Restart

Alex tried to download content from his iPod to the Toshiba last night and iTunes wouldn't open. Megan had mentioned the issue to me a week or so ago and I finally got around to trying to resolve it by reinstalling iTunes myself. It wouldn't work. I even verified that I had the correct version of iTunes - 64 bit - and still, nothing worked.

Since it is nearly half-way done with the year, I have decided I am going to reset the Toshiba back to the factory default. There is something wrong with the installation of Chrome in that it defaults to Tuvaro, not Google, for its home page. I am in the process of copying all the MP3s I converted last night, files from Megan's profile, and pictures I just offloaded from the camera to the MyCloud drive. When that is done, I will reset the laptop. I'd like to get that reset tonight.

In other news, today is a milestone. It is my 3 year anniversary at work. I really embrace where I am as a person and like myself more than I did prior to starting here. I have made strides as a person. While I remained a flawed husband, father, and son, being sober has eliminated at least one troublesome area of my life. Today, in fact, is my 3 1/2 year anniversary of sobriety - how awesome is that?

We have a busy weekend. It starts tomorrow with Alex and I mowing a yard (not ours) before his double-header baseball games at 2 & 4. Karen's brother is picking up Karen and Megan on their way to Rachel's graduation party and then, after the 4 PM game, Alex and I are coming in the Ford truck. It continues on Sunday when we are going from Blue Grass to Zhwingle to pick up the camper and take it to Elkader and parking it on our spot. Then we will come home. I hope to be home by 5.

Next week is crazy. Monday night, we will prepare for camping / Sigwarth campout. Tuesday, Alex has a game. Wednesday, Alex has a game. Thursday morning, Karen and I will drive up to Elkader. Friday morning, I will play golf with the other guys at the Sigwarth campout. Friday afternoon, I hope playing 400 games of Euchre on my phone has prepared me for playing Euchre with the same group of guys that went golfing. Megan and Alex are bringing the GMC to Elkader when they get out of school on Friday. On Saturday, I may be swinging down from Elkader to Ely for a graduation party and then back to Elkader. Otherwise, I'm fairly confident there will be more Euchre and a bean bag tournament. I was on the second place team last year so if I play, I hope I do well. Then, finally, on Sunday, we'll slide the slide-out in and come home.

I haven't even looked beyond Monday, June 9, on my calendar.

Frayed Ends of Sanity

Simply put, Metallica is my all-time favorite band. It's popular to criticize Metallica. I can go to any message board and if Metallica is mentioned, few support the band. This is my interpretation of the general criticisms I've read that are written about Metallica. Some I agree with; others are simply out of touch with reality.
Here's my list:

1. they are rich snobs
2. they turned on their fans during the whole Napster hoopla
3. they tour too much, followed by too many tour dates in Europe and not enough in North America
4. they made a movie to get even more money
5. they played Antarctica but because they didn't play "Trapped Under Ice" they suck 
6. they keep finding excuses to delay the work on their 10th studio release 
7. they are irrelevant to heavy metal
8. they can choose any producer for their 10th release because "Lords of Summer" sucks 
9. they should have combined Load / Reload into a single release
10. they should offer refunds to those that bought St. Anger because the snare drum sound / tone is awful
11. they would be criticized by Cliff Burton if he were alive - Cliff would be ashamed of what they've done
12. they should replace Lars because he is an awful drummer - he looks too much like Billy Joel
13. they haven't written a decent album since (fill_in_the_blank). Popular choices include:
• Cliff Burton died
• they had Bob Rock produce their albums, suggesting that he ruined the band between the Black album taking the band mainstream and not doing enough work to make St. Anger sound better
• Master of Puppets or And Justice for All - the line in the sand between the two eras of "good Metallica" and "bad Metallica" is hotly debated. 

Of course there's more - perhaps I'll begin collecting them for a page on this blog. 
Despite all of that, I'm a disciple, a sheep, a mindless puddle of ooze when it comes to Metallica so the fact that the following two videos are of Metallica playing "The Frayed Ends of Sanity", first during soundcheck and then in concert, in its entirety for the first time ever, is a big deal to me. I love this song and it has always been my all-time favorite Metallica song since I first heard it in 1989.

---

During the Concert

My Profile

At work, we have an internal website and within that website, we can enter a profile that tells others who we are. This is my profile:

---

Born and raised in Cedar Rapids. Earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1992. Married my beautiful wife in 1993. Did telemarketing full-time, until I left to work a temporary scoring project in November 1992 for ACT. Was hired to enter FAFSAs at ACT and did that from 1/1993 - 2/10/1995, when I was hired as a Documentation Specialist at a software company in Cedar Rapids. Worked there 3 years until I went to another company. Stayed there 9 months (they were having issues with payroll) until I went to another company. Was the only technical writer for 12 years. Left there to go to another company for a few months until I came here.

Outside of work, I play drums both in a band called Uncle Rico the Band as well as at Mass.

Conversions are my specialty. Everywhere I go, it seems like there is a conversion from one help file format to another. I am really intrigued by the prospect of a single source for documentation. I love the idea of maintaining text that is used by multiple documents in one place and then seeing the changes ripple through to the documents that use that snippet.

---

What I find amazing is after the hell I was going through in May 2011, I will reach my 3 year anniversary at work on Saturday, 5/31/2014. From where I was to where I am now seems remarkable. My mind was consumed with feelings of inadequacy that I pray no one ever has to go through. I thought I was a failure in all aspects of my life, not only as a father and husband, but as a professional technical writer.

Now, I feel so much better about who I am. Life is busy and I have moved along.

More Metallica

But I used a Paper Plate

If it wasn't so serious, the fact that a man drove a car into a woman because she asked him to wash dishes would be funny. Per the article, it sounds really messed up. Of course, the article only states, "she reminded the man to wash the dishes." How many times was the man reminded?

And I shouldn't have worried about writing 50 posts a month because this is post 1647 - total - and for May, this is post #53 for the month of May.

Put to Shame?

The recent Will Ferrell / Chad Smith drum battle was a comedy routine and done for charity. None of these epic drum-offs that will shame Chad Smith and Will Ferrell into retirement were for charity and, really, how much money was the author paid to mention Travis Barker 3 times? And, really, the author thinks the final drumline battle in "Drumline" was real? Really?

Shhh! Stop Talking

I love the music that the original members of KISS made, especially the Destroyer release. I have always respected that music and, as I've described previously, hearing the Gene Simmons solo release on 8 track is a cornerstone of my love for playing the drums. Who knows what I would have done if I had not heard that release?

That said, Ace Frehley needs to be quiet. He needs to stop being hung up on the past, stop being asked what he thinks about the original members not playing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and anything related to the band in which he is no longer a member. Articles like this one where he speaks negatively about Tommy Thayer are just so unnecessary. There's no point. The jam session at the induction ceremony *didn't* happen, for whatever reason, so it's over. The awful "KISS Loves You" movie tracked his interaction with a fan, but that was several years ago. Now, today, Frehley has a new CD coming out called "Space Invaders" and he needs to focus upon that release and rehearsing for a tour that, I'm sure, will not come through Cedar Rapids or Iowa City or even Des Moines or Moline, IL. That's just my guess.

Realists Get It

Wading into Race Relations with Defiance

Worth thinking about whether you agree or disagree.



