Janet, Keith, Matthew, & Josie

First Android post

2011-11-07T22:32:00.001-06:00

Nothing to see here, just playing around.

I am the 6.5%

2011-10-11T15:16:00.004-05:00

I found a site via FB that actually seemed to merit a blog post explaining how working wages and paychecks actually work. The site is called We are the 53%. It's kind of hard to understate how smug and condescending these posts seem to be. To be fair, there are some inspring stories but as a whole I think the site could be titled 'being smug about people who earn less than I do'

Everyone who earns a paycheck pays 1.5% in medicare taxes and ~~6.4~~ 4.4% (roughly) in FICA or Social security taxes. That's everyone who earns up to about $100k after that you get out of paying FICA - that's what's known as a 'tax break'. If you're self-employed, you get to double that tax break. After these withholdings, you get to pay your income tax based upon your 'tax bracket', and there after you file a return at the end of the year to verify your total tax bill.

With the complexities of the math & deductions(children, mortgages, etc.) involved you can earn so little as to not pay any income tax whatsoever. These people are those 47% of citizens who don't pay taxes. Those people who work crap jobs trying to support kids, a house, etc but don't make enough to pay income tax. However, they don't escape the FICA, medicare, sales, or property taxes from their locales. So while those whiners, complainers, and handout-wanters didn't pay one particular tax because of their low wages, they did not escape the Federal or state taxman.

It's more than likely that these lucky 47% who don't pay taxes mow your lawn, take out your trash, clean your buildings, etc. Some of them are even deadbeats who don't/won't work.

Regardless, having been on both sides of this income breakdown, I'm not so sure what gives these 53% of citizens to look down on their fellow citizen and proclaim how awesome they are because they can *pay* the Federal Income tax. When I was paying *no* income tax, I didn't want these people had and generally considered them jerks. I'm pretty sure the rest of the 47% don't want a handout, but they'd sure like a raise, or some other way to be 'fortunate' enough to pay federal income taxes - I can't speak for any of them of course. However, I think the profound lack of empathy for other suffering people I can speak to, I hope none of these 53% never have the misfortune of being cast in the pit of sodomites that makes up those not in the 53%.

Steve Benen covered this odd meme and I think his words still ring true:

From a purely philosophical perspective, wouldn't a study claiming that nearly half of U.S. households escape paying a federal income tax be good news for a political movement -- as well as its chief media enabler -- that rallies for lower taxes?

Mr. Benen discussed this again as well.

Deep RPG secrets

2011-06-04T16:50:00.001-05:00

Ever wonder what sort of heinous gaming I did while not finishing college - well now you can find out. I've listed all of my golden age of geekery books on ebay in the hopes that someone will get more use out of them than I.

Last day thoughts

2011-05-29T20:33:00.002-05:00

I got several compliments on my departure email, so I thought I'd share it with the rest of my blog readers (certain stuff left out due to Garmin corp policy)

It seems like such a short time ago I started at Garmin. There were six developers, four analysts, one data architect, and their manager all in the 2nd floor of the old building. It wasn't the IT of a multi-billion dollar company on a shoestring – it was on a thread. As I leave, I see an IT organization that has grown in size and capability that would have astounded the one I was part of four years ago.

I would like to thank the following people for my time here at Garmin.

Bert Pappas: without whom I wouldn't have known there was an IT developer opening which turned into a tech lead which turned into a system architect which turned into an opportunity to pursue a dream
...
Dr. Min Kao: for founding a company that has allowed me to expand my career and personal growth. I remember meeting Dr. Kao in the elevator during my orientation and thinking 'huh, he's just like another engineer - wow!' You don't meet many genuinely humble and human CEOs of billion-dollar corporation.

There are so many wonderful people I'll be leaving and so many memories I take with me that I can't thank everyone enough. If you make it out to Santa Monica, please drop me an email, text, or phone call.

Best regards and warmest wishes on everyone's future endeavors,

Happy Birthday Josie!

2011-05-19T09:07:00.002-05:00

Today is Josie's fifth birthday - Party on Princess!

Party time

2011-05-18T18:24:00.001-05:00

Our farewell event has been posted on FB - if you're not on our FB friends list - you should be - this should be much fun.

Great things are afoot!

2011-05-10T18:00:00.007-05:00

That is one of my favorite lines from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Slartibartfast is telling Arthur Dent that machinations he barely comprehends are underway.

This may be one of those times.

As some of you may know, I have worked in the KC IT industry for quite some time. It has been interesting and at times even fun and rewarding. I cannot complain about the more than fair wages I have been paid or for any of the wonderful people that have tolerated my employment.

A few years ago, Janet and I made our first trip to LA. This was work-related, but we met some great folks out there and got our first taste of the West Coast together. Janet and I went out and got another taste. Then we took our kids out and all tasted it together. We had an awesome time in what I consider to be one of the best cities on earth.

At some point during our last trip I made myself this bargain. I would work ten-hour days if at the end of each day I could come to the beach and just chill out for one hour. To say the least I had fallen in a stupor with west side living. However, the only companies on that side of town were Google, to which I hadn't the courage to apply, and a whole bunch of studios that weren't hiring. I wasn't going to move out to LA to spend two hours per day in traffic to work at a bank/insurance company/government agency and on top of all of that wages were down due to the recession so it looked like LA would just be a vacation spot in the near future.

