because of me.
Still, I'll feel good when I can look at the bare concrete floor again and not the obstacle course it is now. So this is where my daughters get it. Any burglar breaking into our home would trip and kill himself if he tried to navigate certain rooms in my house. When said robber hits the floor he will be immediately set upon by our dog. He may make it to the hospital to remove Legos from his feet and a fork puncturing his backside, but doctors will note his face will have been licked clean by our faithful companion. 

So there's nothing more to say, fall cleaning has come. I'll be happy when it's over and we're battened down for the winter. 
Today I started my Oktoberfest beer. Hopefully when it's done around 10/10, it will have a pecan flavor and color. So yes, I have a fondness for pecans, caramel, and honey in general. I threw out one full garbage can full of trash, so that's my reward.

Continuing fallout

I was afraid of this. There have been several suicides, resignations and careers ruined because of the Ashley Madison leak. Even my own city isn't immune to the controversy. Our own Police Captain Micheal Gorhum took his own life after it was discovered his work e-mail was linked to an Ashley Madison account. Here's the link to that article.
Lawsuits have been filed. Lawyers are having a field day. Politicians are resigning or at least backpeddling. Okay, that last one made me smile a little. How can you tell when a politician is lying? His lips move.
But enough of this Puritanical bullshit. Not everyone deserves to be outed like that. When things like this happen, I'm reminded the world isn't black and white. People have reasons for wanting to have a friends with benefits arrangement. In reading the last few articles from one of my favorite columnists, Dan Savage, he explains some of those reasons. Here is where I first found out about people taking their own lives over this.
I'm not apologizing for others or trying to explain situations away. As one of the letter writers points out, a marriage without intimacy is on occasion a reason.
Okay, politicians get off on power. I get that. Having a mistress is a power trip. It certainly feeds the ego. Then there is, 'Oh we sleep in separate beds because our sexual needs are different.' I'm calling bullshit on that one.
If you or your spouse don't love each other, why the fuck are you married? For the children? Get a clue! Kids are way smarter than anyone gives them credit for. Don't hide behind your kids as an excuse for your failings.
People change. Hopefully they learn and grow. The reasons are many and varied. I'm not one to judge on this whole thing. If I'm angry with anyone, it's with this Team Impact group of hackers. They are amputating a limb to treat a sprained ankle. Who appointed them judge and jury?
My day job is taking it's toll on my body. As I sit here and write this my neck and back are loudly complaining for painkillers and alcohol. After I post this I'll do one or the other, I haven't made up my mind yet. I have no trouble getting excited over personal quality time with the wife, but I have a problem staying that way. When I went on vacation during the summer (Not straining and exerting myself.) I had no intimacy problems start to finish. The back muscles and nerves are just about shot from the heavy lifting I do every week.
Go to a chiropractor you say? I did and I really need to continue going, but I can only afford him in small doses. Yes, my hands fall asleep while driving to work and I'm still paying off the last adjustment. Catch 22, to be sure.
My wife has been in pain these last few weeks. A turned rib that makes it almost impossible to use her left arm. We both lay next to one another in pain and barely holding hands. Does this mean we have an excuse to dally around? Hell no! We're a middle age couple in love and our bodies are out of warranty. We do manage to cuddle very carefully. We both have to get to a doctor because deep down we know this is not healthy or how it's supposed to be.
Yes, hypocritical assholes and pray away the gay politicians need to be taken down a peg or two. There is no problem outing Josh Duggar. I feel sorry for his wife, but it looks like the pod people got to her and sapped the self-respect away.
The rest of us normal folks? This is certainly a life changing experience, but not a life ending one.
There are many colors in the world, not merely two. Team Impact and the Right wing nut jobs would be better to remember that.

