Notice: Blog undergoing revisions and maintenance over the next coming weeks. -A

Taking some time to be serious about internet safety and security.

One thing has occurred to me over the past several weeks and that is I have been getting a lot of questions about anti-virus— malware, spyware and password security.  In this day and age, we really put a lot of our trust and maybe more than we know into our internet browsers, personal computers, smart phones etc.

So what can be done?

Well with everything… common sense always wins out.  The best practice is to make sure that you are using multiple secure passwords for all of the various websites you visit or frequent.  That includes Banking websites, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Amazon, eBay, Newegg and all other online vendors.

Taking a step back though, what is a secure password?  Well here’s an example of a none secure password: cat123 You’ll notice that it is simply lowercase and has a couple of numbers in it to try and confused the common cyber thug.  This is generally a widely used method that people use of which can lead to identity theft or fraud.  Moving forward though— what would be an example of a secure password?  Here: C@t_*12#3  Now you might laugh or ask… what the heck?  This using special characters and of course it is 9 characters instead of 6 characters.  The most important thing to remember is a longer password is better and generally more secure.  Now is that the case with all passwords?  No.

You also might be thinking… with all of the websites, Banks, e-tailers and such…. I can’t have a different password… I’ll forget them all!!

Well you’re in luck.

I found a program that I just started using this week that has been a god send in helping me remember all of the passwords I’ve got here at work— for home— and just everywhere in between.  What’s the program you might ask?  It’s called “Keepass”  (you can download it here ) The best thing— is this little guy is available on just about every major platform including Windows/Mac/Linux/iPhone and Android devices.  So what does it do?

It basically creates a secured database that keeps all of your passwords nice and secure.  The way I have mine setup, is I have a “Master” password that grants me access to all of my passwords.  Granted, I have a 26 character password that is a 96-bit encryption based.  Like you, I just simply can’t keep track of everything, everywhere anymore.  If I have to rely on my brain, I’d rather have one password to unlock the rest of the doors and then just go from there.

So some might ask… “Is this safe?”  Well— again, it’s only as safe or secure as you make it.

So what makes the best passwords?  Honestly— phrases that only you know or laugh at.  Seriously.  The way I craft my passwords is a sentence that mixes special characters (ex. (*_#!@*&^) along with numbers, upper case and lower case to forge a strong password.  As stupid as that seems, it works… and works well.  Obviously for Website passwords, something maybe a little shorter but something still strong that no one will guess.

In terms of some other software out there that I recommend, here are some of my favorites:

For Anti-Virus: Microsoft Security Essentials – It’s free, it works and the virus definitions are getting better and better every day.  It’s very lightweight and doesn’t bug me throughout the day like some of the other free Anti-Virus products.

For Malware/Spyware Protection: Malwarebytes.org – Quite honestly, the best program to clean up a computer that may be ridden with spyware/malware.  This updates automatically and keeps systems clean.  Free and Professional versions are available.  For general use, the Free version should be fine for most.

Web Browsers: This one is tricky.  There are a lot of them out there.  In terms of security, they all offer some sort of protection against intruders or hackers.  At the top of the list…. Internet Explorer 8.  (you can download that here ) followed by Firefox and Chrome.  Right now— if you’re running Windows, you need IE8 on your system to make sure you are patched against critical flaws found in earlier versions of Internet Explorer (naming IE6).  Even if you’re running IE7, I would upgrade.

Firefox and Chrome are interesting browsers.  I used to use Firefox exclusively, then I dumped it for Chrome (by Google) because of the speed of the browsing.  Both are equally secure and it comes down to preference in which one you use.  I leave that one up to you to decide.

So that is just a brief view into passwords, security and web browsers.  Obviously there is a TON to cover, but I wanted to give everyone some tools to be able to help safeguard themselves against the wild, wild west out there.  Also— because I know Tim Ward will comment with: “JUST BUY A MAC!!”  I’ll save you the effort Tim…

All of this aside— Buy a MAC!! They are a lot easier to manage this stuff.

-A

Blog incoming tomorrow.

Short and sweet tonight but salty and spicy tomorrow.

I promise… I swear!!!

-A

An apology to all those who’ve dealt with my cell phone madness.

so I feel bad.  As well I should right?  I think I finally realized over the past day or two with all of the public outcry I’ve had against the new “Nexus One” phone, I might have gotten a little carried away.

