On The Subject of Open Workspaces...

For several years now, misguided management has sought to usher in "open workspaces" into their businesses with the promise that such workspaces will improve collaboration and productivity. It doesn't. It ushers in distractions and countermeasures (like headphones) that do just the opposite.

From the constant ringing of phones, loud talkers, endless parades of people passing by, and in general, people doing their normal daily things in the office, the distractions are many and big. And when we don our headphones to get work done, we do not hear the conversations closest to us that may be related to what we are specifically working on.

Just to be clear, I'm an engineer and I work for engineering companies. While some other industries may have some benefit from open workspaces, we don't. I have never met a single engineer that wanted an open workspace. I have never met a single engineer who had the misfortune of being in one and actually liked it. Quite the contrary. They hated the open workspace and some even changed companies because of it.

I think I found one of the reasons why the idea of open workspaces gets floated up to management. I have observed over the years that those in management and administration often have private offices, semi-private offices, high-wall cubes, or otherwise feel somewhat isolated from their colleagues. I have at times observed these individuals trying to communicate by shouting from one office to the other.

They see their own situation, feel the isolation, and come to the erroneous conclusion that everyone must have the same issue. We don't.

I honestly don't envy their more private confines. While I would like more privacy at my desk, I'm content with "just enough". I sit in a tiny cube with mid-height walls that shield me from most major interruptions, though not all. I can put on my headphones and ignore everything around me to get work done when I need to. I can also take them off and not hear people thirty feet away from me talking on the phone. I like that.

The point in this ... whatever it is (rant?) ... is that just because YOU may feel isolated and want to be out in the open, collaborating, sharing, moving, shaking, etc., that does not mean the rest of us would want to. In fact, engineers will tell you to your face that we HATE  open workspaces and will do all we can to reject them and keep them away from us.

Now what is ironic about this is what actually happens with open workspaces. The very same managers, HR staff, and admin staff require some modicum of seclusion to protect the private data and conversations of employees. And to that end, they remain in offices and more private confines like high-walled cubes that sometimes have cube doors. That makes sense.

But that's where I get really disgusted. The very people who clamor for open workspaces and interrupt my day with their noise and bad idea are the very people who will not be sitting in an open workspace.

So, no thank you. I never want an open workspace. Practically no engineer in the industry does. If people so desperately want open workspaces, do your open workspaces in some other industry but stay out of the technology industry. All you will do is irritate tens of thousands of engineers who would otherwise be doing what they do but instead spend time being interrupted, distracted, and griping about sitting in an open workspace.

I have sat in open workspaces in the past. With all sincerity, I tell you this. It feels like sitting in the middle of a shopping mall food court during the lunch rush. I utterly detest it. So do most engineers and technologists.

So keep this in mind, managers, admins, HR, and others: engineering, IT, tech repair, and similar job functions are for the most part solo activities. You can't force us together and expect improvement. You will get problems, lower productivity, and far lower employee morale.

This has been a public service announcement from your friendly, leave-me-alone-I-have-code-to-write, engineer.

The Little Things

Today I thought a lot about the little things that are some of the best parts of an intimate relationship with someone. It's not just one thing and it's not everything. It's just a lot of little things. They don't usually seem like much to most people but once they're gone, you really miss them. They're also not something to be toyed with in relationships that aren't intimate. They have power and can do great damage as well as great good.

What are these things? Too many to list. Yet, here is a sample.

Things like the hug that presses in until you feel her body pressed against yours from your stomach to your chest. You turn your head slightly to go past hers, sometimes awkwardly. Even then, it's still nice. The hug lingers until you feel her warmth. The heat of her cheek pressed against your own. Her breath against your skin. These things tell you she is there. Really there.

Things like sitting on the couch snuggled up together, your faces inches apart. She speaks and you watch her lips intently as they form words. The soft lips forming sounds meant only for you. You notice each curve as she moves them and you're drawn to them to give her a soft kiss.

Things like the gentle hand on your shoulder, softly rubbing down to your back. The brush of fingers over your arm producing goosebumps. Those same fingers on the back of your neck, rubbing up into your hair where they gently tug at the hair and fingertips lightly stroke your scalp.

Things like napping together with her in the crook of your arm. You wake up with your arm aching but you don't want to move it. You don't want to wake her. Or you may be spooned up behind with your arm over her and pulling her close.

Things like waking up to sleepy eyes and a small smile. A contagious yawn starts and you stretch slightly before pulling her close again, unwilling to give up the moment even when you have to.

Things like the little kiss here and the little kiss there. Gentle kisses that say, "I just want you to know I still love you." They are soft and brief, but numerous. They reinforce that feeling of wanting more and bring you smiles.

Things like how she comes up behind you and slides her arms around your sides. She rests her head on your shoulder and presses in close. She wants nothing more than to be close and you want the same. You turn around and pull her close, back into a lingering hug.

There are so many little things that it would be impossible for me to enumerate them all. This is but a brief glimpse into the little things. These are the things I miss the most.

Make no mistake, I don't pine for the ones who came before. I simply long to share that kind of intimacy again.

Who knows? Maybe one day.

Why We Need An Electoral College

A note to all people who are duped into supporting the elimination of the electoral college. Let's do some critical thinking.

Here's the argument given by those disliking the electoral college system: every vote should count and the electoral college eliminates that possibility.

