Where Chester Lives

Flying to Dayton now. Work has been slammin, as always…Can’t complain TOO loudly, I still have a job. I get the honor and privilege of flying to Ohio to migrate essential services off of MDL’s infrastructure. The rest of MDL is having a little party today. Kind of a “fond farewell” thing, I guess. While all the senior mgmt at Symyx is painting this rosy picture, the rest of us aren’t fooling ourselves. Symyx, as a public company, just outlaid 123 million in cash for MDL. In order to show an immediate ROI to investors, they have to recoup some of that expense. This ALWAYS means lay-offs. I would expect that ~30% of the workforce at MDL is going to get laid off next week. My personal feelings aside, it doesn’t make sense when looking at long-term viability. If Symyx is hitching their cart to Isentris (which is what they say), then it would seem that they would do whatever is necessary to keep that product schedule intact, which would mean keeping a significant portion of MDL’s current staffing levels. Trimming fat, I can understand…there are redundant positions without a need for redundancy…that makes short term and long term sense. But, at the end of the day, if you want to make MONEY, you do what is required to maintain business viability. That’s just being smart. No one ever accused anyone of that.

I should insert a disclaimer here: These are my OWN THOUGHTS on the matter. I don’t have any kind of insider info that I am operating from. I could very well be part of that initial lay-off…nothing is for sure and my work situation is fluid, at best. So there. If you are a market speculator, then you already know about the sale. You also know (I hope) how business works.

Speaking of business, can we as Corporate America get away from this quarter-to-quarter mentality? I am sick to death of vendors pressuring me to buy because of their EOQ target is looming. Here’s a thought: if your product solves a problem and you have good marketing (not market-speak, actual information as it relates to the real world), then selling that product based on it’s virtues should be your goal. If I, as a customer, tell you that a purchase is more likely next month, your answer to me had better be, “That’s great. Here is the quote and the incentives we will offer if you purchase by your commit date.” Too often I get, “We really are cutting you a deal and need you to sign off now, or we can’t guarantee this pricing.” All because it’s September, and not October? GIVE ME A BREAK.

Battery low. Cya.

I took a nap yesterday afternoon. I always know not to do that but I did it anyway. Whenever I nap I have extreme difficulty going to sleep at night. Coupled with the fact that I had an early morning conference call (7 a.m. Blech), and i got about four hours of sleep. So right now I am operating on pure adrenaline. I haven't taken an after-work nap, even though I was tempted. Sorely tempted. The couch was calling me in that come-hither voice..."Coy. Aren't you tired? Look at my soft pillows and the expanse of cushions. I could make you VERY comfortable." But I RESISTED. And now I am typing on my blog, which is likely a mistake. I'll read this tomorrow through clearer eyes and regret it, I know.

That bike ride I did last week pushed me across a milestone. I started keeping a log of miles in March, with the goal of logging 1000 miles this year. I did it! I have now ridden 1041.97 miles, including the 14.75 I rode at lunch today. So, if I ramp it up, it is a realistic goal to break 2000 by next March, which owuld be double my goal. That would be very nice... I'm hoping to do a couple of really long rides this fall...60+ miles. Well, long for me. Some of my cycling buddies scoff at such things. Oh well...I ride what I can ride when I can ride it. I keep losing weight and I keep feeling better and stronger. One of the big things that has really helped is doing intervals. They are really hard, but they significantly increase my endurance and average speed when I do 2+ hour rides.

I don't have much more to say...I have to go to work early in the morning and i need to finish up some laundry before i hit the sack. So, i'm off. Catch you on the flip side.

So, I have this weird habit. Often, when I'm typing or talking, I will latch on to a word or phrase and repeat it. Hence the title...I used the phrase in a work meeting on Thursday and have since used it several times in normal conversation. Odd. Most of the time my little hangup is a word, not a phrase. I say a word, it rolls of my tongue and I like the feel of it. So I use it again. It begins to be ridiculous after a while. So, whenever I type an email or a blog entry, I try to check over it and make sure I haven't used today's favorite word too much.

I guess it's like my morning ritual: I get up, check email, put out fires, and plan my day. Then I go downstairs for breakfast. I empty yesterday's water from the teapot and fill it again. I place the teapot on the front right burner and turn it on high. I take three teaspoon-fulls of coffee beans and place them in the grinder. I grind the beans for ten seconds, every time. I get a cup, the melitta basket and filter and place them on the cup. I do this thing to the filter so that it stays open inside of the basket. I tap the bottom of the grinder on the counter to dislodge any grounds from around the rim. I take the top off of the grinder and dump the freshly ground coffee into the filter, tapping the sides of the grinder briskly to dislodge all the grounds. I then go outside and get the paper. I do this because it lengthens the time between when I've got my coffee going to when I start toasting my english muffins. I come back in, place the paper on the table, and get the toaster out of the pantry. I get two english muffins and place them in the toaster. I then get a small plate and the butter and jam (if desired). Because I have been careful to time when I put the muffins in the toaster, the coffee finishes slightly ahead of the muffins. I pour the hot water into the filter, careful to pour exactly the amount that produces a full cup. While the coffee is brewing, the english muffins pop up and I butter them. If they are regular muffins, I will put jam on the bottoms, not the tops. If they are honey wheat, no jam. By now the coffee is finished and I add my cream and sugar. I sit at the table, eating my muffins and drinking my coffee while I read the paper. I read the comics, then the sports page, then anything on the front page that catches my eye. I save the rest of the paper for lunchtime reading. Once finished, I clean up my plate and take the rest of my coffee back upstairs and I get to work. I do this every morning. Am I weird?

