ZIA Mail; New Cube Space Fab!; Boss Cuts Holy Locks

The ZIA rides again *:-) I am handling high security communications for the candidates who are applying for the Executive Director position here, & some of them are outside the USA, so I am again doing the time zone boogie as I used to when I was responsible for all of Asia-Pacific, Japan, & Latin America in my previous position. It doesn't seem strange to me at all, because I did it for so many years that I came to realize that there are no such things as absolute times, absolute dates, absolute holidays, or absolute plans. I am having to also deal with Eastern European telecom & internet access, which doesn't seem to have improved much since 10 years ago, but I suppose if the USA had endured the horrible wars that occurred there then we wouldn't have much infrastructure either. My son in law travels that region fairly often, so I suspect he knows what I am talking about.

Totally stoked about my new cube space, with the natural light streaming across the workspaces and the openness because I did away with one of the cube walls. My boss noticed that on his walk through this morning, and asked me if I was working as the "hall monitor". He didn't seem too irritated though, so I am hopeful I can keep the open look and feel. This is a really nice space now, and several colleagues agree.

My boss, who is one of the candidates for the Executive Director position, got his hair cut off this weekend. He is a high level martial artist, an enthnic Otome indian (looks hispanic & has an hispanic surname) & considers his long braided hair as a spiritual item. He cut it so as to appear contemporary for the interview process, & he donated his hair for a good cause, so that balances the spiritual aspect. He looks younger, but also weaker & more boring *:-) Probably the right thing to do for this interview though.

Fab Treat, Good Dinner, Good DVD

After a very nice walk in our favorite tree forest, and also a peak at the special train that was running at a local tourist spot, we sped back home and I scarfed a treat I made for myself, consisting of a vegan chocolate brownie topped with soy ice cream *:-) My wife made herself a treat too, and we sat on our special bench out under the apple tree to eat them *:-) Pretty neat *:-) I am curious about tomorrow and the fact that I moved cubes over the weekend, and am wondering what the reactions, if any will be. I am relieved that I made the changes. We had a good dinner and DVD too.

Energy Burst; Cube Install

I was so deflated for most of the mid-day, but then decided to just "do it" & get the hell out of the house & go to the office & complete as much of my cube move as I could in a couple of hours, & I was really fortunate because my wife wanted to go with me, which helped a lot. I worked up a small sweat, got a killer picture mounted on my new cube wall, and installed a funky desk lamp that should help to loosen me up (I hope). The activity helped very much & I felt better (& got a chocolate brownie too). That felt good *:-)

Top Secret Mission Underway, Training Complete

I completed the one hour, 4 minute & 23 second, online, one-on-one training on the web conferencing app that I am to manage for the top secret, international interview process that will start 6 days from now. I will need to schedule practice sessions with all the participants prior to the actual presentation day, & I am not an expert in the app yet, so instead of working on my own project this weekend, I will need to work on this one. Oh well, at least I am still employed *:-)

Only 3 More Days...Maybe...To My PayPal Account

I have been trying to get PayPal into my life for 3 months now, & after 8 phone calls to their support over the last 10 days, I believe, if the website is telling the truth, that it is only 3 more days until I will have a verified, real life, account that I can use. It has been a bad & frustrating experience, and I can only hope that they keep my information secure, because it that blows up too, then my experience with PP will be a complete bust. We'll see.

Time To Talk About Art & Very Young Children

I was given 12 drawings done by my 20 month old granddaughter, & as an art teacher, I feel I need to comment & offer help to my granddaughter's parents.

First, please use either round paper or at least square paper, not rectangular. I believe my granddaughter must understand that there are no limitations to her space that she has to influence with her movement and art work.

Second, please make sure that the minimum size of the paper is 36" X 36". Bigger than that is fine.

Third, please use butcher paper, either white or natural color, as the base.

Fourth, please make sure that my granddaughter has plenty of room to do her work, like on the floor on a nice flat surface under the paper.