Yes I love new technology… when it works.  Yes I love having the internet at my finger tips… when it I need it, and generally I use a cell phone to make phone calls on.  So where does that leave me?

Well, at the place where I thought I didn’t want to go…. that was to AT&T and to the iPhone.  I think I figured out that while as much as I bashed the iPhone— it’s what I was really wanting from a phone.  Meaning— the texting on the screen, fast internet, iTunes and such— dunno, I guess I was just so ready to NOT have one… that I looked for it in multiple different phones.  Didn’t exactly find it, which leads me to what’s next.

So Cath and I are getting iPhones tonight.  Don’t worry— we’ll have the same numbers as we’re moving them over and quite honestly, I feel at peace about this.

What I don’t feel at peace about is the drama that was created over this… so to my lovely wife who loves despite the fact that I drive you crazy— you still stick around… thank you and I love you!

Secondly— to you guys out there.  I’m sorry for having been caught up in all of this mess and really in a way that probably wasn’t the most healthy.  I’m a nut when it comes to technology but even I am learning to try and scale that back.  So…. I’m sorry for what it’s worth.

The iPhones will be going with us to Beirut as they will work over there with another SIM card in them so I expect to be getting a lot of mileage out of this phone for awhile.  I’m also looking forward to controlling my iTunes library again as well.

Anyways— hope everyone has a great weekend.

-A

Crazy life— gets crazy

So in times of craziness, things get crazy….right?  Last night was a taste of that… but what’s funny… if last night was any indication of what crazy is… then I want more.

Cath and I started a course called “Perspectives” last night.  Some might know what that is, others might not know.  Gist of it is a global view of what the Christian movement was, is and is yet to be.  Some might say “great…. so what does that have to do with me?”  The answer to that is… Everything.

The journey Catherine and I have been on has been an interesting one.  Dare I say it, scary and life changing.  Having gone through the purging of my favorite car (yes… the Subaru Legacy 2.5GT Turbo was an idol of mine… I’ll freely admit) and now living life to what God has called us to is so much more rewarding.

Which brings up one interesting point that I’ll talk about in this blog and then talk more about later on.  Being blessed.  The cultural or the “American” way of how we take that term is material blessing.  Let me say that one again… In American culture, when we say someone is blessed, the default assumption is that they are well off in either monies, cars, homes, kids whatever.  Now that’s not true all of the time and if it were I’d be scared.  For example in our case… when we say we are blessed… we are talking about having jobs, having loving family, a roof over our head, food to eat and a bed to sleep in.  However, we didn’t always think in terms of that.  That “perspective” if you will has been a long time coming and being shaped through life and through circumstances that ultimately we know God is doing work through us and through others to show us that.

I think what I’m most excited about this is that this viewpoint has hit at the age of 28 instead of 38 or 48.  This is something that is clearly is rocking our worlds and is I’m just overjoyed that everyone we know gets to be a part of our journey in figuring this out.

So I guess I’ll leave you with this… If we exist… not just to go to school, work a job and retire… then what else is there?  Religion?  Sure I suppose so.  Churches?  Yeah there are those…. but how as God gifted you and how are you using those gifts?  Beyond the noise in life, beyond facebook updates, twitter, blogs, music, movies and everything else— it’s what we do, not say that we want to do… but actually live out that defines us.

-A

6am Sunday time

So doing things out of order (since I still owe a bit of a political satire post due to the voting…) I figure it’s time I try and give you a quick update on what’s going on in life.

Right now… having been up since about 5… my mind has been racing.  Why might you ask?  Well, going through the order of things today.  Should I make coffee? Do I want to go get coffee? Church— worship team, Renjy’s message, whose going to be at church? who isn’t? why does that matter?  Why the hell did I wake up at 5?  What’s after Church? Lunch with my parents? what about later tonight? How are we presenting ourselves to people in our moving to Lebanon? What is the challenge of asking people for money? What about the bigger picture of people seeing God move?

Yes— that was a quick brain dump.  What’s funny is as I’ve gotten more and more busy, I find myself blogging more.  Life stuff, movies, whatever… because it seems like it’s a way for me to post-process what just happened.  Sometimes I wonder if I could just throw my life’s filter out onto a blank canvas and see what it looked like— would that give me a glimpse of what I value— who I am and what things I put time and effort into? Is this a blog a reflection of that?  Possibly.