So, let's use an artificial example with smaller numbers. A colony on Mars is divided into 6 regions (states) as follows:

• Administeria - population 10, residents handle the administration of the colony.
• Entertania - population 10, residents provide entertainment for the colonists.
• Agraria  - population 6, residents handle all food production.
• Sciencia - population 3, residents are pure scientists.
• Maintainia - population 4, residents handle maintenance of the colony infrastructure.
• Technica - population 3, residents develop new hardware and software to handle colony problems.

Total population is 36.

There are 2 people running for colony leader. One is named Freebie who is from Administeria and believes that the colony's limited resources should be dedicated to making their lives as comfortable as possible even if that means sacrificing infrastructure and resource development to do so. The other is named Savvy from Maintainia and believes that because the colony needs to invest their limited resources into systems that will grow the colony and its resources.

So, they have a vote and the totals come out as follows:

• Administeria Freebie: 9, Savvy: 1
• Entertainia Freebie: 10, Savvy: 0
• Agraria Freebie: 1, Savvy: 5
• Sciencia Freebia: 0, Savvy: 3
• Maintainia Freebie: 0, Savvy: 4
• Technica Freebie: 0, Savvy: 3

That gives Freebie a total of 20 votes and Savvy a total 16 votes.

Seems clear, right? Freebie has the popular vote, Freebie wins. Let's look at the numbers more closely.

With a population of 36, Administeria contains 10/36 of the population. That's nearly 28% of the population. The same is true for Entertainia.

What that means is if Administeria and Entertaina voted for the same candidate, they lock in 52% of the vote and it doesn't matter what anyone else votes. The only time it would matter is if there was a dissent of at least 2 votes from Administeria and Entertainia combined.

In short, every voter in Agraria, Sciencia, Maintainia, and Technica would be disenfranchised. Their votes would never count.

However, if each region was assigned electoral votes based on population, we have a smoothing curve that eliminates the possibility of disenfranchising the other regions.

• Administeria - population 10, electoral votes 2.
• Entertania - population 10, electoral votes 2.
• Agraria - population 6, electoral votes 2.
• Sciencia - population 3, electoral votes 1.
• Maintainia - population 4, electoral votes 1.
• Technica - population 3, electoral votes 1.

Now, with a maximum of 9 electoral votes, Administeria and Entertainia have only 4/9 of the votes which is 44% and less than 50%.

So then if the election were held with the results from above the electoral results are:

• Administeria Freebie: 2
• Entertainia Freebie: 2
• Agraria Savvy: 2
• Sciencia Savvy: 1
• Maintainia Savvy: 1
• Technica Savvy: 1

In this system, everyone's vote counted toward their particular region and the regions have more balanced representation. Consequently, Savvy wins with 5 of 9 electoral votes.

Without the smoothing effect of the electoral system that provides a balance of votes between states, the largest states alone could decide the outcome of elections without any need to even allow the other states to vote.

If you don't see this, I pity you. You are deluded with the lamentations of the left that redefine terms (like fairness) to mean only what they want them to mean. In other words, the current left-leaning people define "fairness in voting" to mean "fair to people like us regardless of who is disenfranchised".

I cannot abide such flagrant attempts to steal elections and force the will of a few high population centers on the vast majority of the rest of the nation (by distribution) through lies and disinformation.

These are my thoughts. Your thoughts should be your own. Not what you are told.

Think about.

Seeking Unity has been released!

No good deed goes unpunished. Chief Safety Officer Kenik Duncan knows the concept well but hasn't learned the lesson. After he and Dr. Elise Miller survive more than two years stranded light years from home, the U.S.S Mercury arrives at the planet Drium to take them back to Unity Station. Kenik finds himself alone once again and unsure about his future. He throws his lot in with the American Navy as his journey home begins and he faces his greatest challenge yet. Does he have the strength to survive while seeking Unity?

Available now on Kindle and paperback.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KZMKQKD

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, Some Reason, Fractured Unity, and Seeking Unity.

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Privacy Policy

This policy was last updated on 2 August 2018

Sarcasm

Your privacy is important to you. As such, you should take proper precautions to ensure you protect your privacy. With that said, I personally respect your privacy and don't care to track you or anything you do. I just want to have a blog and say stuff that is meaningful to me. I don't harvest email addresses or cookie data or anything. To be honest, I don't care if you comment or don't comment. I write the things that are important to me. If you have any concerns that somehow, someway, in some alternate reality I am violating your personal privacy, then go away and don't view my blog. I'm not your father and I'm not responsible for any irresponsible browsing habits you may have. This is the Internet in 2018. There are cookies. There is tracking. I have nothing to do with it.

Privacy Notice

So then, the policy below is considered to be legally required in the EU nanny state because God forbid, people should browse the Internet and - gasp - have a cookie track their session. But I will follow the rules and post this privacy policy. The text below outlines how your personal information is collected in the shadows of a monstrous search engine that I have no clue about when, where, and how it does this. I can tell you how it is used when you when you access my blog: it's only used by whatever Google does. I don't use it, don't want it, and don't care.

So, the use of this blog site and reading it constitutes consent to whatever Google has to do to make it work. If you disagree with this, then opt out.

How do you opt out? Like this:

To be clear, you agree to the terms of this policy when you use this website. This privacy policy may change from time to time. If any changes are made, then you will be notified by the revised date at the top of this policy. The only foreseen changes are to make it more sarcastic. If that offends you, good. I don't care.

