Streams of Consciousness

I may never see another year like this one as a Pittsburgh sports fan! What a ride! The Pens got to run through some of their biggest rivals in route to the franchise's third Stanley Cup. First, they took care of the Flyers in six games. Nothing new under the sun:) Next up, Alex Ovechkin and his merry band of over-hyped skaters. It took 7 games, but it was well worth it to see the blowout in Game 7. That one should leave a mark. The Carolina series was somewhat anticlimatic, with the 4 game sweep. However, it did involve Malkin's Hat Trick game in Game 2, and Miro Satan getting into a fight. Crazy! Then, the Red Wings. Oh, how sweet it was to defeat Hossa, the Benedict Arnold of hockey who defected last year from the Pens to join the Red Wings because they game him the "best chance to win the cup." Hollywood couldn't have scripted it any better, with the Red Wings/Pens rematch, and Hossa not scoring a single goal in the 7 game series. It was definitel...

Here we are on the doorstep of Spring, and I haven't yet written about the Steelers magical 2008-2009 season. Of course, one glance at Streams of Consciousness will reveal that I haven't written much of anything lately. What better way to break out of a slump than to summarize the surreal season of the Steelers march to their 6 th championship. Yes, that's me there at the right, playoff beard and all, standing in section 527 of Heinz Field, after the presentation of the Lamar Hunt trophy to the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers . Through some divine stroke of fortune, Sharon and I were able to attend the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh on January 18, 2009, against the rival Baltimore Ravens. I am on the Steelers season ticket waiting list (approx. 20 years out), which gives me the opportunity to try to buy playoff tickets each year through a special pre -sale. So, this year in early December, when the letter came in the mail with my special Ticketmaster code,...

Tomorrow is Election Day 2008. I'm voting for Barack Obama. I haven't written much lately about politics. Heck, I haven't written much lately about anything. However, I wanted to note on the eve of the election exactly whom I will be voting for here in the swing state of Missouri. I was once a big John McCain fan. In 2000, I enthusiastically supported him in the rough primaries against W. I still wish that he would have won at that time. I think he would have made a much better president than our current one. However, like so many others, Obama has capture my imagination. This, in and of itself, is not enough to support someone for president. In fact, alone, it would be a dangerous reason to support someone. However, Obama has proven himself over the past couple of years to be all things a president should be. I am eagerly anticipating his acceptance speech tomorrow night. And, in a Shakespearian twist of fate, Obama's grandmother, one of the key figures in...

I've been exercising like a lunatic over the past couple of months, and I'm starting to see it pay off on the rowing machine (IMO, one of the toughest cardio workouts at the gym). After only being able to row over 7500 meters/30 minutes once in over a year, I have now achieved that milestone 4 consecutive times! I am very proud of this accomplishment. Rowing more often has obviously helped, but I've also been playing intense basketball and racquetball a couple of times each week. I've also been lifting an average of twice a week, which is just fine by my standards. Things I still need to improve on: I'd like to integrate push-ups and sit-ups back into my life on a daily basis, and I also need to seriously address my diet. For all of the cardio work I've been doing, I'm not losing weight. I'm maintaining, which is o.k., but I've got a long way to go to get to 200 lbs, which is where I should be. Some of the slow weight loss might be because...

Project 2008 begins tomorrow. Two goals: 1) The Steelers win the Super Bowl 2) The Patriots lose a game

Today is September 3rd. It's cold and rainy outside. But, I love it! My birthday was yesterday, and my favorite time of the year is always between my birthday and New Year's Day. It's football season. I love the weather (I like wearing sweaters and long sleeves). I love raking leaves, building fires and enjoying the aromas and sights of Fall. I am always a little bit extra motivated to be productive before the end of the year. Sort of a coda to the year that we will leave behind in a few months. Here's to wishing everyone a happy final 1/3 of 2008. And, Go Steelers!

That I don't have!

Sharon had her semi-annual scrapbook weekend, so Dominic and I got to hang out together for the second weekend in a row. Ben stayed up at Sharon's parents for the sake of all of our sanity. Dominic and I have really gotten to enjoy these weekends together--we call them Domi/Daddy weekends. We made several stops at Blockbuster, went out to eat, went swimming and lazed around the house. We also finished reading our latest book, Shiloh, which we both really enjoyed. In other news, Ben started at his new day care today. Big adjustment, but it sounds like he did o.k. We are looking forward to having him in a more structure environment, and the school seems really nice. I bought a gas grill last week, and started to put it together yesterday. I worked on it for about 3 hours, and I'm only halfway done. I should have bought an assembled model. This is not something I want to screw up either, so I don't blow up my house. Anyway, I'm going to try to get it finished up ...