Then time passed.

As luck would have it a company on the west side was hiring recently. I applied, interviewed, and after a few rounds of negotiations we came to an agreement. They would move me and my family to LA and I would work for them for them. I have high hopes that this is the right thing to do - to move to someplace that I want to live the rest of my life for a new company that seems like a very good fit for me. I hope this works out well and that I can keep up with LA.

It is not without trepidation that I leave this fair city and region that has been my home for my entire life and has shaped my person. I will miss being close to my family, friends, and local online community. There are too many to list in this one post, but if you're reading this, then you're probably one of them.

June 6 is my start date. I've called my family and turned in my notice at work. I'll blog about my new circumstances and the incredibly stressful time that will be the new job, moving, family transition, social adaptation, and a huge urban landscape.

So long, and thanks for all of the fish Kansas City. I'll come back from time-to-time.

It's birthday time, so it's time for a blog post as well

2010-08-17T09:16:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday to the reason I started blogging - my son. He turns seven today!

We love you Matthew!

Lunch

2010-05-05T07:15:00.001-05:00

Today I am having lunch with my son at his school.

I asked him last night if he wanted me to have lunch with him today. His enthusiastic reply was 'Yes!' I asked him if he knew why I liked having lunch with him. He said "because you love me".

I may have done one thing right for once.

HCR from a consumer's point-of-view

2010-03-26T21:36:00.006-05:00

So, HCR is finally done and in my lifetime - yay!

I'm sure anyone who reads this blog or follows my FB posts knows that I think this is a good thing, to start with, to fix our outrageously broken system of payment and care delivery. The best that can be said is 'at least we got started'.

But, but communism, socialism, fascism, FREEEEEDOMMMMMM!!!!!!

Bullshit.

Most of the asshats protesting have probably never bought individual health insurance. They're using the employer-based system that is a fundamental part of the broken shibboleth of healthcare. Let me tell you *exactly* what it's like to buy an individual/small family plan, and this was a good and sanctified HSA plan to boot. I got this plan after I left one job to be self-employed. I needed insurance for myself, my wife, and young son. I was making enough scratch that I actually maxed out the FICA contribution. That's right I stopped paying FICA after a certain point and got a nifty ~13% tax cut post that cut-off. That's something that's never brought up in tax discussions isn't it(Let's cut taxes on people who already have a tax cut from FICA)

First, we get weighed, measured, and blood tested. If not, you're out of the preferred rate plans immediately. Secondly try to remember anything that's ever happened to you and write it down on a large form. Even if it was something fairly routine, like having a gall bladder removed, if you don't have a physician's note or something similar, you'll be boosted out of the preferred rate plan. Third, don't ever ever ever be a woman who's of child-bearing age. Even though we qualified for super-spiffy low rates, being that my wife was of child-bearing age, we had to get a maternity rider. That doubled our premium. By the way, you can't get a rider after you get pregnant, so a pregnancy test is in order too to make sure you don't have a pesky pre-existing condition.

Ok, so we're tested, measured, and found not pregnant - great! Our broker tells us that we can qualify for any of the traditional plans starting around $1200-$1400/month. I know what you're thinking - pocket change! Even though I'm self-employed at the time with a decent wage, that is just too much to handle on a monthly basis with a house, car, etc. So we opt for the HSA with its much more reasonable premium of $420/month and a lifetime cap, for the family, of $7 million. I don't know what all the fuss was about with insurance so cheap!

Oh wait, the HSA requires you to take a high deductible. The deductible we had to take to make the monthly premium work out was $10k/year, but you get to take it out pre-tax - wheeeee!!!!!! I set about putting back $275/bi-weekly(you do the math) hoping(gambling) that nothing major will happen during the first year or else it would have been Visa helping to finance that as well.

So for all this cash outlay on my part, the insurance generously contributed 10% of every office visit bill. Now using this awesome tool of capitalism, I was able to negotiate prices with my doctor's office! Go go cash.

Every fucking office visit cost me between $120 and $140 dollars after insurance kicked in. How often do you think we took a visit to the doctor? That's right, we sure as hell didn't over consume because we were going to wait until the very last possible minute to go - that always works well for illnesses doesn't it? Thankfully nothing bad happened to us.

Did I mention that the $10K limit is a yearly limit. So let's say something big happened at the end of one year (November, December) - well I've got that handy in my HSA account I'll just drain that now to pay these bills. Now January rolls around and guess what, the major illness hasn't gone away. Oh and at any time, the insurer could have kicked the sick person off of the policy, or all of use really and refused all of the bills.

So let's sum up: I pay a huge premium, take on a lot of risk, all for the privilege of having no pricing power, and no guarantee of coverage should anything go horribly wrong. One can see how buying insurance on the open market is very reasonable, and gives one a sense of peace and well-being.

The above described transactions and 'market' are what the ACA bill has reformed, not employer-based insurance, and not care delivery.