Names and Places

The last few days have been interesting in an instant karma kind of way. A group of hackers released around thirty gigabytes of names and profiles from the online company Ashley Madison, a company that promotes cheating and infidelity. Unlike most people I wondered who claimed responsibility for the hack. The go-to group was the hacktivist group Anonymous, but it wasn't them. A little Google-fu revealed the name. A group calling themselves Impact Team attacked two sites, Ashley Madison and Exceptional men, both owned by Avid Life Media. In reading the Wired article it states Impact Team was morally outraged at the websites and the practices they condoned.
The first big data dump was last Tuesday. Journalists and social media bloggers have been poring over that data and came up with not only government employees using their work e-mails but the current king of hypocrites, Josh Duggar. There's that karma thing. People thought he was a douchebag before, but it was so much bigger.
But Thursday and Friday there were two more data dumps of far more importance. The proprietary source code and seventy three gigs of repositories. Now any hacker worthy of the name can look for exploits. From my perspective, Impact Team just drove a stake through the heart of ALM.
The first word about a data security breach at Ashley Madison was on July 19. The hackers had already gotten what they wanted. Impact Team contacted ALM and demanded they shut down the sites in question or else. Ashley Madison reportedly made 115 million last year so ALM wasn't about to cave in to what amounted to what they saw as a terrorist threat. Thirty days later, August 19th, the hackers made good on their threat.
In reading the article, the hackers may get away with it. If they covered their tracks and took precautions, and it appears they did, authorities won't find so much as a foot print. Here is the full article from Wired. 
Part of me is cheering for Impact Team and their smack down on a company that promotes infidelity and was poised to become an IPO. (What does that say about society?)
Another part of me worries about these cyber bullies and what they represent. Some people might call them vigilantes, and they'd be right. My concern stems from the old trope: 'Who watches the watchers?'
Many years ago, a few well meaning computer literate beings wrote a virus-like program that was designed to seek out child pornography and report the IP addresses, names and numbers of people who downloaded it. The intention was to take out child molesters. Unfortunately that's not how it works. The police couldn't use that information because it violates a number of constitutional rights. Not only that, but the manner in which the information was obtained opens a whole can of Orwellian worms. Sorry, the law doesn't work that way.
It's a slippery slope where people can expose the private information of people who pissed them off. It is another matter entirely to bring down and destroy a multi-million dollar company.
So Impact Team has stepped on a cockroach that angered them. The only thing you've taught these lowlifes is to burrow into the shadows a bit deeper. Despite our public disdain, ALM, or a similar company will crop up to take Ashley Madison's place. When they do, you can bet your ass the security will be beefed up.
If I can use an analogy. Let's say I get a speeding ticket going down a certain road on my way to work. I pay the fine and knowing the police officers are fond of catching motorists on this certain stretch of highway, I take an alternate route to my job. Ask yourself, 'What has this accomplished?'
The scum at ALM will still be bottom feeders. Lying cheating bastards like Josh Duggar will go on living. These two types of dirt bags will always find a way. Impact Team may have felt morally outraged and they have the skill sets to bring the assholes down, but have they really brought them to justice? Hardly.

  

Habits

The hardest part about writing isn't coming up with something to say or a story to tell, it's sitting your can in a chair and blocking off the time to punch the keys. Now I have to get back up on that horse and write. *Sigh* Time to cowboy up. Long ago I promised myself I wouldn't lash out at people or my kids when they interrupt me. Unfortunately I've broken that promise. By telling the girls what I'm doing and asking for some time to work, I can mitigate disturbances. Having a child tug on your arm and ask for help tying their shoelaces isn't licence to vent. It doesn't work like that. It's not the action, it's the reaction that's important. You get more flies with honey rather than vinegar. My daughters shouldn't be afraid to come to me for anything.
Today the wife and I went to Best Buy to have them look at her notebook. While we were waiting for a geek squad tech to come over, I browsed the store to see the latest tech. Of course they were pushing Windows 10 and the iPhone6, but something else caught my interest. If you purchase Windows 10 and in thirty days decide it's not for you (i.e. it doesn't work.) you can switch back to your previous version of Windows. That should tell you a lot. Mainly the other companies aren't on the same page as Micro$oft.
I know a Facebook friend who downloaded Windows 10 and went back to Windows 7 just so he could play his games and do his work.
Memo to Micro$oft: if it's not broken, don't fix it. Release your latest version of software to your select partner corporations so they can write a driver for the printer or video card they make. That's a win/win. Seems they also should test the software under real world conditions. Wait a little bit in order to release a better product. The fact that they would have such an option says how much they back their new software.
On another note I was accosted three times in five minutes by the sales force. I understand customer service and reducing theft, but there are times where it's tempting to lisp a bit and say 'I read lips.' Feels like a cop out, but that poor sales guy backs the fuck off. One day they will actually use ASL and communicate, but I'm not holding my breath.

Dog days

Some days I like more than others. Tuesdays are my current least favorite days of the week. A lot of really tough things happen on those days, but I get through those days because I have to... and because I don't want the bad stuff to get the better of me. I'm an ornery bastard like that.

We have our scorching August heat here in Texas, but when it rains, all the stops are pulled out and it comes down all at once. No such thing as a gentle sprinkle here in town.