And, a rebuttal that is looonnnggg.....

Roll the Credits

I'm not the biggest Will Ferrell fan. That said, "Roll the credits."

Memorial Day 2014

I was awake promptly at 6 AM today.

I can't say I know what is going to happen today. Alex and I mowed yesterday prior to going to a graduation party and, at one time, the plan was to mow today. Since that is done, I can't say what will happen. Karen talked about getting Alex some shorts, but I don't feel a strong desire to go on that shopping trip. I do have Uncle Rico rehearsal tomorrow evening so I could spend some time on the songs on set 2, even though I feel pretty good about those songs.

Last night was the Rainey going away party. As I think I mentioned previously, Ron and Margaret are moving to New Hampshire where Ron will be the women's soccer coach at Dartmouth. They close on the house within the next couple of weeks and, then, the new neighbors will move in. It will be an exciting time.

In the Big Picture, we got new neighbors on one side of us in summer 2013 and now, in summer 2014, we will get new neighbors on the other side of us. Lots of changes in our busy life.

What I would buy with that $2000 I don't have laying around...

70s Ludwig Blue Vistalite Octaplus Drum Set

[snip]
Includes 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 concert toms, 18″x 16″ Floor, two 22″ x 14″ Bass Drums, two (2) double tom drum stands, two (2) drum mounts (one for each bass drum), 3 floor tom legs, 2 sets of bass drum spurs. (no snare drum, snare drum stand, cymbals, cymbal stands are included – nor are any other items seen in the background of pictures) Very few scratches. The 8″ shell has slight separation on the seam. The 18″ floor tom is missing the bottom hoop. The Badge on the 6″ tom is bent up a bit.

Say it isn't so!

Because the Democrats want to protect Hilary Clinton as a 2016 presidential candidate, there are now Democrats on the committee to investigate, further, what happened in Benghazi.

Say it isn't so!

About Last Night

Last night, at rehearsal, we worked on "Sweet Child of Mine", "Royals", "Glad You Came," and "Escape". We also went through all of the songs in set 1.

1. Ring of Fire
2. Jet Airliner
3. Oh Boy
4. Squeeze Box
5. Brown Eyed Girl
6. I've Been Everywhere
7. Margaritaville
8. When the Sun Goes Down
9. Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
10. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
11. Just Like Heaven
12. Melt with You
13. Sweet Caroline
14. Love Her Madly
15. Santa Monica
16. Rock'n Me

Current UR Setlist

Set 1

1. Ring of Fire
2. Jet Airliner
3. Oh Boy
4. Squeeze Box
5. Brown Eyed Girl
6. I've Been Everywhere
7. Margaritaville
8. When the Sun Goes Down
9. Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
10. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
11. Just Like Heaven
12. Melt with You
13. Sweet Caroline
14. Love Her Madly
15. Santa Monica
16. Rock'n Me

Set 2

1. You May Be Right
2. Blister in the Sun
3. What I Like About You
4. 8675309 Jenny
5. Dancing Queen
6. I Will Survive
7. I Ran
8. Wonderful Tonight
9. Folsom Prison Blues
10. Two Princes
11. Hot Stuff
12. Bad Case of Loving You
13. Mony Mony
14. Johnny B Good
15. I Saw Her Standing There
16. Interstate Love Song

Set 3

1. Hey Jealousy
2. Blitzkreig Bop
3. I Wanna Be Sedated
4. Should I Stay or Should I Go
5. Basket Case
6. Rock and Roll All Nite
7. Fight For Your Right
8. Paranoid
9. Rockin' in the Free World
10. Dancing with Myself
11. Don't Change
12. Brown Sugar
13. Your Mama Can't Dance
14. Pump It Up
15. Lola
16. All These Things That I've Done

Pearl Jam is coming

I consider myself a wishy-washy Pearl Jam. In the same breath that I declare I cannot stand the song "Jeremy", I will declare that I love their song "Evenflow", mainly because of the video. I've dismissed the idea that they are "grunge" because that genre, really, doesn't exist. It's all rock and roll. To the best of my knowledge, they've never played in Iowa. Now, as part of an upcoming tour of North America, they are coming to the iWireless Center in Moline, IL, on a Friday night, October 17.

Because of my wishy-washy attitude, I'm not sure if I am excited about the idea of seeing them or if it's a concert I won't think about again.

Hugely Satisfying

Just to tie up the joy from yesterday about my work situation, here's a relevant quote from Craig Cardimon's LinkedIn profile. Craig is a fellow technical writer.

---

When I started working with computers and the web, I didn't know too much about them. People took the time to explain things to me. Now I help explain things to other people.

Picture this: Someone is on a deadline. They're tired, frustrated, and stuck. Then they pick up a copy of a user guide I wrote, thumb through it, find the solution to their problem, and get their project done.

That is hugely satisfying.

---

Exactly!

James, Please just Get on with it!

After reading these comments from James Hetfield about the next Metallica release, I am just ready for it to be done. Quit talking. I am impatient, already, to the extent that I am really thinking I need to dig up "Death Magnetic" tonight so that I can rock out to "All Nightmare Long" (and others) tomorrow.

Veterans Affairs Hospital Controversey

I almost - almost - feel sympathy for White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. Day after day, including yesterday, he had to go in front of reporters and talk / lie (choose your verb) about what is happening in the world. This article says he is lying.

---

From NBC First Read Newsletter

Will the Democratic dam break over the VA story?

President Obama on Wednesday addressed the growing outcry over the alleged misconduct at VA hospitals, and he said he was outraged. "When I hear allegations of misconduct -- any misconduct -- whether it's allegations of VA staff covering up long wait times or cooking the books, I will not stand for it. Not as commander-in-chief, but also not as an American. None of us should." But the president didn't buy himself a lot of time, especially now with some red-state Democrats criticizing him. "I listened to the president today, and I was very disappointed with President Obama today," Rep. David Scott (D-GA) said. "There was no urgency. Mr. President, we need urgency, we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these hospitals!" Another Georgia Democrat, John Barrow, became the first Democrat to call for Shinseki's firing. And this is the question for the White House: Will the Democratic dam break? Will Scott be followed by Sens. Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor, and Kay Hagan? If that happens, the White House won't have a whole lot of time to get to the bottom of this and fix it. They'll need to make a symbolic move quickly if they don't want to find themselves on a political island.

In an era of fake political outrage, the VA story demands true outrage

Slate's John Dickerson writes that our politics has witnessed plenty of fake outrage over the years. But this VA story demands true outrage. "Fake umbrage taking and outrage production are our most plentiful political products, not legislation and certainly not interesting solutions to complicated issues. We are in a new political season, too-that means an extra dose of hot, high stakes outrage over the slightest thing that might move votes. How does something get recognized as beyond the pale when we live beyond the pale? What makes the VA scandal different is not only that it affected people at their most desperate moment of need-and continues to affect them at subpar facilities. It's also a failure of one of the most basic transactions government is supposed to perform: keeping a promise to those who were asked to protect our very form of government." Well said.