So if this 'system' was so great and didn't need reform, I'd like to see how many doom-sayers jump right out of their employment-based insurance and into that market. Oh wait, that market has gone away hasn't it. It will be missed, like bubonic plague, cholera, and typhoid.

Snow driving

2010-01-08T08:24:00.004-06:00

I'm going to let some people know how old I am. No, I'm not older than fire like XO, but I'm getting up there.

I learned to drive in snow way back in 1984 using a car just like this:

That is a 1969 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. It had a 472 cubic inch engine, rear wheel drive, and a solid rear axle. It weighed in at ~4600lbs with no posi-traction system. This car was a beast. We also never put an extra weight in the back of this car.

Using only this car and my father's instructions, I managed to navigate our un-plowed, un-salted, un-sanded dirt roads when they snow-packed and iced up in the winter. I learned exactly how to take a hill that had turned into an ice sheet and just putt-putt my way up it with no slipping or spinning using only the all-weather tires that we had put on the car.

So when I see the local drivers packed with fear using their front-wheel-drive ABS-equipped cars to drive down a relatively clear freeway I must scoff.

Dear SUV driver going 5mph on a clear street and dear wanna-be redneck with the large wheels who's now in the ditch.

It's not my fault you suck!

So, it's done

2009-10-05T15:12:00.003-05:00

No, I'm not taking down the blog. I've finally caught up on six years of family photo uploads to Smugmug.

Lessons learned - if you're going to self host always have a hot-backup ready and a recovery plan, otherwise just leave it to the pros.

So why don't we need healthcare reform again

2009-09-02T09:22:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah, it's to keep this system in place.

Stepping into the healcare debate

2009-09-01T12:38:00.003-05:00

After reading XO's post and having stood on the sidelines for too long, I'm about to enter the debate.

First to everyone - STFU! Seriously, the shouting has got to stop. It's irksome and makes our nation look like a bunch of idiots.

Second, I've had private insurance - it sucked - a lot. Telling me that more private insurance is the answer to our problems makes you a non-serious participant in the debate. Suggesting we reform the current system is like suggesting we put a lock on the barn door after the cows have left.

Thirdly why don't we take a few clues from people around the globe who've dealt with this stuff already - you know learn from their mistakes? If we can't do better on this that Taiwan & Switzerland who both had healthcare systems as bad, if not worse than ours, I weep for our posterity.

Six years ago today

2009-08-17T07:51:00.004-05:00

We brought forth a little person into the world and he has made every day unique and interesting for us.

Happy Birthday Matthew! We wouldn't be the people we are without you, just try not to grow up too fast.

We love you!

More on healthcare

2009-07-12T09:38:00.002-05:00

I know some people won't believe Sicko, or that the outcomes in the U.S. for health care are worse than any other western capitalist country. What about an industry insider, is anyone else not convinced that our health care system doesn't need an overhaul?

I have seen the future

2009-07-06T18:20:00.000-05:00

And it comes with a nice red wine and tulips.

In which I take a brief divergance into politics again

2009-07-03T12:42:00.003-05:00

Paul Krugman debunks a lot of myths on healthcare reform. It's nice to know that none of the opponents seem to want any facts.

Since XO was wondering

2009-06-08T08:55:00.003-05:00

XO left a comment asking about Matthew's stream of consciousness photos. I've moved that gallery out from under his section in smugmug and let it be its own thing.

FYI he's taken more pictures by himself than we've taken of our daughter. Wait until I get the rest of his pics posted.

Catching up

2009-06-07T08:10:00.000-05:00

I am now only a year behind in uploading all of our photos from the great crash of 2008 to smugmug. However, I've just run into my son's photo-stream-of-consciousness so that is slowing me down again.

Onward!

Three years ago today

2009-05-19T06:16:00.008-05:00

...My wife gave birth the to the cutest baby girl ever!

Happy Birthday Josie! Our life wouldn't be the same with out you.

A very happy birthday wish

2009-04-27T11:27:00.005-05:00

To the most awesomest wife & mother ever!

I love you baby, and I can't wait to spend all the remaining years with you.

Bloggering report

2009-04-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

So, last night Janet, I, and the spawn went to the Waldo Bloggering gathering. We had a great time and reconnected with some of the people we've grown to know over the past years.

Let this post be my re-entry into the local blog scene. I'll try to have something useful to say.

Things are getting better

2008-11-06T16:23:00.001-06:00

There are far too many people who bemoan the state of the world today. Good news! They're wrong.

Yet more reason for hope.

XO nailed it

2008-11-04T22:20:00.001-06:00

Several months ago, XO called this election.

Welcome President Barack Hussein Obama!

I can't believe how happy I am!

Humbled

2008-11-04T10:23:00.003-06:00

I went to my polling place after I left the gym this morning. I expected that since it was early, I'd be in and out in a few minutes.

I was greeted by some nice folks who told me the line started one door up from where it normally was. No problem I thought, it will be all of fifteen minutes instead of two; then I got in the door. There must have been 300+ people in the line I was in with more coming.

It is not often I am gobsmacked in the course of a day, but there it was. I was humbled and moved by my fellow citizens all standing in line for what they knew would be over an hour. They were all standing there waiting to exercise their franchise. Every type of person was there, the old grandfather, the young college student, the daughter of immigrants - every one wanting to make their voice heard today.

