from the same type of thread on our GNB facebook site. Steve has this
he did photos of his town's firework Nice!
My crystal ball hasn't really worked right since 2000, but I'll predict that we'll see an expanded Democratic presence in the Congress (toss-up on whether it'll be as spineless as the current one), and a Democrat in the White House.
I'll also predict that we'll withdraw from Iraq, with the exception of a forward fire base or two to "support" the Baghdad government (for which read, "Bomb the shit out of whoever they ask us to").
And finally I'll predict that I'll start my fourth book this year.
This year:
working for the first politician to motivate me since 1964.
Starting Social security
Working 20-60 hours a week for myself just like I have for the last 40 years.
Might start a chat room --- blogs are so 2007.
Tuning up the old Framus and seeing if I still have any chops left.
Beta testing whatever the next big thing might be to come out of Redmond, maybe, if it isn't V***a related.
Alphabetizing my spice cabinet.
Releasing the secret of turning plastic trash into co2.
Planting topsoil to sequester said co2.
Taking up smoking to prevent Alzheimers and reduce the risk of parkinson's disease. ( only recomended for folks over 50 ).
Baking more pies with lard instead of butter or crisco or out of a box.
Increasing my daily intake of salt and vitamin E and Mega Doses of C.
Bartering more --- earning less --- reducing my exposure to toxic Federal Reserve Notes.
Improving my Single Malt Scotch collection by removing all the Lowland malts and only buying Islay malts.
Obtaining my preaching license and starting a Deist church RSN. If it was good enough for the founding fathers then Deism is good enough for my parishioners.
Continuing to read GNB and holding back my envy at the skills shown.
Then in February I will do something else.
Happy New Years.
wanderer... 4th book?!
I am jealous. I have a little something published here in Japan and am starting my first novel but it is HARD.
good on you.
Right at this moment, I'm focused on one particular task - getting the mobo of my Linux server back in order. I think a power outage (and consequent violent line surges) may have taken it down along with a 250GB outboard drive.
It's tantalizing because the thing boots up LiveCDs just fine. It only seems to crap out on Linux boot drives that booted the system perfectly up until shortly after the power failure.
I've been banging my head against this for the last 48 hours.
Longer term - I've got a stack of books about two feet high I want to go through. Starting with a recent title on Cross Site Scripting attacks and another on Google hacking.
When I got into this line of work, the systems most at risk were the ones running vulnerable server software. Like all those Microsoft IIS servers most people didn't even know they'd installed on their Win2K systems - until said systems got compromised by the Code Red worm.
These days, the most exploited technical vulnerabilities, bar none, are the ones in the client software you read email with and surf the web with every day.
And good choice of client software, especially your browser, can decrease your probability of getting nailed by an order of magnitude or more. See Know Your Enemy: Malicious Web Servers for some really mind-blowing data from the Honeynet Project on specific threat vectors and their relative degrees of risk.
Extreme caution about web contacts with certain types of site can improve your odds just as drastically.
Hint: There are more reasons for employers to come down hard on workers surfing porn sites than just lawsuits and bluenoses.
And it also helps to keep abreast of the social engineering ploys used by the people pushing Storm Worm style trojans. Many of these won't be caught by antivirus because the malware authors keep diddling with the code - but if you never open the trojaned email in the first place, you'll never get infected by it. Mark 1 eyeballs and your wits can go far to mitigate the growing shortfall in the signature-based A/V software model.
Don't even get me started about Google. Suffice to say that many people who have critical data hanging out where every Tom, Dick, and Harry can see it have no idea of the severity of their exposure.
I made much-needed progress on various personal fronts in 2006 and 2007.
First order of business for '08 will be knee surgery (probably ACL replacement), but that doesn't dampen my optimism. I think it will be a good year, an important year for me.
Gator, my first three were a SF trilogy. Took me over 20 years. I hope this one won't take as long.
my little japan venture can be seen here it was a little inside guide to Harry Potter for Japanese readers
I made big changes in 2007 - two were received, the others were initiated.
In 2007 my first novel won 2nd place in a national literary contest, and my Mom invited me to spend the summer with her in my lovely hometown. That turned into caregiving her knee surgery, then I decided to leave the Big City and move back to my hometown with Mom. All doable, all done, all fine.
