A Reboot...of sorts

It has been five long years since I touched this page. I kept it available in anticipation of this day. I am back in action.

I have been actively reading and reviewing books on GoodReads for about a year. So, I think it is time to put a little of that activity here.

I'll need to take a little time to spruce the page up. I should make it look good and add some of my previous reviews. Then, as I review books in the future, that review will appear here, on GoodReads, and also on Amazon and other retailers.

So, CTRL/ALT/DEL...reboot time.

Surviving...But Only Just Barely

I'm back to the grind after the long winter break. I made it through the final exams in December. I made it through the trip to Oklahoma. Now I have to get back into the action.

Unfortunately it is not going to be easy. The homework is more intense at school. At the same time, my job is probably going to be moved back to Washington, DC by the end of Spring. I am unable to concentrate on anything since I am so worried about my employment future. It has adversely effected my ability to study. It has also made life increasingly more stressful as each day passes.

I think I need a really long break from everything to think things through. The only problem is...I don't have that kind of time. I have to get myself back to the studies and try to at least survive one more semester. Then I can use the summer to look for new employment around here. I definitely do not want to move back to MD or VA and I never want to work in DC again...been there, done that.

It is difficult enough to take care of my family and keep the household running. Then I added the whole Law School thing. Now I have to worry about possibly giving up school and working at a whole new job (that probably won't be able to match my current salary). I need the prayers of everyone I know to keep me going. That may be my only hope.

Wow...How Time Flies

It seems like I was just writing about starting school and being stressed. Now here I am just 2 days from Final Exams for my first semester at Law School.

I am so worn out that I don't know how I can keep going. It's a good thing that I have no school from December 12 to January 11. I am also going on vacation over the Christmas holiday week. I am hoping that this will be enough to get me revitalized and ready for Semester 2. I never realized how painful working full time and 8 credit hours of Law courses can be when combined.

On a lighter note, I have really improved my Magic the Gathering playing skills in the past few months. My only real recreation and escape from work and school has been taking my son th Friday Night Magic as much as possible. During this time I have actually broken my way into the Top 20% of ranked player is the US. Not bad for an old guy like me.

I know several months ago I had written about what I was reading at the time...well here is the latest edition for December 4, 2006.

1. Phoenix Force #48: Barracuda Run - Ok, this is a very outdated action/adventure that I should have never started reading. Now I'm almost halfway through it and feel obligated to finish. It is about a Soviet pilot in 1990 trying to defect to the US with a super-secret Russian plane called Barracuda. So, the US sends in a team to meet up with him etc...

2. The Sleeping Dragon by Joel Rosenburg - I have read about 60 pages of this one. I'm hooked. It is a book written in the early 80's about a role-playing group that sits down to play Dungeons and Dragons and is suddenly transported away to the world of their adventures. It is sofun to read that I have already bid on a copy of the sequel on eBay.

3. Prayer Works by Brother Andrew- I started reading this book for my Bible study group. I got about 3/4 of the way through and lost the book. Now I have found it and have decided to finish reading it. It is a very good book and I want to learn the lessons it contains.

4. Law Textbooks of all Types - Civil Procedure, Torts, and Legal Research to be more specific. I have to keep focused as I prep for Finals....

Well, that is all for now...I hope to post again next week, but that depends on my surviving Final Exams.

It's been a while...

So, I haven't been on here for a few days. So much has happened, yet not much of real consequence.

Only one important thing to note: my new nephew may come home from the hospital today or tomorrow! All of the prayers have worked and he is recovering well.

As for me, I can't seem to make any progress at home or at work. I am just not interested in any of this. I want school to start so that I can see a clear purpose.

I need to get rid of some stress, so I'll probably play Magic Friday and Saturday...but then again maybe not. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

It's Monday...that says it all

Here we go...a new week begins.

The weekend had several ups and downs, so I am hoping for a lot of good things this week.

First, my new nephew was born on Friday. His name is Devin and he needs all of the prayers he can get. He was born with under-developed lungs and quickly developed pneumonia. He is now in OKC at Children's Hospital. I am hoping to hear some good news sometime today.

I played Magic the Gathering at Game Shoppe Friday night. We played with the new card set called Coldsnap. It was an absolute blast, but I didn't get home until almost 1:00 AM.

On Saturday, I took care of the plants, the regular chores and did some minor grocery shopping. Then, I finished reading Robert Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold the Moon". I have to admit, that story was hard to put down. It was completely outdated, but the author just hooks you from the start. It was written / published in 1949 and talks about the attempt to go to the moon. I definitely recommend it to any sci-fi fans.

On Sunday, I slept in and missed church. I was a bit upset with myself, but I needed the time to work on the house a bit more anyway. I did get my son's dresser up to his room after it has been in the garage for about 3 weeks (We had been painting it and I never got around to putting it back together).

I guess that's all....for today at least.

Ties on Friday???

Well, it is finally Friday. However it is not going to be the usual easy, casual day. We have the Japanese delegation here today conducting their exit meeting with us. This will be the day we finalize discussions about reopening Japan to American beef. This is a big deal. Unfortunately, it means I had to wear business attire not the casual day comfy stuff.

I guess I have gotten spoiled by the relaxed dress code for analysts since we just hide in the cube farm most of the time. Recently however, we have been front and center to present critical data to the Undersecretary, Congress, consumer groups....and now the Japanese government delegation.

Well, it is off to the cubes to hide as long as possible. I just hope we don't have to actually present anything...I think that I am the only one scheduled to work on Analyst Row today.

What am I reading now?

I've decided that it would be good for me to talk about what I happen to be reading. I think I'll do an update every week or so to track my progress and see if I'm getting anything out of what I read.

I am one of those odd adults that likes to be in the middle of two or three books at a time. Actually, I'm in the process of reading 4 books right now. It keeps the mind fresh and keeps boredem from seeping into the process. Since I don't get the amount of reading time that I used to, it sometimes takes quite a while to finish a book.

Here is my current reading list:

1. The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert Heinlein (1949)
- This book is surprisingly fun to read so far. Even though it was written over 50 years ago, it is not totally awful. It involves a wealthy entrepreneur in the "future" 1960's trying to get to the moon. It's really amazing to compare pre-Apollo fiction with present day sci-fi.

2. Star Trek: Traitor Winds by L. A. Graf (1997)
- I am a hopeless addict of the Star Trek and Star Wars books. This one takes place about 1 year after the end of the Enterprise's original 5-year mission. Chekov is at Security Academy in Annapolis, Sulu is an experimental test pilot and Uhura works at Starfleet Command in San Francisco. They all are jockeying for assignment to the refitted Enterprise. So far, I'm not far in the book. However, I do know that somehow Sulu and Chekov are going to get into some real trouble.

3. Prayer Works by Brother Andrew
- I started reading this book for my Bible study group. I have to admit, it is really good reading. I have learned more about having faith and persistence from this author than any self-help book I've ever picked up.

4. Star Trek Memories by William Shatner
- I have barely started this one. I borrowed it from a friend and keep reading it a couple pages at a time over lunch. It is interesting, but I just haven't gotten "into" it very well. So far, I have learned a little about Gene Roddenberry's childhood and something about the last days of filming for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Ok, gotta go. I'll keep this up on a semi-regular basis.