Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 41

In the great ham debate

on which side do you fall:  honey-baked, or country?

Though I see the appeal of both, and though I do from time to time crave a good piece of salty country ham, I am squarely on team honey-baked.  The mixture of the moist meat and the sweetness along the edges makes every bite delicious.

As winter comfort food, a plate of very basic macaroni and cheese and some honey-baked ham is hard to beat.

Thank you to everyone at PT

I am very fortunate to enjoy the privilege of working with a tremendous group of people at Principled Technologies.  I truly believe we have an incredible team, and earlier tonight we gathered to enjoy a dinner together and celebrate the work we've done in 2016.

I am also lucky to have the best business partner a person could have, Bill Catchings.

Thank you, all, for making PT a great company and a great place to work.

It's Bad Santa time again

Yup, the Christmas season is upon us, so of course I had to hold my annual viewing of this holiday classic.  So you can enjoy it, too, here's just one of my favorite scenes.



Many years of therapy.

John Glenn, R.I.P.

From when as a kid I read about John Glenn orbiting the Earth, I've wanted to do that, to see the whole planet from space.  I imagined what it must have been like to be the first to have that view.

Then, at 77 years old, he became the oldest human to go into space.

He accomplished a great deal more in his life, but those two achievements will, for me, always shine brightly.  

Glenn is now dead, but what he accomplished lives on in our memories.

Well, that's something good

Happy political news has been in scarce supply lately, so for those who don't follow North Carolina politics I am pleased to report that our reprehensible Governor, Pat McCrory, has finally conceded that he indeed lost the race he actually lost on election day.  The challenger, Roy Cooper, is now our Governor-elect.

This news is important not only because McCrory was a horrible Governor in general, but also because he was the public face of our terrible HB2 bill, about which many companies have rightly blasted North Carolina.

I'm not very optimistic that Cooper will be able to get our Republican-dominated legislature to repeal this heinous piece of legislation, but I will cling to the hope that the legislators will find the loss of revenue and public shaming enough reason to repeal the bill--and maybe use McCrory as their scapegoat on the way out.

Regardless, it's great to see McCrory leaving.

A valid question from Elvis Costello

I think it's worth considering, particularly these days.



I'm not saying this is enough in these dark days of Trump's America, but I do think it's something important.

Let's all be the strong, and let's all work to deserve being the trusted.

What to watch on December 30

The return of Ronda Rousey, of course.



I'll be watching.

Home and exhausted

Neither less than four hours of sleep nor a snowstorm at O'Hare kept Kyle and me from making it home, so I'm happy to be back--and exhausted.

I'm going to do the minimum I must and then crash.  Sleep sounds so very good right now.

Four hours in bed ate today's blog post

I had intended to write about the day, but when I realized I'd have only four hours in bed before I had to get up to head to the airport, I abandoned the blog and crashed.

Perhaps I will catch up Sunday, or perhaps I will fall asleep again.  Such are the mysteries of my life lately.

Cirque's Michael Jackson ONE brings the magic

For a long time, I wouldn't even consider going to this show.  As much as I've loved all the Cirque performances I've attended, and despite the fact that I liked a great deal of Jackson's music, I was so disturbed by the child molestation charges against Jackson that I avoided everything to do with him.  Finally, I decided on this trip to give it a try.

I am very glad I did.  The show is a magical piece, a loud, booming, tech-heavy tribute to Jackson's music that manages to end on an uplifting message.

In the usual Cirque style, it mixes music and various acrobatic performances.  It's by far the most tech-intensive of the shows, and at times it risks losing its hold on you when you realize that you're just watching a very big music video--but then the live action resumes, and all is well.

The show's title refers to the ending message, something we need more than ever in Trump's America:  that regardless of color or any other differences, we are all one.

To my surprise, I strongly recommend the show and look forward to seeing it again.

By the way, for those wanting more about our Vegas trip, between walking a great deal each day and keeping up with work, I'm having to write short entries so I can get enough sleep.  I'll try to provide more trip information in later entries.