September 22, 2005
DC, Not Alone
DC burned me out and blew me away on my last day there. Shortly before I left, an old friend named Aaron (generally referred to as Qryn) messaged me. I had left my own away message up, "sleep, then DC."
He wanted to meet for drinks. I was wondering what he was up to down there, but I must be becoming less polite because honestly I wasn't very interested. After I had gotten to there 'where' I kind of gave up and went back to reading. (Pssst, foreshadowing).
So I landed at BWI airport around 8:00pm after dealing with another puddle-jumper flight seated next to a chatty cathy. In the interest of saving the taxpayer money, and also in the interest of being 'that really weird guy' at work, I forewent a rental car and walked around between my hotel and the meeting place, only a mile each way.
The third day was the most interesting. A new super-smart guy from one of the contracting companies walked in and started arguing with the NSA folk. Quite persuasively, I might add. He was young. By extension, he was right.
But that's not the interesting part. There has been an issue with the whole design bugging the hell out of me for weeks. The guy that could answer my questions was coming today. There was a young punk with scruffy hair and a scruffier beard that looked vaguely familiar. He looked a lot like my cousin Kyle.
As soon as he opened his mouth, it clicked. Qryn, of course!
My what a small world we live in. Perhaps I should start paying more attention.
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated 
by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007