Fifth, please make sure that at least every once in a while, super messy materials are available so she can use her whole body to create her work.

Sixth, if you are going to do little sketches to help get her started, do them on your own paper, not on the paper she will be using *:-)

That's enough for now *:-)

"Institutional Inertia"...Oh Yeah *:-)

My wife just called & left a message on my mobile that she heard a phrase that seems to describe part of what is going on here at my work place, & yeah, it is a kind way of saying that this place is sick and pretty fu...d up. The phrase "Institutional Inertia" is descriptive, but it lacks the stink of the actual process of waiting until all the politicians, Warlords, & Ayatollah Wannabees feel that they have gotten as much of the pie as they are going to get, then we can get back to the actual fighting. Can you tell I am in a bad mood? I'll shake it off pretty soon, when some of the politicians get the hell out of the office. We were just told that our Acting Interim Executive Director has invited 5 staff from another organization, not affliliated with ours, to share our cubicles, which means some of us, me included, will be moving to the back of the building (did I say building, I meant bus). Also, there is another delay in the date by which we may have a new Executive Director, due to a conflict in the vacation schedules of some of the senior selecting officers. Yuck.

Blank, White, Cheap, Drywall

Well, as the Ayatollah Wannabee captured me via a blindside attack as I was coming out of the lunch room holding a piping hot container of my wife's excellent homemade soup, I was forced to listen to her attempts to pull commitment, information, vision, leadership, & enthusiastic support for her verbal concepts out of me. However, I remained calm & let her know that from my perspective, the future that I am able to see here at this organization is identical to the blank, white, cheap drywall surface that was directly behind us. She could not deny it, but tried to elicit non-specific enthusiitis from me (kinda like non-specific urethritis) which I would not provide. Geez, folks, why not just admit that we ain't got nuthin' goin' right now, and if the Great State Legislature decides to fund us, then maybe we can set our selves to some task or another. I referred her to my boss for any future commitment requests.

I have decided to take a trip to the lumber yard for awhile this afternoon to get my hands on something real *:-) I'll be back.

OMG, The ZIA Just Recruited Me Again!

It must be because I love intrigue, manipulation of global events, subtle turnings of the mind, & feeling my hand in significant events that I have been recruited by the Acting Interim Executive Director to be the "secret" technical contact for all 5 of the remaining candidates that will be interviewing for the Executive Director position. Some of the candidates are located in a different country, and so there will be some technical challenges. Nobody else in the organization is to know I am doing this, so there will be late night test conferences, emails sent with false signatures, & the usual plethora of cloak & dagger practices that will screen as much of the process as possible from the staff. Cool *:-) I will be communicating directly with the candidates, which actually surprises me since I thought HR would be doing all that, but hey, whatever. An added wrinkle (don't tell anybody), is that my own boss is one of the candidates!

Off into the dark caverns to concoct my plan *:-)

Yup, It's An Ayatollah Wannabee In South Swamp

Boring, actually, the Ayatollah wannabee stuff, but it does seem to be accurate, damn it.

In today's department staff meeting I brought up my concept about the ship we are on being "becalmed", and it resonated with everyone except the Libra in the corner who never admits to a position one way or the other *:-)

Excellent news! I get to go over to High Tech Heaven tomorrow (the Apple store) and get a couple of things worked out on my Mac.

Oops, somebody is here to interview me. Cya later.

Escaped Ayatollah Wannabee?

I think we may have an escapee from the ancient asian past here in South Swamp.

There is a woman, who has been referred to here as the Warlord who lost out in the competition to make it to the final selection process, but still has a position, that is beginning to exhibit signs of behaviour that are remarkably like those of the Ayatollahs I have been reading about recently. Passionate embrace of rigid rules last used in the time of the IBMers, about 50 years ago. Refusal to open any dialog that contains emotional elements. Holding herself stiffly erect. Speaking to others in an imperious manner professing interest in how we are. Identifying herself in public forums, the ones not usually trafficked by people who work here, as a great leader & visionary guide, which she is not.

