Cover Me; I'm Going In

With the wariness of a Marine going into a building in downtown Baghdad, I'm entering into the unknown territory of Windows 7. I'll be taking the time this weekend to install the much-lauded version of Windows that I received for free.

I enter into this fight with a little bit of comfort--I have an install disc that was designed for my computer, and I have an install "helper" file from the manufacturer. It's all supposed to be a breeze..."It's just a simple update."

I have made the recovery DVDs for my laptop, and I am backing up EVERYTHING. I hope that my backups will be unnecessary, but their existence is almost as comforting as extra ammunition.

What I really don't look forward to is the attempted migration of my software applications. There are so many things that I had to renew, update, reinstall, etc, when I got this new computer. Will I have to mess with all of that again after the update? According to my computer's manufacturer (and that evil bastard known as Microsoft), I will have a smooth migration of that stuff. I don't believe it for a second.

I'm already angry about the chaos that represents the comments on this blog; this is just another cog in that wheel. If it doesn't work, I hope that I can backtrack, and not give in to the desire to go chew out the manufacturer rep at the local PX.

---

UPDATE: All of this information is based on an upgrade from Vista Home Premium (64 bit OS), to Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit). My laptop has an Intel dual core processor and 4Gb of RAM.:

After utilizing my computer manufacturer's update assistant, it appears that Windows 7 has installed properly and, so far, everything looks shiny and new. In addition, the update assistant seems to have successfully salvaged all of my software, documents, settings, etc. It forewarned me that it would download the newest drivers for hardware, and uninstall various features prior to the update. It spent the night downloading updates, and then I began the actual installation of Windows this morning. It took a couple of hours today, but it didn't seem to encounter any problems.

There appears to be a few utilities on Microsoft's website that will test your computer, and give you a list of software that must be uninstalled prior to upgrading. It will also tell you which version of Windows 7 your computer will support (Basic, Home Premium, Pro, Ultimate, 32 bit or 64). Toshiba's upgrade assistant feature seems to have done that pretty seamlessly. I have not yet encountered anything that doesn't work, but I will compile a list if I do make such discoveries.

Using Toshiba's upgrade assistant provided me with the ability to automatically use the manufacturer's own updating system to install the newest, Windows 7 compatible drivers for my computer's hardware, but it also brought all of the notorious "crapware" with it. You know all of those gadgets and whistles that come with a new computer? Crapware. Windows 7 gave me the option of checking for the newest updates, but I was instructed to not select that feature.

The procedures for upgrading were pretty simple, but I did have to write down a couple of instructions before the process, since there are a couple of choices to be made during the install. Selecting the "upgrade" option, instead of the "clean install," made things a little easier. The clean installation would have wiped the HDD, and I would have been without all of my existing applications, documents, media, etc.

Hats off to Toshiba for providing me with an upgrade utility that worked (so far). I felt a little like the guys on the original Apollo Project must have felt..."I hope this sucker makes it, and doesn't blow up."

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all, and I hope you get to spend it with friends and family!

Life's Great Mysteries

As I was sitting here pulling my hair out over the failed commenting features of my blog, puzzling over the complexities of XML, and hating the person that invented Cascading Style Sheets, I asked myself one of the many questions that revolve around life's greatest mysteries: Why do I even have a blog?

There are so many unanswered questions in life--What is the meaning of life? Is the universe infinite? Is that guy down the street really as crazy as I think he is? We may never know, or agree on these things, but they bring to mind similar conundrums.

This blog is not my first one. I had a blog in the past that was actually pretty popular. It got a ton of traffic, garnered many comments, and propelled me into blogging stardom. Ok; not really stardom, but maybe mediocrity. I gave it up, deleted the entire blog, and even deleted my entire "Blogger" account. I ended up regretting that a little. While many of the posts on that blog were political in nature, and were the result of my anger and lack of satisfaction with our elected tormentors, there were some pieces on it that I would have enjoyed reading again. A couple of select readers even suggested the same thing.

This brings about an answer to the current question of why I even have a blog. While comments are a nifty feature, they're not the real reason I write this silly stuff. I enjoy going back through it and reading about what I was pondering at different times. It's sort of fun to read a post about trips to a Japanese hardware store, or the comical ineptitude of local drivers. I almost forgot about the guy in my class that wrote, "green," for the size, style and quantity of PT shirts that he wanted to order. These are the intangible, hard-to-put-a-finger-on type of answers that we usually get from the tough questions.

I might not ever know, or care, if the universe is infinite, but I know why I blog.

Yet Another Test

I might have comments now...Nope.