I had a pretty good week of exercise. I made it to the gym every day, used the ab-lounge a few days, did pushups every day, did some jumprope reps one day and lifted weights twice. Not bad, even though I did lose every single game of basketball I played. I was really happy with my run on the treadmill on Friday, where I was able to run a 5K in under 31 minutes, at a pace of 6.0 mph. I hadn't been able to do that for a long time. Next week, we are going to Iowa over the weekend, so I want to make sure that I have a great week at the gym, and that I do the everyday little things that will help--taking the stairs, parking further away at work, doing pushups, doing situps, jumprope, etc.

Earlier this week I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to remove a password from an Access 2007 database (file extension .accdb). The database was created in a previous version of access and subsequently "upgraded" to the Access 2007 format. I believe some type of a wizard was used to perform the "upgrade." The security model is evidently different in Access 2007 than in previous versions. It doesn't appear that you can set/unset database passwords. Instead, in Access 2007, there is an option to Encrypt with Password. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be logically similar to the earlier version password architecture, but there was no way that I could find to easily remove the password that had been created in the earlier version when using the Access 2007 interface. Access security has always been confusing to me, and I need to take the time someday to understand how the security model is supposed to work in Access 2007. An...

Last year Dominic and I went to the Iowa State Fair the weekend before he began 2 nd grade. I thought it might be fun to start a tradition of going on a trip with Dominic the last weekend before each of his summer vacations end. With that in mind, we planned a fishing trip for last week, and then headed up to Iowa for the remainder of the weekend. We both had a great time! Wednesday, August 13 I snuck out of work about an hour early so that we could get a head start on our trip to Osage Beach, where we had a room booked at the Econo Lodge. It was a smooth trip, both of us excited about being out of Kansas City and on a mini-vacation. We arrived at Osage Beach around 8:30, checked into our motel and grabbed a bite to eat at Arby's . Dominic even swam a little bit at the outdoor pool at the hotel, although he didn't enjoy being in the pool by himself at night, even though I was right there next to the pool. Thursday, August 14 The big fishing day! I hired a guide to tak...

I am not that big of a golf fan. I enjoy playing a few times a year, and I'll watch some matches here and there, usually if my Dad or someone else is watching and I just happen to be around. This past Saturday, I was beat from a full day in the sun, so I flipped on the TV in the evening, and there began my journey into captivation by Rocco Mediate. At first, I noticed his easy going style and his penchant for chatting with the fans. I thought this was cool. Next, I learned that he was 45 years old with a history of back problems and was trying to become the oldest player ever to win a U.S. Open--what would have been his first major victory. Then, I found out he was from Western Pennsylvania! I became an immediate fan. I did not see the match on Sunday, but I was glued to a live stream feed on my computer Monday afternoon. That was the most enjoyment I've ever had watching golf. What a battle of epic proportions. While I would have loved to see Rocco come out on top, ...

I was recently reading about Microsoft Data Access Components, and noted that some components have been deprecated, while other components have been marked as obsolete. What exactly is the difference between deprecated and obsolete? I came across the following definitions: Code that is tagged as "deprecated" is officially still available for use but will typically have already been scheduled for removal at some point, so it is in your best interests to start looking for an alternative. Code that is tagged as "obsolete" is offically no longer supported and shouldn't play a part in any normal build, but those features might still be available if you absolutely need to access them. You are *strongly* discouraged from continuing to depend on obsolete code on an ongoing, long-term basis. As of today, the following MDAC components have been deprecated: Microsoft Jet Database Engine MSDASQL(the OLE DB provider for ODBC) Remote Data Services (RDS) The following MDAC ...

I've been reading a little bit about ADO. Something that has always been confusing to me, though I don't think it is that complicated of a concept, is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous operations. Because of the confusion, I'm taking the time to write out the definitions, in hopes that it will burn it into my long term memory. In a nutshell-- Asynchronous Operation: An operation that returns control to the calling code prior to completing. Synchronous Operation: An operation that does not return control to the calling code until it completes. These are somewhat simplistic definitions, but there are many different domains that use this terminology, and the generic definitions above seem to capture the essence. The definitions seem somewhat counter intuitive to me. Synchronous implies running together and concurrency. However, it is the synchronous operation that prevents any calling operation from running at the same time. With asynchronous operation...

