The Red House on Ralph Avenue

Today's thought is going to be local to the Babylonian's who read this blog. Even if you are not from Babylon, NY you can still appreciate the story about the Red House on Ralph Avenue. If you looked in the catalog of houses in the Babylon Historic Society you would not see 112 Ralph Avenue listed as a historic house. No plaque on the outside of the house dating it back to the 18 century but to me this house is part of Babylon's history. If you ever attended Babylon Memorial Grade School you probably stared out the window or walked by this house everyday on your way to and from school. Those of you who knew myself or another Reilly from Babylon, you knew it was Mr and Mrs Reilly's house. Growing up my Grandparents had the most impressive gardens in the back yard. There used to be a huge evergreen tree that sat in the front yard, which my Grandfather used to decorate every Christmas. For me the memories from that house are so vivid and fresh that it seems like only yesterday that me and my cousins would be playing there. Growing up we spent every Christmas day there which was probably one of my most favorite memories. See my Grandfather loved Christmas, he used to carve birds and Santa Clauses out of wood. So during Christmas there would be tons of Santa Clauses throughout the house. People would bring Grandpa Santa's from trips they took. My parents and I brought several back from or trips to Germany. One of those now sits in my house, along with one of his carvings. At Christmas time I put that Santa out and tell my kids how their great grandfather loved Christmas. Then there was the sprawling village he used to put out. It included lights and figure skaters but this was no village you would find in a store today. This village was Grandpa's he thought of this long before department stores started selling them. I not even sure how he got the idea. That house was the first place I played Atari, my uncle who lived upstairs when he first got married, and he had one of the first Atari's on the block. Me and my cousins used to sneak up when he was out fighting fires to play till late at night. The family get BBQ's that happened there were awesome! Your probably reading this and thinking to yourself why is he writing about this today, well today the red house on Ralph Ave was sold, to young couple and is no longer in the Reilly name. It's pretty sad! Will the new owners even now the rich history of that house. That my Grandfather built that house from the ground up. Put every board and nail up himself. It has lasted many hurricanes and storms and tons of Grandchildren running through it. To me that house will always be an icon of Babylon and my family.

The Great one tries to help DUMB Americans

Well I must say I am not surprised that BIG Brother is now meddling in the business of credit card companies. Is anyone???? I mean come on now this is the Administration that epitomizes BIG GOVERNMENT. So I read the consumer reports cliffs notes version of what the bill in tales and think this is a whole lot of BS. Here is something that I bet all the suits up on Capital Hill never thought of hold on it's BIG, might take a whole lab of MIT GENIUSES to figure this one out. DON'T USE A CREDIT CARD! Phew it took me all about 2 seconds to think of that one.

The reason why Credit Card Companies put in the fine print is because they know we live in a culture where everyone wants it now. Hey I am not saying I did not subscribe to this mentality. It took 1 hour of listening to Dave Ramsey to wake me up. I mean does there really need to be legislation signed that says "hey Mr. Credit Card bully, we don't think it is fair that you don't play nice in the sand box."

What Obama and this Administration really need to realize is American's have brains, we do. WE can actually think for ourselves from time to time, but know it's another sign of things to come.
Here is the summary:
•Interest rates can’t be raised during the first year of an account
•Customers will be notified 45 days in advance of any change in interest rates
•Bills can be paid online or over the phone without incurring a processing fee
•Customers must be over 60 days late on payments before their interest rate can be raised on balances; if the rate is raised, it will go back to the lower rate if customers make the minimum payment on time for six months in a row.
•Overlimit fees can’t be charged unless cardholders are told that the purchase will put them over their limit and they authorize it to go through anyway
•If your card has more than one interest rate on balances, then payments must be applied to the highest interest rate first
•Gift cards can’t expire for five years, and issuers can’t charge dormancy fees for unused amounts left on the card
•Credit card statements must be mailed out 21 days before they’re due
•Individuals under 21 will need a co-signer on their cards unless they can prove that they have the means to make payments on their own
•Credit card agreements will have to be posted on the internet

Third bullet from the bottom-What happened to GOING GREEN? CC companies now have to spend money on postage stamps just to send me a statement on paper that I am just going to shred. I hate paper statements. Not a good use of technology if you ask me. Plus the tree huggers in Oregon might get pissed off at the loggers who need to cut down more trees to provide the paper for the statements.

