Today's randomness...

So, in preparation of the Jacksonville excursion I had a golf lesson at Golftec today. I do like that your lesson is captured on video and you can review it later o the web. What you think you're doing and what you are actually doing are sometimes amazingly different.

I started a new audio book today; Rumphole. I don't remember the title. It's taking a little while to warm up to it, and with the heavy English accent, it's sometimes difficult to understand. I've watched a number of the TV shows, which I found fairly entertaining.

The project load is starting to lighten a bit at work, giving me the opportunity to catch up on some administrivia. I have a new engineer starting tommorow, so I've been trying to get prepared for that. One of our challenges this year is to get our Wisconsin business ramped up. Part of the difficulty currently is fulfilling engineering work when all but one of our engineers live in Illinois. None of them particularly enjoy extended stays away from home, and none of them live close enough to commute. Further complicating matters is the fact that there's been no consistency in sales to date, so I haven't been comfortable bringing on Wisconsin resources in fear that they'd sit idle. So, what I think we're going to do is hire our first dedicated pre-sales resource to help our sales people generate some business. It's a bit of a double edged sword in the sense that we'll need engineering resources to fulfill jobs that get sold, but we won't be as effective selling these jobs without this person. We're also going to explore the possibility of acquiring a small company that already has a presence there.... In any event, it will be interesting.

I was glad to see that Condolisa Rice was confirmed as Secretary of State today. I continue to be disappointed with the partisanism displayed by our Senators and Congressmen. In continue to wonder why or how people like Barbara Boxer, Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, and Nancy Pelosi get elected term after term. On the other hand, I was squarely against Barak Obama in last year's election, but I found his questioning logical and reasonable for the most part (at least what I saw of it). I still disagree with most of his positions and have qualms regarding his populist morality.

I am wondering about the President's wisdom of taking on Social Security has his first big initiative. I would think he'd be more successful addressing the easier issues first, such as tax reform, completing medicare reform, funding no child left behind, border control, welfare reform, etc. before tackling something as divisive and risky as Social Security.

I'm eager to see how the elections go in Iraq too. No doubt there will be widespread violence, but I'm optimistic that the people of Iraq will make this happen as the Afgani's did.

I'm not convinced that things in Palestine are going to get better. I have an uneasy feeling that somehow Lebanon, Syria, and Iran are going to destabilize this year. I still believe that Iraqi officials and/or weapons were spirited away into these countries prior to our invasion of Iraq. I also believe that Russia, and perhaps France were instrumental in helping Iraq move these items. There were a number of reports before and during the initial stages of the war about Russian agents in Iraq, providing technologies and weapons, and possibly moving materials into Syria.

The exercise regiment is going pretty well. It's nice to have the change of pace with the elliptical from the stationary bike. I'm hoping to start lifting weights again next week. I've been pretty good about eating lately too.

My wife is going to see her mother next week, who is apparently struggling mightily with her chemotherapy. I haven't seen her since she really got sick last year. I fear that I won't see them or my parents before they die, and it really bothers me. It's always hard, when my wife leaves, to manage work and the kids. It's not bad if I can take time off from work, but it's virtually impossible to work and be home at the same time. I want her to see her mom, so I'll manage.

I'm thinking my son will be leaving Sri Lanka soon to go support the elections in Iraq. I pray that he, and everyone else will make it through this time safely.