Great day with the family

It was a wonderful day spent with the family. While Kelly took Rocket for a run this morning, I decided to clean the pollen off our front and back porches. The kids soon joined in and at one point were actually squabbling over who would be helping more! It was music to my ears! I only hope this volunteerism will last through their teenage years.

After doing a great job helping me clean, the kids found some “action” in the front yard when the neighborhood kids came over to play. I kept an eye on them while I washed the pollen off our cars and Kelly mowed the grass. We had just enough time to get cleaned up before driving to Brier Creek for Hallie’s soccer game.
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Life should be measured in fun

As I was getting things done around the house today during this gorgeous spring day, I found myself thinking about my late friend, Gerry. Nearly all of my memories of him are of parties. It got me thinking: the moments that will stand out when I’m 88 years old aren’t the ones made in my cubicle at work, they’ll be of parties, of vacations, and of time spent with family and friends. The good times. And when you think about it, those times are typically a small percentage of our lives.

It made me consider how much of one’s life is spent on things that just don’t matter. Far too much! I don’t think I’ll pass up future chances to take vacations, or turn down a party invitation, or forgo spending quality time with my family and friends. Life is just too short.

Rockford closes

One of Raleigh’s more interesting restaurants closed abruptly this week: The Rockford on Glenwood, after a 15 year run. Long before Glenwood South became full of cheesy bars, Rockford was serving great sandwiches and affordable beer.

We ate there on many occasions and frequently filled half of their dining room with our crowd. The food was always great, nicely priced, and the beer selection branched beyond the Anheuser-Bush offerings (unlike most of Glenwood South). Like others on the web have written, Rockford had a secret hideout feel to it, with only a nondescript staircase visible from the street. Some have pointed to that as its Achilles Heel but I see it as part of the charm. Judging by the crowd that seemed always present, Rockford didn’t hurt from word-of-mouth business.
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Arizona Day 4: More hiking

We got in a lot more hiking during day 4 of our Sedona vacation. The day began overcast and a bit cooler (mid 50s) than we had had before, though not uncomfortable. All throughout the day’s hike I was conflicted about what to wear. In the span of 15 minutes I think I had three different arrangements of shirts and jacket.

Heading up

Our target hike this day was Doe Mountain, a flat mesa that we could see from our beautiful “Sedona Hideaway” rental house. Kelly’s parents joined us for this hike along with our nephew, Wesley. At the base we gathered our things and set out for the hike.

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Overpollenated

This spring has been exceptional for the amount of pollen dumped on us by our friends the trees. I was surprised to see how light the street looked Monday morning when I took the dog for an early-morning walk. The street below the streetlight was almost as bright as if it had snowed.

Fortunately I haven’t been sneezing like I can sometimes. And with any luck this pollen will disappear as quickly as it arrived. As of right now, though, it’s unreal the amount of the yellow stuff that’s coating everything!

Update 5:51 PM: The Division of Air Quality says pollen counts in Raleigh have reached record highs. Check the daily pollen count here.

Court rules against FCC in Net Neutrality case

A federal appeals court ruled today that the FCC lacks the authority to enforce Net Neutrality in a case against Comcast.

“This decision destroys the F.C.C.’s authority to build broadband policy on the legal theory established by the Bush administration,” said Ben Scott, the policy director for Free Press, a nonprofit organization that advocates for broad media ownership and access.

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Chinese hacking: the Shadow network

This morning’s paper told of a massive cyber-espionage network being uncovered, with most of it leading back to China. The report, called Shadows in the Cloud: An investigation into cyber espionage 2.0 is quite revealing:

Complex cyber espionage network – Documented evidence of a cyber espionage network that compromised government, business, and academic computer systems in India, the Office of the Dalai Lama, and the United Nations. Numerous other institutions, including the Embassy of Pakistan in the United States, were also compromised. Some of these institutions can be positively identified, while others cannot.

Theft of classified and sensitive documents – Recovery and analysis of exfiltrated data, including one document that appears to be encrypted diplomatic correspondence, two documents marked “SECRET”, six as “RESTRICTED”, and five as “CONFIDENTIAL”.

Evidence of Collateral Compromise – A portion of the recovered data included visa applications submitted to Indian diplomatic missions in Afghanistan.

Command-and-control infrastructure that leverages cloud-based social media services – Documentation of a complex and tiered command and control infrastructure, designed to maintain persistence. The infrastructure made use of freely available social media systems that include Twitter, Google Groups, Blogspot, Baidu Blogs, blog.com and Yahoo! Mail.

Links to Chinese hacking community – Evidence of links between the Shadow network and two individuals living in Chengdu, PRC to the underground hacking community in the PRC.

Read more of the report here.

Back from Sedona

We arrived back from our trip to Sedona late last night. Our travel was quite easy, with both kids being travel superstars.

On the way out of the RDU airport we met a family who we’d also seen in Sedona. After riding back to the long-term parking lot and fetching our car, we came upon them standing around their minivan. A quick jump-start later and we had sent them on their way. It was a great way to finish off our vacation.

We’re glad we have Easter Sunday to catch our breath before diving back into the work week. And it’s a beautiful day, too. This evening I’ll catch you up on all the things we did on our vacation.