[Ichi geki, Hissatsu]

"I have been told of a certain sea snake which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey. It will lie at the bottom of the ocean as if wounded. Then its enemies will approach, and yet it will lie quite still. And then its enemies will take little bites of it, and yet it remains still."

So we will lie still, and let our enemies come to us and nibble...

Have every manager followed.

Alex is back in Texas, the land of sunshine, freedom, and opportunity. Ironically, the weather here has inched towards decent again, London's little way of extending a middle finger right as he left.

Now just James is left working in the same area as me, and Jay is doing his finance thing. Who knows what will happen when Jay finishes his MBA though.

I'm surprised at how strong the urge to go back home is, it really hit me thinking of how easily Alex just went back and will be stepping into things as if he had never left. I'll be honest with myself though, it is very hard to picture going back only because I've been here just long enough to get used to so many things (which really means I'm just avoiding change again). It certainly isn't going to take much to tip the scales though...so we'll see.

Part of my New Year goals was to read a book a week. This is a bit challenging given that (a) it is a non-fiction book and (b) several goals require better time management than I normally possess. It is actually a discipline in a way.

Anyhow, I am going with a fiction book as I didn't plan to rule those out altogether, and based on some good word-of-mouth I am checking out The Name of the Wind. So far it seems pretty well done (only about 100 pages in out of 672 pages) and the big upside is that apparently the trilogy is already completed and just being released with pacing. A welcome change to GRRM.

Which on a related note - I have definitely decided I am not buying a Dance with Dragons new. It has been an inexcusably long amount of time between the last book and the pending one and sadly keeping up with the author only leads one to believe he just doesn't make an effort. It's his life and ultimately I have no real place to bitch, but I can strike my own deal by buying the book used and limiting the income he gets with the initial publishing. After all, I'm used to waiting and quite frankly I have serious doubts as to whether or not the man will live to complete the series.

With that being said - I am aware I sound like a snotty teenager and that is fine. ;) Life is good if I have the time and inclination to bitch about an author's writing efforts (or lack thereof).

I was a little disappointed that I didn't go to Latvia with my flatmate for New Year's Eve...but after hearing the aftermath of the trip from the 5 people who did go I guess it wasn't too bad. It's a long story, short version is Latvians hate tourists thanks primarily to the English - who believe it or not are definitely worse tourists than Americans. While living in the UK has perks in regards to easy travel access to Europe, the weather from November through February (and even March) negates things just as much. I really have to admit that I hate cold weather and given that I barely want to venture out locally in freezing weather, going to even colder countries is out of the question.

The lack of sunlight and warmth in the winter season, and a less than noticeable improvement in the spring and summer seasons does make me wonder just how long I can tolerate living here. I've mostly come to terms with a lot of the other compromises in day to day living/quality of life, the working environment, etc - but the weather might just end up being the deal breaker.

I'm getting ready to formally jot down my list of resolutions and their associated difficulty levels. I am purposefully going to put in some "quick wins" along with things that might not be resolutions in the traditional sense just so that I can cross off the list items and encourage myself to get through the more difficult ones. For example, getting a Flickr pro account is a goal I am more than happy to cross off and makes for a great counterbalance to quitting smoking.

I am not sure how I feel about putting my goals out for the whole world to see, but who knows.

Lastly, the kettlebell is the coolest damn exercise equipment I have even come across. I initially thought it was another gimmicky fad device, but the more I read about them, the greater my interest. Having broken down and purchased one and then done a bit of the various exercise routines I cannot endorse them enough. They make exercise incredibly fun, put a whole different perspective on things, and absolutely work a wider range of muscles with noticeable benefits.

This should be an interesting year in so many ways.

That's all for now. ;)

...and I have some plans for 2009. In fact, I'm going to make a list...*before* NYE.

Two of the items are travel things and I am excited to say I will definitely be taking a couple of trips I have been wanting to for a while now. I really think by the end of 2009 the only continent I won't have set foot on will be Antarctica, which is a pretty big deal to me.

I'm saving up my energy for more important things than work. One thing I have to thank the UK for is curing me of misdirecting my focus on work.

I'm being cryptic because I'll never be good at sharing things all over the place in a blog or journal.

"Watashi wa makenai" is possibly the coolest Japanese phrase ever.

Now, very few people read my journal, and while I am not going to provide the details of my vote for our next President (and what I am about to post below *may* seem to indicate my choice), I would love feedback on the following item I came across on our friend the Internet.

"Last Thursday while walking to lunch on the corner of Market and East Bay, I passed what appeared to be a homeless man standing on the corner of Wentworth and East Bay holding a hand-made sign that read, “Vote Obama, I need the money.”, I laughed to myself and admired the man for his misplaced, albeit blatant honesty.

Once inside one of my favorite restaurants, I noticed that my waiter was wearing a bright blue ,“Obama 08” tie; again I laughed to myself as he boldly and proudly advertised his political preference for all the world, and his customers, to see -- just imagine the odds of encountering two such 1st Amendment harbingers of change in less than 10-minutes.