WORK AND STUFF

Anyway, it's been a week. The sun has gone down and the sun has come up...and it keeps doing that. The separation of MDL and Elsevier is taking lots of my time and effort. At the same time I am also working on the build of the new Discoverygate towers to replace the current ones. In the middle of all of this I need to clean up Netscreen Security Manager so that I can more easily build the VPN tunnels, update my work wiki, and get cacti loaded up and configured to monitor all the new DG stuff. So, it's been a week. Oh, did I mention I'm also trying to study for my CISSP? Well, there. I ended up taking yesterday off because I was going crazy and I needed to get out and do something other than stare at my computer and manage all of this stuff at the same time. So, I rode my bike. I rode from my house to East Sac and back...roughly 51 miles. It was a good ride, except when I got ~15 miles into the ride my bike computer started freaking out. It was alternating between telling me that I was going my average speed and then, suddenly, I'm going 70 miles an hour. That's with no increased effort from me. I stopped and got a new battery, but it still kept doing that. So i stopped at a LBS and purchased a new computer. They installed it while I waited, which was very cool of them. It works like a charm...I just need to figure out how to set the time, which I will do today.

Today I spent most of the day working in the yard...pulling weeds, trimming bushes, mowing, and removing unwanted plants. Oh, and I FINALLY fixed my landscape lights, which have been OOC for a couple of months. It's a beautiful day, so I never got too hot and just plugged away at all the stuff I was doing. Felt good...I didnt think about work or any of my other responsibilities...just the stuff I was doing in the yard. Therapeutic.

That's it for now. PEACE!

I installed a new photo gallery program on my website called Coppermine. So far it only has one album on it and that album is a duplicate of an existing album on my gallery install. I wanted to try a different app because I've been un-satisfied with the speed of my Gallery install. In retrospect, it may be caused by my file sizes. I am going to try something with gallery by building an album with smaller file sizes and comparing performance. So far, I like Coppermine's "random photo" feature, but I like Gallery's layout and management better. It's just so SLOOOOWWWW...and i've done all the database optimization stuff.

I'll give it a whirl later today/this evening, after I get my work done. Time to start the grind.

Just so you know, I've created a "Christianity" category. I know that some may not want to read this category, and I certainly am not going to force you (besides the fact that I can't). Anything that resides in this category has something to do with my growing faith in Christ as Savior and Lord. If you want to read this, I encourage you to do so. I have strong convictions regarding my spiritual being and would be leaving part of myself off of this blog if I didn't write about my faith. If you want to say I'm proselytizing, you can (I prefer other terms, but I can't pick your language for you). My sincerest wish is that the friends I have here can be the same friends that I have beyond the veil. If this causes some examination, great. If you don't want to read it, that's fine, too. I still like you and stuff.

Today is Sunday. For many, it is just another weekend day. For example, my bicycle journal is formatted in such a way that Sunday is the last day of the training week. It is expected, among cyclists, since you are not encumbered with your 9-5 on Sunday, it should be a great day for a long training ride. Many centuries, races, and benefit rides take place on Sunday. For others, it's "Read the Paper Day." Or "Soccer Day." Or whatever else is scheduled for that day.

According to the apostle John (Rev. 1:10), Sunday is the Lord's Day.

Since we've already discussed what it means to be subject to Christ as Lord, what does it mean to observe the Lord's Day? For me, first and absolutely foremost, I need to spend this day in worship and reflection on Christ's sacrifice, and especially remember it through the Lord's Supper (which is actually one of the oldest terms for this event/act of worship/sacrament). I spend so much of my time entangled in my own thoughts, concerns, and schedules that I must have this time weekly because I fail at remembering it daily (which I should do). Reflecting on the pain He experienced, the derision He endured, and the weight of my sins He bore sobers me and causes me to desire to be better at the person that I am, be it a father, husband, co-worker, friend...whatever role I'm filling at the moment. It is the time I use to start my brain for the week and to ground myself, giving me some of the humility that I desperately need. I strive to think about His body as I eat the bread and His blood as I drink the cup. The New Testament tells us that these things aren't merely a reflection of Him, they ARE Him. Christ himself said it, and Paul the apostle said it as well. When I take part in them, I take part in Christ and He is present in that moment (this is a spiritual thing {John 6} not a physical thing. That does not reduce it's power or His presence). Nothing pricks my heart more, and I cherish the Lord's Supper every Sunday and I spend more time during my week reflecting on Christ's crucifixion and what it means to be in His ownership because of that time.

The second thing I realized about this day is that I need to not have anything scheduled if I can help it. There are some days where this isn't possible, and I think God forgives me for those days (after all, what else is grace for? another subject for another time. ). I need to rest on this day. The idea of sabbath is definitely not new, and while it may seem to be Judaical in origin, it actually began before the nation of Israel came into effect. God intends for us to rest one day every week because He designed this into us as part of our make-up. We need time where our responsibilities are not dictating our schedule and we can take a small step back, breathe deeply, and let it go. This day of rest will allow us to start the next day fresh, making us more effective in the many roles that we all have to fill during our week.

Today is the Lord's Day. I should probably act like I know that and respect His ownership, spending my time in rest and reflection on Him and His Son's ultimate sacrifice. too often I don't.

Have a blessed Sunday.