Through an accident of address, I was able to skip most of the waiting(only about 30 minutes or so). However, the actual voting area was full up. I sat on an old piano filling out my ballot scribbling my ovals in and hoping my tiny scribbling can make this nation better for my wife, son, and daughter.

Whoever the next people running the government are will have a host of problems to fix, but I have had my faith restored in the ideals of my country and the decency of my fellow citizens.

May every one's vote be counted, and may the next leader take this day of enfranchisement as a symbol of the electorate's sacred trust in him. Thank you my fellow countrymen and women for voting today.

Attitude

2008-10-30T07:44:00.000-05:00

Last night at dinner(cheesburgers on whole wheat buns, brown rice, & lima beans), Matthew, Janet, and I were discussing his choice of Halloween costumes. Matthew it seemed didn't want to be Sportacus anymore.

You may be able to tell how unhappy he was from those photos when he got the costume, which he asked for, last week.

So being a good dad and telling him that if you don't go as Sportacus you don't go, and if you don't go you don't get candy; he tells me that he will go and yes he will get candy anyway.

Janet jumps in at this point, since I was quickly becoming cranky, and says "That's enough attitude out of you Matthew."
To which Matthew replies: "I wasn't attituding you, I was attituding daddy."

My son isn't normally that assertive and that funny at the same time. Janet and I had to look away from each other to keep from laughing out loud.

He's still going as Sportacus.

Quiztastic

2008-10-24T12:26:00.000-05:00

FYI I have no taste...

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.

14 Impressionist, -6 Islamic, -3 Ukiyo-e, -3 Cubist, 0 Abstract and -16 Renaissance!

Impressionism is a movement in French painting, sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. Impressionist paintings are balanced, use colored shadows, use pure color, broken brushstrokes, thick paint, and scenes from everyday life or nature.

People that like Impressionist paintings may not alway be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aestically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impresssionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Back porting

2008-10-24T10:19:00.000-05:00

I'll be back porting some of my old posts to this new site from the old one. Thank you internet archive for making backups for me!

Picture hosting

2008-10-22T12:31:00.000-05:00

Since I've offloaded all of my web hosting duties to others, I've got a new photo hosting site to which I'll be re-uploading (OMG the data volume) the family pics. I've chosen SmugMug for the picture hosting. It seems to suck less than many other systems.

So now you can re-enjoy the pictures that have been lost from my poor HD.

Decided

2008-10-20T13:13:00.001-05:00

This is my first post at the new address. Those of you expecting to find my old self-hosted blog will be taken here instead. I've given up on self-hosting for various reasons most of them being that I don't have the time to be a good sysadmin while watching after my little ones.

People with too much time on their hands and not enough information

2008-01-01T14:24:00.000-06:00

Those of you who have kept up with the happenings at Chez Sader know the following:

Janet and I love each other very much
Janet and I love our children very much
Janet's bio-parents have abandoned her because she won't follow the inane rantings of Charles Taze Russell and his ilk.

So, for NYE we had planned to ship the kids down to grammy's so that

Grammy could see them
We could party all night w/o fear of small children wanting to be fed at some unearthly hour - like 7:00 a.m. Jan. 1, 2008.

Yahoo Chat at work:

rhg_sader: Your mom just called me and told me not to bring the kids down.
scrod_puppy: What?
rhg_sader: She said we didn't know the meaning of love and she couldn't support us.
scrod_puppy: Call me.

So one short phone call later in which Janet informed me she didn't know what the hell my mother was talking about I had the following (paraphrased) conversation with my mother.

Me: Mother, why did you tell Janet not to bring the kids down?
Mom: I just can't support you two if you're going to do that!
Me: Do what?
Mom: I know what you two are doing, it's all over the internet!
Me: What do you think we're doing?(I'm baffled)
Mom: You two are husband and wife-swapping, it's all on myspace.
Me: (angry)What? Who told you that?
Mom: I just can't support that. You two don't know how to love each other...

The conversation degenerates from there. During the remainder of the conversation, I'm told how I'm a poor parent, addicted to the internet, and that I don't know how to love someone. To use understatement to it's full effect: The conversation does not go well. There is shouting involved in my beautifully private cubicle.

Here's a short summary of the evidence(we think) that she's basing this opinion on:

My wife, who I've been with for eight years, in a fit of romantic passion gave me *gasp* a hickey one evening. During the course of that receding we went to my mothers and I *blatently* showed it off. I.e. I wore my normal no-collared t-shirt. I know, I'm very risque and brash.
My mother apparently overheard my wife talking to someone at Thanksgiving saying "You should have stayed, that's when the fun really started..." Neither I, nor apparently my mother was privy to the entire conversation since I was busy hosting and mom was nowhere near the actual conversation.
My wife, on myspace, lists her orientation as 'bi-'. Mind you, this is something she discovered about herself during her many hours of therapy and mind-awakening away from the JWs.
I have no fucking idea what else she's seen/browsed.

