Bryan Strawser

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Bill Whittle, Again

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And by the way, has it not occurred to anyone that during the years since 9/11 there has not been a single terrorist attack on the United States? Do you think they simply stopped trying? Or have we been winning a secret war of information in dark rooms in Langley, Virginia? How many failed attempts have there been to kill you and your family in the past four years? Two? Twenty? One Hundred?

and more….

As you sit here reading this, there are men and women working around the clock using information obtained – not just without torture, but humanely – to keep us safe at night. They do this without any recognition or fanfare. But there are no less than ten televised award shows each year honoring those who do the best job at playing make-believe, and more often than not, the heroes they pretend to be are the soldiers and intelligence agents and policemen they so spectacularly spit upon the second the camera stops rolling.

We worship the wrong people.

Indeed, we do. Indeed, we do.

Sanctuary Part I over at Eject, Eject, Eject….

Sanctuary

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After about six months of thought, this morning Bill Whittle posts the latest of his monster philosophy essays: Sanctuary

What’s worse than crawling under your beloved house and seeing the foundations rotten with decades of termite damage?

NOT crawling under your beloved house and seeing the foundations rotten with decades of termite damage.

I’ve been away for a while, doing a little thinking. Usually, my thoughts for these past few years have started at home and then taken me to Iraq, and the war. Lately, though, I have been thinking about Iraq, and my thoughts turn more and more to home.

I started thinking along these lines six months ago, after a young Marine shot and killed a wounded Iraqi in a mosque in Fallujah

The ideas behind this little adventure we are about to embark upon have changed enormously since then. I have, quite frankly, been at a loss to know how to put so many wide-ranging snapshots together into this montage, this image, this idea of Sanctuary that I think holds the key to many of the problems we face today.

Stay with me — our fist stop is not our destination, but it is a necessary one. So let me first take you on that original journey, and show you how events in Iraq can show us how to fight and win a much wider and deeper conflict, right here at home.

I’ve not read it yet – and don’t have time this morning. But based on Bill’s past track record, I’ll be glued to the screen tonight devouring his latest.

Scoble @ Target

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Robert Scoble wrote about his meeting with Target earlier this month:

Target report. Yesterday was an incredible day for me personally. There are so many fantastic people at Target I couldn’t name them all. Having dinner with Paul Singer last night, senior vice president and CIO, was one of the highlights of my life. He’s worked at Target for 21 years. We talked about a range of things from the Tablet PC I was carrying to his “Adopt” pin that he was wearing (he highly recommends adoption and is an evangelist for helping out kids who don’t have parents).

The headquarters at Target just gets my creative juices going. It’s a beautiful building and quite a few separate employees spoke in glowing terms about the art work and culture that’s prevelent there. Yesterday they had cultural dances and hundreds of employees were enthusiastically watching that.

I don’t want to share too much what was discussed in the meeting because that’s a competitive advantage that Target will have and I don’t want to mess that up.

If you think you (people who left comments on the treads, or wrote about Target yesterday) didn’t have an impact, you did. They are looking at this new world and trying to learn from it, and watching their process as they do that makes me understand why Target has such a strong brand. When I say “they” by the way, I mean many of the most important leaders inside Target are reading the blogs this morning.

[…]

One observation. Employees at Target dress to the nines! If Microsoft and Target employees ever got together for a party you’d be able to separate them out instantly. No jeans and t-shirts were seen at Target.

Another observation: far more diversity, both in gender and ethnicity, than I see in the tech industry. We have a LOT to learn from Target on that score.

Thanks for recognizing that Target is a cool place. It will be interesting to see how we proceed in the blogging arena.

Dooce Poop

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You should read it too. Why? Because it’s Dooce.

She sounded like she was being ripped apart. I immediately transferred her to the changing table where I took off her diaper, and there we found an almost apple-sized piece of coal hanging from her butt. It wasn’t budging, and because Jon had once picked up my poop I did what any decent human would do and I pried it out of her. Leta, when you’re 16-years-old and you’re reading this and you start to think, ohmigod, I can’t believe my mother just wrote that, you should know that I pulled out that piece of poop BECAUSE I LOVE YOU. THAT’S WHAT MOTHERS DO.

Hi, my name is Heather and I used to have a career and make lots of money. Now I poop while my daughter sits at my feet and plays with Tampax, and that’s what I consider a successful morning.

Grinding the Last Week Out

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Back on Northwest flying from Providence to Minneapolis. It’s my third such trip in the last five weeks – in fact, it was a month ago today that I flew up to Minneapolis for the start of this six week long period of commuting. Seems to be going well so far, the travel hasn’t grated on me too much yet.