I’ve come to terms with a couple of things though…

1) Moving over to Lebanon here in a few short months—- this is the most certain of anything I have chosen… and been aware of that choice since the beginning of choosing it.  Never have I felt more compelled nor had such strong knowledge and affirmation that this is what I’m supposed to do.  This isn’t going to school or college or even a job choice… this is taking a leap of faith and seeing where this thing called life takes me.

2) Western thinking and ideology has made me passive for the past 28 years.  No joke.  Having come to terms with excepting what I have been told what “truth” is or what “facts” are without really questioning the authority nor the source of where said “truth” or “fact” came from.  Not any longer.  Now more than ever— people need to start reading… and reading…. a LOT.  Those who know me… or have known me for quite some time… know that reading is often one of my forgotten subsets of learning.  I tend to retain more knowledge (although that is changing) through pictures or song.  Now having torn through a couple of books in the past months— I have a feeling that my scale is being rebalanced.

3) Life as I know it this next week is never going to be the same.  That’s a pretty bold and loaded statement.  What I mean by that is… downtime as we like to call it is going away.  Business and schedule will fill those time gaps and “my” time will be nowhere to be seen.  It’s overwhelming but at the same time, I know it’s what is next.

4)  The people who surround me, I want to bless.  Family, friends, strangers.  Anyone who is involved with me.. or us (me and cath) I feel as if it is not out of duty but out of our love to also bless you as best we can.  What does that look like in terms of the tangible?  Don’t know yet, but seeking that is the first step.

5)  Choices we have made… sins we have done and faith we have questioned…. it’s all part of our human nature.  Is righting the wrong, helping those who are in need– questioning institutions or agencies, holding people accountable and making the world a better place really that bad?  It seems so often that we have forgotten the old times.  The times in which people… helping people was the job… task… mission… but now it’s the task or job helping the people that’s the mission.  That’s something I’m still pondering on how we can change that….

So there you go… a peek inside my life.  More obviously to come later— and apparently… blogs will come when they come… which I’m hoping happens with more frequency now.

-A

The Book of Eli – The first great movie of 2010.

I had the ability to go see The book of Eli this evening and I must say… this is a hell of a way to start off 2010 in terms of movies.

Story:

You might shrug this off as another post-nuclear, post-apocalyptic movie that simply is shot in shades of gray.  That’s not what this movie is.  Those are some of the characters or back drops but that isn’t what this movie is about emphasizing or outlining.  Denzel Washington plays a man (Eli) who is on a mission.  That mission of his is to get out to the West Coast.  Anyone who helps him, he is forever grateful for them;  Those who choose to harm him, have hell to pay.  Those who want to tag along… need not apply.

As with every story, a hero needs a villan and every plot a twist… but a twist you would not see coming.

The movie starts off with the introduction to the characters and the backdrop.  Don’t let that fool you though.  The opening 20 minutes of the movie are simply brilliant.  Not only do the Hughes Bros. examine every little detail, but they suck you into a world that is not unlike our own.

With that the story takes off.  The plunge into the grand arena of the world and what horrors and trials await.  Faith challenged, integrity tested and the desperation of man, fleshed out.

Cinematography:

In a world of doom of gloom, the texture of the world is what stands out.  Not only did Denzel, Mila and Oldman light up the screen with their performances, but the make up jobs and grittiness of the harsh world was apparent and believable.

You also get the sense of fear and tension in the angles that are used to show the emotion of the characters and their stake in the fight.  It’s weird saying this but it was just simply perfectly executed in a way that not even Avatar and James Cameron could’ve pulled off (and I loved Avatar!)  The scenic views of a tireless wanderer showed the weight of the task of the main character and along with that, the sound was like… well it was again, so piercing at the right moments, so raw and brutal that you couldn’t help but just be engaged with what was going on.  The camera work was so spot on that it never was a distraction from the story and in this day and age, is a rare commodity.

Final Thoughts:

‘The Book of Eli’ I think is going to be one of those movies that while it might not make a killing at the box office (like Avatar) this movie will stand the test of time and I think is going to go on to be a cult classic.  I’m anxiously awaiting the details of the Blu-Ray release with added content and director and writer commentaries.  What’s also funny about that… is I know the writer of the story “Gary Whitta” through round about ways.  I’m hopeful that this movie is a just another great piece in the coming works from this guy.