Who I Am

I am Kevin Farley and go by the pseudonyms sixdrift and neuronstatic from time to time. I started that long ago. So long ago, I don't know when it was. This blog was started in 2005 and is based in rural America where I don't give a flying flip about EU regulations except I don't want some pansy getting all stupid that I might harvest their email address and pitch a hissy fit. This website is a blog about stuff that I am interested in.

Here in the US, I can say pretty much anything I want because we have free speech and we use it. If you find anything offensive or hateful, see above how to opt out and do so. if you leave a nasty comment, I'll just delete it to protect your privacy.

So what will you find here? Thoughts on technology, operating systems, Linux, open source, philosophy, religion, parenting, morality, immorality, firearms - ooh, yeah, I went there - and anything else that I have a notion to post. My blog address is: https://sixdrift.blogspot.com/

Parental Consent

If you are under 16 years old, you must first have parental permission before accessing this blog or providing any personal information. If you are under 16, I seriously doubt you are reading my blog. If you do, you must be a free thinker. Good for you.

What Personal Data I Collect and Why?

None.

I do not share or sell your information to anyone. I have no affiliates, partners or advertisers that I share your information with. Google collects the data that enables our blog to run and they may have ads on the blog. Wooh! So scary. The following is the information collected by Google on and what we use the data for.

Cookies

The site makes use of cookies from Google to deliver services and to analyze traffic. Your IP address and user agent are shared with Google, together with performance and security metrics, to ensure quality of service, generate usage statistics and to detect and address abuse. You can also find more information about privacy, data, and security here: http://privacy.google.com/privacy.google.com or by visiting Google's Privacy Policy.

Comments

Love a post and want to comment? Leaving a comment is a great way to do that. I love hearing from you and love your feedback - rolls eyes. If you choose to leave a comment - and that is totally your choice - you have the option of commenting anonymously or including your name. Note that if you type in your name and the comment is approved, your name can be seen publicly. If you are signed in with Google and comment under your account (signed in as you) then your name and profile photo can be seen publicly. Your email address is never shared or disclosed to me.

Got that? You do those things. If you comment, you consent to public disclosure of the comment because that's how the Internet works.

It is recommended that you do not leave detailed personal information in your comments. Seriously. Why would you? That's just stupid. Refer to the first paragraph of this privacy policy.

Comments are moderated and will be published as soon as possible if approved. Any comments deemed as inappropriate, threatening, profane, or spam will not be approved. Or if I simply don't like it, it will be deleted while I laugh maniacally at your pitiful attempt to usurp my blog.

Contact form

I don't even think I have a contact form, but just in case Google does and some fool accidentally clicks on it and fills it in, this is what to expect:

The contact form is a great way to do that, I love hearing feedback and hearing from you - not really. If you choose to use the contact form, the name you type in and your email address will be sent to me along with your message. I will only use the email you have given to reply back to you. I never share your email address or disclose it to any other company or spam you with emails. This is a Blogger thing and covered under the Google privacy policy. You can also find more information about privacy, data, and security here: http://privacy.google.com/privacy.google.com or by visiting Google's Privacy Policy.

Location

Google collects information about your location (what country you are in) using cookies. This enables me to see what countries my audience is from. That's so the easily offended and scared in EU countries get an automatic notice that a cookie might be obtained.

Browser and Operating system information

Google collects device and browser information through the cookies it uses. Browser and operating system information enables them to see which browsers and operating systems are represented. This is used for statistics and allows Google to resolve issues when anyone has issues connecting to the site.

If your operating system shows up as something other than Linux, you should disconnect from the Internet immediately and shoot your computer. Get another one, the old one is beyond salvation, and install Linux. Or get a brand new Linux computer from https://system76.com/ and enjoy a much safer computing experience.

Or get a Chromebook and be safer still.

Referring URL

The referrer URL is provided by the computer accessing the blog page which includes the IP address of your computer and the URL of this blog site. This enables Blogger to send the content of my blog to your computer to allow you to view my blog's content. From the referrer URL, Blogger creates a server activity record which includes your IP address and the URL of my blog. The server activity record is displayed in my statistics. I use this information to see what websites my traffic is coming from and to see how many views posts or articles have had. This enables me to work out the needs of my visitors and what articles they are interested in so I can write more articles like these.

HAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, I don't look at them but it sounds cool.

Advertisements On My Blog

To support this website, third-party advertisements may be used in the future. I currently run no advertisements but reserve the right to do so in the future.

Social Media Privacy

I use various social media platforms. I am not responsible for what you post on any of my social media channels. That's all on you, baby!

Google+ Follow

You can choose to follow me by using Google+ follow. I do post to Google+ from time to time and you can follow me which enables you to stay up to date with my blog posts. This also enables me to see visitors that are interested in my blog. I can see that you are following and your profile photo information which is public. I can also see which blogs you follow. This magic is brought to you by the information that is collected by Google.

Links to other websites

I may have links to other websites. As such, I am not responsible for the privacy policies of other websites or the third party applications it uses.

Updates

This privacy policy may change from time to time. If any changes are made, then you will figure it out if you choose to click on this privacy policy and happen to notice the old date of the last update you remember and the new date of the latest update are different. Yeah, it's a stretch. Keep track of it. It's up to you, not me.

More information

You can also find more information about privacy, data, and security here: http://privacy.google.com/privacy.google.com or by visiting Google's Privacy Policy.

Final Note

You have the right to access your personal data and know how it is being processed. Hopefully, the policy above adequately explains how your data is used.

Personal information will not be transferred unless I am legally obligated to do so. You are entitled to receive personal data so that they can be used by another processor. You can request to be removed at any time and you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. If you would like information to be removed from my systems, please contact kfarley@gmail.com.

