I hate to say I told you so...

For years I've assumed that the government had back doors in software, operating systems mostly, but I have to say even I'm a little stunned if the latest round of disclosures about the NSA are true.

I suppose I should have been a little more worried about it, but I always assumed that since I really don't have anything to hide, I didn't have to worry about it.  I was wrong.   My wife and three stepchildren are all foreign nationals (UK citizens) so I'm going to assume that everything that goes on in my house is monitored.

This is illegal.

They all have green cards that pre-date our marriage.  I am a US born citizen.  I am positive this is a violation of the constitution and my rights as a US citizen.

Now it comes out that the NSA has the ability to do this to hardware devices and *has* been doing so for a while.  This is going to cripple companies like Cisco and Juniper as well as HP and Dell and probably Apple.  Everyone was worried about Huawei, and I'm positive rightfully so, but I'd be willing to bet nobody in the EU will buy any of our stuff anymore.  I'm already reading online where other IT pros are looking for equipment from a different country.  Which country?  Can you assume any other country is trustworthy?

This is also illegal.

At what time is it acceptable to tear up the constitution in the name of "security"?   Maybe if we're in a state of martial law, but we're not.  At least the last time I checked.

So I wonder what I'm supposed to do.  If a liberal president like Obama can't stop it who can?  I can't see anyone further to the left here getting elected, and I suspect we're going to get another Republican next time, so we'll get more of the same.

I guess it's true.  Freedom dies with a whimper instead of a roar, and a quote from John Calhoun:

"It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty"

I'm speechless

over this.  That judges and attorney's can rationalize and try to explain a verdict like this as appropriate...

He doesn't need treatment.  He's 16 and got drunk, everyone I know did that.  I know I did.  I just didn't get behind the wheel of a car and kill 4 people.

He's not ill, nor does he have a drinking problem, he's a criminal and a murderer.

I finally did it

So I finally went ahead and got a Mac.  I went back and forth on getting one and finally decided it was time.  I got a refurbed 17" MBP.  Everyone says they're too big, but I love it.  I especially like the display on it.  It was either this or a 15" retina, and the retina mbp was about $1000 more, which is no small amount.

I did toss a few extras into the laptop.  I upgraded it to 16gb of ram and slapped an Intel SSD in so it's very fast.

So far so good...

Really Germany?

Sometimes I'm just stunned...

So the NSA has been spying on people, yes I know shocking, and it's come out that we actually spy on other world leaders....

SHOCKING AGAIN!

I'm sure the Germans don't ever spy on anyone....

Grow up people...

The bike

So I went from this:

To:

It's such a different ride from the katana.  I wonder how I'd have felt if I got the sprint, or god forbid the Daytona.  Anyway as it was told at work "single sided swing arm is super sexy" and I agree. Love the bike

Well....

So I finally pulled the trigger and decided to get a new bike.  Didn't get a Triumph, like I thought I would, and didn't get a Harley (Not ready for that yet).

I got a VFR800.  It's the bike I wanted since I got the Katana.

I don't have pics yet, they will come when I pick my ride up, but it's 2007, low miles and candy red.  Don't think there is a better color of bike yet.

More info to come when available.

Goal accomplished...

Way back when I started my "get healthy" kick I honestly wasn't sure I'd ever get this far but today I got the Goal Accomplished achievement in Lose It.

In 5 days it will be one year since I had a cigarette.  Yes I still occasionally miss them, but not enough to start again.  Hard to believe it's been a year.  It was very hard at first but I'm so glad I quit.

Since January I have lost 91 pounds, and I'm not allowed to go to the gym right now (haven't been allowed since 8/10).  I'm really missing the gym, but I hit my initial target weight this week.  I've subsequently reset my goal to be about 10 pounds less but that should be pretty straightforward.

A lot of people ask me how I did it.   Here's what I did:

Smoking: I picked a date and quit cold turkey.  No drugs, no cheating no nothing.  Yes it sucked, yes I was an ass, yes I was crabby and yes I put on about 25 pounds quitting.  The weight pushed me to part 2 of the plan.

Weight:  I started by just changing my diet and going to the gym.  At first I just logged my weight on the phone, then i got the Lose It app which I use to track my food intake and exercise amounts.  You can see how you're doing every day.  At my peak I was going to the gym 4-5 days a week.  I cut down to 4 days and one day of Yoga with Merinda.  When I cut my arm I had to stop the gym but will start again as soon as I'm medically cleared for the gym.

I do my best to record EVERYTHING I eat.  It's ok to go over your calorie target.  It's ok to gain a little every now and then as long as your overall progress is down.  Hell, you'll have weeks where you don't lose anything and just gain.  It's the same as smoking, just keep at it, and keep working and the weight will come down.


The hardest part for me will be to keep the weight off.  That part starts now.