So ultimately, ‘Eli’ delivers.  You can’t help but be drawn into the movie for the full 118 minutes of the movie that you want to stay and just have a look around at.

‘Eli’ is rated R for some brutal violence and language.

I give ‘The Book of Eli’ a *** 1/2 out of ****

-A

My experience with the device called the “Nexus One”.

So I’m pretty pissed off and while my lovely wife reminds me… not to be mad about something as trival as a phone… it’s more of the principle.

So Jan 5th.  Google announces the “Nexus One” aka “Google Phone”.  It’s a dream on paper.  1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, b/g/n Wi-Fi, OLED 3.7″ screen etc etc.

Fast forward 2 days, I get mine.  I’m giddy as a school boy over getting this because lets face it… I hyped myself up over this thing being the iPhone killer.  To extent, it is….when it works.

My problems though cropped up Saturday afternoon.  Around 4pm… my N1 decided to freeze and reboot.  Not only did it freeze and reboot, but it did it randomly.  I had to pull the battery several times and also did a couple of hard data wipes to clear the device back to factory settings just in case I had a rogue app.

Nothing.  It still wouldn’t work, still freezing after 5 mins… sometimes after 15 minutes.  Calls then would randomly drop, voice clarity was terrible and other oddities.  So after all of my techie troubleshooting and reading the manual and searching on the web, I call up HTC.

Now here’s where the problem is with this phone.  From the outset, lets get you the info straight on this.

Google… gave HTC the specs they wanted for the phone and told them what they wanted.  HTC built the phone to Google’s specs.  Google sells the phone…. but does not directly SUPPORT the hardware.  HTC directly SUPPORTS the hardware while T-mobile and AT&T support the voice and data on the phone, but do NOT support the hardware of the phone.  Confused yet?  Yeah thought so.

So Saturday night, I called HTC.  Got a tech in the repair department, told him that I had to do the above trouble shooting, thus put into motion a replacement phone (aka a “NEW” Nexus One).

So fast forward to yesterday….. 2 hours on the phone with HTC (who has been smoking some THC)… I come to find out… they don’t have any record of me calling.  I literally said “WHAT?!”  Then after some digging in “another” ticket system, they found traces of my information and some pieces of me calling in, but not any actual evidence that I was supposed to be getting a new phone shipped out to me.

I was a little annoyed to say the least.

So now having spent 2 hrs of my life on the phone with them, a long holiday weekend coming up and a phone that I cannot trust due to it’s random freezing / rebooting, the best I could get from HTC was them calling me today and processing a full swap for a new phone of which they’d have to charge my card for the full amount of the phone.

After being on the phone with an HTC supervisor for almost 35 minutes I said “Screw this… I give up… fine call me tomorrow… whatever…”

So now today— I called HTC about 1:30pm PST.  2 minutes into my call, their Ticket database crashed.  HA!  I told the dude on the phone… “Don’t worry, I’ll call back… it’s just funny because it crashed like your phone crashed….”  He didn’t laugh.

So now 30 minutes later, I called back and have a gal on the phone who definitely hates her job but needs to pay the bills.  She is being very short with me… and at the point of being rude… but whatever.

So today, right now as I’m typing this blog…. no phone call from HTC…. on getting a new phone out to me by Tuesday.  The 19th is the last day of the 14 day trial period from Google to then send the phone back of which at this point, I told the lady on the phone… “Okay… I’m done… I don’t care about the return… you guys are making this way to easy for me to go out and by an iPhone… I’d like to start the process of returning the phone…”

So now having been on hold for almost 20 minutes with most likely her talking to her supervisor… oh wait…

So now… another 30 minutes with Jeffery from HTC… I get even NEW information!!

If I swap the phone out for a new one, they charge my card and hold that money for 2-3 business days, I get shipped a “refurb” phone (ie. not off the factory line… unreal) then have to send my phone back to them.

I just can’t believe this… I really can’t.

So now as I’m on hold again… I have asked Jeffery to promise me… because at this point I am returning the device to HTC for a FULL refund from Google/HTC—- I’m making sure he can promise me that the delivery gets tracked and that the phone gets processed for the refund on Tuesday since that is the last day of the 14 day period.

More to come after some thoughts….

So let’s talk about some things here:

1) The Nexus One hardware obviously is not ready for prime time.  There are enough issues both hardware and cell company based that make think that all of the 20,000+ people are indeed beta testing this phone and we somehow got suckered into paying for it.