So, due to the fact that my wife and I enjoy a refreshing bedroom romp every once and a while, talk to people who visit our house, have a penchant for comfortable clothing, and the fact that Janet has discovered that if she was starting from scratch again she could play the field, we obviously must be swappers or whatever the term is now-a-days for orgy participants. All of this from the demon myspace and some unconfirmed commentary by a prudish third party.

This 'case' as it were is so ridiculous as to not merit a response, but respond I shall.

Here's what the inter-tubes say about 'Keith Sader' That's right, I'm having a torrid affair with all things Java/Ruby/Scrum/Roller/C++/geek. I just can't keep my pants up when someone says 'meta-programming'. Here's what the tubes say about 'Janet Sader'. Yep she's a sultry harlot for democratic primaries and blogger-socials. Whew, it's a wonder I can keep up with her the way she cavorts about! Yes had anyone bothered to search "all over the internet" this is what they would have found about the den of sin that is my household. Sometimes the cops have to be called to keep all of the horny folks away from my door begging for smoked turkey, bbq ribs, and the raconteur that is my wife.

All of this from the woman who has never bothered to turn on a PC to see the 2500+ pictures of her grand children. Words fail me. The woman I've told everyone was an example of unconditional love due to her care of my father for ten plus years has done this to my family on the scant evidence(I think) above. I never thought my mother would turn into my wife's parents, but even I the great and powerful Oz can be wrong :-(

My father's relationship was complex, but I never ever had the fear that our differences could ever take his affection away from me. My mother has turned into, for lack of a better word, a absolutist. If you don't fit the mold of exact perfection that she herself can't live up to, she will cast you aside. Those are indeed cruel words to type, but I can't think of how to phrase it any other way.

Sadly yours,

Litany against null

2007-10-22T14:28:00.000-05:00

I must not return null.
Null is the abstraction-killer.
Null is the little convenience that brings total obliteration.
I will catch my nulls.
I will trap it and not allow it through my methods.
And when the null is trapped the debugger shall not see it's path
Where the null has gone there will be an encapsulation.
Only the code will remain.

Seventy-five

2007-09-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

years of marriage. That's how long my grandparents on my father's side will have been married today. I went to their celebratory party at the Eudora nursing home on Sunday. It's a truly amazing feat. Janet remarked that they had been married almost four times longer than they had been single - wow.

It's hard for me to imagine living to seventy-five right now, and I can't imagine what it's been like for them to have been married and kept it together through the years. Congratulations to my grandfather and grandmother. Not only have they kept on breathing for 90+ years, they've kept on loving.

The Great Big FOAD

2007-05-01T14:34:00.000-05:00

With no apologies to Evan Dando.

Some of you may have known that I applied for a job a Yahoo. Some of you probably didn't and that's ok too. It's been an interesting process so let me give you a timeline.

Feb 9, 2007: I applied for a position at Yahoo via their internal jobs site(Yes, I met the qualifications). I didn't expect anything to happen since yahoo only has several thousand people do this every day. I'm just a small fish in a big pond.

Feb 28, 2007: I shockingly recieved an email from Yahoo recruiting. To my surprise they wanted to talk to me so we did on

Mar 2, 2007: Brief intro conversation as to why I was applying at Yahoo, if I could speak in complete sentences and if I had lied on the application. After that I was told that I would receive a call from the hiring manager within a few days, few being less than two.

After this, I wait. Two days rolls by and nothing; three; four, then

Mar 7, 2007: I email the recruiter and ask if everything is ok. I'm assured everything is and then I wait some more.

.....waiting....waiting....waiting...

Mar 14, 2007: I finally get an email from the hiring manager and we set a time to talk. Yay! /me is stoked!!!!!!

Mar 16, 2007: I get the call from the hiring manager and we have a lovely 30 minute screening chat. At the end of this call, having learned my lesson from previous busy-wait states, I ask when the hiring manager would have any further information into the process. I'm told to call back in the first week of April, so I set my handy dandy Treo 650 to remind me to send an email on April 2.

Interim: I'm so happy I just got to talk to yahoo, regardless of whether I'm on the interview list or not.

April 2, 2007: I email and ask as to the status of the candidate search

More waiting.

April 15, 2007: I call the recruiter and ask if anything else is known. I'm assured that there will be an answer forthcoming.

April 17, 2007: I get the foad email. Thank you for you interest, but no...

So after one and one half months we learn what was probably well known at the beginning. I'm not quite experience/smart/close enough to work for yahoo. :-(

All's well that ends well though. On April 9, 2007 I started working at Garmin. I'll just stick around there until our gross revenues exceed yahoo's :-)

Referencing Huitzilopotchli again.

2007-04-24T14:37:00.000-05:00

Stumbling, stumbling through the internet I found this gem.

Here's the problem with moral conservatives. They want to pre-make decisions for you in situations that they themselves have never or will never find themselves.

Now I'm handed a clipboard. On it is consent to basically give my wife an abortion and kill our future child. And it is all on me, my decision, mine alone. Something I never thought I'd ever face, ever have to deal with. Made worse by being a decision of either kill the baby or potentially watch both my wife and the baby die. The doctors did not say at this point that it was absolutely necessary.