My goodness, the things we all get up to *:-)

Feeling Better, Thank You *:-)

I'm feeling a bit better, but don't really know why. Something changed today & I am trusting that all is well. The aspirin probably helped a bit.

I heard a pretty good description of how trust works in the world while watching a british dvd with my wife this evening:

"I am a fool if I trust, but if I don't trust, I start to die"...so here's to all us trusting fools *:-)

Not a great week for me for losing some more #, but I will keep at it & try to improve going forward. Maybe it will take me TWO years *:-(

Best wishes to all, & may our grandchildren be safe & well *:-)

Becalmed In South Swamp, Which Has Started To Stink

I have been rendered nearly motionless in my work because of the lack of wind in the sails of the great ship I am a sailor on. The ship lies quite still, having entered the waters of South Swamp just a short time ago. The ghosts of those who have been declared dead but whose bodies have not yet left the ship are becoming fainter & harder to see & hear as their physical body departure time moves closer, 40 short days from now. The ghosts seem to see things far away in their eyes, no longer focused on the priorities & subjects of those of us who shall remain. How strange a decision it was to leave the bodies on the ship while their persons no longer are part of the crew. We have no leadership and hence the sad and wrongly decided continued presence of those declared dead. I shall step lightly to avoid the bodies.

I do not do well in work environments that are becalmed, and I am struggling greatly to keep myself truly occupied, for I am not one to accept busy work. Today has been more difficult than most, until at last, about 2 hours ago, I was able to continue a learning CD that is important to my future. If the outside temperature were not so damagingly high, I might have attempted physical labor, but that would not be a good idea so I have not done it. Things are slowly getting better today, so I shall hope for a productive evening *:-)

I Like DVD Movies That Are About True Events

My wife found a dvd to rent today that was about a swim team that started with nothing and went on to win some big events, and it was all a true story. I allow myself to get emotionally involved in stuff like that, and I cry and get thrilled right along with the characters. I don't do that if the story isn't about something that actually happened though. I am amazed by humanity.

Was HR Training, Is Telecommute...YEA!

I was scheduled to be in an HR training at my workplace all day (9 hours) today instead of telecommuting as I usually do on Fridays. Turns out a death in the trainer's family caused a cancellation, so I got to telecommute *:-) I am grateful. I was pretty tired after this week because the emotional level at South Swamp is still inappropriately high for a workplace, and it will be several months before any new leadership shows up, so I find that I have to take it very easy at work and be careful not to ignite the atmosphere, which is quite flammable at this time.

I tried to set up a new Flickr site for my wife and I today, and it took me 3.5 hours just to get the damn thing set up & put 22 photos on it. I still don't know if any of the invitations I sent out will be functional. I hated it. I have no idea why it is such an obtuse process. At least I can see it.

I am still working on reducing the load on my knees & ankles by dropping some weight, & I purposely designed a slow regimen, so that I won't get emotionally unbalanced during the workday. I would prefer to move faster, but so far 3# have come off & I have 23# more to go, so I am having faith that the process will get me where I want to go by next year some time. I take no solid food whatsoever between 6 p.m. & 6 a.m., & it seems to be working. I can do this now because I won't start the heavy travel schedule again until next February, when it will be much more difficult to schedule my food intake. My recent full physical from my physician resulted in a perfect report, & I am much healthier than my actual age might suggest, which is nice to know. I am still very strong, & hope to get a lot of heavy physical work done at home before the weather shifts into fall & winter wetness.