Final Final Note

I don't care about your feelings. I don't care if you are offended. I don't care if you feel that I said something hurtful. And, I don't care that you disagree with me. You see, this is my blog and represents my thought flow. I am under no obligation to cater to your sensitivities. If you find this difficult to deal with, go find a safe space and stay off my blog.

Questions and Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns please contact with my email address: kfarley@gmail.com

Fonts

I've been watching a number of videos of people experimenting with Linux, my favorite operating system. A lot of those videos have been specifically related to single board computers. We simply call them SBCs.

If you are into technology, then you've no doubt heard of the Raspberry Pi, currently one of the lowest cost and most popular SBCs for hobbyists, professionals, and those just dabbling in technology. Basically, these computers contain everything needed for a complete desktop computer in a tiny package about the size of a pack of playing cards. All that you need to add is a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

In almost all cases, the operating system of choice on an SBC is Linux. There are some running an embedded version of Windows, but that is the exception and not the norm. So naturally, when someone is creating a video to demonstrate the performance and abilities of these little machines, they load the vendor's preferred version of Linux or one that was created for the SBC.

Are you with me so far?

Anyway, all is good. They load Linux on the SBC to test it out. In almost all cases, the preferred version of Linux has a desktop environment so you can use the SBC just like your desktop. You login with a username and password and access graphical applications.

It seems that many times when this is done for a demonstration in a video, a comment is made about the lack of Microsoft fonts on the SBC. More specifically, fonts like Verdana, Times New Roman, Calibri, and Comic Sans. They cite this as a disadvantage and a criticism. 

Now, the better of these content providers know and show how easy it is to add Microsoft fonts to your Linux computer. In fact, it is extremely simple to add fonts to Linux.

But I have to ask, why add the Microsoft fonts to Linux in the first place?

Some will argue that it is needed for document compatibility. I submit that is invalid. Linux has equivalent fonts and most software, like LibreOffice and AbiWord, are pretty good at figuring out which equivalent to use. So you get the same look and feel of the document.

I can see the point that for ultimate compatibility, people want Microsoft fonts. I offer the counter-point that people could use open fonts that are not licensed by Microsoft instead.

Font availability is superb on Linux. Any TTF fonts you can find will work. Furthermore, some of those actually look a little better than the Microsoft version.

What's my point?

Saying "Microsoft fonts aren't available on Linux by default" isn't a criticism. Or at least, not one that should ever be a credible reason to avoid Linux. If you're that hung up on font selections, you probably have a lot of other requirements for your software that would eliminate Linux simply for the availability of your favorite commercial proprietary software that only runs on Windows (and maybe MacOS).

Don't get hung up on fonts. Be free from worrying about them too much.

---

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, Some Reason, and Fractured Unity.

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Why Do You Need A Computer?

Why do you need a computer? This is a serious question. I've asked a number of people over time and they give me all sorts of reasons. Some of them are obvious and others are dubious at best. Clearly, it's getting difficult to navigate modern America without access to some kind of computer. It's still possible, but that is changing.

Note that I'm not talking about needing a smartphone. The line between smartphone and computer has blurred considerably in the past few years. I personally use a phone more advanced and more powerful than thousands upon thousands of Americans' computers. I'm talking about an actual non-phone computer, be it a laptop or desktop.

So what are the reasons usually for needing a computer? This is a partial list of the most common ones. I tried to rank it in order of most mentioned to least mentioned but I make no promises.

• e-mail
  
• games
• social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• work
• YouTube/online video
• Google
• online shopping
• paying bills
• banking
• Internet TV
• e-book reader
• writing/journaling

Those are the responses I get most of the time. There are others including the more forward types who answer with honesty and list "porn" as one of their main criteria. We can just leave that in the "online video" category and avoid it for now. However, those are the main ones.

Now, given that list, how many of those activities do not require an Internet connection? Basically just one: games. There are a lot of online games and MMOs that require Internet connections, but you can still buy a large number of games that you can play and enjoy without any Internet connection at all.

What does that mean then? Well, it could mean a lot of things, but one that stands out is that people generally need a computer for just one of three purposes:

• work
• Internet access
• games

Clearly, the work requirement is a big one and results in a lot of requirements for the type and power of computer you would need. For the sake of argument, let's set aside the work computer requirement for the moment and look at the other two.

Computer games have become increasingly complex and require hefty CPUs, graphics chips, and memory just to maintain decent frame rates. Note that we are not talking about games like Solitaire, Candy Crush, and Temple Run in this category of games. We're talking about major video game releases that tax even the most robust computers when running. So once again for the sake of argument, let's set aside the video game requirement.

What does that leave us with? Internet access. 

So what are we talking about when it comes to using a computer for Internet access? Well, most of that original list. That's what we're talking about.

So do you need a computer? I would think that nearly everyone needs some kind of computer in this day and age. That could be a laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Whatever it is, you need one.

Now, I ask you again. Do you actually need a personal computer?

That depends on our tech skills and abilities. Are you comfortable using virtual keyboards on tablets and phones? Do you need simple portability? Do you need larger displays either because you need to see lots of stuff at once or your eyes are a little less than they used to be and you need to make things larger?

Consider all those things and if you decide you need a laptop or desktop computer or can you get by with a tablet or phone. If you need that personal computer, may I offer a suggestion? Keep it simple.

