Your right to bear arms stops at my right to life!

This post has been rolling around in my head for most of the last week.  I've been listening to the calls for gun control laws.  I've been listening to the anti-gun control crowd blame people with mental illnesses and point out that crime will continue, with or without gun control.  I just don't understand the opposition to an assault weapons ban.

Sure, people will continue to get guns and use them.  Heck, people still drive under the influence and maim and kill people while doing it.  However, the number of DUI-related incidents has decreased with increased laws and awareness.
SCOTUS has upheld that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms.  Keep your handguns and your hunting rifles if you must, but tell me what the HELL you need an assault rifle for?  According to Wikipedia, an assault rifle is "standard service in most modern armies."  These weapons are made for the express purpose of killing people.  Continuing from Wikipedia, "the term 'assault rifle' is a translation of the German word Sturmgewehr, literally 'storm rifle', as in 'to storm a position'."  What, in the name of all that is good, does the average person need such a weapon for?  Hell, there are common-sense exceptions to the 1st Amendment.  You can't yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater!  How about some common sense with a weapon that is made to kill people?!?!

The NRA's statement, not surprisingly, was disappointing.  Armed guards in schools?  That's been tried and hasn't worked.  Instead of blaming everyone else, I would like to hear the NRA, for once, admit that guns are part of the problem.  I'm not saying guns are the sole problem, but it seems that the anti-gun control crowd doesn't take ANY responsibility when tragedies happen. 
To the people who said that movie goers with guns might have helped in the Aurora shooting, you've got to be kidding!  It seems that in a dark movie theater, with multiple people shooting, there's a chance for more casualties from "friendly fire".

If you think I'm just another liberal who doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about, you're right, that I'm a liberal, but I have some perspective.
I have been on the business end of a gun and of a knife (twice).  In one of the knifing incidents, there was nowhere to run.  It was by sheer force of will that nothing happened.  That incident is proof that anything can happen at any time.
However, work with me to compare and contrast the second knife incident with the gun incident.  The person with the gun was farther away from me than the person with the knife.  In that case I was in an open space and had room to move away from the dude with the knife.  While all three incidents scared the crap out of me, the gun was scarier than the second knife incident.  I could possibly outrun the person with the knife, or at least make an effort to get away.  However, I can't outrun a bullet!

So, yes, gun control will not stop crime.  But can we put something in place that makes it more difficult to get these killing weapons?  Not that I was ever in favor of guns, but, honestly, when you're on the business end you definitely get perspective!

It Was 20 Years Ago Today...

It was 1992.  The unemployment rate in California was between 9 and 10%.  President George H.W. Bush was in California raising money for his re-election campaign.
And 20 years ago today a small software company based in Menlo Park held a job fair for 100 openings, mostly in tech support.

Let's clear the air right now.  I left work early that day because I was sick.  I headed to the urgent care clinic and was diagnosed with bronchitis.  I went home and went to bed.  I may even still have the doctor's note from that visit.  I debated whether I was going to head to that job fair.  I finally decided to go. 
If I had stayed at work, I would have left at 3 since I started at 6 am.  I would have arrived at the job fair on my own time.

Several hundred people showed up for the job fair.  I was the second person in line.  According to the article in the SF Examiner, the guy in front of me showed up at 4 pm.  I was probably not much later.  The Examiner reporter interviewed me, I asked him not to use my name, but he did.  Here's my quote, "I've been doing technical support work, but this looks like a better company.  I've got a job, but I think there's a better future with this place."  I really wasn't that far off.  The company I was working for had been in receivership for much of my tenure there.  During that time we weren't sure if we were going to get paid.  I liked my immediate co-workers, but the owner of the company... (My mother taught me that if I can't say something nice, to not say it at all.)

I had a friend at the software company who kept telling me for two years that I should check it out.  I stuck it out until this job fair and decided to see what was out there.  I don't remember specifics about the interview, but remember being freaked out by the panel interview.  I must have done okay because I got through the process and am still employed there 20 years later.

The next morning at work a co-worker got a phone call, which I wouldn't have paid attention to, but she was rather emphatic and left the office.  I had a hunch and followed her. Sure enough she went to buy the newspaper.  I didn't know about the paper until that point.

After I gave notice, the aforementioned owner of the company tried to knock me down by telling me I won't make my mark with the new company: I'd be just a number, not a person; I would be a small fish in a big pond, etc.  I had a response to every one of his statements.  This was a man who didn't like people standing up to him, so his parting shot was about my making up a story to leave early to get to the job fair, and he left the office.

I am grateful for my job with that first company.  It was my first job out of college.  I learned a lot.  I don't regret taking this opportunity with the new company.  I have made my mark, I have learned a lot, and my life has been changed in many ways.

I want to thank the people at both companies who gave me a shot.

I. Am. Iron. Man.

No, no, I'm not planning on doing Ironman, or any triathlon, any time soon.

I was afraid I wasn't going to have a picture today.  It was my first day back at work after a week off and I was very busy.  I considered photographing my cube in its state of being packed up, maybe later in the week.  I left after 6 pm, so the sunset was out of the question.  On the way home I was behind a car with a GPS screen so large that I could see the map.  If I had gotten the camera out in time, that would have been today's picture, along with the caption, "Guess What Someone Got for Christmas!"  But I had only one red light before he turned off and I didn't think about it in time.

So I was practicing guitar tonight.  This week's new music is "Iron Man".  (I'm enjoying discovering my inner rock chick.  Okay, not so inner!)  I heard it on the radio on the way home and decided that tonight's picture would be in honor of me mangling practicing the song.
That big highlighted line in the middle of the page reads, "NOT MIDDLE FINGER!"  My middle finger will land on any old string, even when it's not supposed to.  (Cue jokes.)

I (Re)Joined the YMCA

About a year and a half ago I was swimming quite regularly.  Then summer camp started and screwed with my schedule and I stopped swimming.  Camp eventually ended, but I had some medical issues to contend with and I never got back in that pool.  Fast forward to this past December.  I got a letter that my dues were about to increase, for the second time in the two years I had been a member!  The first increase was a stretch to my budget, but I did it.  The second increase was just too much and I cancelled my membership.
I used to belong to the YMCA (cue music).  I left when the pool schedule was more kid-friendly than me-friendly.  A friend belongs there and told me the schedule is pretty well-balanced.  I checked, and sure enough, it is.  So I went over today and rejoined.  They tell me the pool isn't terribly busy at 5:30 in the morning or late at night (the pool closes at 9:30 pm).  I don't share lanes very well, so I'm looking for the less busy times.  (They told me that they have 3 or more people in a lane so infrequently that the lifeguard usually has to explain what circle swimming is when it happens.)
I'm going to try the 5:30 am thing, we'll see how it goes.  I think I'll shoot for Thursday morning, but Friday may be more realistic for me.  I'm looking forward to getting back in the water.

PS - You're welcome for getting the song stuck in your head.  :-D

This Year in Pictures - 1/1/2012

I had a crazy idea this morning that I would try to take a picture every day this year.  No plans for any particular subject.  Of course, at 5:44 pm this evening I had forgotten about my plan and rushed outside to see if I could get a decent nature picture in the later than dusk evening.  Today's picture is Jupiter and the first quarter moon:

I'm going to start carrying my little Canon PowerShot around with me to see what kind of trouble I can get into with this.  There are no rules, subjects can be anything.  I anticipate lots of Pip and Mona, and sunrises and sunsets.  :)