I went ahead & rented some South Park video segments, & it is just as funny & rude as everyone said, & I think it is pretty good. I hope to use some of the techniques in my own work, & I am enjoying getting caught up on the 1980's *:-)

South Swamp Warlord In Desperate Foray

Most of the Warlords in South Swamp are sort of lying low, since the process of winnowing the 23 Warlord candidates for the new Executive Director Supreme Warlord position has been completed & there are only five left now, all the other 18 having been mercilessly destroyed by the (In-) Human Resources department. One of the Warlords who has not been chosen to continue in the competition, but who still has a position here, is now using this time to stake her claim on as much territory as possible during the lull before the new Executive Director Supreme Warlord is chosen. It is a pain in the ass for the rest of us however, because we see that she is trampling on many of the carefully constructed programs of the last two years, of which she knows nothing. Pure, unadulterated ego marching across a freshly scrubbed floor in muddy boots. Oh well, not my worry. I have been very successful recently in completing some sensitive group/team work which could have gone quite wrong but didn't, & have also been successful in some individual contributor work, so I shall remain happy and confident *:-)

Besides, I have a new GRANDSON, which is very cool *:-)

SMS From France *:-)

Hee Hee.

I just found out that I knew the name of my new grandson before my daughter did *:-)

My son, the father of the new boy, and the brother of my daughter, who is currently in France, told me today that my daughter texted my son and complained that I found out the name of the new fellow before she did *:-)

I take some sort of odd, small pleasure in that, but I don't know why *:-)

Hee Hee.

High Score! New Grandson Eating Well! Son Tired As Hell!

Heh. I win *:-) Today I snuck over to my son's place on my lunch hour to try to get to see my new grandson, who now has a name. I wanted to introduce myself properly. I got to the house & gently knocked on the front door, since I couldn't see any movement. No answer. I walked around back & tried to get up on the porch so I could look in the window, but some damned new child-proof gate was too tough for me to figure out, so I didn't get on the porch either. I went back out front & walked to the corner to see if my wife's car was around, which it wasn't, so I gave her a call & she explained they were probably napping because there had been a lot of activity just prior to my arrival. I gave up & returned to my truck, which was parked in their driveway, & used my electronic door opener to get in, & the sound of the beep woke my son up who came to the door. I got in *:-) My granddaughter was all fuzzy with half-sleep half-awake so I gave her a couple kisses & asked if I could see her brother, the new fella. I got a look at him from a few feet away, & he was happily having his lunch from his mom *:-) I introduced myself to him verbally & his mom said "Hey, he opened his eyes when you did that". I thought that was really cool so I climbed up on the bed & got pretty close & then introduced myself again, & he opened his eyes again! That was awesome, & I believe I now hold the record for getting him to open his eyes when spoken to *:-) Anyway, I am going to claim the record until somebody proves different *:-) I really enjoyed seeing him today & wish him well. My son (his dad) is definitely dragging his butt however, & that reminds me of what it felt like to have a new kid. No, I don't want to do it again *:-)

Name Dropper!

My son called me today & told me the name of our new grandson *:-) It is a classic, strong, acceptable, honorable name, & the new young man can join the rest of us now that he has been properly introduced *:-)

My boss belongs to a native North American tribe that has the custom of the men in the tribe gathering in a circle after a newborn is named, & standing & shouting the name into the heavens, as a way of announcing the arrival to the cosmos. I think that is pretty cool, & I hope to do it next Tuesday, since we have our meetings just once per week, & the news about the name got to me too late for today's meeting. I look forward to it *:-)

Thank You

A wonderfully healthy more than 8 pound boy baby with big feet *:-) Very nice looking, cleft chin & the whole works. Sucking on mom like a champ *:-) We know we are fortunate to have a healthy grandchild be born, and we are grateful. Looks like that new car seat we bought will be getting a workout soon *:-)

Where's My Plug?!...Damn, I Guess He's On His Way *:-)

Our daughter in law lost her cervical plug completely today, & the contractions are rolling through in sets that are keeping her on her feet. The grandmas are in attendance, & my son (the father) is also home so we believe all will be well. We are excited to see the new fellow *:-)

Can you believe that my son was GIVEN an iPhone by the company he works for? After finding that out, & fondling his iPhone at lunch today for a little while, I came back to work & mentioned to the Interim Acting Executive Director that I felt I needed an iPhone to be as productive as possible...& she said that if I would give the state governor a call & get him to let her know it is ok, she'll get it ordered right away. Not going to happen, I guess *:-) Oh well...