You see, most laptops and desktops these days run Windows of some kind. That means you are in a perpetual cycle of software updates, anti-virus updates, security updates, the inevitable virus infection, and your computer simply locking up. Mac users get that smug look off your face because you face the same things as well. Anti-virus software is needed on your Macs and yes, from several years of experience, I know that Macs can and will lock up or become corrupted.

Let's add to this the problem of how you back up your data. You see it's not a matter of if your computer's main storage (think hard disk) will become corrupted, it's a matter of when. It will eventually happen and you don't want to lose all those digital images you take simply because no one owns film cameras anymore. You also don't want to lose that family recipe for rum cake, that old email from a significant other, or your school thesis project.

Why have I set the stage as I have? What is my point?

It's simple really. If you need a personal computer and you are not a gamer and you need Internet access, you need a Chromebook.

What is a Chromebook you ask? It's simple. A Chromebook is a laptop of a different breed. Instead of Windows 10 or MacOS, Chromebooks run Google's Chrome OS which is based on the Linux operating system. These machines are designed to be used primarily while connected to the Internet, with most applications and documents living in the cloud. That being said, they continue to operate when not connected to the Internet and have local storage. However, the local aspect is secondary to the connected aspect.

What can you do with a Chromebook?

• e-mail
  
• social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
  
• YouTube/online video
  
• Google
• online shopping
• paying bills
• banking
• Internet TV
• e-book reader
• writing/journaling

Basically everything you would typically say you need a computer for except for work and games.

Also with a Chromebook, you never have to worry about updates, about anti-virus, about virus infections, or about disk crashes. If that wasn't cause enough to celebrate, here are most of the benefits given in the following list:

• very fast boot times, usually anywhere from 6 to 10 seconds
• automatic system updates without the impact of Windows updates taking tens of minutes
• immune to viruses because you can't modify the operating system on the machine
• access to the Internet via Chrome browser that always stays up to date
• can view and play all standard Internet document and file formats
• full suite of typical office tools including document publishing, spreadsheets, presentation generation, drawing, image manipulation, etc.
• everything is backed up to the cloud, it never loses data
• simple to use, simple to administer, simple to maintain

And finally, I saved what may be the best for last: price. 

Chromebooks generally use fewer resources than traditional laptops and that means they can be made at a lower cost. That means you can buy them at a lower cost. That does not mean they skimp on the materials, parts, or workmanship. I have a Chromebook that cost about $500 that has an aluminum body, touchscreen, and the best keyboard I've ever used on any laptop with any operating system.

For comparison, a $500 traditional laptop is kind of on the lower end of the middle of the pack for traditional laptops. But for Chromebooks, $500 is on the expensive end of the spectrum and represents a high quality and high power laptop.

So, why did I write this?

I've been working on restoring some laptops lately and trying to help people get a computer to use when they don't have much money to spare. Because of that, I felt this is the kind of public service announcement people with modest incomes need. Everyone needs to understand that if you aren't a graphics artist, video editor, or music composer, you don't need a full priced traditional laptop.

Instead, you need a computer on the Internet. You need a Chromebook.

Wild dogs of Wake Forest

The Dinner Fight

Picking a place for dinner is never an easy task with two young sons who constantly disagree over where to go. This was especially true for Tom and his boys, Roger and Dennis.Tom liked to take his boys out to a restaurant each Sunday after church. And nearly every time there was an argument.

Most of the time, Dennis ended up crying. They almost always settled on something Dennis liked because he usually threw the biggest fit. Roger could be a pain too, no doubt. But, it was Dennis that usually ended up crying and screaming despite being old enough to know better.

On a recent Sunday, Tom asked Connie to join them for lunch. Connie and Tom were friends and she agreed. After church, Connie arrived at Tom's house and they all talked about which restaurant to go to.

"What about Olive Garden?" Tom asked. "I know we all like it and we haven't been there in a while."

"Sure," Roger agreed. "That's okay with me. I'm getting spaghetti!"

"Cool," Tom said. "Is the OG okay with you, Connie?"

Connie nodded. "Sure. I have no prefernce."

"I hate Olive Garden!" Dennis cried. "They don't have hamburgers!"

"Dennis," Tom started. "Having hamburgers and fries all the time isn't really good for you. Come on. You like spaghetti and you know it."

"I hate spaghetti!" Dennis lied. "I want to go to McDonald's!"

"I honestly don't mind if we do that," Connie said. "I don't have a preference."

"Dad! I don't want to go to McDonald's. I don't like it," Roger moaned.

"Okay, how about Julio's?" Tom offered.

"Sure," Roger answered.

"No! I hate Julio's!" Dennis wailed.

Tom pursed his lips and looked at each of his boys. "Okay, then. I see where this is going and I don't want to have another argument. Roger, Dennis, suggest alternatives."

"How about Chili's?" Roger asked. "They have hamburgers and I can get fajitas."

"That sounds fine. What about it Dennis?" Tom asked.

Dennis folded his arms over his chest and dug his heels in. "I want McDonald's! I won't go anywhere else but McDonald's!"

"Tom, it's okay to go to McDonald's," Connie offered. "I really don't mind. Like I said, I don't have a preference."

"Dennis, I don't want to go to McDonald's and Roger doesn't want to go to McDonald's. Your brother offered an alternative. So, I want you to suggest someplace else you'd like to eat."

"I don't want any place else! If we don't go to McDonald's I'm not eating! I'm sitting right here! You can't make me go."

Tom was getting upset and Roger was frustrated. Connie sat quietly and said nothing. The simple task of deciding on a restaurant was rapidly expanding into a full meltdown for Dennis.