2) Google selling a phone but not supporting it is the dumbest (yes… dumbest) business models I have seen to date.  They need to pull the support in house, buy HTC or do something to fix this.  If I have had this much trouble getting support for my phone and getting a refund, imagine Joe six pack who buys one but then can’t return it because he doesn’t know who to call?

3) The restrictions on how to buy this phone are cue’s to it having issues.  The very limited release tells me Google did this on purpose as part of a “stress test” of the infrastructure that is basically not there.  Figuring out how people demand customer service and how that affects their business model.

4) HTC has failed in supporting hardware they have built.  It’s obvious from my calls to them… and now 2 supervisors deep, they do NOT have the channels setup to deal with customers that have clear concerns and questions as to the hardware, software or whatever it might be.  The fact that I’m returning the phone to get a refund and that even THAT is difficult just makes me laugh.

So what’s the 20-20 hindsight of this?

I told Cath yesterday “I bought into the hype… and the hype let me down…” her response “Yeah… you always do…” My response… “Yeah.. I always do….”

I think I learned that 1st generation tech is to be avoided like the plague.  I’m almost 29 years old and have been playing with computers and electronics since I was 1 and you would’ve think I would’ve figured that out by now.  Maybe not but I am now setting standards in which I wait, try and then decide if I want to buy.  Never again will I buy first gen tech again, I just won’t, Google has taught me that.

Google trying to be an “E-tailer” w/ hardware companies and phone companies playing the customer service is failed business model.  In fact, it might have even been DOA from the get go.

So lastly—

Here I stand… the phone is going to be returned.  Jeffery is getting me my full refund less the $45 dollar restocking fee.  A shipping label will be sent out to me sometime this weekend and I will then ship the phone back to HTC.  The phone when it worked… amazing, but you just can’t help to think they have blown it here.

And…. to you would-be buyers of the Verizon version…. Godspeed, because I’m sure with Verizon’s terrible customer service, probably a $200+ price tag and hefty ETF (early termination fee) + upgrade fees and whatever else… I don’t see the joy in buying this on your network.

Final thoughts:

So is the Google Nexus One phone…. it’s a great phone… with great specs but again, when there are hardware issues this major?  Google wanted to make something that appealed to the masses but ended up offering it to a select few.  Is that wrong?  Time will tell.  The fact that T-mobile still doesn’t have this phone in their stores makes me wonder if there is something more going on behind the scenes that we’re not hearing about.

If you wanted to purchase a Nexus One because of the hype…. calm down and remember these wise words from a great woman who told me…

“It’s just a phone….”

-A

An inconvenient Birthday

Well we made it.  Made it through one of the busiest times in our country and that is Christmas.

With that… I’m wondering if most are asking— “…but what was the point?…”

In this day and age, it’s very easy to get caught up in the gift cards, gift giving and holiday spirit, but to what end?  I had a chance to play at Village this past weekend… a somewhat weird and awkward weekend at a Church since it’s just after Christmas and most people would rather finish some shopping, sleep in or catch a movie.  I’m right there with them… and I must say it was tough to engage this weekend knowing that in the back of my head…. there’s scores of other things I could be doing.  Why it was helpful was for me to remember why Christmas happened.  It happened for us.

Most I’m sure have heard the bedtime story or Christmas story of Jesus coming to earth, born in a manger, Sheperd’s and wise men giving this baby gifts and angels singing.  What does that mean… to you.. to me?  What is the value of that happening?

We sometimes forget that it was the beginning of a relationship.  A relationship that defined generations to come.  The birth of Jesus happened during a time where most didn’t have time to deal with a couple that needed shelter, a women who was pregnant and a family about start.

Likewise, 2,000+ years, we have trouble dealing with this birthday.  This birthday that gives us hope… a hope that gives us meaning and a purpose for why we go on doing what we’re doing.

Church this past weekend as I mentioned, while slightly awkward… helped us relax and focus on what we just experienced… what we will experience.  I have no doubt that everyone going through this post-holiday crash will be asking some of the same questions and wondering if this is just another Christmas.  Don’t let it be… don’t let it be.

So as you relax and breathe a little easier with the holiday behind you and you find yourself asking these questions ask yourself this question (as I have):

“What is the point of my job?  What is the point of my finances?  What is the point of my car?  What is the point of my home?”