Kirtan, Video Training, No Baby, No Script

Healing Kirtan is in my ears, then to my brain, then to my heart. Magic. Open & honest. It allows me to breathe as I was intended to breathe. I am grateful.

Several hours at the computer for video training today, which forced me to change my default browser to avoid some issues, & also forced me to actually learn some new things *:-) Recently, I have seen a trend in training videos that allow the trainer to just go through the application, & if they make mistakes, they just make that part of the training! Hmmm, I am not trained to train that way, but maybe I missed a train somewhere? I will think about it.

Our new grandchild has not yet decided to leave the Elysian Fields just yet. The Doctor says everything is ok, so we are cool with it & hope the mom-to-be has as easy a time as possible. We believe the new baby will be very healthy because of the full term. Good job guys *:-)

I was able to help my wife today by showing her some new stuff about printing, & also helping her find a free app that installs protection against scripts running when she goes to web pages. She seems grateful for the help, & I yelled at her much less this time while we were practicing, which makes me happier. I am a "slow & steady as she goes" type teacher, & don't really want to practice what a colleague of mine espouses, which is to "learn by destroying".

So much to do, so little time.......................Aum Aum Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti

Moodlum In The House

Cool. My boss approved the teacher level staff development course I want to take to become a Moodle Certified Teacher. I'm back in school again *:-) The pre-enrollment prep takes 2 weeks, then 8 weeks of proctored online course work, which includes a project, a written pedagogically significant tome, & an online proctored final exam. Wow, it really is school. This is something I want & I am already working on it. Good luck to me *:-) When I get all done and have the certificate on my wall, I can call myself a "Moodlum" *:-)

South Swamp Has An Important Visitor; Faith Rises From The Dead

I have worked closely for two years, all over the state, with an important Big Biggie from a different department of the same headquarters group that is responsible for South Swamp. I respect this person a great deal, & he is authentic & we are excellent colleagues. For the first time he visited our workplace & gave a 2.5 hour presentation to everyone, which was very well received. I participated perfectly, & it was clear that I have been very successful in building a solid professional relationship with the Big Biggie & the program that he is responsible for. I did not expect that today's meeting would be so beneficial for me personally, but I feel that it was, & that feels good & I am grateful.

The Closed Heart Warlord has been trying to sidetrack the healing efforts set in motion by the full day workshop on conflict resolution that we all had. Today was one of the days that she offered a "volunteers only", brown bag style lunch time (our own time) meeting opportunity to go over what progress has been made in building trust & other related initiatives. I have not attended her meetings previously because of the obvious bias, but I attended today because I no longer have the responsibility for continuing my own program of trust since it completed successfully yesterday. She was stunned by my presence & that I was participating, & I turned the meeting from fully closed & controlled, to more open & free, & even some of her direct reports felt sufficiently courageous to talk about their own "truths". I hope to be able to keep the pressure on her long enough until she gets bored with the meeting & turns it over to someone else.

Flooding Overwhelmes Warrior

A setback. A reality check. A course deviation. A release. An admission. A near-universally appreciated change. A disappointing result. An opportunity to practice acceptance. An opportunity to practice forgiveness.