Okinawan Drivers

I don't even have to ask; I already know that there is a 99% chance that the driver of this vehicle is Okinawan.


see more Epic Fails

Intrusive Child Development

In my current line of work, it has grown quite popular to discuss, "intrusive leadership." While the concept is not new, calling it something so catchy might be. The idea is, of course, that a leader should be actively involved with his or her subordinates, and know what is going on in their lives away from work. Is that young Marine having problems at home with his wife? Money trouble? Something else that might affect his or her performance? Have you taken the time to get involved with that young Marine?

Thinking about this idea, and even talking about childhood memories with my wife, reminded me of an incident from my childhood, and makes me wonder how intrusive many parents are these days. I also wonder how intrusive, or even concerned, most adults are as a whole.

I think I was about six years old, or maybe a year or so younger, during a particular trip with my mom to the grocery store. This particular store had a couple of the large bins of Brach's candy. It was sold in bulk, or by weight, and to a young kid, it was very odd to see large quantities of candy just laying about within easy reach. Isn't candy supposed to be in packages? Instead of asking my mom about it, I did what seemed natural at the time and just grabbed a piece.

Do you remember when you were a little kid? Do you ever think about how smart you thought you were, and how stupid you thought adults were? I don't think this is a conscious thought process, but what do you suppose I was thinking when I later tried to eat the piece of candy, and my mom asked me where I got it? Can you guess what my panicked response to that question was?

"I don't know."

Think she bought it? Not for a second. A swat to the hindquarters might have been in order, but Mom didn't spank me. Instead, she drove me back to the grocery store, and made me tell the manager of the store what I had done. There was even a policeman in the store that day! Can you imagine how terrified a young kid would be when given a "stern talking to" by that store manager? I remember that the policeman's belt was the style that actually had bullets stored in the little loops of it, and that they looked like pencil erasers.

How many managers of large grocery stores would take the time to do that today? How many parents?

This is what I would call intrusive child development. It would be so much easier to simply punish a child, spank them, take away a privilege, or do something else that would cost us less time or effort. I'm willing to bet that many store managers today would simply inform the parent that they owe X dollars, or simply refer the matter to the proper authorities. Simpler and faster, right?

Are the days of commonplace intrusive child development gone, or is it simply less noticeable? If you practice, or have practiced this type of teaching, do you feel like you are the exception, or the rule? Got any similar stories from your own past?

Young at Heart

Are you familiar with the phrase, "Young at heart?" Are you as young as you feel? Are you older than you feel? I hope so. Here's to hoping that you feel about 20 years younger than you are! When I examine the idea of being young at heart, I'm reminded of a great song.

Most of us spend our lives ignoring our own mortality, and we spend our early years convincing ourselves that we're going to live forever. Occasionally, we encounter things that give us stark reminders of our own impending doom. Ever have a close call? Have you ever looked back on an incident in your life and thought, "Wow. I'm lucky!"? Our ability to ignore these things helps us perpetuate our contentment. Any psychology majors out there want to chime in?

It's amusing how we look forward to various milestones in our youth (becoming a teenager, driving, voting, drinking/gambling) and then the newness wears off as each box is checked. The pendulum of reality begins swinging in the opposite direction at some point, and we begin to dread new milestones (30, 40, and more). I disagree with this idea, to some degree.

I often tell my father that I'm still a punk kid. I feel like a punk kid on most days, and I occasionally act like it too. Some days I feel really old, older than I have a right to. Most days, I surprise myself. It's a neat feeling to say, "I'm 40 and I still feel 20." Does that make me young at heart? What really leads to that feeling? What sparks the imagination and keeps us arguing with our own mortality?

I know that we have a natural defense mechanism that allows us to degrade bad memories. The bad things that tell us we're going to die, or that a fire is hot, tend to get a little less bad over time. Some things don't. Some memories are so vivid that a mere smell or sound can bring them back as strong, or even stronger, than they once were. How does our brain sort these things out? If we can't get over bad things, most women probably wouldn't have more than one child! Just a guess on that one, but my wife agrees with that theory wholeheartedly.

What sparks your imagination? Do you feel young at heart? What keeps you that way? What makes you wake up one day and say, "This is an awesome day?" Is it knowing that people care about you? Is it knowing that there are more things out there to discover? Is it a hobby? A passion? What gets you fired up like that? What keeps you feeling younger than you are? What keeps you carrying moonbeams home in a jar? I know we've all had those moments, days, weeks, or even months and years. Or would you rather be a fish?

Happy Thanksgiving!

A hearty wish of a warm, safe, and happy Thanksgiving goes out to all who stop by here. I hope that you have a great weekend, and that your turkey is moist, tender, and cooks fast enough to allow for maximum football viewing!