Last week, we packed our bags and bolted for Western Pennsylvania. It was our first extended visit to the area since 2004, and Benny's first visit ever. I believe that this is the longest that I have ever gone in my lifetime without setting foot on Pennsylvania soil. While we had dreary weather the entire trip, and we are all exhausted, it was wonderful to visit with old friends and relatives. I couldn't believe the week went by so quickly--the whole trip seems like some kind of a foggy and distant memory. Friday, March 14 Scrambling to get to the airport at 6:20 AM for our 7:50 AM flight, we barely made our flight and were the last passengers on the plane. My miscalculation--Spring Break. We were in the baggage-check line for an hour, and the security line for nearly a half hour. As I was waiting to be patted down by a male TSA authority, I was making plans in my head of how to reschedule our flight for later in the day. Thankfully, we made it in the nick of time. The flight a...

March 2008 hasn't gotten off to a particularly exceptional start. Last Saturday, March 1, was Dominic's birthday celebration--a limo ride and night at the Great Wolf Lodge. I think he enjoyed it well enough, but I was grouchy most of the time because it was stressful. It was nice having my family in town to help celebrate, but I wish we would have gotten to spend more time with them. I felt like we were holed up in our little room at the lodge, and we didn't even spend that much time at the waterpark. However, as long as Dominic enjoyed himself and has good memories of the occasion, then I am o.k. with the whole thing. Last Monday, I woke up with a fever and missed work. Of course, it's never easy missing a Monday, because it just throws me off kilter for the rest of the week. I immediately get behind in e-mails, and spend most of the week trying to play catch-up. My fever subsided, but I spent most of the rest of the week tired and worn out. It didn't help...

I talked with my mom last night, and she informed me that my grandmother's dependable neighbor of around 50 years, Mary Reynolds, passed away last week. This was particularly sad since we are going to Pennsylvania to visit my grandmother next week, and would surely have stopped over to visit Mary. It is rare in this day and age to have neighbors for a half-a-century. My grandmother and Mary have born witness to each others triumphs, tribulations, celebrations and tragedies over most of their adult lives. Mary's family is in my thoughts and prayers.

Finally, for the first time since October 12, 2006, I was able to row over 7500 meters in 30 minutes. 7502, to be precise. The last time that I rowed over 7500 meters: Bill Cowher was still the head coach of the Steelers Republicans still controlled Congress I had not yet had the life-altering experience of spending a week in the hospital with Benny This was a specific goal of mine at the beginning of the year. Actually, I had hoped to accomplish it by Dominic's birthday on February 17, but it was a long, hard uphill battle. Even though I did not meet my deadline, I was happy with my progress, as I added a few meters here and there. Trust me, if you have never used a rowing machine, those extra meters are hard to come by! I pushed my date goal to Easter, and I did not think I would be able to come close until at least a few more weeks. However, tonight I did it! I started off pretty strong, staying under a 2:00 per 500-meter pace for the first 2200 meters, and then staying ...

I learned this evening that Myron Cope had passed away earlier today at the age of 79. It is possible that Myron was as responsible as anyone for the creation of the post-1970 Pittsburgh Steelers identity. His unique voice and mannerisms are embedded within Steelers lore. He was as recognized, if not more so, than any player in Pittsburgh. And, he was responsible for the genesis of a little yellow cloth that you might have seen. Growing up in Iowa, I never had the opportunity to listen to Myron call Steelers games. However, as a Steelers fan, I was acutely familiar with his persona and his legendary nicknames. He seemed like a representation of an earlier, more innocent, time. A sportswriter who stumbled upon broadcasting. His was true color commentary. It's hard to imagine the Steelers without phrases such as "The Immaculate Reception" or "The Bus." Many outside of the Pittsburgh area found him quirky, even annoying. However, his dedication was to enter...

Between watching Barney A-B-C and playing PS2's Total Rampage with the boys, I only caught about 15 minutes of the Democratic debate earlier tonight. However, I managed to tune in during one of the questions that has gotten most of the post-debate blog attention that I've read. Namely, the question regarding Farrakhan's support for Obama . Look, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about Farrakhan, other than the fact that some people denounce him as a lunatic and that he spoke at the Million Man March. From secondary sources that I've read, his rhetoric seems to be extremely divisive and, I gather from tonight, anti- Semitic . If so, he should be denounced, as he was by Obama . However, I thought Russert was really baiting him on the issue, and I believed the premise of the question to be weak. Then, incredibly, after Obama had said that he deplores Farrakhan's hateful rhetoric, Russert asks him if he rejects his support, and begins t...