In 2008 I WILL find publication for my novel and other short stories; continue diet and exercise routines to lose another 20 pounds; keep working on the short stories and the second novel. These are certain.
Otherwise, I open this year up for more playfulness, dancing, flirting, singing, travel, allowing my heart to break for the humanity inside the violence, maintaining a continuous connection with the goodness of this sweet and generous world.
Spend more time on the treadmill.
Green my condo: florescent lights, energy saving tips applied, more use of natural cleaners.
Successfully do my college work.
Work for the Democratic nominee, resuming some poll work.
Improve my health habits: eat more vegetables and grain.
Finish my websites.
Write a lot more often.
For 2008. Publish some more papers which hopefully will help me get a better academic job. It really is publish or perish.
2008 is going to be like being pregnant (not that I've done that in 15 years).
Lots of things quietly going on where they can't be seen or described or talked about -- but there's still there, getting bigger, and growing toward their time. We'll see what arrives when the day comes, and not before.
No health resolutions. I do what I can do to stay on top of the emerging conditions. Sometimes, I get ahead for a while -- the past couple years were great that way -- but the past few months, I've suddenly been stricken with arthritis, which I've now got to learn to manage. (Suggestions welcome.) If that happens, it'll be a good year on the health front.
I'm feeling increasingly restless with my life as its been. I don't want to own this stuff, live in this house, wear those clothes any more. Am feeling the need to radically simplify, make a big break, lean hard into something smaller and more reasonable. Fewer things, fewer diversions; more travel, more ideas.
Likewise, I'm pruning away old guilts and fears that held me down. Math anxiety, ghosts that still haunt from corporate lives past, the fact that I never have and probably never will understand women. It's time to confront stuff like this and decide to either change it or accept it. Either way, I want to give that energy to other things.
This year, I'll finish all but the last course of my degree. I'll turn 50. My first chick will fledge. We may move house. We'll either find a leader who can pull us through this; or we won't, and hell will begin to break loose.
Life goes on. Here's to one more free trip around the sun.
Our year is starting with a continuation of last year's big new thing: we are becoming guardians (now official temporary guardians, working on permanent guardianship)of a sixteen year-old girl we rescued from a bad situation.
I will probably have to find more work, as this new adventure is expensive.
We hope to be able to go to the Tea Expo in Las Vegas this year.
My partner wants to ride in Pride Parade with the Dykes on Bikes.
I have a stack of books waiting for me to read, or finish reading.
I want to design kitchens -- I have been through the schooling, and I want to do something with it, but not necessarily for money.
I am interested in more spiritual development.
I really should lose some weight, but it's highly unlikely. Even my feet are getting fat.
Ah well, Happy New Year to you all. and bless us, every one.
Just as a side note:
One of the ways I make ends meet is doing Tarot Readings. This is especially popular at the end of the year, as one can imagine. This past week I have never seen so many positive cards, for people from all walks of life. It gives me hope that the new year will have some truly new aspects to it.
My resolution, post every day on my cat blog, which is evolving into a book.
Best to all!
the littlest gator :
I got three published.(ok thwey are all tech books but still)
My resolution, to finaly lose the extra weight..Try to finish off my degree..sure its fu nto point out to the PHD who shares a cube with me that we do the same job, get the same pay and he spent a hell of a lot more tiem in college then me
I have taken a deep breath and (after about 5 months of tiptoeing around it) jumped head-first into a serious relationship, for the first time in about seven years.
She's smart, accomplished, beautiful in the ways that only a middle-aged woman can be, easy to talk to, and (God help her) apparently nuts about yours truly.
There are some anxieties: she's not exactly a liberal, tho' I'm working on that, a morning person (where I'm a nightowl), and she has so much energy that I'm scared she's going to wear my 52-year-old ass out, in and out of bed (and I can't believe I'd ever be in a position to whine about that!!).
Shorter Captain: this new year, please don't let me fuck it up, if it has a chance of working...
Captain Goto: one more "issue" for you.
she agreed to be in a long term relationship with you so obviously there are soem decision makeing issues going on there.
moonie--yeah, yeah, I know; no accounting for judgement or taste...
Commenting by HaloScan
