Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin

The Supreme Court made history today by finally ruling on the ultimate interpretation of the Second Amendment. In a 5-4 vote, the Court ruled that the 2nd established an individuals right to own firearms for self defense and hunting. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought against the District of Columbia protesting their […]

Want to know a secret? I hate my job. If I wasn’t so good at it and it didn’t pay so well (and I didn’t need the money) I’d be looking for new employment in a heart beat. I normally just tell people I’m a programmer because laypersons understand that term. Technically, I’m a system […]

Indulge me for a moment if you will dear reader. I feel the need to remove the mask for a moment and give you a tiny glimpse at the twisted circus that is my psyche. I find myself infatuated. With a woman. I’m fairly certain she doesn’t read this blog - despite an irrational desire […]

I’m having trouble slipping back into my “normal” life this week. It seems so dull and meaningless. Frankly, I’d rather be back out on the road. Or any place but here right now. I think part of it is going from being surrounded by people that relate to me because of a shared love of motorcycles […]

Today is a flurry of wrapping things up at work, picking up a few odds and ends I need for the trip, laundry, packing. And oh yes, putting the bike back together. I’m having a hard time getting motivated for some reason. I’m in a really strange place mentally and emotionally this week. I don’t do […]

What a beautiful weekend in Seattle! The weather was fantastic. Warm. Sunny. For a couple of days we got a real taste of Summer weather. Of course, the forecast is for cloudy and cooler this week. That’s Seattle too. The kids were over Friday and Saturday. We didn’t really do anything amazing, just relaxed and hung […]

I had time to do a little thinking while on the road this past weekend. That’s not always a good thing. I tend to do better when I’m busy enough that I don’t have time for my mind to wander. Driving cross country on two lane roads with sparse traffic doesn’t take much attention. So […]

No, not *that* kind of fantasy… get yer mind out o’ the gutter! The kids were over and we were *watching* fantasy movies! We picked up a copy of Stardust on Saturday to watch (even though we’ve all seen it). I really do like this movie a lot. It’s not perfect but I gave it a favorable review when it originally hit theaters.

When we were done with Stardust, we decided to watch a second movie. We’re fans of double features in case you hadn’t picked up on that. One of my quirks though is that if I’m going to watch two movies in a row, they have to be related somehow. There has to be a theme, whether it’s two movies of the same genre, the same actor, director, something. It just can’t be two random movies. We poked through my library of DVDs a bit and pulled out a candidate. Any guesses what it might have been? Keep reading to see if you were right!

A while back, as part of a meme, Stacie asked me about my past relationship with aviation. She’s been taking flying lessons and wondered if in my exploits I ever seriously considered getting my pilot’s license. The short answer is “no” but I thought a more complete answer might make an interesting blog post. I have a history of involvement with various aspect of aerospace and aviation that goes back almost 30 years.

Interesting new article in Newsweek on the subject of “Secret Prejudices.” The idea being that while our rational minds might allow us to overcome biases, subconsciously we may still be prejudiced towards groups of people and this can affect our behavior in ways we may not realize. The article goes on to discuss a type of psychological test called Implicit Association Tests or IATs. It’s a testing technique that tries to bypass our conscious minds and tap into our subconscious. Harvard University hosts IAT tests on their website and allows the general public to try them. I took a few this evening just to see what I thought, and the results were interesting…