As Promised...Part 1

As promised, I’m going to try to explain a lot of the things that I’ve been thinking lately in the hopes that I can explain not only my thoughts, but also why I may or may not have responded to things that have happened lately. Furthermore, the opinions contained here-in are mine and mine alone. I have not been coerced into putting anything that I’m about to type by anyone other than myself. That being said, let’s talk…

I’m worried about how things are going here…and by “here” I mean “America”. To me, America has changed from a Democracy (however flawed) into a Theocracy (or a system of government based on or heavily relying on a religion). Do I think this is what was originally wanted by our founding fathers? No…I think this is one of the main reasons that the “Separation of Church and State” was so important to them. They came from a place with a state sanctioned church (the good old CoE). Is it right for our present government to base law on a) their personal beliefs or b) the beliefs of whatever religious group they belong to?

Perhaps this is one of the joys of being in control of a nation…you get to mold it into your image. You get to make your thoughts and beliefs (or, more likely, the thoughts and beliefs of whoever pays you the most) into law so that those that believe the things you believe and think the things you think are now a part of the “In” group. Personally, and this will come as a surprise to some of you, I don’t really care what the “In” group wants, thinks, believes or anything. I am, as we all are, an individual. I am entitled to my own opinions, thoughts and beliefs. What I AM upset about is when one special group or another tells me what I need to do to fit in with their group…even if I don’t want or care to.

As an example, why should one person care what another person chooses to do with their life? If two gay women in Vermont want to get married, why is it the government’s business to tell them that they can’t or that they shouldn’t? Why should they choose to define something so simple as “love” or “marriage”? Is a gay woman or man any less capable of loving someone just because of who they choose to love? I say, in a loud voice: “No.” The government has NO right to tell anyone who they can or can’t love. Furthermore, a religion based on “love your neighbor as yourself”, “do unto others” and “those who live in glass houses” really should do more to follow their own rules than trying to tell other people where they’ve failed, where they are going wrong, or how they should live their life.

I think if I were to have to classify myself (you know how we humans are…we always have to feel like we “belong” to a group), I would say I was a Centrist. I don’t agree with a lot of the things that Republicans believe, but I don’t agree with a lot of the things that Democrats believe either. Depending on the issue, I pretty much just make up my mind based off of what I feel. Some would call that sitting on the fence…but I call that being a Centrist. Maybe I made that up…I don’t really know for sure.

As for my views on religion…I’m going to write about that next time as I’m rather burnt-out at this point. Seriously, post your views…I want to know what you think – but don’t be offended if I choose to disagree. After all, if you have a right to your opinion, I have a right to mine.

Weekend Plans

This weekend will prove to be one of the busiest in the history of Scott. Granted, it’s nothing that I’m actually doing, per se…but there’s going to be a lot of work done. What, you may be asking, will be happening? I’m glad you may be asking!

Starting today, I have 36 laptops that will be arriving from Dell for deployment to the attorneys and paralegals. Thirty-Six laptops…that’s a bunch! I don’t know if I can even count that high right now. Anyway, the cool deal is that I created an image for the laptops ahead of time and sent it off to Dell for pre-loading on the machines. That means, in effect, that I can un-box each laptop and put it on the desk. In doing this, I probably shaved off about 30-40 hours worth of work. That’s money, ladies and gents. Granted, you can’t deploy 36 computers to 2 cities, 3 buildings and 5 floors without there being some small issues, but I’m ready for that as well. I have a bottle of Valium all ready.

On Friday, I’m going to be working with Northrop Grumman in a project which will involve rebuilding our Citrix server. This, I hope, won’t be very “work” intensive for me as all I really have to do is find the software and provide it for them and to be “on call” just in case something bad happens (which it won’t). Once this project is completed, the Missoula office (which connects to our system via Citrix) will be MUCH more stable and will run much better. I hope, anyway.

I had some good news the other day. My supervisor left a message for me on the phone in which he stated, “Why don’t you go ahead and change your message to “Network Administrator” or “Systems Administrator” instead of “IT Support”.” Wow. I talked with him yesterday for a bit and he asked if I had done it yet, which I hadn’t. I asked why I should and he explained that he wanted me to change my title because of the work that I’ve been doing, the initiative that I’ve taken on the projects and planning and because I’m now starting to act like the system here is “MY” system rather than “THE” system. To me, the difference isn’t that much, but apparently it is to him and others. I just changed it

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about stuff. Serious stuff like religion, politics and all the other “Taboo” subjects. I’ll write about these next time.

Today I woke up at 6am and decided that I wanted to go outside and look at the stars. If there’s one thing about Montana that amazes me even more than the scenery, the weather, the people and the attitude of the place, it’s the night sky. There are more stars here than I’ve seen anywhere else short of Up-State New York. I realize, of course, that the same stars are above my head that have been above me everywhere…it’s just that the sheer number of them is much higher. For about 30 minutes, I stood outside with my eyes turned skyward…drinking it all in (Curly and Tomassa, you would be pleased to note that I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt in 28 degree weather…I was wearing shoes though). Amazing. What do you find amazing?