Now you might find this one crazy, but I do agree with second to last bullet. As a parent I know my child will won day be at college and might fall into the cc trap. Let's hope I raise them better than that, but we remember how we were at 21. I just spent my last 10 dollars on some Milwaukee's Best, hey I know let's charge a pizza to my Amex card.

I think this bill stinks. Obama will sign it anyway and in 9 months from now it will go into affect. It irratates me to know end that the Great One feels the need to keep deciding what is right and wrong for us.

Let's use the baby bird analogy here. We all know that momma bird feeds the baby until the time he/she is ready to spread his cute little wings and fly off to get food. What would happen if momma bird decided to provide oversight throughout the birds life? The bird would not be able to fend for itself. That is exaclty what is going on here!

This is the change we need people! THis is the Hope everyone voted for. The change that allowed Americans to stop thinking for themselves and allow THE GREAT One and his Administration to make choices for us.

Teach your Children Well

We all know the song right??? Crosby Still Nash and Young. It's one of those great songs you hear on some light fm station like KJoy (LI Reference). Well now that I have that song stuck in your head let's get to the point.

Headlines of most news related web-sites are chomping at the bit on news of Nancy Pelosi's latest spider web of lies. Let's not forget something here people this women is the 3 THIRD most powerful person in the current administration. That my peeps is pretty frightening!!!! In the latest episode Pelosi claims she was not told entirely about the torture methods used by the previous administration. I am laughing right now at my keyboard because this must be the third choice of options politicians use when confronted with a situation they are trying to get out of. Kind of like calling Dell tech support. Option 1:Do you have power? Option 2: Is your computer on? Option 3: It was the Bush Administration. If I used the abbreviation for Laugh out Loud I would insert it here but I don't!

Here is my gripe as many of you reading this might have as well. Politicians are the first to scold professional athletes, musicians and actors/actresses for doing something in the public eye that a child may see. Yes we call these people role models. Well I guess Politicians forget that due to their high visibility in the public eye that some children might be learning a trick or two from them as well. Let's take Allen Iverson for example. How could we forget the press conference that revolutionized the word "Practice" Practice it what practice who cares if i miss one practice. I know that might not be the best example but it was a funny one.

How about Steroid laden baseball players like McGuire and Bonds? I didn't know what was in the syringe or the cream the trainer spread across my ass. Sure, you didn't know what it was.
My point is Pelosi is not different in this latest LIE. That is what it is people a LIE!!!

Pelosi was on the House Intelligence Committee (TOP DEMOCRAT) when she , received a classified briefing on Sep 4, 2002 that discussed details of the use of "EITs" – enhanced interrogation techniques – on Abu Zubaydah, a prime al-Qaeda suspect. The Memo that was released basically states exactly what the "EIT"s are. Now I am sure Mrs. Pelosi will debate that she needed a bulleted list of these methods, which may have been provided. MRS PELOSI what did you think enhanced interrogation techniques were? Not allowing the animal to use the toilet for 2 days, or even worse maybe they played the theme song to Barney "I Love You, You love me". Now I must admit that this would be classified in my book as enhanced technique of torture, I am sure the operatives had something else in mind.

So now we have the THIRD HIGHEST RANKING Official in this Administration under OBAMA stating for everyone to hear "INCLUDING OUR CHILDREN" that she was not aware that "Waterboarding" was used as an "EIT". Okay wow let me think about that one in for a moment..... She was not aware that "Worderboarding" was used. I find it hard to believe that out of all these highly intelligent people know one raised their hand and asked. "Excuse me umm can you tell me what some of these advanced techniques are?"

Well I can see this now some smart a$$ teenager catches on to this.. He sits in math class and gets a homework assignment to do the some problems on page 10. Next day he comes to class and the teacher asks why little johnny's (Always Little Johnny) homework is incomplete. Well Mrs Smith when you explained that we needed to do the problems on page 10 I wasn't sure exactly how many of these problems you wanted us to complete. Hey Nancy Pelosi can do it why can't I.

