Highlights of 2005, Number 1: Italy!

Number 1. Italy! Of course you knew that our May trip to Italy would be the biggest event of 2005. While I’ve been to many places in my lifetime, our family trip to Italy will always stand out.

It was about this time of year that we began planning it. Kelly’s parents were visiting, there was plenty of bustle, and the idea was bantered around. I heard the plans but it didn’t really register with me. I guess I assumed it would never really happen. Travis was all of two months old at the time. I mean, how could we think of pulling off something like this?

But it did happen! We got our passports, purchased our tickets, picked out a farmhouse apartment outside of Siena, and soon we were counting down the days. Travis turned six months old right before we left and seemed jolly enough to reasonably make the flight. Hallie we had no question about, naturally!

The flight was a smooth one up until the very end. We all had a blast marching around the countryside and cobblestone streets; there was much pasta, wine, and gelato consumed; and we enjoyed living life like the Italians do for our lucky two weeks. Heck, we even took readers of the Raleigh News and Observer along, too. Aside from Travis’s unexpected visit to a Siena hospital, we couldn’t have asked for more (though the hospital visit was enlightening as well).

The flight back was fraught with obstacles. Perhaps the universe was suggesting we stay! We left Florence two hours late and missed our connecting flight in Paris, forcing us to stay overnight. It was terrible … listening to the fun the rest of our group had while Kelly and I were stuck in the hotel with the kids!

Oh well. Paris deserves more than a half-day. One day we’ll do it right.

Oh, and missing our Paris to Washington flight meant missing our flight from Washington to Raleigh, too. Rather than spend the night in the DC area, we rented a car and drove the six hours back home. I guess we couldn’t get enough of traveling.

As the new year kicks off, I find myself longing to be back in Tuscany. I suppose it gets in your blood. We vow to return some day, when the kids are a bit older and can better appreciate it. I’m sure it will have aged like the fine wine grown in its spectacular countryside.

NSA Whistleblower Russell Tice on Illegal Wiretapping

Walking to my gate at the airport yesterday, I caught the tail end of a CNN story on NSA Whistleblower Russell Tice. There was lots of noise (it being an airport after all), but one thing he said caught my attention. He said that current NSA employees he’s spoken with consider Bush’s illegal wiretapping to be a “betrayal.”

“If you are a signals intelligence officer, it is drilled into your head from early training on that you do not spy on Americans, period,” Tice said.

Absolutely correct. As I said before, Bush has brought undue suspicion to an agency doing heroic work for our country.

It’s time for some answers.

Blogging Lite

I’m in Joisey for the next two days. Daytime blogging will be sporadic. Well, more sporadic than usual that is.

I’m looking forward to the last two Highlights of 2005 posts. Check back later today!

Highlights of 2005, Number 3: Employer Change

3. Employer Change. Two thousand five will be marked by an employer change. Unlike other changes, this time my job stayed the same and the company changed. After my previous employer shut its doors, I got a chance to join its reincarnated form, 0culan Systems. I joined four other refugees of the previous company and together we put the wheels on the new company.

It was a busy but fun time. At one point I wore five hats: support manager, sales engineer, IT manager, training manager, and facilities manager. The things I didn’t know from the previous company I had to learn as I went. It was a wonderfully enriching experience.

The new owners were cool Minnesota venture capitalists. They set up another office in Minneapolis for the other half of the team, a group of new folks that meshed well with our original team. In March, our northern team had just moved into new space when the company president flew down with some important news.

The company was being sold. We had been full-time employees for all of three months.

This news sent our young team scattering. We lost all of the Minnesota staff and half of our Raleigh staff. All that progress stalled as we tried to integrate with the new company. It was lonely there for a little while.

Eventually things picked up. We hired more great people (including some to take some of the hats I’d been wearing!), and progress was made on a new office (we’re moving in this week). The new company offers exciting new opportunities with the potential to take the product places the old company could only dream about. I like where things are heading. We are set to grow quite a bit.

In spite of this success, I will always look back fondly on those days spent in the ratty blue “sensory deprivation” cubicles, freezing in the winter mornings and cursing at the crappy phone service I slapped together. I’ll miss the oh-so-politically-incorrect discussions shared over those cube walls. I’ll miss the feeling that everything is riding on your shoulders: that you have to be the hero because nobody else will do it.

In short, I’ll miss the startup stuff. That stuff can be hard to find in a twenty-year-old global company.

That’s not to say it can’t be found here. Our being acquired could infuse some of that startup energy into the existing company. That’s what makes this year so exciting: the course of the combined company is still being charted.

It will be what we make it.

Also When People Call You “Mr. President”

Scientists have found that your brain shuts down when you blink.

They found that blinking suppressed brain activity in the visual cortex and other areas of the brain – known as parietal and prefrontal – which are usually activated when people become conscious of visual events or objects in the outside world.

Davina Bristow, from UCL’s Institute of Neurology, who led the research, said: “We would immediately notice if the outside world suddenly went dark, especially if it was happening every few seconds.

“But we are rarely aware of our blinks, even though they cause a similar reduction in the amount of light entering the eye, and this gives us an uninterrupted view of the world.”

Still no cure for cancer…

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Aero Contractors Protesters Get Day In Court

Yesterday was the court date for the protesters who protested against Aero Contractors’s support of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition (i.e., torture) flights. The protesters were looking forward to their day in court, as it offered them a chance to shine more light on Aero’s role in the torture flights.

The protesters were planning a similar protest at Aero’s hanger at the Kinston Regional Jetport today. This is where Aero bases its Boeing 737, which is too large for the Johnston runway. Other than the groundbreaking of their new hanger at Kinston, Aero has maintained a low profile around Kinston.

I hope that with more publicity Aero will be convinced to get out of the torture flight business. Shame on Johnston County and the state of North Carolina for turning a blind eye to this abhorrent practice.

Highlights of 2005, Number 4: Fingertip Fun

4. Fingertip Fun. Number four on the highlights of 2005 is the incident where I almost lost my fingertip while testing our new attic fan. I couldn’t leave well enough alone once the darn thing was put up. In an effort to feel the airflow, my hand got too close and whack! The fan came to a sickening stop.

Fortunately I remained calm (though Kelly may differ on that) and drove myself to the local Doc In A Box (the “local” part was relative, however, as what we thought was the nearest urgent care center has bankers hours). The doctor at the clinic did a fantastic job stitching me up. The clinic itself was worthy of a soap opera, with all the drama taking place. The doc was literally arguing with the staff while he sewed me up.

The finger was painful much longer than I expected, though I probably underestimated the amount of nerves that needed to reconnect. Eventually the pain went away and my finger is now fully healed.

I’ve had some injuries before: more concussions than I care to admit, bagel-slicing incidents, and others. I’ve got scars all over. I value my fingers, though. I won’t put them in jeopardy again.