I never hope to make that type of choice - never never never never. Again, how much blood is enough for their god?

Yeah, what she said

2007-04-19T14:41:00.000-05:00

From MaryScott on MyLeftwing - You f*ck you die.

I would like to issue my apologies to my wife and daughter that this tragedy has come to pass.

I would dearly love to question the death cultists in our midst. You may know them as right-to-lifers.

When I reference Huitzilopotchli, I know I'm talking about a death cult. The U.S. version of this however is far more disgusting. How much blood is enough for them? How many more children and women must be thrown upon their altar before the bloodlust of their god is slaked? Let me count the bloody toll:

Abortion - punishing women by death for not bearing children correctly followed by
No health insurance for 42,000,000+ children in the U.S. resulting in more deaths, those that survive can be convinced to be in
The Iraq war in which 3000+ soldiers have died but so many many more have been maimed permanently in the line of fire.

How much? How much blood is enough? How many more women, children, and young me have to die? Will your god never be satisfied? At lest Huitzilopotchli had the courage to show the obsidian knife. These cowards cloak themselves in lies.

Dominionism is abomination

2007-04-07T14:43:00.000-05:00

Dominionism is an abberant theology that is given from a misreading of the Bible. I know I know, readers of this blog are shocked, shocked that the Bible could be mis-used. D. James Kennedy, Jerry Fallwell, and probably James Dobson are under the influence of this mis-use of scripture.

The problem is that these learned men of the clergy should know better. The problems with Dominionism are manifest, but we'll start with a few.

Mankind is given dominion over the earth, but the Hebrews, Yahweh's chosen people, are only given Canaan. How can this indicate a global theocracy when Yahweh's own folks are only given a small strip of land along the Mediterranean? Why didn't God give them Egypt or Babylon if God truly wanted his people to rule the earth? There was no better time than three thousand years ago!
Anything that men do on this earth is worthless to Yahweh. Let's say we do institute a Christian government on this earth and we do get rid of all of the homosexuals, freethinkers, and poor women. What would God think? He thinks this(note the degradation of women as well): Isa 64:6 We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight.¹² We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind. So the bestest most perfectest Christian government ever is like garbage to Yahweh.
Finally let's consider the founder of Christianity's words about government - Luke 20:21-25 "...Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s."

So dominionism isn't supported even by the most casual reading of the Bible, it only shows Yahweh's distaste for menstrual blood, and the very savior that the dominionists claim to worship rejects their offering of a Christian government out of hand.

Dominionism is abomination to the Christian faith. Anytime you hear someone speaking this language on the radio or from a pulpit you should be incensed that they are dragging Yahweh and his Son through the menstrual blood of a human government.

And yet another messiah we should all pay homage to,

2007-02-15T14:46:00.000-06:00

especially in the Intelligent Design movement and typical software development shops.

It's John Frum Day.

Now everyone go build an airstrip and wait for the cargo which should be arriving shortly.

We're going to war!

2005-12-14T10:38:00.000-06:00

After listening to Jon Stewart last night, we've decided to declare war on Christmas! I think the conversation went like this:

Me: Hey let's declare war on Christmas!

Janet: Hee, How?

Me: I don't know maybe with chemicals?

Janet: Like what?

Me: Let me get back to you on that.

For too long Christmas has beat up on lesser holidays like Columbus day and Boxing day. So Chistmas, your time is up, you must vacate Iraq and put down your WMDs(weapons of monetary destruction). After that we shall fight you on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the fields, and on the streets. We shall *never* surrender to you Christmas.

For in the words of Samuel L. Jackson:
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides with the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon those with great vengeance and with furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Happy Holidays!

Obiligitory post-Thanksgiving post

2005-11-28T10:33:00.000-06:00

I should have made this list earlier but here goes. I'm thankful for the following:

I have never experienced a lack of food.
I have never experienced extreme poverty
I have never been divorced
I have never had to worry about the health of my family.
I have good friends.
My wife is able to stay at home
I am being protected by brave men and women whom I admire.
I am able to live in a country that still let's me express my opinions freely

There's about a million other things that I'm thankful for as well, but I don't have time to type them all in now.

In financial news

2005-10-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

I think it is only the ridiculously wealthy that understand money. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are ridiculously rich. Here's part of Mr. Buffet's opinion on the flat-tax:

We have, in my view, a taxation system that’s much too flat already. If you look at the payroll tax—which is over 12% now, and that applies on the first $80,000 or $90,000 of income—Bill and I pay practically none of that in relation to our income... What has gone on in this country in recent years is a huge benefit to the very rich and not that much relief to people down below.

That is exactly true, when I was billing a ridiculous amout for my services I could cap my FICA contributions. This amounted to a huge tax break after the magic $90,000 income mark. This means that in proportion to income you've got to cap the income tax bracket out before you start paying a bigger tax rate than you do making less than $90k, and then that's only by 1% or 2%. So the shclub who's eeeking out a living ~$65,000 is paying a greater percentage of his income in taxes than the guy making $130k.

Take the time to read the Fortune article, it's quite enlightening.