"Dennis, why do you want to go to McDonald's?" Tom asked.

"I told you! I want a hamburger!"

"But there are other places to get hamburgers," Tom chided. "Since you don't want OG or Chili's, how about the Ale House? They have really good burgers."

"He just wants a Happy Meal with a free toy!" Roger sneered. "That's the only reason he likes it. You know he never eats all of his hamburger anyway!"

"That's not true!" Dennis wailed. "You just never do anything I want to do!"

"We always do what you want, you big baby!" Roger yelled.

"Alright, boys. That's enough," Tom said with mounting frustration. "Dennis, Roger's right. You always cry and scream to get your way. It's time to compromise. Suggest someplace else. We're not going to McDonalds's!"

"Fine!" Roger shouted. "If you want a hamburger so much, let's go to Burger King!"

"No!" Dennis screamed while stomping his feet. "I only want McDonald's!"

"Dennis, there's no reason to get this worked up. Let's just agree on something we can all enjoy and try to get along," Tom said attempting to reason with Dennis who was already in full tantrum mode.

Tom and Roger were frustrated as usual. When Dennis did this, he made life miserable for everyone. Connie was uncomfortable being there.

"Tom," Connie interjected. "It's okay wherever we go. So why not compromise and go to McDonald's?"

Tom was even more frustrated. Connie wasn't helping. She was only encouraging Dennis to be more of a tyrant.

"Let me guess," Tom said knowingly. "You have no preference. Right?"

Connie's eyes drew down. "You know, what? I think I should just be going."

"Fine. Sorry, today didn't work out. You know how Dennis can be," Tom said.

"I suppose. Then again, you didn't exactly try to work with him," Connie said before leaving to the sounds of Roger yelling at Dennis and Dennis crying and throwing himself on the floor in a tantrum.

The next day, Connie was having lunch with some coworkers.

After talking about work and other things, Mary pushed salad greens around on her plate as she thought out her question. "So, how did lunch go with Tom yesterday?"

"It didn't," Connie lamented. "They couldn't agree on a place to go. As far as I know, they didn't go anywhere."

"Wow. Those boys are a handful. Especially Roger. He's always trying to get his way," Alyssa added.

Mary nodded. "Tell me about it! And Tom is such a tyrant. He never bends on anything. It's his way or the highway."

"What happened?" Fran asked.

"Oh, the same," Connie sighed. "They tried to decide on a place to eat and none of them would compromise. Tom suggested Olive Garden, but Dennis wanted McDonald's. It degraded from there."

"That's usually how it is with Tom," Mary said smirking.

"Yeah, and Roger suggested a couple other places that Tom was fine with but none of them would agree to McDonald's for Dennis' sake. They completely wouldn't compromise."

Fran's face pulled into confusion. "Wait. Tom and Roger offered alternatives and Dennis didn't. It sounds like Dennis was the one not compromising."

Connie, Mary, and Alyssa stared at Fran.

"Clearly you don't know the meaning of the word compromise," Mary said. "This is all Tom's fault.

Exasperated, Fran blurted out, "But, Dennis was the one not willing to compromise. Surely you see that?"

"You don't understand kids and parenting, do you?" Connie said. "Tom and Roger were just being difficult. If they didn't go out for lunch yesterday, it's their fault."

"That's right," Mary and Alyssia agreed.

"Clearly, you three are morons," Fran said and picked up her check to leave.

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, Some Reason, and Fractured Unity.

Ian's Christmas Wish - A Flash Fiction

The fire crackled softly in the fireplace as a light snow fell outside the cabin. Each unique snowflake added to the thick white layer that had been falling all day. Through the windows, shades of gray and blue dominated the evening sky that was backlit by a full moon.

Inside the warmth of logs and timber, the flicker of candles fought against the coming darkness while casting shadows that slowly danced on the walls. I followed the candles to the kitchen and stopped briefly to watch the snowfall fade to just a few flakes. I offered up a quick pray of thanks for a beautiful evening.

Looking back to the main room, Sarina waited for me on the sofa. She caught me staring at her, admiring her brown curls and nerdy glasses. She smiled a soft smile and my heart melted. Over the last few months, we'd grown closer than I ever dared to dream. And there she was, waiting for me, smiling and happy to be with me. Just me.

In the kitchen, I struggled with the wine key and a bottle of Chardonnay. For whatever reasons, I always had trouble opening this particular brand. I had a moment of mild anxiety when I thought I was about to break the cork. I took my time and managed to get the whole thing out intact. I wanted this night to be special. I wanted it to be perfect.

It was Christmas eve and we were twenty miles from anywhere that was somewhere. I brought Sarina here because this place was special to me. She was the most special person in my life and I wanted to share the magic of the cabin on a Christmas Eve with her. My hope was the magic would rub off and she would answer yes to the question I had for her.

Back in the living room, Sarina smiled as I entered with the wine tray. Her hair hung naturally in loose curls down to her shoulders. She took off her glasses and set them on the end table as I offered her a glass of the Chardonnay.

"Oh, thank you," she said almost in a whisper. She took a sip and smiled again. "Chardonnay. My favorite. Are you up to something?"

"Me? Up to something? Maybe," I joked.

She laughed and scrunched her nose. To me she was adorable and I could be happy just drinking up the vision of her sitting smiling at me.

"Come here," she beckoned and held out the patchwork quilt she'd been wrapped in. "Keep me warm."