How the VA remarks played

The Wall Street Journal: "Obama Pushes Accountability at VA"
The Arizona Republic: "Obama addresses Phoenix VA scandal; McCain says remarks 'fell short'"
USA Today: "Obama says he won't tolerate misconduct at VA"
LA Times: "At least for now, Obama stands by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki"
The Arizona Republic reports: "The top executive for the Phoenix VA Health Care System has been directed to repay thousands of dollars in bonus money she received last month as the national controversy erupted over allegations of delayed care and deaths at the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center."
The New York Times editorial board chastises Obama for his handling of the VA's problems, writing that "expressing outrage is hardly enough for a president who, as a candidate in 2008, criticized the agency and vowed to improve care and address backlogs. It is past time for a more visible personal commitment to right these wrongs as well as strong White House support for legislation that would make it possible for top agency officials to fire those responsible for wrongdoing."

---

From the Fox News First Newsletter

VA SCANDAL ANOTHER BURDEN FOR DESPERATE DEMS

The hits keep coming for the blue team this midterm season. There’s just one problem for Democrats: These hits sting. The political liability of running in the shadow of the Obama administration’s scandals, from ObamaCare to Benghazi and now the Veterans Affairs debacle has become a crushing burden for vulnerable Democrats. President Obama’s Wednesday remarks, forced by pressure from lawmakers and public outrage over reports of corrupt practices at VA hospitals treating veterans, may well have added to that load. After weeks of silence, the president delivered a now familiar mix of disdain, promises of punishment for those responsible and another review. “If these allegations prove to be true,” Obama said, “it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful and I will not tolerate it – period.” “Too little too late” was the response from House VA committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla. Some Democrats broke ranks, agreeing with Republican and veterans groups’ calls for the ouster of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who the president continues to support. More than two dozen VA facilities are under investigation and new revelations of shady record-keeping surface almost daily. Pressure from Democrats already running away from the president’s low approval ratings and ObamaCare, may force his hand where Shinseki is concerned. While Obama has a tendency to stand by his cabinet chiefs and let scandals blow over, with veterans the victims and the midterm clock ticking, heads will need to roll…and soon.

[“How can we let this happen? How is that acceptable in the United States of America? The answer is, it’s not. It’s an outrage. And it’s a betrayal, a betrayal of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk their lives for.” – then candidate Barak Obama, criticizing President George W. Bush’s management of veterans care during a 2008 stump speech.]

The passive approach  - Milbank: “This would be a good time for Obama to knock heads and to get in front of the story. But, frustratingly, he’s playing President Passive, insisting on waiting for the VA inspector general to complete yet another investigation, this one looking into the Phoenix deaths.”

---

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/us/obama-faces-new-test-in-mismanagement-at-veterans-hospitals.html?emc=edit_th_20140521&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=65176335&_r=0

Brain-ghazi-gate continues on

Sometimes I just chuckle about American politics. Everyone keeps talking about Hilary Clinton running for president.


It's kind of like the chatter on message boards and websites about the Justice League movie. It hasn't been made and there's all kinds of speculation about who will be the villain, which heroes will be in the Justice League with a lot of sites believing that Cyborg will replace the Martian Manhunter. I grew up in the era where Cyborg was a member of the Teen Titans (with Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Speedy) and where the Martian Manhunter was the hero that actually brought Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman together because of a crisis. Then I read that Captain Marvel might be in the Justice League.

The point is that there is a lot of noise about future events while current events don't seem to be as important. To paraphrase Yoda, it seems like we are all focused on the future and not what is happening now.

Update

After stating she would not, Nancy Pelosi has appointed five Democrats to the Benghazi committee, which I find worth chuckling about since Benghazi is a false controversy, per the video above.

Tori Amos Does Metallica

Sevendust

Sevendust returns to the Pepsi Pavilion - Waterloo, IA on Friday, August 15, 2014, which is where I saw them with Five Finger Death Punch in 2012. While I can't really understand what the hell the singer is singing, I fondly recall that I had a beer with him in the Sevendust dressing room prior to their show at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids. I've always liked their energy, but I wouldn't call myself a fan.

Reconverting Continues

I ran the DOS batch file last night for yesterday's statistics. The total was 46683, but rises to 47237 when I consider 554 files that have not been merged into the "master" directory of my music on the My Cloud drive at home.

Purchase

I've ordered this:

Renewed Spirit

I met briefly with my manager this morning. She wanted to clarify that the user guide I've been working on is a process with iterations. It went out to my peers to review yesterday. As they began making comments about the content I had written, she wanted to reinforce the fact that none of the comments were unprofessional. In fact, one peer noted "I really, really like the look-and-feel of this user guide. I think it's a big step in the right direction for us. And since Paul has done much of the heavy lifting already, we have the luxury of focusing on fine-tuning the material." 

It confirmed that I am working for the best manager I've ever worked for in my 19+ years as a technical writer. I've been working on the user guide for several weeks and it has tested my patience. What I had considered to be a simple user guide for a fairly simple system has blossomed into a larger task. This project is being used as a means to decide how we, as a department, are going to bring our documentation 'up' a level. What that means is that our user guides are no longer going to state the obvious. We're not going to write "Click Submit to submit the [whatever]" or "Click Add to add a record."

I'll admit that I have been impatient during this project. I have questioned my skills and abilities as a professional as I've been challenged. When I think about all of the documentation I've written over the years, the content of all of that documentation has been writing the obvious, as I mentioned above. If all of the obvious content was removed, a lot of the documentation I've written would be much smaller as far as page count, perhaps as much as 50% less.

I walked out of our meeting with a renewed vigor and perhaps a sharper focus on the project. I am having a good day!

Breathe in, Breathe out

As I watched Alex's baseball team play Keota in North Liberty, I could feel the frustration in the air. At first, the game was close. They were ahead, then we were, then them, then us, until at some point, the frustration of making mistakes - three dropped pop flies, overthrows to bases, being a step too slow to tag out a runner at home, pitches hitting two batters - just overwhelmed the team until it became a 15-4 defeat. In the ride home, Alex was clearly frustrated with how he had done. He was the pitcher that hit two kids, that dropped two of the three pop flies while playing left field. He wasn't the only one to make mistakes or to be frustrated. The next event for Alex's team is Friday's practice. I'd like to think that each player, including Alex, can find a way to set aside the game last night and to focus on the next game.

Another team that needs to do the same type of searching is the Indiana Pacers. For the second year in a row, they are in the NBA Eastern finals against the Miami Heat. The portion of the game I saw was a lot like Alex's baseball game. There were simple mistakes - bad passes, missed easy shots - that seemed to frustrate Indiana as Miami's LeBron James took over, like he normally does in a basketball game. As he imposed his will by dribbling around players and driving to the rim without any Indiana player able to stop him, what was an Indiana lead evaporated into a Miami Heat 10 point lead. The next event for the Indiana Pacers is their game 3 in Miami. I'd like to think that each player can find a way to set aside the game last night and to focus on the next game.

Customizations in End-User Documentation

Once upon a time, there was a need for a user guide. The user guide was written and, because it made sense to the technical writer at the time, the technical support phone number was included. Over time, as additional customers began to use the user guide, their technical support phone number was included.

Then an additional customer - I'll call the customer "Customer A" for the sake of anonymity - looked at this list of technical support phone numbers and stated, "We do not want our users to see other customer support numbers in the user guide." The solution was to create a client-specific version of the user guide.