Schiavo

2005-05-24T18:08:00.000-05:00

I'm going to put in my $.02 on Terry Schiavo. You should actually listen to this, because I'm about to talk from deep experience. I feel great sympathy for the husband and her parents. The following is not addressed to them, because they have to live through this. To all of those non-family members who would re-insert her feeding tube I have one thing to say:

Fuck you, you have no idea.

Now, to understand how I reached that conclusion I'll tell you a story, a true one. Listen.

My father was born in 1938, he was raised as normally as possible I suppose, at 13 he started smoking, he got married straight out of high school and had two kids. He later got divorced and eventually married my mother. He was an avid outdoorsman. He hunted and fished. In 1960(61?) he won the national amateur title in archery for animal shooting, he took second in target. He was active.

One night in 1966, he had vision problems driving. I don't think he or anyone else thought much of it. He went to doctors throughout the years and they couldn't diagnose it. Eventually one of them came up with the idea that these problems were occuring due to an old football injury. In 1971, he had a metal rod inserted in his neck for stability. The symptoms did not vanish.

In 1972, a doctor finally made the correct diagnosis. He told my father that he had Multiple Sclerosis. Not much was known about MS then, and only little more is known now. MS attacks the nevous system. It damages the mylin coating of the nerves leaving plaques or scars. When this happens the nerves short-circuit, losing the transmissions from the brain to the rest of the body. The MS sufferer tells the body to do something, and the body ignores him.

From 1972 onward, my father died one day at a time in front of me, my brother, and most of all his wife. My father lost some normal abilites that we all take for granted. He couldn't run. He had problems standing on one leg. He had a low tolerance for heat. He could still walk, talk, and drive a car, but his interaction with his young children was severly curtailed.

I'm sure he couldn't express this when he was alive, but the inability to teach his children the simple athletics he had enjoyed as a youth must have hurt him badly. My brother and I never learned as a child or adolescent how to throw a football, swing a golf club, and a myriad of other things that normal active fathers teach their kids. My father just didn't have the ability to do that. I remember the one time he tried to race my brother and I; he almost fell over trying to run. He did teach us the few things he could - how to shoot a gun, archery, fishing, and fly-tying - mostly activities that didn't require balance.

Our lives continued apace, we took vactions he went to work and we lived a normal life, but he got a little worse each year. It was hard to tell day-to-day, but it was happening. His body continued the rebellion - eroding his abilities. In 1982 he was forced into disability retirement by his employer. This was back before the Ameicans with Disabilites Act. His workplace didn't have to make reasonable allowances for him, which they could have, but they encouraged him to go. IMO, he could and should have worked another five to ten years. I think that would have kept his brain more active, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

As I mentioned the progress of the disease was slow. When I was in elementary and junior high school (1976-1981), my father walked with a lift in his shoe to help his balance. When I was in high school, had started to use brace and cane(1982-1986). When my brother left high school(1989) he was using a wheelchair for his primary mobility, using two leg braces and walking crutches for the shorter distances. By 1992, he was limited to a wheelchair for almost everything, his upper body coordination had started failing by then too. He was sleeping in for longer in the morning. This was a man that woke up at 5:30 a.m. every day to go to work. Sometimes he wouldn't get up until 11:00.

The decline started going faster after that. In about 1995 he became fully bed-ridden. He wasn't able to feed himself, or bathe himself. My mother had to do all of that for him. My brother and I helped from time-to-time, but she bore the brunt of it. I admire my mother more than any charity on earth. She lived a thankless dirty job.

Let me explain what bedridden is for those people who don't want to confront the reality of a terminally ill person. Fully bed-ridden means that you can't feed yourself. You can't bathe yourself. You can't urinate by yourself. My father had to be catheterized 2-3x/day so that he could urinate. You can't defecate on your own. My mother, brother, and myself changed my father's diapers. Toward the end of the illness, he had to have enemas to help things along. His meals were made softer and softer. Eventually we were feeding him ground up food by the teaspoon-ful. My mother took over 99.9% of this task on her own. She didn't have the help of a nurse or a full time hospital staff to help her.

Final stages.

In 1997, my father started to get sick. Just normal colds an flus, but it hit him hard. They got worse in 1998, he had to be hospitalized for treatment. His words to my mother while he was there were that he wanted to go home. You must understand that by that time his speech was limited to 2-3 word sentences that took a lot of effort from him. They were the slurred words of a declining human. After that sickness he went home, but he became less and less communicative. After June of 1998, I believe he stopped talking at all. He lived in a state not unlike that of Terry Schiavo, but he didn't have to have a tube to be fed.

In February of 1999, he caught another flu/cold. He went to the hospital once, then twice, then a third time. The third time they told my mother that there were no more anti-biotics that they could give him. He had taken the strongest stuff they could give, and that was all they could do. The inevitiablity of death sank itself in. The debt of life was about to be collected.

My mother called me, and I drove like a madman down to Warrensburg to be there the first night. We met at the hostpital and started the death-watch. It's a morbid, horrible feeling to know that you're only in a room to watch someone die. My mother and brother left for the evening, and I took the night shift. I've always taken the hardest tasks when I could. It was just my father, his morphine drip, and I watching late night TV. My mother told me to hold his hand while we waited, so I did. That first night passed relatively uneventfully. He was breathing and comfortable.

