Yesterday was also the anniversary of Israel’s unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty in 1967. The world still waits for an apology.

Things are moving along on the jobsearch front. Yesterday I got my first phone interview, with the folks at Network Appliance. The interview was for a position in support, either as an “engineer” or as a database escalation dude.

NetApp is a great company with great products. They seem to be in a hurry to fill the positions they’re advertising, too. Should things work out, I could be a part of their team by July 1st. That would be ideal.

On other fronts, I’ve applied to about two jobs per day since I’ve been home. It takes time to sort through a pile of resumes, so I just need to be patient.

Consulting wise, I’ve done some work for a longtime customer. I’ve also spoken with area friends who do consulting themselves. There’s a lot of potential for teaming up there. On Friday, I meet with one guy who has some interesting work he needs help with. We’ll see how that goes.

We found out yesterday that our home loan was approved, though I have no source of income at the moment. The rate is the same as originally stated, too.

Just goes to show that banks will loan anyone money nowadays!

A celestial event which last occured in 1886 completely slipped my attention. This morning, Venus transited the sun, a spectacular way to start the day by any account.

Of course, had I actually remembered to look for it, I would have been out of luck as the cloud cover today was abysmally thick. Check the link for some gorgeous pictures taken elsewhere.

Fortunately, the next chance is a relatively soon eight years from now. I’m already putting it on my calendar!
Continue reading →

Thanks to the enormous pressure the millions of loyal MT.Net readers placed on the Orange County School Board, Keith Cook has stepped down as chairman of the board! While its natural to want to congratulate ourselves, keep in mind that Cook only stepped down from the chair; he didn’t actually resign from the board.

I think Carynne McIver, Orange High School’s valedictorian, said it best:

“It was an honor to speak at graduation, and I feel like he took it lightly by taking someone else’s speech,” she said. “I was very disappointed by it.”

Not only did Cook set a bad example by plagiarizing, he insulted those kids who worked very hard to get to that graduation. Cook couldn’t take the time to write a five-minute speech so he stole someone else’s.

We’ll see if resigning from the chair is enough of a mea culpa for Keith Cook on election day.

While there are plenty of things to say about Reagan, I found this one perhaps the most terrifying. In late 1983, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. came extremely close to World War III. And the world never knew just how close it was until years later.

All that tough-talk Reagan loved had the Soviets convinced that the bubble was going to go up any minute. They reacted accordingly, going so far as to put a number of nuclear-capable planes on standby alert at East German airfields. One should not play such games with cornered bears. Especially ones armed to the teeth with nukes.

Reagan lived in a different world than the one we live in now. Some would rightfully argue that Reagan lived in a different world then – his own. It’s insane how willing America was to accept global nuclear war as an option – the kind of thinking which seemed to dominate during Reagan’s tenure. I only hope we’ve turned that corner for good, though I won’t breathe easier until the Reagan leftovers populating the current White House have moved on.

So long, Ronnie. There’ll never be another like you. Some of us sleep easier because of that.

It occured to me that the sky-high oil prices must be having a crushing effect on world trade. A large portion of goods that sits on the shelf at your local Mall-Wart originates in China. Thus, it has to take a long ride on a freighter in order to get here. Such trips burn up a lot of diesel.

The cheap oil prices which made it cheaper to import goods from overseas are apparently history now. While the high fuel prices are definitely putting the pinch on the U.S. economy, they could also make it more attractive for manufacturers to produce goods here, avoiding the Slow Boat From China.

(On the other hand, diesel prices are still much lower than gasoline, in that diesel doesn’t need to compete for refinery time. Maybe my next car needs to be diesel?)

Reagan’s gone, in case you’ve been under a rock or something. Like him or not, he certainly did leave his mark on America.

I’ve been trying to find that humorous Onion article about Reagan getting a pyramid built in his honor. Instead, I find that the Onion has locked its archive behind a premium-only shield. Bummer. I thought the Onion was cooler than that. In an age where no one but the New York Times makes money on subscription content, the Onion takes a step backward. (Porn makes money, of course, but I’ll ignore that for now.)

I’m all for companies trying to make a buck, but I don’t feel like the Onion has done much to earn my money lately. It just hasn’t had the spark it used to. Perhaps they realized that archive actually has the best stuff, so people will pony up to relive old laughs.

The Onion’s recent commercial slant made me wonder if the < a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-02-13-theonion.htm">move from Madison, Wisconsin to New York was the shark-jump itself. Lots of the comedy ideas came from things the staff grew up with in Middle America. While funny stuff happens in the Big Apple every day, I imagine its just not the same.

Maria Schneider writes the Herbert Kornfeld columns, one of my favorite Onion features. She admitted in an interview last year that “the Onion has peaked.” Hard to tell if she’s being facetious or not. Sadly, from my point of view, she’s correct.

I was hoping to talk the family into going to the New Hope Valley Railway today. It’s the first Sunday of the month, which means they’re selling rides on the track they own.

Trains run all through the day. Unfortunately, none conincide with The Kid‘s napping schedule. So we’re going to have to miss today in favor of the next one, July 4th.

Anyone else who’d like a train ride, get there by 10:00 this morning as the train leaves at 11 and is bound to be full!