At this point in the story, there are two versions of the user guide:

1. a "base" version that has a list of technical support phone numbers
2. Customer A's version that only has their technical support phone number

The number of customers using the user guide increased and, with every additional customer, their  technical support phone number was added to the list.

Then an additional customer - I'll call the customer "Customer B" for the sake of anonymity - looked at this list of technical support phone numbers and stated, "We do not want our users to see other customer support numbers in the user guide." The solution was to create a client-specific version of the user guide.

At this point in the story, there are three versions of the user guide:

1. a "base" version that has a list of technical support phone numbers
2. Customer A's version that only has their technical support phone number
3. Customer B's version that only has their technical support phone number

The number of customers using the user guide increased and, with every additional customer, their  technical support phone number was added to the list.

Then an additional customer - I'll call the customer "Customer C" for the sake of anonymity - looked at this list of technical support phone numbers and stated, "We do not want our users to see other customer support numbers in the user guide." Since Customer C knows we have created a version of the user guide for Customer A and a version of the user guide for Customer B, their solution is to create a client-specific version of the user guide for them.

The moral of the story?

Write software that is bug free so that the customer doesn't need to use a technical support phone number.

Flashback to 1995

Chat session from today, May 20, 2014, with my co-worker with confidential information removed.

me
did I hear right that we are going to print 5500 copies of the User Guide?
[snip]
Co-worker
Yes, 5500 print quantity

me
wow. 7.04 reams of paper
current user guide = 64 pages

Co-worker
Yep. They eliminated 2 [other] guides that they print every year so they can print [this other user guide]...

me
[snip]... at my first job as a tech writer (1995), we had to distribute print manuals
everything went in a 3 ring binder.
we had 12 binders of training manuals
the user guide was 3 binders
the database manual was 1
the data area manual was 1
the reports manual was 1
all of it had to be photocopied in-house

and when it was time to ship to a customer, we wrapped the printed manuals in the white paper you get when you go to a meat counter in the grocery store
[snip]
Co-worker
Wow, that's a lot of paper!
[snip]
we really did discourage printing the UG during our planning meeting...because of the concerns you and Sonia raised yesterday...but they wanted it [snip] ...

Hard Barney / Uncle Rico Co-Headlining?

I think Hard Barney and Uncle Rico on the same bill would be awesome.

Pro Wrestling / Metallica

The author is clever and gets bonus points for the Raven - Jason Newsted association in this article http://ultimateclassicrock.com/pro-wrestlers-who-look-like-metallica/ and, on the same subject, I need to find a bunch of hours so I can sit down and watch a few of these awesome Metallica live performances when I can immerse myself in their awesomeness.

My CD Collection as of Today

As I mentioned, I have been working on the CD conversion project and, as of today and excluding the CDs that are being ripped right at this moment, my count is 45737 File(s). Using the calculator, I have determined the number of MP3s created by the conversion from the first entry on my status page to now: 43499. Again, that does not include the files that I have created thus far today, as CD number 8 is ripping at this precise moment.

In Des Moines

1. First off, I'm writing this from the library on Franklin Avenue in Des Moines. Megan is at her IAMB audition / rehearsal at Roosevelt High School which is a brief 2.3 miles away, as shown here:
   
   
2. Next, while looking for something else on my phone, I came across this text message I sent to my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law:
   
   Wife with drinks check.
   Kids off to the pool check.
   Don't write back for awhile....
   
   
3. I am working on ripping CDs while I sit here. Number 6 is in the CD drive now.

Polka and Metallica? Really!

Slayer, Benghazi, and Acoustic Metallica

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/05/137815-17-questions-benghazi-terrorist-attack-havent-answered-democrats-know/

Music for the Day

Metallica sat down and played four songs at a benefit the other day. Read about it here. I am linking to these videos with the intent of having time to sit down and watch them this weekend.

Diary

Single Camera

Multi-Camera

Blindman

Single Camera

Multi-Camera

Beatles

Single Camera

Multi-Camera

Rare Earth

Single Camera

Benghazi

Regarding Benghazi, apparently a majority of those polled (51%, but still a majority!) think President Obama knowingly lied about the terrorist attack. Since this poll came from Fox News, I'm not really surprised with the conclusion. I think it would have been very surprising if MSNBC had conducted this poll and had the same results!

From Beyond the Grave

So, in the midst of my busy life and all the things swirling around me, I came across this this page which made me pause.

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Two whole years after Brenda Schmitz lost her battle to ovarian cancer, her husband David miraculously received a gift from her. It seems utterly impossible, but his late wife planned it out so perfectly for him. As she was dying, she knew she wanted to do this one thing for him once he was ready to have it. When you see what she gave him and the final letter she wrote to him, it’ll move you so much.This is the letter Brenda wrote for the local radio station. She told her close friend not to mail it until David found love again with a new woman.

---

While dealing with her own issues, Brenda Schmitz found a way to look beyond herself.

Anti-Word? Me?

Question from co-worker:
Is there a way to do a word doc so that you can have one master doc but you can export an internal, program team and customer facing versions that each have a different subset of the info in the doc?
or some other tool that can do that?
My Answer
You could do that in Confluence more easily than in Word

You would write your text as individual pages and then create what I call a "shell" page that would include the specific sub-pages you want to include for the specific audience.

Difficult

If I am to be writing 50 posts a month, I should be at post #25 by the 15th of the month. Instead, this is my 13th post for May. It would seem that reaching 2000 posts at 50 posts / month is going to be rather difficult.

Three short items.

1. Someone mentioned "The Pina Colada Song" so I found this video. Maybe Uncle Rico will take a stab at adding it to our setlist.
2. Alex's team defeated Ainsworth last night.
3. This is a cool list: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2014/05/14/top-11-adult-only-pools-in-las-vegas/?cmpid=NL_fntop

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Update: Check out this version!

Idiots Doing Idiotic Things Idiotically

Former Iowa Hawkeye football player Tyler Sash is the latest athlete to drink too much booze and do something stupid. Why can't athletes keep their composure and act like human beings? Here's how I answer my own question. Despite what the media and fans would have you believe, athletes are human beings. They are not any different from me in the sense that athletes are human. They are not robots; they do not always have 100% control of themselves. And neither do I. I'm not perfect and I make mistakes.

Why would I hold anyone else to a standard higher than the one I set for myself? The latest in a long list of mistakes I've made is when Alex and I cleaned out the van on Saturday, a Kohl's credit card bill for over $170 was discovered. It had somehow found its way onto the floor and, thank the stars, Alex didn't throw it away when he found it. The bill is due today, 5/14. Considering what did and did not happen, it's easy to speculate on how easily it would have been to not be aware of this Kohl's bill.

• What if we had not cleaned out the van on Saturday? 
• What if Alex had thought it wasn't something worth keeping?
• What if it had been lumped in with the other garbage in the van that was being thrown away?

Those are all possibilities. And now, considering what happened to Tyler Sash:

• What if Tyler Sash did not have that last drink that put him over the edge?
• What if Tyler Sash had a friend with him that refused to let him drive a scooter?
• What if Tyler Sash had stopped instead of fleeing authorities?
• What if Tyler Sash had not hidden behind a tree and, instead, surrendered immediately to the authorities?

Life is about choices.

