Archive for October 2008
October 30, 2008
It's been a busy last few weeks in Washington, as I've settled into my new job and have been working on a number of smaller side projects. From PHP Appalachia, a small conference in Tennessee, to yesterday's meeting in Silicon Valley, it's been a busy time.
For those not following my professional blog, in the middle of the month I attended PHP Appalachia, a conference of PHP professionals across the east coast. We held it in a lodge in Pidgeon Forge, Tennessee (best known for Dollywood) and we had a great time.
As I've been doing lots of work with Ning (http://www.ning.com/) they invited some of us from The Bivings Group to visit and attend a roundtable for network managers in Palo Alto. It was a great event, with lots of good information, and some high profile people listening to our ideas. I wouldn't be surprised if a number of new features get baked into future releases, since the point of the meeting was to gain our input. In fact, Ning likes the work that The Bivings Group is doing so much that the network we manage has been turned into a framed screenshot on the wall of their main office.
For those of you keeping track, this will mark my 5th trip to California this year; I will make my sixth (and final) trip December 19th, where I'll be until the 29th. For those I'll see, I look forward to it; for those I won't, I hope we'll get a chance to see each other again soon.
11:45 pm | Comment (1) | Print | Categories: Adventures
October 18, 2008
Dear Senator McCain:
I'm not sure what you mean by the "real" Virginia. To my knowledge, the haven't moved the border in the last few weeks. So what exactly do you mean?
Oh, you mean the people that agree with you. I forgot. Just like your running mate said a few days ago, how she likes to visit the "patriotic" parts of the country. As if voting for Republicans is the only thing that makes a person patriotic.
You seem to have forgotten that so many of our Founding Fathers, many of them from Virginia, had honest political differences with each other. And they managed those differences through discussion, and debate, and honest means. They didn't question the patriotism of people who disagreed with them, like you and your running make like to do.
You also forget that Virginia was a Democratic state until 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act and other measures making discrimination against African Americans illegal. And based upon how your campaign has been targeting these groups in the last few weeks, it's not a surprise that you think the "real" Virginia is the parts where blacks are still disenfranchised, to this day.
But in two weeks when you and Sarah get sent home, it's not going to be because "fake" America didn't vote for you. It's going to be because Americans are looking for more than an angry, bitter old man to lead them. It's going to be because they reject the bigoted, angry, fear-mongering policies that you promote. And it's going to be because you haven't shown that you're capable of leading - only that you're capable of blaming.
Until you learn that the "real" Virginia is made up of the people that live in the whole state, you should stay out of it. I know many "real" Virginians who are and ought to be offended by your remark.
John McCain Strong In "Real" Virginia ~ Associated Press, 10/18/2008
9:03 pm | Comment (3) | Print | Categories: Election '08
October 7, 2008
9:54 pm | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Bizarre, Funny
October 5, 2008
The polls have Obama with an eight-point lead over McCain nationally. But Obama has a 67% to 32% lead in the electoral college - a margin that would constitute a landslide if the election were held today.
The big problem is that John McCain is running out of money. He took public financing, some $87 million, and the pricetags of running a campaign in certain swing states (read: Virginia) are astronomically high. Obama has collected some $300 million in campaign donations, mostly from small $5 and $10 donations, meaning that he's been able to push the game to the whole map.
Obama has commanding leads in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Colorado and New Mexico. He's also gaining ground in Indiana, North Carolina, Nevada, and Missouri. Obama is also pushing hard in Omaha, Nebraska, hoping to win the urban congressional district and add 1 electoral vote. It is for this reason that McCain moved his Michigan money into Maine, hoping to pick up one or two of Maine's electoral votes. Both Nebraska and Maine split their electors based on Congressional districts and the vote in each.
The onus is on McCain to reverse the trend, but doing so would require some sort of massive effort. McCain is playing with a handicap, and that is the noose of the last eight years. The best that McCain can hope for is that the stock market rebounds next week, and that the economic crisis gets off the front page for a while. Even then, with 28 states now leaning Democratic, Barack Obama is in the best position of the year, and it's a question of whether or not the next 30 days will be enough to turn the tide.
Updated at 10/5/2008 @ 7:55 pm This post was written before reading Politico, which reveals that Karl Rove, architect of President Bush's victories in 2000 and 2004, puts the race squarely in Obama's column. According to Rove, the electoral math gives Obama 273 electoral votes, 3 more than are required to win the election. You know things are bad when a partisan like Rove puts the election in the Obama column...
7:51 pm | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Election '08, Washington, DC
October 3, 2008
It's clear that fall is here in Washington, with cool days and cold nights, rainstorms that don't feel like we're in Bermuda, and shorter days.
The blogging should pick up too. With only eight posts in September, and 14 in September last year, October is a month for writing and reflecting on the year that is passing all too quickly.
I'm hoping to make a trip this year to photograph the fall foliage since I don't have my traditional Veterans Day holiday this year. But rest assured, if I am successful, photos will follow.
10:51 pm | Comment (1) | Print | Categories: Weather
Wow. It's been an exciting week for my money.
First, I had the fun of knowing that I was an asset, and was now pwned (Google it, spelling freaks) by Citibank.
Then, I come to find out this morning that Whoopsie! When they said Citibank, Wachovia meant to say "Wells Fargo." The two names sound alike, so I'm sure it was a coincidence.
Fifty bucks says that Citi will sue Wachovia to enforce the original agreement and they'll be locked into litigation that's expensive and uses...you guessed it...my money.
Oh, Bank of America, you never looked quite so sweet...
2:03 pm | Comment (0) | Print | Categories: Bizarre, Economics