When it rains, it blows

This was a fence reinforced with a frame made with 2x4's and a corrugated tin roof to protect the drums from the elements. It was where we stored and secured the hazardous materials. See those plastic lined drum barrels? Yes, the managers know about it. No, they haven't gotten around to asking me or any of the other grunts to clean it up or fix it. I'm sure they'll ask us on Monday because that's how they operate.
Texas weather is unforgiving. Management is lethargic. Perhaps they're waiting for the insurance claim adjuster or something. This whole thing screams fire hazard to me. Never mind we have enough acid stored inside to melt the store... right underneath things that like to melt and burn.
In the past I've tried not to talk about my Clark Kent job, but I feel we crossed a line somewhere. It's not my call to make, but I would have taken care of this as soon as it was discovered.
There was a rant coming on and I deleted a paragraph or two because it would of broken a rule I made when I started this blog: Keep the personal and negative stuff out. I was about to start calling people out and write stuff that would be used against me. I go in. I work. I go home. Not one inch further. Call me disillusioned and you'd be right.
We all have our disappointments.
In a few weeks time school will begin. I'm officially a band dad doing the fundraising thing. Our very first game is at the end of August and I'm looking forward to it.
Ever the busy sort, my wife has something in the works and if all goes well, I will be flying solo for the month of September. Was that vague enough? Misleading perhaps? Remember the saying, insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. This is us doing something different. We'll know in a few weeks if that is the course we are taking.

Sort of back

Through the magic of old school tech, I'm back online. I made a Cat5 cable a few years back and it's worked faithfully for years on my old rig. Now it's continuing to be useful by connecting the laptop to my router directly. Wires are strewn across my living room as if I were setting up Christmas lights. The good news is that my back isn't turned to my family as I write this. Always thought that was a problem. Even if I'm writing, checking e-mail or playing the latest computer game, my back would be to my loved ones. Now my oldest child and lovely wife can be seen without turning my head. Of course, the wife has a habit of throwing pillows in my direction. Now I can duck when I see them coming.
Let's see whats happened while I was away from the soapbox.
We're still getting pictures of the Pluto flyby. Those will continue to come in throughout the fall. Here's the fun part: taking names for the features that are discovered. Seriously, take a gander at the suggested names on Charon. I nearly spilled my coffee on the screen when I read Mordor. The same went for Kirk, Spock and Sulu craters. Kubrik Mons and Clarke Mons are great names for new mountains, but didn't they already name stuff after the characters in Star Trek? On Pluto it's a bit more serious. Lowell and Tombaugh Regio is a great homage to the men who discovered the mini planet. I'll even go with Cousteau Rupes, to honor the great explorer Jacques Cousteau. There seems to be a theme of explorers going on with Pluto. I heartily endorse these suggested names, even Tartarus Dorsa, which is in keeping with the Greek and Roman mythology naming of the solar system. This brings up a point. We're gonna get silly with the names.
Sure there will be serious stuff like Hayabusa Terra and Eriksson Rupes, but Cthulhu Regio and Vadar Crater? I'm not offended and I think it's funny. Pop culture influencing the names of mountains and canyons. Who's to say what will be remembered in a few hundred years. Gallifrey Macula and Tardis Chasma?
Somewhere down the line there will be a planet that gets the name Tom's planet. I only know a few people named Tom. In fact, a cousin of mine goes by that name. This proves the point. There are so many places... Planets, Asteroids, Nebula, that we are going to get some funny names. We already have Truth or Consequences, New Mexico so Skywalker Crater shouldn't surprise anybody. 

On to the stuff my kids don't care about. 

How sweet it is

When I find a new recipe, I make a one gallon batch. If it's any good, I bump it up to five gallons. The mead on the left contains Serrano peppers. I'm going for a sweet and spicy drink. The one in the middle contains pineapple and ginger. That one should be good. The big thing on the left is the prickly pear mead that was so popular the last year. My family isn't quite so enthusiastic about my new hobby. The kids couldn't care less, and I'm okay with that. Children rarely think what their parents do is cool or interesting. The wife is indulgent of her husband's particularities. That's a nice way of saying she puts up with me.
If any of this stuff bores you gentle readers, than please let me know and I'll stop writing about it. For my part I find it interesting and a bit relaxing. The process of bringing this forth is satisfying to me. Cooking for large groups of friends or writing a story fulfills a creative need to put something out there for the world to see. The look on my friends face as they taste food, drink a beverage, or immerse themselves in a story, brings a sense of pride and joy to the relationship. 
These are the moments we treasure in our life. Our accomplishments that one can point to and say, 'I did that.' It's a good feeling to have.