More Benghazi

Liberal perspective

• http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/richard-clarke-benghazi-cmte-a-stunt-254406723755?cid=eml_mlw_20140513
• http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/john-lewis-lynn-westmoreland-benghazi-committee?cid=eml_mlw_20140513
• http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/pursuing-the-wrong-mysteries-in-benghazi-250480707792?cid=eml_mlw_20140513
• http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/could-be-rabbit-hole?cid=eml_mra_20140514

Conservative perspective

• http://www.redstate.com/2014/05/12/benghazi-vs-benghazi-vs-paul-rosenberg-vs-reality/
• http://eaglerising.com/6161/democrats-making-disgusting-benghazi-jokes-distract-america/

Yeah! A Soapbox!

In the context of a LinkedIn forum discussing which tool is "better" for a 450 page user guide, I wrote the following:

It's about the way the tool is used more than which tool you choose to use. I used InDesign to work on a user guide that was about 150 pages. The issues I most commonly spout off about were more about the way the tool was used than anything. Here's just one example that applies to this discussion. For this specific user guide, the TOC was manually typed. This was not my choice. In order to verify the TOC was correct, the entire file was printed to hard copy and then manually verified to ensure the TOC was correct. And if it wasn't? Reprint the whole user guide and start over. I wish I was making that up but I lived it.

My point is that if you use the tool like an idiot, the tool isn't going to make your actions less idiotic as the tool - FrameMaker, Word, InDesign or anything else - will do what you tell it to do.

Surviving the Chaos

This photo is what I will remember about Megan's prom in 2014. I love how Alex has on green socks, orange shorts, and a black shirt - what a fashion statement!

As expected, this week is crazy.

• Monday - band concert
• Tuesday - I need to mow for the 5th time this season and Alex has baseball practice.
• Wednesday - Alex has a baseball game in Ainsworth. Megan works 5-10.
• Thursday - Uncle Rico rehearsal was scheduled, but that has been moved to 5/21 - I think Karen has a hair cut.
• Friday - Alex has a baseball game & Megan works.
• Saturday - Alex has a double-header in West Branch, which Karen is taking him to, while Megan and I are going to her audition / rehearsal for the Iowa Ambassadors of Music Europe trip in Des Moines. If there is a Mass around 5 or 5:30 near the school where she is auditioning, I plan to go to Mass there.
• Sunday - At least Karen and Alex need to go to 11 AM Mass.

Some articles to read about politics:

• http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/05/09/pope-francis-should-stick-to-doctrine-stay-away-from-economic-redistribution/?cmpid=NL_opinion
• http://eaglerising.com/6109/conservative-destroys-fox-news-juan-williams-unmasks-common-core/ 

I haven't posted an update about the CD to MP3 conversion project. I have been working on it. My main issue is that I don't anticipate having a lot of time to sit in the den and have multiple PCs ripping. Instead, I have been able to use the Toshiba laptop in the living room when it is not needed by either kid or Karen. I can say that I crossed 45,000 files over the weekend. I began going through the CDs that I had originally scheduled for June and July, mainly because the rip is more automated than when I am ripping a CD-R and have to manually enter artist, album, and track information.

Finally, I am not all that huge of a Rob Zombie fan. I like his singles but that's about it. I do like that he has recently covered "Enter Sandman" in concert and that he also has brought up former KISS drummer Peter Criss on stage to jam "God of Thunder," which is the first song I ever heard with a drum solo on KISS' "Alive II" release.

Congratulations! You Play Fargo, ND, twice!

I have zero idea if "Anti-Mortem" are any good or not, but they get to play in Fargo, ND, on their upcoming tour not just once, but TWICE! Check it out!

ANTI-MORTEM Tour Dates:

5/8 - Asbury Park, NJ @ The Saint

5/9 - Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance

5/11 - Worcester, MA @ Upstairs at The Palladium

5/13 - Louisville, KY @ Diamond Pub & Billiards
w/ Lacuna Coil
5/20 - Fargo, ND @ The Venue
------------------snip ------------------
 w/ Machine Head
------------------snip ------------------
7/15 - Fargo, ND @ The Venue


And how many dates will they play in Iowa?


Zero.


Oh well. At least Five Finger Death Punch is coming to Cedar Rapids, as I mentioned the other day.

Scandal v. Phony Scandal

If you want to read two very different views of the world I live in, it seems there would be no better example than what is happening with the Benghazi story in the media. While Republicans scoff at the idea that Benghazi is a phony scandal, over on the Rachel Maddow blog, the Democrats scoff at the idea that Benghazi is a scandal at all.

And when I read the following paragraph from Steve Benen, I admit I thought, "Wow, he's right" before correcting myself and thought "Wow, he's left."

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But what should arguably matter most to the public is the fact that House Republicans have decided witch hunts and scandal mongering based on nothing is preferable to governing. In Americans’ name and on Americans’ dime, GOP lawmakers have decided they won’t pass immigration reform, won’t come up with a health care plan, won’t consider a credible jobs bill, won’t raise the minimum wage, won’t consider background checks, won’t touch pay equity, won’t vote on ENDA, won’t create infrastructure jobs, and won’t extend unemployment benefits.

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Look at that list:

1. immigration reform
2. health care plan
3. jobs bill
4. minimum wage
5. background checks
6. pay equity
7. ENDA (Note: I need to learn what this stands for)
8. infrastructure jobs
9. unemployment benefits

That's a pretty big list that Democrats can take with them in the mid-terms. The other side of the equation, though, is 

1. Republicans don't support telling all of the illegal immigrants already here, "Okay, we forgive you. You are no longer a fugitive because we are making you an American citizen." 
2. Republicans offered amendments to ObamaCare, but all of them as in 100% of them were rejected. 
3. The jobs bill? How is funding a jobs bill by adding to the deficit a good idea? 
4. How is raising the minimum wage and passing that increase to businesses a good idea? Where does the extra money a business must pay out in a salary? It comes from higher prices for the consumer.
5. Not sure about background checks.
6. In the debate about pay equity, I didn't hear where the proposed legislation was different than the laws already on the books. 
7. Not sure about EDNA
8. Not sure about infrastructure jobs. 
9. As far as unemployment benefits, I think that if you are not able to find a job, life sucks. I was there just over 3 years ago. It totally is an ugly situation and, thankfully, I don't think I will ever have to return to that. I was actively looking for a job when I was getting unemployment benefits. I worked my contacts, I prayed, and I made finding a job "my job." It was never an option for me to "live" on unemployment and for people like me that are motivated to find a job, I think unemployment benefits are awesome. If someone, though, is receiving unemployment for more than a year and not actively seeking a job, I think that is wrong and I also think Democrats would agree with that as well.

Win Some, Lose Some

Iowa men's basketball head coach Fran McCaffery was trying to get 5 recruits, but he got 3/ to commit to playing for him. It's not even summer and I anticipate an exciting season this year. It should be awesome!

Vinyl Making a Comeback & FFDP in Cedar Rapids

Does the fact that vinyl is making a comeback make the conversion projects unnecessary?

To me, no. I want to be able to store all of my music in a single place. I don't anticipate I will sell or get rid of my CDs or vinyl.

