"The Plan" - A Thriller

"The Plan" was published on Friday, November 27th, 2009. "The Plan" is my first published work and I'm happy to admit that it only took three years to finish. Any average writer would have had it done in three to six months, but being I'm employed, married, have a two-year-old son, and am finishing graduate school, three years sounds about right for me.

So what is "The Plan" all about? "The Plan" is about a clandestine effort to assassinate notorious criminals before the dysfunctional justice system mishandles the apprehension and conviction. Or in other words, our hero, Nick Kennedy, is hired by the U.S. government to assassinate people. When Nick finds out that "The Plan" has him killing innocent citizens, Nick wants out. But "The Plan" has rules. And one of them is that you can't get out. Nick and his government liaison, Matt LaPoint, find themselves being targets of the very plan they were hired to implement.

You can order paper copies or an eBook at "The Plan's" portal hosted on my publisher's (LuLu.com) website. The paper copy is going for $20.90 (plus shipping) while the eBook can be purchased for $5. If you're thinking the $20.90 is a bit expensive for a paper back, I do too. Unfortunately, this is out of my control. I'm using an on-demand publishing service and I don't have much control over the pricing. Sorry about that. If it's any consolation, if you buy the book, I'll not only sign it, but I'll also buy you a cold Surly next time we meet.

I also will have a small supply (very small at first) of books that I plan on selling by myself. I get a small discount (compensation for three years of my life spent writing the book I guess) so I plan on selling these for $18. I should have these around December, 15th (or so). They will be sold on a first come basis.

If you end up buying a copy (and more importantly, read it) let me know what you think. You can shoot me an email, leave a review on the book's portal site (recommended approach), or leave a comment on my blog. I'd love to have your feedback, both good and bad.

Struggles with Preventative Medical Measures

Recent changes outlining when women should get mammograms has caused emotional debate. Personally, I've always taken the position that when it comes to human life, preventative measures should trump any and all costs. Life is that important.

However, I do understand that by taking this position, I've left myself open to being criticized by those who look at and analyze the economics of such generalized acceptance to anything medical. And like most things I can see both sides.

Edward Lotterman has done a nice job laying out why those that look at the numbers have changed the recommendations for mammograms. I agree that false positives cause additional costs and emotional strain.

However, my internal discomfort is, can we place value on a life? And if we save one life by using, sometimes unnecessary, preventative treatment, is it worth it? My emotional side says it is. My economics side says it isn't. What do you think?

China's Taking of Africa

A few years back I read John Perkin's Confessions of an Economic Hit Man which explained how the U.S. companies (and the government in some cases) used, among other things, low interest loans to take over natural resources from poor countries. They would purposely loan enough money to eventually default the country and thus take over full ownership.

In today's Pioneer Press, Llewellyn King's article China's concerted scramble for Africa shows that the U.S. is not alone in trying to economically "rape" (King's term) poor countries.

According to King, China is active in 48 countries out of the roughly 53 real state African entities. They are looking for resources to fuel their continued growth. In addition to loaning money, the Chinese are buying African elites who control much of the country. It's a potentially tragic situation that will demand our attention in the coming years.

VMWare

I just put in a limit order for VMWare's stock. A limit order is where I place an order based on the price going below a benchmark I set. As of Friday VMWare was trading at ~$41.50. My limit order is set at $40. Meaning, if the price goes below $40, I'll be a partial owner.

Why am I buying VMWare? The primary reason is that not only my company, but the companies my company has been contracting with (e.g. HP), all use VMWare for their "cloud" services. This got me thinking; If cloud computing is what everyone is bragging about, and the companies my company is contracting with are using VMWare, VMWare is getting a lot of visibility with management. Whether their technology is good or not, visibility with management is great in the short-term.

Looking at VMWare's financial statements, they carry a good amount of cash, have a manageable amount of debt, and most importantly, have positive operating profit. For those of you who have suffered through business school, positive operating profit is key.

Think I'll be rich? Don't count on it. I only bought $1000. So unless they turn into Google, I don't plan on retiring soon. But, if by chance VMWare turns out to be the leader in providing "cloud" infrastructure, I stand to make a few bucks.