What I’ve come to realize… those are fundamental questions of a much bigger journey of much larger questions.  It’s a wild ride and my hope is that as we enter 2010, you ask some of those questions.

More later.

-A

The definitive Avatar Review

So forget every epic movie that has used CG… forget every movie that tried fusing high tech w/ organic and lush environments.  James Cameron has quite frankly perfected what a Sci-Fi movie should…. and can be.

The movie itself has a fairly basic plot of a greedy corporation trying to obtain some weird precious material that you and I don’t know about… but apparently it fetches a good price on the open market.  The Na’vi is the indigenous tribe of people on the planet of Pandora who happen to live on top of the largest deposit of said precious material.

The opening 15-20 minutes of the movie literally left me picking my jaw up off the floor.  Cameron introduces us to the characters and their back plot in such a way that makes us feel comfortable with the setting of space… weird planets and blue people.  Drawing us into the story and giving us reason to care about these characters and these struggles.

The scenery is simply breathtaking.  It’s also done in such a way to not be overly obvious like George Lucas or Speilberg has been in their previous movies.  It drives home the realness or organic nature of the planet Pandora in such a subtle way.

The Characters are what make this 3 hour Sci-Fi flick worth seeing… and I’d say worth seeing at least twice on the big screen.  If you’re going to see it though… I encourage you to see it at least in High Definition.  Cameron has said that this is supposed to be viewed in 3-D;  While I find 3-D to be more of a gimmick mostly, I can see how this movie would make for a captivating choice for 3-D.

With the Characters driving the story, the technology in the movie is again… subtle and well used to make it feel real, and not alien (no pun…), the creatures and fighting sequences just make for an all round great movie experience.  I guess I still have a soft spot for Sigourney though.

James Cameron… taking his sweet ass time with this (damn near 10 years…) has got a real gem on his hand.  While it’s not perfect and nor is it the second coming (even of Cinema) Cameron has made a brilliant effort for capturing the imagination of people.  With promises of returning to Pandora in the future (at least 2 more Avatar movies rumored at this point…) I hope we can expect more excellent characters and amazing cinematography in the coming years.

Avatar gets **** out ****

-A

Turning of a page…

So this guy…. Barack Obama… chosen… elected by the majority of the people has finally… finally made his first official decision as our President.

Some may have caught my tweet a couple days back loathing the 30,000 troop surge in Afghanistan.  Well… I think I still feel that way as this has the potential to turn into another Iraq for the United States of which… I’m sure I speak for most people… we don’t want to see happen.

Almost a decade ago… on 9/11 we were faced with the greatest, most horrific attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.  Putting aside the politics of the day, the posturing and the typical statements… this changed our course as a country forever.

Mr. Obama however… as much as I hate sending more of our men and women over there… has done the right thing.  At what political cost and of what political sacrifice?

Here are some facts:

1.) We are just now starting to see economic signs of recovery in most sectors in the US economy.  Does this mean everyone can go back to driving Mercedes, Bimmers and Audi’s while living in a 5000 sq ft house?  No.  But this means that people are managing to pay their mortgages, pay their bills and somehow manage their own health care just fine.

2.) Our Nation’s debt is held by China.  Imagine… the United States going out shopping and putting our entire economy on the credit card to pay off at 18% interest over 50 years.  That sound like a solid plan to you?  Didn’t think so.  So when we announce plans of sending more troops, more armor, more supplies… more of EVERYTHING… how do you think that makes China feel that we’re spending MORE money?  (leads me to my next point…)

3.) Government run health care as of yesterday is dead.  Done.  Finished.  Democrats or Republicans alike cannot… CANNOT justify spending nearly $3 Trillion dollars over the next 10 years to somehow save you and me money.  They can’t do it.  Why?  Because China (again…) would be footing this bill for us spending money we don’t have and I doubt they will authorize or buy $3 Trillion more from us in US secured bonds.

So who exactly wins in all of this mess?  What else is happening behind the scenes that we’re not seeing as well– and what can be done to finally bring our troops home?

Me as a simple American look at this as a win for the American people.  Maybe… just maybe our government has figured out that they have to put aside their politics and actually get things done.  While the decision to stay in Afghanistan pains me… especially for the families that have their loved ones in harms way, I’m hopeful that this might be the straw that broke Washington D.C.’s back and brings them back to reality.

-A