In other news, Five Finger Death Punch and Volbeat have announced a tour that includes a stop in Cedar Rapids on a Saturday. I was flabbergasted. The prospect of seeing FFDP in the US Cellular Center and on a Saturday? How freaking awesome! Hell Yeah and Nothing More are also on the bill. My calendar has a big circle around this date!

Enough Already

I am really starting to get sick of the world I live in. Seriously, between Benghazi, and the political firestorm around it, that won't seem to die, there's now a gallon of gasoline being thrown on the Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) feud with Sully Erna (Godsmack) - don't people realize our time on earth is so short? Really?

You Do Bad so I can Do Bad

The author of this post says it best when he wrote, "I didn’t realize that this was a game of tit for tat. That if Republicans do something wrong then Democrats should get a free pass when they do something wrong. I didn’t realize this was how politics was supposed to work."

It's not supposed to be like that. I watched some of the Reverend Al Sharpton on MSNBC last night prior to Uncle Rico rehearsal. All he could talk about was how great ObamaCare is and how if Republicans want to repeal the law, it will mean that people that are covered now would not. He cited statistics that "the uninsured" is now the lowest it has ever been in our country and NOT ONCE did he say that Obama went back on his pledge that if you like your policy, you can keep it.

The truth of the matter is that I don't really think about health insurance. Karen covers me and, because she's a nurse, I don't really think much about it. I like it that way.

I didn’t realize that this was a game of tit for tat. That if Republicans do something wrong then Democrats should get a free pass when they do something wrong. I didn’t realize this was how politics was supposed to work.
Read more at http://eaglerising.com/6002/disgusting-liberal-says-f-move-f-benghazi/#vM78ipaVhYIdumBp.99

I didn’t realize that this was a game of tit for tat. That if Republicans do something wrong then Democrats should get a free pass when they do something wrong. I didn’t realize this was how politics was supposed to work.
Read more at http://eaglerising.com/6002/disgusting-liberal-says-f-move-f-benghazi/#vM78ipaVhYIdumBp.99

I didn’t realize that this was a game of tit for tat. That if Republicans do something wrong then Democrats should get a free pass when they do something wrong. I didn’t realize this was how politics was supposed to work.
Read more at http://eaglerising.com/6002/disgusting-liberal-says-f-move-f-benghazi/#vM78ipaVhYIdumBp.99

I didn’t realize that this was a game of tit for tat. That if Republicans do something wrong then Democrats should get a free pass when they do something wrong. I didn’t realize this was how politics was supposed to work.
Read more at http://eaglerising.com/6002/disgusting-liberal-says-f-move-f-benghazi/#vM78ipaVhYIdumBp.99

Best Rehearsal Ever

Last night, Uncle Rico rehearsed and, already knowing I won't have a lot of time to practice this week due to my busy life, I am excited about next Monday's rehearsal. I left rehearsal with a lot of energy. While we didn't play a lot of songs with fast tempos, we did rehearse for a solid 2. 5 hours. I would judge last night's rehearsal as the best we've had since I joined the band on January 22, 2014, and it was mainly because the vibe in the room was really good. I am hoping we can start looking into getting a gig in the near future - ideally, before the end of summer. Next week, we're going to start with set one, song one ("Ring of Fire") and just start going down the list.

As for last night, we went through these songs:

1. Sweet Caroline
2. Love Her Madly
3. Rockin' Me
4. Blister in the Sun
5. I'm a Believer
6. Two Princes
7. Mony Mony
8. I Saw Her Standing There
9. Hey Jealousy
10. Blitzkrieg Bop
11. I Wanna Be Sedated
12. Should I Stay or Go
13. Brown Sugar
14. Your Mama Don't Dance
15. Lola

Then we went through a new song we're going to do called "Royals" and ironed out how that it going to work. We also decided to try a Stones tune called "Angie" next time as well as a REM song called "It's the End of the World As We Know It." Here's what those two songs sound like.

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New Songs we're working on:

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Liberals Spinning Out of Control

Last week, White House press guy Jay Carney tried his best to spin the facts, stating with a straight face that the emails released about Benghazi were not about Benghazi. Before you read the rest of this post, please swallow. Don't have any liquid in your mouth as ruining your computer's monitor or mobile device (or however you are reading this blog) by spitting out what is in your mouth in disbelief and disgust is not on my shoulders and I will not accept bills from you that ask for reimbursement for ruining something because of what you are about to read. You've been warned in bold font too!

This is verbatim from the NBC News First Read newsletter I get and, remember, you've been warned.

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The Benghazi risk for Republicans

We understand why Republicans are again seizing on Benghazi in their effort to establish a select committee in the House to investigate the 2012 terrorist attack there. It fires up the base, puts the Obama administration on the defensive, and allows Republicans to knock likely 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton. (In many ways, the House leadership has no choice since some of their members have spent months claiming it's one the great scandals of American history; it would be odd if they didn't attempt to elevate it "special" select committee status.) But our NBC/WSJ poll from last week suggested that this is a riskier move for the GOP than it may realize. According to the poll, 47% of Americans want the United States to be LESS ACTIVE in world affairs, versus just 19% who want it to be more active. This is a country that wants it politicians to focus on the problems at home, not the problems abroad -- or that happened two years ago. And after multiple congressional hearings on the subject, an independent review, and a months-long debate over the administration's "talking points," the question becomes: How much more does the public -- outside the GOP base -- want to hear about Benghazi? Does a larger summer focus on Benghazi make the GOP seem out of touch in this election year?

Is it about substance or politics?

Conservatives have charged that the press has unfairly dismissed the legitimate questions about the 2012 Benghazi attack. What did the Obama administration know and when did it know it? Why wasn't there better security? And why haven't the attackers been brought to justice? But the problem these conservatives face is that every time they invoke Hillary Clinton's name -- especially in the context of 2016 -- the more it looks like a political ploy rather than a substantive quest for information. Indeed, on "Meet the Press" yesterday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) made more references to Hillary Clinton (three) than President Obama or the Obama White House (one) when the subject turned to Benghazi. There's also a risk here that the GOP repeating its 2013 "Summer of Investigation" -- Benghazi, calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor in the IRS investigation -- gives off the impression that it doesn't have a real legislative agenda on jobs, health care, or immigration. Oh, and another Benghazi-related point: House Speaker John Boehner wanting this select committee is more than just placating the right; it's about taking the issue out of Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) hands. Don't miss what House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) said about the testimony coming from Issa's committee last week. "McKeon ... called Brig. Gen. Robert Lovell an unreliable witness and criticized Lovell's assertion that the State Department was not quick to deploy troops to respond to the 2012 terrorist attack in Libya," Politico writes. Boehner needs to control this more, and a special select committee actually allows him to call more of the shots (and keep Issa out of the spotlight).

And is it about keeping Hillary from running?

Politico's Michael Hirsch makes a final Benghazi-related point: Is all of this simply a way to keep Hillary Clinton AWAY from running in 2016? "Perhaps if the Republicans can't beat Hillary Clinton fairly in 2016, they can make her so disgusted by the prospect of running that she'll stay out of the race. That's where the Benghazi-Industrial Complex comes in. Clinton's 20-year sojourn in public life has been bracketed, jarringly, by two pseudo-scandals, both involving the tragic and less-than-fully-explained death of an important man in Hillary's orbit. In between there have been assorted smears and public humiliations, including real traumas like Monicagate, the cumulative effect of which has been to make Hillary reluctant to reenter the political game. Or so many of her friends and aides say, and so Republicans must be hoping." Then again, if that's what Republicans are hoping, what does that say about what they think their chances are if she DOES RUN in 2016?