Well thanks Mrs. Pelosi just when parents were finally getting there kids to go back to practice and not do steroids because a role model did or didn't do it.
We now have to re-educate them on lying. Time to dust off the old CSNY album.

Politicians one should remind you that maybe you should not worry about someone else's house until you have yours in order.

Torture is like Sausage

WOW it has been awhile since I have updated my blog, but we all know that there has been plenty of News to blog about. I have been so focused on work I almost missed the perfect blogging opportunity so I figured let's take a break from the world of Cisco and get back to the POTUS and his administration, particularly Madam Nancy Pelosi. A few months ago a friend of mine turned me onto Vince Flynn, have you read his books??? If you haven't picked one up do so immediately but be careful they are highly addictive.

His books are based on a character name Mitch Rapp who is a CIA bad ass, I mean BAD ASS!!. I truly believe there isn't an actor out there that can even come close to playing this guy in a movie. Anyway the irony of my new found love of reading in my spare time of these books is how close the story lines are to what is going on in the world today. President Bush was quoted as saying "Vince Flynn must have a contact in the CIA". Due to the facts being so dead on. Where was I??? Oh Mitch Rapp in the current book I am reading "Protect and Defend" Iran has had it's Nuclear Program reduced to rubble, when an Israeli Operative basically implodes the building by inserting himself as a janitor. Brilliant! Iran goes crazy accusing the Americans of dropping a bomb on the facility.

I know you are probably thinking at this moment is this a review of "Protect and Defend" well it is not. My point is, in every novel Mitch Rapp uses interrogation methods that are deemed questionable. Most of the Capital Hill folks accuse him of torturing prisoners. Saying he took an Oath to uphold the constitution. This fits right into the current events that are being debated right now by the fine suits on Capital Hill and this administration. Are we crossing a line when torture techniques are used to save American lives?????

I don't know the exact percentages but I am sure if you poled US Citizens the results would be split, but you have to look at the circumstances that these people are in. Dozen of American lives could be saved by pulling information from a captive.. There is an analogy used by Mitch Rapp which I love pertaining to this, he says "Torture is like sausage, people just want to eat it, they don't want to know how it is made". It's the truth I love the taste of a sausage link but I don't care to see how they stuff all that crap inside a tube.

The point I am trying to make here is Torture is a necessary evil needed for our Government entities to use in order save American lives. Now as for the debate on whether this is breaking the law or not I have to say I don't think the constituation applies here. Easy now!!! Let's take a look at what we are facing in the Middle East. I use the word "we" loosely because it is not you or I. It is dedicated CIA, FBI and soldiers who spend their days risking their lives to save ours.

These animals and that is what they are animals, not the entire population of the Middle East here, the particular ones who gets their rocks off by be heading innocent people with a butter knife on the Internet. Or strap suicide vests on and kill innocent men and women.. Should they be entitled to due process. I say hell no! If an operative deems it necessary to hook up a car battery to one of these Al Qaeda's nuts in order to stop a cell from planning a suicide bombing in Times Square NY during New Years Eve, then I say red is positive black is negative.

Face it people if we head down this path that we have already started down we are going to someday have the same fears as the UK. Worrying about shopping at the local mall, due to the fear that some crazy bastard who thinks he is going to get a pass to see Allah by blowing up a bunch of innocent people out shopping. Think about this long an hard before you read the next article about water boarding being used to extract information. Don't let you NIMBY (NOT IN MY BACK YARD) attitude cloud your vision of what is needed to be done.

Next time you are at a book store pick up extreme measure by Vince Flynn. See how the PC attitude of one US Senator Barbara Lonsdale hinders the gathering of information about a terrorist cell who is looking to attach Washington DC. Lonsdale eerily reminds me of one Barbara Boxter or Nancy Pelosi. I won't give away the ending but let's just say Lonsdale changes her tune significantly by the end of this story on what interogation methods should be used when it comes to saving lives.