I tossed another log on the fire and sat down beside her. Sarina snuggled up close and we sipped our wine in the quiet of the cabin in the mountains.

"Snow's letting up. It's a beautiful night," she sighed.

"The night, as beautiful as it is, pales in comparison to you."

She smiled again and kissed me. "Thank you. You always say the sweetest things. Maybe that's why I'm so attracted to you."

Holding her close, I took another sip of wine. "It's easy to say them because they're true."

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you," I whispered back. "More than I can describe."

"I know what you mean. I just feel … happy with you. I didn't think that was going to ever happen again. Not with anyone."

"Sarina," I started then hesitated.

"Yes?"

"I'm happy with you too. And with all I'd been through, I thought that was completely out of reach for me. Then you came along …"

"Here I am," she said after I didn't continue on.

"Here we are."

"Yes, here we are. Is everything alright? You seem like something is bothering you."

"Well, to be honest, I'm afraid," I confessed.

She raised up slightly to see my face. "What are you afraid of?"

"You, sort of."

"Me?" she said in surprise.

"Sort of."

"Why?" she asked.

"I'm afraid I'll lose you. And that's why I have this …"

I started fishing something out of my pocket.

Tears appeared in her eyes when she saw the ring I produced from my pocket. It wasn't large or flashy. It was elegant with clean lines and a single diamond. It was like Sarina herself. Naturally beautiful without a lot of effort.

"Is that what I think it is?" she choked out.

I held the ring in my fingers and hesitated. Now that I was actually doing it, I wondered if I could. Twice before I'd asked women to marry me. Twice before they said yes. And twice before they betrayed me and left me alone. It took all my resolve to trust again.

"Sarina Miller, will you marry me?" I finally managed to say.

Her lip quivered and the tears flowed. "Are you sure about this? I know what you've been through. I know what I've been through. Do you think we can make it work when it never did before for either of us?"

"I am sure. As long as we keep our focus right, God will see us through. But if you're not sure, then don't say yes. I don't know if I can go through all the pain again."

"I love you. I don't want to say no. I don't want to lose you," she stammered.

"Then what do you say?"

"Then I say 'yes'!" she exclaimed and kissed me.

I slipped the ring on her finger and she cried even more. We kissed in spite of her tears of joy. The magic of the night, the magic of the cabin, and the magic of love was going to win this time.

A loud pop from the fire burst the magic and the quilt and the wine were gone. The ring was gone. Sarina was gone. I sat alone on the sofa in a quiet cabin in the mountains miles from anywhere that was somewhere. It was Christmas Eve and I was alone again, just as I'd been the past few years. There was no Sarina, there was no one. I had no one to hold, no one to kiss.