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On the other side of the aisle, Republicans are having fun with this quote. Bill O'Reilly's last three Talking Points memos have hammered home that there is an issue with honesty and the Obama administration. Because I don't want to go somewhere else, read the memo, come back, and repeat for each of the other two memos, here are the last three Talking Points memos:

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Talking Points Memo # 1

President Obama continues to decline in the polls and some brand new stuff on Benghazi

New ABC News survey out today taken among 1,000 American adults says the following; 41 percent approve of Mr. Obama's job performance; 52 percent disapprove. On the economy 42 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove. On Obamacare 37 percent like it, 57 percent do not. Finally on the way the President is handling Russia and Ukraine, 34 percent approve, 46 percent saying no, 20 percent have no opinion.
Not good news for the President. In addition, Judicial Watch got a White House memo through the Freedom of Information Act that confirms the worst fears about Benghazi. The memo written by the communications guy Ben Rhodes was sent three days after the 9/11 attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The memo was written to prep Ambassador Susan Rice on what to say to the media the instructions are these, quote: "The goal to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video and not a broader failure or policy."
By the way Ben Rhodes is now a deputy White House security advisor. So there is no longer any doubt that the White House was pushing this spontaneous uprising theory and playing down the organized terror angle. No longer any doubt they did it President Obama should have told the nation the truth. But he did not. That's one of the reasons his poll numbers are slipping. Some Americans no longer trust him.
Fox News chief White House Ed Henry asked the President about his policy nicknamed the Obama Doctrine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: What you think the Obama doctrine is in terms of what your guiding principle is on all of these crises and how you answer those critics who say they think the doctrine is weakness?
OBAMA: Well, Ed, I would -- I doubt that I'm going to have time to lay out my entire foreign policy doctrine and -- there are actually some complimentary pieces as well about my foreign policy but I'm not sure you ran them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Ed did not know about the new Benghazi information or it would have been worse, all right?
And now the President's answer looks even more foolish because Fox News has been one of the few news operations that have actually reported on the Benghazi story honestly.
With all the chaos going on, the Republican Party has a real opportunity next November to control both Houses of Congress. If the GOP can focus on just three areas -- foreign policy, the economy and healthcare -- it should win the senate and easily keep the house.
But if Republicans are diverted into the fabricated war on women, the immigration mess, and other issues, they remain unresolved the Democrats will petty fog the real state of the union. "Talking Points" doesn't root for any political party I simply want the best for all Americans. As the ABC News poll and Benghazi information demonstrates we are not getting that right now.

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Talking Points Memo # 2

President Obama, the press and the Benghazi memo

Well, now we know now there is no question, that the White House misrepresented the terror attack on September 11th, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans murdered by a coordinated terror attack, most likely from an al Qaeda affiliate. Not one person has been brought to justice in the attack -- not one.
Five days after the murders, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said this to the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN RICE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: The information, the best information and the best assessment we have today is that, in fact, this was not a preplanned, premeditated attack. That what happened initially was it was a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired in Cairo as a consequence of the video.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: That was not true. That was not even close to being true. And a variety of people told the White House it was not true. Yet, Ambassador Rice said what she said.
Yesterday, the watchdog group Judicial Watch released the damning truth which it procured through the Freedom of Information Act. A memo written by senior White House advisor Ben Rhodes dated September 14th says that Ms. Rice was prepped to, quote: "underscore that these protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy."
Again, that despite CIA people in Libya and perhaps, Defense Secretary Panetta telling the President and the White House the video had little to do with the murders. On Super Bowl Sunday, I put the question to President Obama himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have some who are affiliated with terrorist organizations. You have some that are not. But the main thing that all of us have you to take away from this is our diplomats are serving in some very dangerous places.
O'REILLY: But it's more than that though.
OBAMA: And we've got -- and we've got to make sure that not only have we implemented all the reforms that are recommended by the independent agency but we also have to make sure that we understand our folks out there are in a hazardous, dangerous situation.
O'REILLY: I think everybody understands that, Mr. President.
OBAMA: Actually, not everybody does.
O'REILLY: I think they do.
OBAMA: Because what ends up happening -- what ends up happening is we end up creating a political agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: And that's exactly what happened. The President and the White House created a political agenda. Saying a spontaneous demonstration led to the murders, not a coordinated terror attack. And they did this because the President was running for re-election on a platform that he had broken al Qaeda and any evidence to the contrary might have hurt his campaign.
Now, did President Obama know Ambassador Rice was misleading the world? The memo from Rhodes, one of his top advisors went to his spokesperson, Jay Carney, among others. So the truth is the President stood by while the United States of America misled the world about a terror attack. But even if Mr. Obama was not directly engaged in that deception, the moment he found out about it, he should have corrected the record. But he did not even when he had a chance with me to do so. That's a huge story.
But if you read the "Wall Street Journal" today, the "New York Times," the "L.A. Times," the "Boston Globe," there is no mention of it -- none. The "Washington Post" ran the story on page 17. Only "USA Today" was honest and responsible putting the Benghazi e-mail story on the front page. Congratulations to "USA Today" which is owned by Gannett. The network news last night didn't cover the Benghazi story. MSNBC didn't cover it nor did CNN in prime time. And this morning only the CBS morning news mentioned the Benghazi story.
That's a scandal. A scandal. That is proof the American press is dishonest -- period. They are covering up a cover up as Krauthammer put it which might lead directly to the President of the United States. Yet, few Americans even know what's going on. While nearly everybody in the country knows about a racist comment by a basketball owner.
So what we have here are the words from a movie "Cool Hand Luke" is failure to communicate. And that failure by the national press to tell the American people the truth about Benghazi is for one reason and one reason only. To protect President Barack Obama.