About a month ago, the organization I am employed by hired two exceptionally capable trainers to spend an entire day with everyone in the organization in a workshop to allow for reawakening of trust & the foundational steps toward revitalizing an organization that has been devastated from executive abuse, incompetent current management, & radical mission change without changes to resources. The workshop day was very successful, & all were motivated to move forward with the exception of one IBM trained Warlord (henceforth to be known here as the "Closed Heart Warlord") who refused to open any emotional gates & refused to discuss organization growth via increased trust. Because I am a professional trainer, & because I was familiar with & to the trainers, having been a participant previously in one of their workshops, my name was listed next to the short-term but immediate objective of finding ways to build inter-personal trust until the receipt of the official summary from the trainers. Despite the fact the the refusing Closed Heart Warlord declared herself in charge of making sure the agreements made during the workshop were hammered into a workable document for the organization to live by going forward, which of course would end up being worthless under her formulation, I did make progress over the next month in establishing some ground rules, getting some shift in behavior toward trust, & in keeping pressure on the Warlords to stay focused on what is needed to heal the organization. During last weekend, I accidentally happened across the calendar of the Closed Heart Warlord & discovered that she has scheduled herself to be out of town on the day of the "mandatory all-hands building trust meeting" during which the employees will be asking direct face to face questions to each manager, via an anonymous list with the questions read out by a neutral 3rd party. The purpose of this is to build trust through disclosure & open dialog which of course the Closed Heart Warlord refuses to participate in. The meeting is so important that a Big Biggie will be coming to watch the action. I have no doubt that the level of fear within the Closed Heart Warlord was so extreme that she had to "get out of town". I discovered this & made sure that the management knows about it and also indicated that imho it defeats the purpose of the organizational level trust building meeting & that it should therefor be postponed until the Closed Heart Warlord can be present to face her questioners in person. Today I was informed by my boss that my tenure as the short-term trust builder has come to a successful close and that I am to let the subject drop *:-) I am happy about that because it means I did not fail and fought a good fight, although the Closed Heart Warlord has won her battle to avoid the questions.

My practice now is to begin the process of forgiveness with the Closed Heart Warlord, which is proving very very hard to do, because at the moment I feel as though she defeated the organization, and that everyone will suffer because of her behavior. My advisors are right, I am free of the obligation now, but I am having trouble letting go (no surprise there). My wife also says I went too far, which makes me angry with her because it feels as though she is not trying to understand me & share my feelings, but of course I have work to do there too. My, I'm going to be busy *:-)

Still no word on our new grandson that is still enwombed, so we are listening carefully for the phone call that will let us know another family member has arrived.

Food Lump, Ghosts, Small Change

Today the IT team went to lunch together & went to the "all you can eat" Indian food restaurant. I hate "all you can eat" Indian food restaurants because I eat too much, and then don't feel good for the rest of the afternoon. I don't know why I do that. I know better by now. I do it anyway. I will stop doing that soon *:-) I still have a food lump in my tummy that will not move. I don't feel good. Remember this, please, for next time.

It is an odd odd time here in South Swamp. The Warlords pass one another as though they aren't fighting, but they are. The staff who were laid off, and are now officially 11 days into their 60-day death march, are beginning to appear as ghosts occasionally, and I expect that will increase as they get closer to their actual death day. Weird for the rest of us tho. Not much point in working on anything with someone who is turning into a ghost.

If the Biggies approve it tomorrow, a couple of us will be moving to another part of the building. Not really much of a change for me, but at this point around here, change is good.

Lords Of South Swamp [(c) 2007 OurAutumn]

Well, through the process of trying to make sense of the convolutions & striations & silos that currently make up my workplace, I have a temporary ID for the place: "South Swamp". You may have heard, or heaven help us actually watched, "South Park", so that is sort of the model (no, I haven't ever watched it, but there are snippets here and there on the web that I have seen). I just did a google on south park, & actually it sounds fairly cool, so maybe I will try to watch some of it *:-)

Anyway, the Lords Of South Swamp continue to sneak & plot & fight, & they bring all the hanging dead & dying vegetation of their respective pasts with them on their bodies. I have just decided that I shall be a Warrior Of Service, Food & Meditation (WOSFM?...sounds like a radio station). Anyway, I shall chose my own personal colors, create my own personal crest, fabricate my own warshield & weapons, & will now look around for my charger so I can ride into battle, once someone points me in the right direction *:-)