The bright moon shone down on the snow-covered ground and the world outside sparkled. I stared out the window and allowed myself a moment to shed quiet tears. Year after year I came here alone with my Christmas wish. Year after year I remained alone. At least this year it was a beautiful night.

~~~

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, Some Reason, and Fractured Unity.

Time To Clean Those Drives!

Now that my most recent book project is completed and published, it's time to tackle something that's been building up for a while now.

Digital clutter.

I look around in my folders and there are files everywhere. I have bits of this and bits of that, various cover designs at various revision levels, snippets of chapters that were excised for brevity and clarity but worthy of keeping, you name it I have it. It's everywhere and it's a disorganized mess.

Part of this problem occurs because of the way I go about things. I do most of my work online and store everything in the cloud. As a result, my cloud drive is just as disorganized as my local drives. I say local drives because I work from multiple computers, my phone, and my tablet. This is why I do things in the cloud: I can work from anywhere on nearly anything.

So. I'm not complaining about the mess that I made by myself. I'm just pointing out that every so often we all need to do some housekeeping on our computers. It's just my turn.

Since buying bigger hard drives for archiving doesn't really address the problem (I now have two 1 TB drives and one 2 TB drive) but rather moves it around, I have to do the hard thing and look at the files. I'll probably make a grand backup of stuff first, then I'll start culling, both local and cloud.

The most important thing to me to keep are files containing the following:

- photos from my camera/phone
- completed books
- in-process books
- supporting material for books
- source code for software I've written for myself
- music files
- video files
- video project files
- image project files
- legal, tax, and financial files

This is no small task and I'll be taking bites out of this elephant over the Christmas holidays. If I ever post a screaming fit at myself, you know I accidentally deleted something important and it was permanent.

Pray for me :-)

-Kevin

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, Some Reason, and Fractured Unity.

Fractured Unity has now been released!

Deep space is dangerous and humans are fragile beings. Few know this as well as Chief Safety Officer Kenik Duncan. He and a close-knit prospecting crew arrive at Drium, an unexplored world some twenty light years from their home on Unity Station. He has just one job: keep the crew alive. When the unthinkable happens, he finds himself reliving the same crisis that nearly killed him as a younger man. As the reality of isolation gnaws at the crew, Kenik has to make a choice. He can't save them all. But, he can save one ... if he can escape the snare of a fractured unity.

Available now on Kindle and paperback.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078G83F3N

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, Some Reason, and Fractured Unity.

Storm rolling in.

This is the kind of thing I picture in my latest book when I refer to a storm rolling in.

Author Update!

Two days ago, on May 15, 2017, I finished the draft of my latest book. The draft has come in at a little over 135,000 words. Now, I start the editing process. I'm hopeful to pull that number down a little bit and I certainly don't want to make it worse.

Anyway, on Friday, May 19, 2017, I'll be revealing the book title and synopsis on my Facebook author page. At that time, I'll be releasing Chapter 1 beta version on that page so anyone who follows my author page can read it.

I like the path the story took as I developed it. This has been fun.

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, and Some Reason.

An Author's Update

It felt good to get into the "zone" while writing. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to get my butt in gear and do some significant writing on my newest book. I feel pretty good about my results so far. I've drafted 7.5 chapters in the last two weeks for a total of just under 27,000 words.

I don't know how other authors do things, but I really get into the character's emotions. I've been sitting here tonight angry, sad, happy, concerned, afraid, and everything in between.

It may sound like such a chore, but seriously, I love it when I get in the zone like this. It's an awesome feeling when you are creating a story and it actually surprises you the way it evolves in ways you never expected.

I'm following an outline and sticking fairly close to it, but some things sprang onto the page I never imagined. They just happened. That may sound odd if you've never experienced it, but it is awesome.

Sometimes, it's frustrating. I knew how I wanted the relationship between two characters to be, but the story wrote a different relationship. I fought with the story a few days, but the story won. What I originally wanted was just... bad. Just incredibly bad. What it became was good. Or at least potentially good.

I hope to write an update at least once a week. That should hold me accountable in keeping up the writing schedule so I can finish this book for self-publication in June or July.

Note: editing can take a really long time.

The Nearly Lost Art of Assembly Language

Looking around at all the modern programming languages and methods, one would think we know more about writing good code now than ever before. One would think that we have risen to the point of writing code in ways that preclude the necessity of even understanding how the CPU operates and the operating system functions.

Sadly, we are at that point to a large extent. Ask new grad programmers - I dare not list the degrees specifically given the plethora of degrees that generate programmers - how their lines of code actually work under the covers and you will get stammers or blank stares. Ask them how function calls - and even if you are an object-oriented enthusiast methods are still functions - are handled in context switches. You may get an explanation shows a rudimentary explanation, but ask them for specific CPU register names and you've exceeded their wealth of knowledge.

Once upon a time, universities taught programmers how to write assembly language code. That is no longer the case. You will find it in masters programs as electives, maybe even a short segment of a required class, but you don't find undergrads being taught assembly language code.

In the past, the argument could be made that was because there were far too many processor architectures that had vastly different instruction sets. That meant there was no predominant assembly language with the exception of IBM mainframe assembly language courtesy of the System 370 which a lot of guys my age had to learn.

Some of us also picked up VAX assembly language and maybe even Sparc. Some of us were fortunate enough to have learned assembly language programming for the x86 architecture back in the day.

But the diversity excuse for not teaching assembly language doesn't float anymore. And in for all practical and commercial concerns, there are two assembly languages that could dominate for the role: x86 and ARM.

One could add Arduino to that list now as it's popularity among hobbyists is huge.

With the small device world embracing ARM, its assembly language would be a strong contender. With the thriving popularity of Arduino, that is also a strong contender.

However, the reality is every programmer out there has access to some kind of x86 based PC or laptop. They also have a number of excellent hypervisors that can provide x86 virtual machines to safely hammer away in assembly language in kernel space without the worry of damaging their actual machine.

So that begs the question. With the ubiquitous availability of computers and the gcc suite which compiles x86 assembly language, there really is no barrier to learning assembly language or teaching it in colleges and universities.

There is something satisfying, even elegant, in writing assembly language code. Seeing the machine code representation output from the assembler is like seeing the actual Rosetta Stone (not the software, the actual artifact). You see this indecipherable sequence of numbers (in hex) and its simplest explanation in a readable format.

I like that.

So the next time you are crafting your amazing class structure or using some new programming pattern for handling linked lists or some new multi-way linked trees, take a moment to pause and remember there is machine code under it. And think about that machine code as if it were on a Rosetta Stone that you can read.

Also rememver that every line of high-level code, from the "p = p->next" to the "object.next" iterator, can all be written in assembly language. Yes, it would take longer. And it not only can be done, it has been done.

Happy Independence Day!

Just a quick note to say, happy Independence Day, everyone!

Have a wonderful and enjoyable day and remember all those lives sacrificed for our freedom.

Let us also never forget that freedom from an oppressive government was not a one time thing back in 1776. It is an ongoing fight to retain our freedoms. 

Remember, peace without freedom is no peace it all. Sometimes it takes a violent good to overcome a violent evil.

--

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, and Some Reason.

A Nice Conundrum

I have a rather nice conundrum. I have five really good book ideas at once. I am currently working on a sequel book to my first book, The Trillborne Wife, and I would definitely like to finish that first. 

But these pesky book ideas keep coming to the front of my mind and interfering. 

It's not all bad. In some ways, I've used some of the new ideas, and my recent re-obsession with playing World of Warcraft, to experiment with some character ideas that are making their way into the current book project and will ultimately be in future books as well.

It's tough having too many ideas, but much preferable to the lack of ideas.

--

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, and Some Reason.

I've Created A Monster

My little girl watched her mother and me play World of Warcraft when she was very little. She watched her brother play it. For the last two years she has begged us to play. We had already stopped playing and had no intention of restarting.

Then the Warcraft movie came out. Then Blizzard sent me a free Warlords of Draenor expansion if I renewed my account. 

I did. And my wife did. 

So now my little 7 yo drop of sunshine is playing WoW. 

What have I done?

Well, at least she's playing Horde :-)

--

Did you know I like to write: The Trillborne Wife, Policy, and Some Reason.