Brian Bilbrey ⁽⁷⁵⁹⁾

Brian Bilbrey December 25, 2011

Happy Kwanzicamas

A quiet day at home for us. Happily, our combat forces appear to be done in Iraq, and perhaps mostly at home with their families, at least until that notably unstable "country" blows up again. I think we have no further responsibility to send young men and women there there die, come the day that decision must be made. Aaaaand, we still have a bunch of folks in harm's way in Afghanistan. Our thoughts are with them and their families this holiday season. * * * I was momentarily hopeful, but that gift was denied - we have one casualty…

Brian Bilbrey December 20, 2011

Process and Paranormal

Process and Paranormal - it's not a Jane Austen parody, although those are surprisingly popular these days, especially those with zombies baked in. I'm just thoughtful about two different things right at the moment and rather than make progress on anything, I'll stop and discuss things here. * * * Process is much on my mind not just because of my on-again, off-again forays into the land of productivity porn. My in-field class this upcoming Winter session has Pressman's Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach as the text. Software engineering is all about process (as is personal and work productivity). I'm…

Brian Bilbrey December 18, 2011

13 Days and Counting...

Shopping in the morning, and several hours of hardware maintenance at the office through the middle of the day ... and my day is done. * * * Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors: Lance Cpl. Christopher P. J. Levy, 21, of Ramseur, North Carolina, died Dec. 10 of wounds sustained Dec. 7 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Sgt. Christopher L. Muniz, 24, of New Cuyama, California, died Dec. 11, in Kunar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Spc. Ronald H.

Brian Bilbrey December 17, 2011

Plague of Imagination

The problem of having a rich imagination is this: Anything that can go wrong, already has ... in my mind. Imagine driving home from someplace unusual, as I did this afternoon. Imagine using the Nav system built into the car and pressing the "Go Home" button. Once I get out of the area I don't know and I'm on a known path home, I want to make the car stop talking to me. So I press the DEST button on the dash, select "Del Dest" on the screen, and be prompted: "Delete Destination? [YES][NO]" I tap the yes button, then…

Brian Bilbrey December 11, 2011

Sad and cold...

A couple of hours of remote work this weekend, and 15 or so hours of work on the final project for my Java class. Progress is. Oh, yeah, and it was 15°F out this morning. I think I know what the 'F' stands for. * * * Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors: Sgt. Ryan D. Sharp, 28, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, died Dec. 3, at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered Nov. 21 at Kandahar province, when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Sgt. 1st Class Clark…