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Talking Points Memo # 3 

The Benghazi story keeps getting bigger

Today, retired Brigadier General Robert Lovell testified before the house oversight committee about why the U.S. military did not respond at all to the terror attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.
General Lovell was in Germany awaiting orders to strike at the terrorists, orders that never came.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOVELL: what we did know quite early on was that this was a hostile action. This was no demonstration gone terribly awry. To the point of what happened, the facts led to the conclusion of a terrorist attack. The AFRICOM J2 was focused on attribution. The attacks became attributable very soon after the event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: So that means the U.S. military, the CIA on the ground in Libya and pretty much everyone else directly involved with the Benghazi attack knew it was not a spontaneous demonstrations within hours. Yet, as we proved yesterday, the Obama administration created a fiction that the attack was a reaction to an anti-Muslim videotape.
The cover was blown off that deception this week when a memo by White House advisor Ben Rhodes was released through the Freedom of Information Act. The memo clearly says that Ambassador Susan Rice was prepped to tell the world on television that a videotape incited the murders in Benghazi.
Incredibly, incredibly, even after the memo became public, White House spokesman Jay Carney denied it was even about Benghazi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN KARL: Why did it take a court case for you to release this?
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Jon, I can say again and again and I know you can keep asking again and again, this document was not about Benghazi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: But that's not true. The Freedom of Information filing, which produced the memo finally, specifically cited correspondence about Benghazi. The "Wall Street Journal" editorialized today, quote: "Mr. Carney still insisted Ms. Rice had relied on points about the Benghazi attack that were produced by the CIA. He must think the press corps is stupid."
Well Carney may think the press corps is stupid. He knows the press corps doesn't care and that's why he says these outrageous things. He knows the coverage will be minimal, except on Fox News.
Last night, CBS Evening News didn't cover Benghazi. NBC did a 30-second reader. ABC did a report with Jonathan Karl, the man you saw there, who gave Carney a hard time. That was 10 minutes into the broadcast. ABC should have led with it. Most newspapers today either ignored or minimized the story, same thing yesterday.
So let me break it down again. According to General Lovell's testimony today the U.S. military made no attempt to defend the Americans under siege because they were not asked to do so.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What specifically did the State Department, what have they done or what prevented you from doing that.
LOVELL: It's not what -- well, it's not what they did in that particular situation, it's what they didn't do. They didn't come forward with stronger requests for action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: That means then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has some explaining to do. But so does President Obama. Remember, he is the Commander-in-Chief. The military cannot move without his order. And he obviously didn't give it. Why? The general is as confused as I am.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LOVELL: We didn't know how long this would last when we became aware of the distress nor did we completely understand what we had in front of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: So that means that the attack could have been larger. The military didn't know. And forces didn't mobilize to save the people under siege? That's shocking. See, that's what this story is all about -- the failure of the U.S. government to protect Americans under fire in Benghazi. And then after the fact trying to say oh the killers weren't organized terrorists.
Are we all getting this? But, again, the national media won't cover it. Does it get any worse than that in our democracy? "Talking Points" is angry. The Obama administration was completely derelict in the Benghazi terror attack and was dishonest in the aftermath. And the national press doesn't give a damn? Disgraceful.

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And, to sum all of this up, Brit Hume said this, "You’re right. There wasn’t a conspiracy in the United States to mount the Benghazi attack. That’s not the question. The question was whether in the aftermath of the attack when the administration sent its U.N. Ambassador out to explain it to everybody and she did so falsely that there wasn’t a conspiracy to create the false talking points that she used. I’m not talking about the CIA talking points. I’m talking about the talking points used on that program that day which were monumentally misleading and were, and have since been shown to be false and based on no intelligence of any consequence that we know of.” – Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume talking to former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., on “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace”

And after reading all of that, I wonder if there is a reason to not believe the Obama administration. I mean, does anyone question if time will reveal the the truth in all of this? Doesn't the truth eventually reveal itself?

400 to Go!

This is the 1600th post to this blog I posted this on Monday, November 26, 2007, before I took a break until Tuesday, March 18, 2008, which is when I posted this. Today, I announce my goal of reaching 2000 posts by the end of the year. My goal is to post 50 times / month between now and 12/31/2014 so that on 1/1/2015, I am posting my 2001st post. Ambitious goal? I would say so, especially since I've only exceeded 50 posts in a month twice: December 2012 and November 2013. I also think that having a goal like this does not give me a license to simply post one or two line posts. I will adhere to this schedule but not reach it artificially by posting multiple posts in what I would normally include in a single post. I will achieve this goal by posting intelligent, not mind-numbing, ideas. Some of the time. Well, if I feel like it.

 5/2014 - 50
 6/2014 - 50
 7/2014 - 50 
 8/2014 - 50
 9/2014 - 50
10/2014 - 50
11/2014 - 50
12/2014 - 50
              400

Have I Got it Wrong?

Don't write what you know about - write about what you *don't* know about? That started out as my first impression of this article, but the more I read, the more I realized that isn't what is being suggested. Basically, it is saying that if you *know* about Chicago, don't set your story in Perth, Australia, in an effort to make the setting more exotic. If you know about archery, don't make your protagonist an expert with a blow dart from South America, in an effort to make the weapon more exotic. Make your setting "Chicago" and the weapon of choice "a bow and arrow" because it's okay - you know about it.

Or maybe, I'm just totally ready to go home for the week.

Weekend Plans

We have a busy weekend approaching. Alex has two baseball games in Riverside, IA. The first game is at 1 and the second game is at 3. I am hoping that we can be done with the second game by 5:15 (at the latest) so we can attend 5:30 Mass at St. Mary's in Riverside. I also hope it's not bad weather like last night where I sat in windy and cold conditions with a blue blanket over me and a hood up over my head. Last year, the games in Riverside were under a sunny sky.

Common Core

This is an interesting article about Common Core that I think is interesting.

It Makes All the Difference

"What difference does it make?" asked Hillary Clinton in a hearing about Benghazi. She was referring to if the attack was motivated by reaction to a video or not. Turns out, the theory the Democrats have been trying to sell - that there is no Benghazi conspiracy - is not true. Read this article: http://www.redstate.com/2014/04/30/hillary-clinton-source-benghazi-video-lie/ and think about it. For months, the Democrats have called Benghazi a false issue, that there was nothing to the coverup theory from (some) Republicans that said blaming Benghazi on a video was a political / election year ploy. Consider the post I included on this blog just over a year ago http://prhmusic.blogspot.com/2013/05/republicans-lead-witch-hunt-on-benghazi.html and compare that to what has been revealed since.

Please, I'm not gloating. I think it's awful that politics in America can be like this. It sucks. It makes me ashamed of our leaders and that transcends political party affiliation.

Update:
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2014/04/30/media-playing-catchup-on-benghazi-n1831609?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

A New Month! Yeah!

My night was spent driving from North Liberty to Marion (for my co-worker's sister's wake (http://thegazette.com/article/20140429/Obituaries/304299973) and then down First Avenue to visit my mom. I thought a lot about my past as I drove down First Avenue. From cruising with Serbi in high school, to the old Sports Page restaurant that is now a different bar, to the old DeSoda's that is now an Aaron's Appliances store to the old McDonald's that is now called Club Basix to the Irish Democrat that still exists to the old music store that is now a secondhand store to the building that had a software company in it that I tried to get hired at (but didn't - I can't even remember the name of the place) to the old drug store that is now Barb's Computers to ... you get the point. There's a lot of history on that road and it had been a long time since I drove it from Marion to downtown. I thought about how all of those memories, while great, are not who I am today, in 2014.

In 2014, I feel like I have my life in order for as much as a human can.

• I have a great job - my 3 year anniversary is May 31, 2014. 
• My focus at work is on a project that is challenging and rewarding as it has challenged my definition of "documentation" each day. From 2/10/1995 until this project started in March 2014, I thought software documentation always was about the UI in the software. That definition has been thrown out the window. I am thinking at a higher level, thanks to the direction of my manager and co-workers. It's not about what the end-user does as far as clicking this and clicking that in the UI. It's about what happens when they click this and click that - what is the result, the outcome. 
• Karen and I are doing well. 
• The kids are doing well. 
• I am sober. 
• I play drums in Uncle Rico the Band and that's making me a much better drummer than I could have hoped for because, in previous bands, my tempos were not scrutinized the way they are with them. 
• I have the conversion projects - the CD, the cassette, the video - that keep me occupied.

In conclusion, I think May is going to be a good month and admit to being excited about all that I expect to happen between now and May 31, 2014.