In regards to the photo above: Dear Mr. Bush, It's not a dog, and it won't fetch a tennis ball.

Sorry; I just had to do it. That picture is just a wee bit too inviting like that. Politicians make such easy targets.

Big Cities and Crime

I was recently thinking about how much I dislike big cities. I've visited several of them, and they all seem to have a few things in common. Some are worse than others (Paris comes to mind on the bottom end), but most are crime infested, crowded, loud, ugly, and smell bad. A co-worker was argumentative toward my assertion about crime, and I had to point out that crime is indeed worse in urban areas than in rural. One only need consult the DOJ or FBI for the data to support that. My co-worker had an interesting time browsing their websites.

This one is a no-brainer, and I even laughed when I saw a comment in response to a blog post on violence that countered with, "but we live in a diverse urban community." That should be your first clue that your neighborhood is plagued by violence!

Our DOJ routinely publishes crime data, often in conjunction with the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. It's absolutely no surprise that crime rates are higher (in number of crimes per 100K) in urban areas than in rural or small towns. I would love to hear your speculation as to why in the comments section. I know what you're thinking, and I ask that you give practical reasons, not emotional leaps to conclusion. Writing that, "there's more idiots in cities than in the country," doesn't explain anything (although I would agree).

Is it the draw of more social handouts in urban centers? Is it greater restrictions on gun ownership? Is it the lack of community cohesiveness? What say you?

Death, Taxes and Change

As I forced myself to take a break from my economics homework (I didn't have to try very hard), I tried to remember how old I was when I first heard the comparison of death and taxes to reliability; I was unable to come up with an age, but I think I was pretty young.

It's ironic that we use two universally disliked items or ideas (the connotation of these terms almost oozes out into your lap) to describe something as being reliable. Yes, we can always count on death, and we know that there will always be taxes (politicians should be a separate species from the rest of us humans). Shouldn't reliability be a positive thing?

I submit that there is another item in our world that we can always count on: Change. It has been said before that the only real constant in this world is change. A certain politician even ran on a mere promise of change...What sort of person buys into that, when all they have to do is sit back and wait for inevitable changes? I like to call that the "shiny trinket effect," and it works well with voters. Change is indeed a constant, and it isn't always good.

I have a friend that joined the Marine Corps a few years before I did, and left active duty as a Sergeant. When talking to him one time, I mentioned what an interesting twist of fate it would be if he had stayed in and I ended up working for him in some capacity. Not that he works for me, but our roles would probably be much different if he had become my First Sergeant, or Sergeant Major. It then dawned on me that his departure from our Corps may have been a good thing, because he wouldn't like the changes that have taken place. It's odd that one of the more prominent challenges that a career Marine faces is being patient enough to put up with "progress."

I have often said to peers and subordinates that the job of the Corps continues to get more difficult as society continues down its path of degradation. As the morals and standards of our youth (and even adults) decline, the standards of the Corps remain the same. Our job of bringing young adults to our way of thinking, nurturing strong morals, and enforcing higher standards, gets harder every day. I often wonder if it's all really worth it, and then I see a young Lance Corporal or PFC that is just as excited about being a Marine as I ever was. It's like hooking myself up to some sort of emotional battery charger; it reminds me that the patience is well worth it. What about these various forms of progress?

It's now acceptable for Marines to wear flip flops as "appropriate civilian attire." Really. In addition, just try asking a 17 year old Marine if he knows what those loops on the waist of his jeans are really for! This type of thing probably sounds very trivial to some people, but the level of discipline that we demand of our subordinates carries over into many realms other than mode of dress. This is, however, not a new concept.

There is a quotation that I'm fond of using in one of the classes that I teach, and it brings things back into perspective a bit:

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint."

This quotation is not nearly as effective if you are unaware of when it was originally stated. This was first penned by Hesiod (often considered the father of Greek didactic poetry) in approximately 700 B.C. See? Nothing new here.

Every generation of Marine eventually reaches a level of maturity and wisdom that they feel grants them inclusion in an elite club: "Old Corps." How many retired Marines out there (or those that are no longer on active duty) have said the words, "When I came in the Corps...?" Yes; I know--We can't boil water in our helmets like you could. Noted.

My point is simple: Change will always happen, and we can't do much about it. Luckily, we have the wisdom to usually hang onto those things that we know we should not change. Today's young Marines have the same fighting spirit, drive to succeed, and esprit de corps that any previous generation had. I know that when I hang up my cover for the last time, I'll be passing the baton to an equally talented (even more so in many ways) and capable Corps of warriors.

Death and taxes indeed...