After this week, it’s back home for five days, then off to LA for five days, and then home to prepare the house for sale and take some well-needed vacation time. Sorta of looking forward to that work.. but just being home will be nice.

Listening to some BB King:

I bought you a ten dollar dinner, you said thanks for the slap

I let you live in my pimphouse, you said it was just a shack.

I gave you seven children, and now you want to give them back….

Those were the days anyway… John Lee Hooker is next…

It’s going to be tax week for me – with Turbotax loaded on my laptop and plenty of work yet to do along those lines. Certainly not looking to doing that work, but the refund should be nice after all

Lex has started posting again, and that makes me happy. Welcome back!

I’m about flesh out of things to write about – and that’s been one of the reasons for the quiet here. Been busy with real life and work projects and that’s never a good mix if you’re looking for time to blog.. I’ll see if I can do better in the coming weeks…

Off to Jam to John Lee Hooker… One bourbon, one scotch, one beer…. well, my baby, she gone. She been gone tonight. I ain’t seen my baby one night of her life.. one bourbon, one scotch, one beer…. and I sit there, getting high, getting mellow, knocked out, feeling good, and I look down the bar, at the bartender.. I say hey Mr. bartender.. he say, whatddy want Johnny.. I say come down here, and he got down here, and he ask me… whaddy want… one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer…

Can’t top that..

Back to the Grind

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Am writing this, to be posted later, from the airport in scenic Providence, Rhode Island, where I enjoy a fine chilled adult beverage in preparation for my flight back to the frigid tunda of Minnesota. Tomorrow it’s back to the land of the suit, tie, and strategy….

The week back in the homeland has been filled with some home repairs, quiet time with the sidekick, purring and cuddle time with the kitty, and some fine homecooked meals. You forget what it’s like to cook and eat your own meals until you’ve lived in a Residence Inn for two weeks.

A side note, yesterday was the Commissioning Ceremony for SSN-23, the USS Jimmy Carter, just south of here in Groton, Connecticut. A family just walked by to catch their flight, with all of them wearing USS Jimmy Carter hats. Interesting. I hope they got to go.

In the next two and a half weeks, in my time in Minnesota, will come our annual meeting, the beginnings of exploring the surrounding communities, some exploration of the possibility of building a home, and a ton of fun interesting work. I will definately be busy.

I’ve finished my cycle of 9/11 tomes and am ready to switch genres. I read several 9/11 books for work – seeking knowledge to be able to function in my new role with some sense of credibility. I still have a lot to learn, but my gut guides me well. I’ve also managed to finish all but the last of the Dune series of novels – the originals, that is.. the ones by Frank Herbert. This evening I started on Chapterhouse: Dune and that will complete the cycle. I’ve not read them all since I was around 16 years old. As I’m about to turn 31, it’s been enough time that I don’t remember what happens.

And with that, it’s off to watch TV on the PowerBook until I get to Minnesota.

Friday Musings

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No, they won’t be musings regularly here, such as what Lex does each week. I’m not that regular unfortunately.

I’m flying back to Boston after two weeks in Minneapolis where I started in my new position. Loads of fun, this new job. Incredibly smart people working in a set of beautiful buildings doing some really neat stuff. There is Starbucks in the lobby. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world. And that’s all I’ll have to say about work.

For the last two months, I’ve been using a Tablet PC from Motion Computing. It’s in the slate format and fits into a nice planner that I carry around with me. Other than the “ohhhhs” and “ahhhs” that it produces when I yank it out at meetings and the like, it’s an incredible productivity machine and I continue to find new uses for it. It makes me highly dangerous. I just gotta get my routines altered so that I can make it do what I need it to do in my new role – it’s still setup for my last assignment.

My favorite ad from the Super Bowl (you did notice that the Patriots won.. right?) was the Budweiser ad with the airport crowd applauding the soldiers walking through the airport. I know, it was staged, but the feeling was heartfelt.. and that’s what counts.

I’ve been in Minneapolis without a car, and that’s not a big deal.. except when the power supply for your Apple Powerbook blows up on you.. and the closest Apple store is at the Mall of America… so off I went, via the new Light Rail. A very nice ride, 35 minutes, and quite a crowd at the Apple Store.. all getting.. iPod shuffles. Lucky dogs.

About to finish reading the book about Howard Lutnick and Cantor Fitzgerald’s post 9/11 experiences, next on deck is 102 Minutes, a story about survival during the attack on the World Trade Center.. in the midst of this, am now onto Heretics of Dune for pleasure reading. And who knows, maybe a few more books at home are calling my name too….

I’d write more, but I have 8 episodes of TV saved here on the Powerbook to watch. Have a great Friday and perhaps I’ll write more later.