When the check finally came I decided not to tip my waiter and explained to him that I was going to implement a practical application of Obama's Redistribution of Wealth concept as my own personal socialistic experiment. He stood there in stoic disbelief as I explained to him that I was going to redistribute his rightfully earned $10 tip to someone who I deemed more in need...a homeless fellow standing a few blocks north in front of the Harris Teeter parking lot. The waiter stammered a few "Why practice on me? I’m just a local college student!" retorts and then angrily stormed away from the table in a steaming huff of progressive self-righteous indignation.
Apparently, after experiencing firsthand the application of such socialistic governance from the perspective of the rightful wage earner, my young liberal-minded waiter was quickly convinced that income redistribution was much easier to support as a noble, magnanimous social policy than when his own hard-earned income was about to be redistributed, against his will, to another I deemed more needy.

I went outside, walked back up to Wentworth, gave the homeless guy a $10 bill, and asked him to walk down to the restaurant on the corner and thank the waiter there who was wearing the “Obama 08” tie as I've decided he could use the money more than my waiter who had actually earned the $10. The homeless fellow smiled in grateful disbelief, tossed his sign in the hedge, and promptly bounded for the liquor store across the street.

At the end of this impromptu and rather unscientific income redistribution experiment I realized the homeless fellow was truly grateful for the money that he had not exerted any effort to earn, but my liberal-minded waiter was highly indignant that I would take from him and then give to another the honest wages that he had worked hard to earn even though the homeless recipient needed the money more.

As I walked back to my office, I began thinking about the heavy burden of corporate ownership and the endless frustration from beating my head against the wall of increasing bureaucracy year-after-year. I also thought of the majority of this year’s hard-earned profits that I had planned to reinvest in a few new employees, annual raises to reward loyalty and hard work, Christmas bonuses for extraordinary effort, and year-end corporate donations to the SC Aquarium, Coastal Conservation League, and the Historic Charleston Foundation.

After reconsidering my apparent politically incorrect capitalistic beliefs, the needs of my hard-working, albeit financially struggling, middle-class staff, and the six-figure salaries of the three non-profits’ directors sitting in the big stately, well-maintained buildings that each called home, I decided then and there to give every last penny of this year’s profit directly to Charleston’s Homeless Shelter, layoff all my staff, close our company, retire early, and depend upon the largesse of Obama’s promised Redistribution of Wealth for my every need!
In that brief instance, I too became a practicing socialist!"


Since most everyone I know claims to be a fan of Obama, I would love to see the response to this bit.

It is an incredibly strange feeling to have a sense of not belonging, anywhere.

Not in a "I cut to feel", emo way, just the sense of visiting home but not feeling right...yet not feeling like the place you are living and came from is not home or where you fit in either.

Very strange. Thankfully though I was able to stroll right in to a B&N and grab a copy of Rebel without a Crew (not as easy to pick up in the U.K.) and Blood Meridian (supposedly C.M.'s masterpiece).

The weather is damned nice. I may just get some color back with this trip.

Voting tomorrow, I hope I put aside enough time to actually know something about both candidates and don't just end up voting for an archetype.

I have been keeping a low profile for a few months. Partly due to the weather, in other regards to get a clearer picture of what my priorities are and to get my bearings. To be fair, it isn't as if I have been hiding under a rock, I've been on the odd adventure to one locale or another, accomplished a few minor goals - but I'd say the past several months has been a much more sedate period for me.

This is a good thing, I needed to hibernate a bit. I underestimated the adjustment period and settling in cycles a move to another country warrants. I also seriously overestimated my ability to cope with an actual winter climate (including the sun setting at 3:45 pm during the peak of the winter season). All in all, things are good. I'd go into more detail but this past weekend (and in turn today's bank holiday) has ushered in the first consistent period of warm weather, longer days, and sun (I need sun, I have turned almost cadaverous of late).

I don't want to leave anyone empty handed, so here are some bullet points:

- I passed my RHCE which was a nice affirmation that I still had Linux skills. I am going to focus on getting my RHCA because from what I have heard, there are presently less than 100 of them worldwide.

- I have become addicted to the types of management/business books I used to mock. They are sort of my equivalent to trashy pulp fiction.

- In the same vein, I am seriously trying to decide between picking up an Amazon Kindle or an iRex iLiad. The Kindle doesn't work outside of the U.S., has less format support, and let's face it - the thing is ugly. The iRex is bigger, has better format support, but no easy online on-demand delivery model and is extremely overpriced. Either way, I refuse to buy technical books anymore and I am thinking the same holds true for books that you want to read but don't see the value in having a proper hard copy to keep on the shelf.

- Iron Man was a good movie.

- I have traveled less than I would have liked so far, but far more than I would have back home. I plan to pick up the pace with the Spring and Summer seasons.

- I live with a Finance guy that is pursuing his MBA from a top-ranked business school. From time to time I succeed in extracting him from his work/study hermitage, and it is always worth it. For example, last night the best quote I have heard (and out of nowhere) in quite some time came directly from this person while we were in a casino:

"Use the tears of your victims to wash away the blood of your enemies."

I mean...wow.

Can't make any promises on other updates, I just can't commit the time to a lot of the socially-oriented stuff like LJ, Facebook, MySpace, etc.