Social Colaboration, Changing the "Face" of Conference Calls

We live in an age where most people have multiple ways of communicating with each other. There is SMS texting, Instant Messaging, E-Mail, Video Colaboration, Mobile Phones, VOIP, Skype and social networking. I may have missed one or two there but I doubt it. I personally text, IM, email, use a mobile phone, have a skype account, and what I think is the best invention since the Internet social collaboration (Twitter, Facebook). A couple of weeks ago a really good friend of mine that I have known pretty much all of my life tried to reach me on my mobile phone. We live about 600 miles away from each other and really don't talk to much so I was dissapointed I missed his call. I picked up his voicemail and listen to his message. It went something like this "He Reilly it's "Iron" (name changed) I know you can be reached on IM, email, facebook, twitter, text but I guess a call to your mobile is not the best way to reach you. When you get this message either call me, IM, or email me." I had to laugh because two days later I got back in touch with him, through Facebook. His picture on Facebook is pretty tame, unlike some I have seen out there and that brings me to the point of this. Facebook or Myspace is a great tool to reconnect or search for someone. I personally do not like Myspace, I think it is like going into "Barker's" back in 90s. Anyway, I will now get to the point. Last week at work I was on one of my many conference calls for that day. I decided to do a little experiment. A lot of companies have deployed Integrated Collaboration into the workplace. IM with Video, but still no one uses video. I have been in my fair share of Web Ex and Meetingplace conferences and am usually the only person broadcasting my video cam. I always ask myself why is no one else using their Video camera. Apple/Lenova/Dell did not put them there so they could jack the price up, there must be a demand. So on this call that I was telling you about, the one I wanted to do an experiment with. I looked up the attendees of the conference call and decided to look them up 1 by 1. Guess what???? They were all on there. I could not see their profiles but I got to see their faces. To me this is important!! Due to the current economic crises travel budgets have been slashed by companies, so you miss the face to face meetings with people. I am sorry but that is so important. You want to know what the person on the other end of the phone call, text, IM looks like. Don't ask me why, but we as human beings need to know these things... The next time you are on a conference call try it, unless you are presenting. Open up Facebook and due a search for the attendees if you don't already know them. It's pretty cool. It's more personable. I also would like to say that in thinking about this blog there is a lesson to be learned. The lesson is what picture of you do you want people to see of you. Be careful!!! You don't want your colleagues, boss or a potential employer to see you holding a beer in each hand on the beach in Florida with a half dressed women hanging all over you.

What we learned this week...

Round 2 of the NHL Playoffs is on tonight (actually started last night), and we have hockey in beantown and hockeytown. Nothing better then sitting in front of the television with a good IPA in one hand and remote in the other. Flipping between games during the commercials. GO CANES!!!! Let's get down to business, I watched the HBO Films mini-series John Adams last year. Paul Giamonte played the political philosopher who served as the first Vice President under George Washington. If you were to ask me what scene of the mini series I remember the most, I would have to say it is when John Adams is Vice President and he says to his wife Abigal "The Vice Presidency is the most insignificant office". Well I guess Vice President Joe Biden might be thinking the same thing, so what does he do. He gives the networks a sound clip on the "Today" show that causes quit a stir. That's right Obama is out Grandstanding his 100 day in office with a Prime Time press conference and Joe B feels like he needs some press time. Hey why not! We haven't seen this guy since the inauguration. What else did we learn this week??? OH that Senator Arlen Spector has been walking around for the last 4 years in his red spidey suite, but he really was wearing the evil black one all along. You know Venom!!!! I say good ridden to that old gator.. How do you think the good Republicans feel in Pennsylvania? Could you imagine that you vote this guy into office as a member of your party, then one day he wakes up and switches teams.. That is like Derek Jeter waking up tomorrow and putting on a Red Sox jersey, or or Mark Messier putting on the Islanders Blue and Orange.BLASPHEMY! Well in all honesty it does leave the Great One in a very good position here folks. This puts the Dem's within 1 vote of the 60 needed for the dreaded "F" word FILIBUSTER. I could just see it now Obama gets the news of Spector switching teams right before his 100 day of doing nothing celebration, and he comes sliding across the white house floor in his socks, boxer briefs, and his shirt un-tucked like Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" doing his best rendition of War's "Why Can't We Be Friends". His daughters and Michele rolling their eyes. Well Mr. Spector you still have to win the election in Pennsylvania. You know at first I was furious with this guy, but this is actually great. It gives the GOP a chance to shed the old geezer image and bring in a fresh new young face.