My half-sister and my mother came in the next morning to spell me. I went to my girlfriend's house and slept. I woke up and went to my mother's house where my family was and talked to them. My grandparents came down that day. I have no idea how they held up. The had buried their youngest child a few years earlier due to alcoholism, now they must wait as the second youngest died.

I went to the hospital for the night shift. Everyone who was there left and it was just my father and I for the night. During the day, he had started to die. His legs and hands started to get cool as his body shut down the blood flow the extremities. The nurses had prepared us for this, they gave us the picture of how the end would come. This was my hand off for the evening.

My father and I were lucky that there was a Clint Eastwood film-fest on cable that night. He and I are both fans. We watched Clint do his thing as we waited. During High Plains Drifter, his morphine ran out. I'll explain what morphine helped us miss. My father suddenly awoke with his green eyes bulging out. He gasped for air as if he had just been thrown up from the ocean. I would expect if we could hear a fish out of water that's what it would sound like. The gasping pained breath was made all to plain. I called the nurse in to give him more morphine. He was in pain, that much was apparent, but he was without a soul so-to-speak. It was the pained gasping of an automaton, a body that hadn't given up yet. If you want to feel similiar horror in regards to Terry S. listen to this. It will give you an idea, but my father didn't make the moaning noises.

The morphine calmed him down, and we got back to normal. In the morning though, you could tell that it was going to be soon. I asked the nurses and they said I should call my family. We waited and held his hand as he expired, watched as his organs failed, as the sallowness of death made its way up his torso. On 9:25 February 25, 1999, David John Sader took his last breath and went on to whatever awaits us all.

A few months later, my mother and I were talking and we both agreed that we were glad it was over. I think that we both silently wished that he had passed away sooner. The endless waiting was worse than the actual event itself.

I am sad that my father isn't here to enjoy his grandchildren. I now wish he was here so that I could ask him for the advice that all young men spurn when it's available, but I wouldn't wish him here in the condition he left this earth.

My father took thirty-three years to die. Terry Shiavo has spent half of that incapacitated. I was lucky in that I got the interaction with him that I did, for all of his and my faults. Like my father, Terry isn't getting better, and I can't be cruel enough to force another family to go through the long death like my family did. It may hurt now, but the suffering while waiting is a thousand times worse. The parents and husband have been through the courts, the parents lost. Now they must take the final steps, and get on with their lives afterwards.

Is there a lesson to be learned from this? Maybe, you'll have to figure that our for yourselves. I lived it, and live with it every day. Those who don't have to live this be thankful, and leave Terry and her family alone. It's not your business, it's not your life.

So, what's up with Keith?

2004-11-04T10:47:00.000-06:00

Well I'm glad you asked as of yesterday it's surgery 3, Keith 0

April - four wisdom teeth removed. And the broth and soup abounded, along with the saltwater gargling, and there was much annoyance, and the clam and the rutebega rejoiced. Apparently this little procedure should have been done when was I in college the first time.
July - Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy - pumped with air and cauterized - oh boy.
Yesterday - outpatient surgery to remove subcutaneous fat nodules. Yay, I've had my chest shaved 2x this year.

Well so far I think I'm making myself uninsurable, no oncology, or anything horrid, just persistant bad luck and aging.

WooHoo!

2004-02-05T11:07:00.000-06:00

Well, according to my cat-stick*, we've gotten over 6 inches of snow! yipeeee! I almost wish Matthew was old enough to go play, so I would have an excuse to play with him and build a snowman.

- Janet

*cat-stick refers to me throwing the cat in the snow to see how far she sinks. It's the most fun way to measure snow fall! Don't believe me, just try it!

More vodoo less economy.

2003-07-08T14:49:00.000-05:00

Hmmm, it seems that deficit spending is not the way to increase wealth - of the country or the idividual. Apparently, this wisdom has been available since at least the 1940s. It's too bad that w didn't learn the economic lessons coming out of the Regan years - eventually debts have to be paid, and BTW it's more expensive later.

That's ok, just let the Republicans keep cutting taxes, eliminating services, and peeking into people's bedrooms. The country is just fine. It's being managed by people who were once on the inside of Haliburton and Enron.

Delivering us from eight years of peace and prosperity.

2003-07-03T14:52:00.000-05:00

Thanks w! I really appreciated the fact the according to the NY Times(Registration required), you've managed the highest unemployment rate in nine years! That's outstanding! I love pay cuts! I love tax breaks for the wealthy. I love an extra $40/month that your tax cut may put into my pocket. What's that? The states are behind on their funding? They'll take that $40 and more through sales/property/registration/income taxes? Oh Boy!

Four more years!

Maybe, just maybe, I'll finally be able to declare bankruptcy with w's awesome fiscal management! Wait, the government's deficits will do it for me! $3trillion more in debt? All right!

To be fair, the job loss isn't all his fault, but it's fun to make it so :-)

I mean everyone knows that republicans have always been the best presidents right? What's that? The six highest growth periods in the U.S. economy since 1933 have been under democrats?! Nah, couldn't be.