voting rights

I have a friend who said that they wish we could go back to only allowing land owners the right to vote. That really got me to wondering. The idea makes sense on the hand that those who own land are also those who are going to be held accountable for what is voted into law. They would at the very least be interested in maintaining the piece of America they own. It was an interesting thought, I'm not sure if it's really justified though. What if you want to rent but still have an opinion on liberties that have nothing to do with land ownership? At what point does it make sense to say you can vote on some issues but not others?

At the same time I don't agree with Holder's (Obama's Attorney General pick) idea to allow convicted felons to vote. The idea behind not allowing convicted felons to vote seems pretty clear to me. They lack good decision making abilities. At the very least I think a felon should loose voting rights for a minimum of 20 years or so, possibly depending on the severity of the law they broke. Maybe it should extend to State laws as well. Perhaps a good rule of thumb would be to say if they had 2 years in prison they lose their voting rights for 4 years, 8 years of prison = 16 years w/out voting.

I love my job

There are times in my job that get so stressful I want to quit. The only thing that gets me through is remembering that I've been through rough times in the past and they don't last forever. This past week has been one of those weeks. The nice part is that now that it is over, I feel very happy about the work I've done and the people I work with. I have learned a lot about Cisco equipment the past few weeks from all the configuring I've done, it's been like a crash course, better than the training for CCNA. Today was especially fun, I configured a router, a firewall and a switch. I also updated DNS both dynamically and statically. The only thing I didn't do was configure or fix a Linux issue. But I did find the solution to a Windows problem plaguing our Systems Admin today! I guess that would be fitting seeing how Linux is soo stable. Anyway I thought I would blog about how much I love my job since Kristy is tired of hearing me. One of my favorite things about this week was Cisco support. Cisco has amazing support. You can request help via the internet and get a call a few minutes later (not long at all) from a technician that is trained in the technology you are having issues with. They will request a Webex session with you basically a connection to your PC to work on the problem with you while you are on the phone with them. You can see everything they do. I'll admit other vendors use Webex or similar products but Cisco's equipment is so well put together that their support specialists don't have to struggle very much to get you what you need. Then if you need replacement parts they have them shipped within a few hours! I've worked with other vendors and I have to say that Cisco is great, but I also have to admit I haven't had to call them very much either, I guess that's why they have time to help me so readily. The other nice thing about my job is that my manager is willing to pay for the support. Some managers refuse to pay for the support they need for the products they use leaving their technicians flailing on their own when they need help. Now I'm wondering what kind of support Red Hat has. I haven't had to call them yet.

eggnog

I think eggnog should be sold year round!

gayness

So my church is vehemently against gay marriage. I'll start out by saying I don't disagree with the church and that I will support them. But why? There must be a good reason that we care who is allowed to marry. If I know that marriage is only valid between a man and woman, why should I care so much about what other people do? Will passing a law actually prevent people from being gay or doing gay things? Is it just a small step down a slippery slope, or is it a really big one? Are the reasons more about taxes? What rights do married people have that gay people shouldn't have? I wasn't aware that I had any more rights as a married person than a single person. If there were a proposition to abolish the Catholic church would we be encouraged to support that as well?

The nameless kid from Polar Express was from Grand Rapids Michigan

It's been a while since I last wrote. Does anyone miss me? I've been busy with work, it's been fun though, I've been getting some really good experience. This week I've started working overtime and since I don't get paid for it, it just means long hours. It looks pretty certain that I'll be working overtime again before the week is over. Anyway I'm excited for the Holidays, I hope I get to enjoy them. I hope we get some snow! I love the Polar Express movie. I want to move to Grand Rapids Michigan and live in a house with lots of decorated wood. And a basement! But I really like my job so maybe they will open a new center there. I would want to live in the outskirts of the city so I could have lots of trees and a dog. And I want to put sleigh bells in my truck bed!