Newt Gingrich vs. Judges

I have been a registered Republican since I first registered to vote. I have never voted for a Democrat. I doubt I ever will. Therefore, I am following the current Republican candidates very closely. And, at this point I don't like any of them. Newt Gingrich has been the front runner for a little bit though he has fallen because of some comments he made about judges and how to deal with them.

I heard the comments and have read some of the commentary against them. While what Mr. Gingrich says sounds like what we need, I am concerned. I know Adams created the current system to balance the power of the three branches. But each of the branches is broken in some way. Congress has abdicated its power to the Judiciary. The Executive branch has also given away some power to the Judges while taking some more from the Legislative branch. I heard Dan Carlin say that Adams and the other Founding Fathers never thought that Congress would give up responsibility and keep all the power to themselves.

The Executive branch's use of the military and how it seems that we have been in a state of war since the Korean War are examples of how the Legislative branch has failed to use the powers given to it by the constitution. Congress should de-fund any military action the President orders where Congress has not declared war. And I am sorry but a "War on Terror" does not count.

While this seems like I would agree with Ron Paul, I think that Mr. Paul is an isolationist and I don't think that is good for the USA. I think the Mr. Gingrich is bold and decisive but I am a little worried. Mitt Romney seems too much like a slick politician.

Any one but Obama!

Hurricane Forcasts?

I grew up in the southern United States. Hurricanes are just something we deal with. For years, scientists have tried to predict how many named hurricanes will occur that threaten the United States. And for years they have been wrong. Not just a little wrong, either. They would predict 6-8 named storms and we would get two. The predictions were so bad that after looking at their records, the scientists have stopped their predictions. Probably a good idea.

What Should I Do?

I am currently working at a very good paying job this forcing me to work in SQL, 95% of the time. I have never been trained in SQL but have picking up a bit over my years in the software development profession. Java has been my primary focus for several years and I like to program in Java. My current job is not showing me any future in java development.

Staying means I make a nice salary. More than I have ever made before. Nice benefits and a 401K. But every day is a drag. I have been here for over a year and I still have trouble with the their SDLC. I would like to say it is my fault but I see everyone clashing and checking in untested and undocumented code that does not work. They are attempting to use RAD to help them work better but it is a minimal effort.

Leaving means I may not find a comparably paying position. I do not plan to leave until I have a new job lined up but I have not worked in java for a year and a half. I try to keep up by doing some programming at home but it is not much. I have interviewed for a couple of positions that I did not get that were for a senior java developer. Maybe I should look for a mid-level java position.

My question is, should I stay at a good paying job that is not what I like to do or should I find a, possible, lesser paying job that is more in line with what I like to do?

Thanks for your help, in advance.

A Christmas Wish

My wife was watching a movie on the Hallmark channel called A Christmas Wish. It was a sappy movie typical of this channel but what really got to me was the message that God will throw bad things at you until you pray to him. This message made me mad. I call this psychological torture.

If I did this to another person I would be an evil person for trying to manipulate the other person into be dependent on me. I think people have gone to jail for less.

I just cannot get over how cruel the main character was treated by God until she begged him to help. Then everything was all better. Ugh.

Status of new job

Well, I have been at the new job for several months now and I am still gainfully employed. That is a good thing. I have been code SQL most of the time, though recently I as able to write some java. It felt good to write a java application again. I was assigned a "conversion" project that had to be performed over a weekend. What a nightmare. The guy who did this before left the company so I was flying blind. We managed to pull it off but not without some hair-pulling. The job was supposed to take no more than an hour but I spend 13 hours working on the conversion. The main problem was the new security rules. I understand the purpose of the rules but they did make the job take much longer.

On another note, I am still playing D&D as much as I can. We meet about once or twice a month for a few hours so the game is progressing slowly but I enjoy the time with my friends. I have been playing World of Warcraft, too much, but the new Cataclysm release has made the game seem boring to me. Maybe, it is because I don't join groups or raid. I solo most of the time but this is getting old. So I am letting my subscription lapse. I started working on my stamp collection again. It has been many years so I had to fork out some money to bring things up to date. It is a three volume set now with nice heavy stock pages. I need to catch up on the current releases of stamps too. I have a suspicion that the US Post Office may not be around in the near future, therefore, stamps may go up in price.

New job

My job as a contract programmer for the National Renewable Energy Laboratories ended in April. I left just before my contract ended because I found a new contract with Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. On June 28th I was hired as a Lead Programmer Analyst. I much prefer being an employee to contracting. I do not like looking for a new position every six to 12 months.

The lead for my team was laid off two days before I was set to start as an employee. So, I wanted that position because I was a technical lead for several years before I left R. H. Donnelley, Inc. My wife said I should wait before requesting to be a lead. As usual, I decided to go for it. I asked and got the team lead position for my team, two other guys besides me. Not a big team but I am trying to prove myself as a new employee. There was no more money attached to the role but I think the extra work is worth it.

Anyway, my wife is much happier with me as an employee. The benefits are good, too.

I am finished!!!

I completed my master's program with the University of Phoenix. I have not received my diploma, yet. But I expect it any day now. I think the process was more difficult online rather than in a classroom. Getting team members to participate each week was hard. It was also hard for me to focus on the team project when I had to "participate" in the discussion threads twice a day for four out of seven days with 200-300 words. I assume from my lack of posts here that it would be obvious that writing is not my favorite thing to do. I think that if we were in a classroom that meeting people face-to-face would have help our interactions. As it was, I had people from all over the world working on my teams, a good thing.

I finished with an A average but not a 4.0 because of a B in a few classes. I am not sure if this will help my career or not but I feel good to have completed it. And not just because I now have the same number of degrees as my wife. :)