Swamp Slogging: Parsing The Puerile Poop

Arghhhh. Hour after hour listening to the ping-pong outpourings of the staff member who considers himself an expert in all things computer, but really just wants to be loved by everybody. I am responsible for putting together a training that will allow normal everyday staff members to migrate our online courses from one LMS to another. The staff member has the job title that makes him the "expert" & therefor he was able to talk our boss into letting him do the so called "training" to get things started, & my boss, who knows very well that he won't really train anyone, but will just show them, forced him to have me in the room also using a digicam to capture his poop, & then I have to make an actual training out of it. The staff member does no prep, using no script, does not do a needs analysis, and just wanders around through the app arbitrarily showing the attendees stuff he remembers how to do. Obviously, sitting through a session like that is hell for me, & not only that, but now I am reviewing the 1 hour, 49 minute & 23 second video over & over, trying to pull together a training out of it. I have already realized that the two key learning objectives that our boss jointly told us must be accomplished, have not even been touched. I will need to write a biting email this weekend that shows we still have at least one, maybe two, more sessions to go.

I was sitting on my throne this morning mentally suffering because I didn't know how to proceed with the video project, & then my loving wife spent time with me & talked to me for a while, which loosened my mind, & then I was given the insight that I won't actually be able to finish the training materials this weekend, as I had wanted to, but instead I will need to create a story board and script, & then show where the holes are. That allowed me to come up to my office here at home and get started wading through the swamp again. Thanks, sweetie *:-)

War In Our Tunnel Of Transition

Core personality characteristics are becoming more evident as our time in transition rolls on. We still do not know who or what we are, but warlords are appearing and are fighting for territory so that they can establish their own communities & build their own dynasties in whatever new country, nebula, wasteland, ocean, planet, moon, or asteroid we become. An ancient warlord, who comes from the planet IBM, is working full tilt at manifesting rules & regulations that parallel those from her former planet, but do not seem to mesh with what we have been told we will be doing. A young warlord, not yet battle scarred & still quite philosophical, is asking his minions to "think good thoughts" about the future structure as his method of waging war. One former warlord has dropped out of the battle & has sought refuge in the folds of the skirts of the still Interim Acting Executive Director, since she has a guaranteed position going forward & he is hoping to remain hidden & protected by her. A fierce Valkyrie-like warlord has been killed by the Super Big Biggies, & her bloated carcass is sometimes seen floating by in email snippets or momentary sightings. There are up to 23 warlords still hidden in the trees, & only the Big Biggies know who they are & when they might strike as none of us are permitted to know these things. The Big Biggies will kill off all but 5 of the currently hidden warlords, & then they will appear to us under a flag of truce so that take-over negotiations can begin. One of our own warlords is vying for the currently vacant supreme leader position, but he also has not viewed his enemy & is quietly preparing for the final battle. More shall be revealed as the fog of war thins & the sound of battle quiets for a time.

4th Of July; Great Freedom Food *:-)

Perfect day for my wife & I...we got a phone call letting us know that our very very pregnant daughter in law was NOT going to go to another city to watch fireworks even though her relatives had invited her. The traffic on the particular (& only) road between here & there is horribly, & solidly, jammed on nearly every nice day, & today was beautiful. We were relieved that no potential helicopter rescue would be needed if she were to go into labor while stuck in traffic, so once we got past that point, we were able to relax & had just a very nice day, which included me firing up the propane grill & grilling veggie shishkabob, burgers & dogs, & warming the buns too *:-) Everything came out just like it is supposed to, with the black lines across everything, & the carcinogenic black edges *:-) We loaded them up with mustard, ketchup & pickle, & scarfed them joyfully down while drinking wine *:-O Excellent *:-)

We have finally been able to open up the house again now that the temperature has lowered a bit, & hopefully this night's cool air will be enough to protect us from what is supposed to be a very hot day tomorrow.

Briefly Congealed Vapor; Proposal Will Be Forwarded

For about one hour today, a group of my work colleagues coalesced in a conference room and made decisions, in part because I got up and went to the white board and forced commitments. At least now we have a proposal for what we might do to to get some new things going around here, with this meeting primarily focused on distributing what we currently own. Not exciting in and of itself, but I mentioned that we might use guerrilla marketing tactics with certain unions and grassroots organizations, which spiced the meeting up some *:-)