Deleted my Inbox

Through some sort of key sequence I'll never be able to repeat, I deleted my Outlook Inbox today. It happened within a second and I'll never fully understand what happened.

Fortunately I didn't permanently delete anything. Within a minute, I brushed beads of sweat from my forehead and hit Control Z, which recovered it.

Thinking about it later, should I have been so concerned? No. I'm nearing the point where I'm willing to give up on email. Maybe the accidental delete was intentional?

Surly Darkness

Surly Darkness comes out today! Supposedly it's on its way to local liquor stores. They don't post a listing of caring stores, but I'm thinking Blue Max in Burnsville will have it. If you know of any other stores carrying, let me know.

Your credit card interest rate

You're probably wondering why credit card companies are increasing your interest rate. Both of my cards have significantly increase rates in the past thirty days. I was going to call, but then since I don't carry a balance, I forgot about it.

The well read Rachel Beck explains why pending legislation is prompting card companies to increase rates. The CARD Act, introduced by Chris Dodd (Connecticut Democrat), will freeze rates on existing balances. That is, if you have a balance of $1,000 and you're paying 10%, card companies can't increase your rate to 15% on said balance. A rate increase would only be on purchases after the increase.

On the surface, I agree that the new regulations seem to make sense. It purports to fend off predatory rate increases. But was there any thought that companies would counter the forthcoming rules by simply increasing everyone's rates before the regulation goes into affect?

Default Settings

Reports of stroke patients who were accidentally exposed to eight times the normal radiation dose during diagnostic CT scans at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles are prompting safety warnings and soul searching among radiologists nationwide.....'There was a misunderstanding about an embedded default setting applied by the machine,' according to a statement from Cedars-Sinai.

Though to a much lesser degree, I've been troubled by default settings as well. Being I've spend the majority of my career in support roles (where you're responsible for troubleshooting things you're not responsible for creating), it frustrates me to no end when people start using technologies before fully understanding all the details.

We as engineers have a duty to understand all the parameters, switches, overrides, and defaults. Failure often leads to catastrophe.

Horizontal Diversification

While finding out I'm not management material in management school, I studied a concept we'll call horizontal diversification. It's where a company selling one product migrates into other product lines their existing customers may be interested in. Here is a picture I took on University Avenue in St. Paul. A prime example. They must have went to U of M - Carlson.

Review: Rough Juniper Pale Ale

Since I no longer can drink more than three beers in a sitting, I'm in to buying unique craft beers. Mass produced American lagers no longer suite me. My recent purchase was Juniper Pale Ale by Rough Ales from Newport, Oregon.

Juniper is a light colored, crisp Pale Ale. Quite a bit lighter than Summit or Surly. I would compare it to the Brewhouse's signature Lighthouse Golden, if you've had that.

Should you try Juniper? You can buy it by the bottle so if you're into craft beers and Pale Ales, add it to your list. Worth a try.

NOTE: Per pending U.S. Government regulation, Rough Ales did not compensate me for this review. Just letting you know so I don't get thrown in prison.

Retirement Day

A colleague of mine, Tom, is retiring today after nearly 37 years. Oddly, he's not as cynical as I am. And I've only been working for 10 years in a similar role.

Yesterday he invited me over to his desk. He showed me an old seating chart from his early days and a 11-year-old paper on our technology platform. He gave me the paper, knowing I'd enjoy looking through it.

He also had a "Reporter" law book with his name and years of service on it. 1972 - 2009. It was blank inside so colleagues could write their wishes. My prose is on page 20 (or so).

What amazed me most about Tom is his dedication. He was rarely sick and always early to meetings. And his dedication was evident when we talked yesterday. There on his screen was some software enhancements he was trying to get in before today. Most likely some needless change by management, but important to Tom that he finish. I respect that.

Will I too be as dedicated during my last few months, weeks, days before retirement? Not sure. Knowing me though, I'll probably worry about getting fired and thus stick it out until the last hour.

How about you?