Health News

The week I was hired as an employee I was diagnosed with colon cancer during a colonoscopy. Within two weeks I was recovering from surgery where a portion of my colon was removed along with 20 lymph nodes. The good news is that the doctors think that they have gotten all of the cancer. I must be monitored for the next 5 years before I can say I am cancer-free. Things happened so fast that I did not have much time for anything to sink in. It is now three weeks since I was diagnosed. Recovery will take a few months for me to complete. I am relieved that I did not have to have chemotherapy which I expected. Some say I was lucky. Others say prayer saved me. My personal belief is that I went to the doctor when I discovered blood in my stool and the doctor suggested a colonoscopy. And the doctor who performed the colonoscopy told me to not waste time in getting a surgeon to removed the tumor that was found. Many men do not see their doctor often enough. I guess men my age, around 50, were raised to ignore pain and hide fear. I think this way of thinking has killed many men.

More on job front

After being on contract for 6 months, I received an offer from the new manager. The old manager moved on to another project with in the company. The new manager is OK. At first she low-balled me but after some discussion and me giving her a copy of my resume she was able to get much closer to the money I was making as a contractor. I accepted the position and am now an employee of the company. I am not sure how I feel about that. My wife likes me being an employee better than a contractor. It is more stable than contracting but I am not sure of the viability of the company and whether I want to be a long term employee of the company. I have challenged myself to see if I can take over the technical lead role of the project. The current technical lead is a nice guy but does not know what a technical lead does. He rarely speaks up in meetings. He answers questions but does not follow through with newer developers. I have been a technical lead off and on for many years and think I could do a much better job. Well, we shall see where this goes from here.

Job Update

Within two weeks I accepted an offer for a contract position for a job downtown. It is difficult learning a new system. Here they use a waterfall methodology with a veneer of agile. This is not unusual, as most management teams don't like to acknowledge the unknown unknowns in their projects. I have been here for six weeks with three other "new" guys, all in the same boat. But last week on of them accepted a position, elsewhere. Also, our SCRUM master put in his notice. I don't know his reasons but I suspect something is going on. I will have to keep my ear open. There seems like lots of work here though I don't know if I want to be an employee here. Contracting is not ideal but the employees here do not seem very happy.

I cannot seem to find any passion or happiness in my work, anymore. I am sure it is something I need to change. Change is often hard. But maybe I have become too complacent with myself. But deciding what to change seems daunting.

What's been happening

Well, as of June 28, I was laid off from my job of two years. I should have seen it coming. The lack of assignments for the last few weeks should have tipped me off. I did not much like the job or the company, anyway. I was already looking for another job. And after looking for about a week I got an offer for substantially more than I was making. I am nervous as to why they are paying me so much. I don't like contract work but this is supposed to be a contract-to-hire position. We will see.

Blogging Boycott?

A blog I follow, Cosmic Conservative, mentioned a blogging boycott but did not give the reason. I have not heard of it or a good reason not to blog so I will be contrary and put up a post.

UPDATE: After the explanation by my friend at Cosmic Conservative I did some digging and found a story on patterico.com. It is hard to believe that people would find this a reasonable tactic. Threatening people's lives, families, careers and livelihoods is pure evil. The FBI should investigate this and make it a priority. I don't want to generalize but I think the link speaks for itself on the type of people who would do this.

Still Here!

I am sure you thought I was gone for good or even dead. Sorry, I am still here.

It is hard for me to write these posts. It is not that I cannot find anything to write about or that I cannot find the time. Writing prose is just hard for me. I don't think I am very good, either.

I am pretty sure that no one reads this blog. I don't blame them but it would be nice to get some feedback.

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My fantasy role-playing group is on hiatus right now. Life happens. It is hard to get six middle-aged guys together on a regular basis. I have been running a campaign for about two years that is about to wrap up. I look forward to being a player again. Being the game master feels like I am performing for two or three hours when we play. I am exhausted afterward. The group seems to like their characters and enjoy the dungeon crawl that this set of published modules gives.

I am trying to get the group together, minus a few guys, to do something, even it is not my campaign. It has been a month and no luck, yet. I will keep trying.

In the mean time, I have been working on the final detail of the big battle with the Boss. The player know it is a red dragon but that is about all they know. It should be a lot of fun. I am going to try to make it a memorable session. The mood will be important as I want they characters and players to be afraid. It is entirely possible that one or more of the characters will die. If there is not the chance or fear that a character will die then it won't be enjoyable and may be too easy. I don't think I am a "good" game master but we shall see.

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!