Diary of a Network Geek

UnMovieFriday

Originally uploaded by Network Geek

By this time of the week, my regular readers know I’ve usually reviewed a movie, but not this week.

This past Friday, instead of seeing a movie, as is my usual habit, I was on a plane coming back from Belle Chasse, Louisiana.
Now, to those of you who haven’t done a lot of business travel, this may sound fun and exciting, but, honestly, it wasn’t. I caught a 7:30AM flight out of Houston Intercontinental to New Orleans, where I was picked up and driven to our local office. There, I did some basic troubleshooting and got the “new guy”, who’s only part time so far, up to speed on a couple of things. Also, we got a problem or two that he’d not dealt with before knocked out pretty fast.
Mainly, though, I was there to make folks feel better and assure them that everything was as it should be. In other words, outside of a couple things I probably could have done on the phone, I was mainly there to take people out to lunch.

The books you see in the attached picture are what was in my bag.
I’m still wrapping up A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, who is one of my favorite authors of all time. It’s been ages since I read anything by him and, frankly, this book is making me fall in love with language all over again. Hemingway has that effect on me. And, considering how concise he was and how conservatively he used words, I find that deliciously ironic. Still, there’s just something about the way he crafts a good sentence that just makes me want to write.
“Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.”

The other books are something else again.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is about finding hope in the most hopeless of situations. It’s about finding a purpose in life, no matter how small that purpose my seem to others, and clinging on to it for dear life. It’s the book I was reading when I was diagnosed with cancer and I really need to re-read it and refresh my spiritual memory of the lessons that book brought me.
The Canon Speedlite System Digital Field Guide by Brian McLernon will be, I hope, the guide that gets me going finally with hot shoe flashes, both on and off-camera, for DSLR. I brought that with me Friday in the hopes of being able to get to it and finally start to play with my new camera equipment that my tax refund bought me.
No such luck.
Thankfully, I still had Hemingway to keep me company.

So, movie reviews again next week, but the week after, I’ll have been at a wedding on Friday, so I’ll probably miss my regular review then, too, unless I hit a matinee.
Who knows? Anything’s possible!

In celebration of my business travel being postponed, we saw a movie yesterday.

Earlier this week, as I was about to buy airline tickets, which I can’t really afford, I was told to “WAIT!” So, this project, or at least my end of it, having been put on indefinate hold, we decided to see a movie to celebrate.
First, I think it’s important that I say Pirates of the Caribbean was NOT my first choice. I was out-voted two-to-one by my wife and daughter.
But, I have to admit, I was very, very pleasantly suprised. This was a GREAT movie! Obviously, it’s about pirates, but it’s more than that. It’s about a curse on pirate gold, stolen from the ancient Aztecs. The story follows Jack Sparrow, er “Captian” Jack Sparrow, in his quest to regain the Black Pearl, his pirate ship lost to a mutiny.
The story also follow Will Turner in his quest to find out who he is and marry the fair Elizabeth who is the daughter of the local British Governer. Will, it turns out, is the son of a very important pirate who has the secret to lifting the curse. Only, he doesn’t know it, of course.

But, before I spoil any more plot, let me say that this movie had something for everyone. There was adventure, of course. After all, how could a movie about pirates not have adventure? There was romance. After all, how could a movie about pirates not have romance? And, there were wonderfully animated corpses. (Really, the special effects were so good they were almost an additional character.) Johnny Depp, who plays “Captain” Jack Sparrow, does a wonderful job of combining comedy, action and drama. And, I have to admit, he’s not too bad with a cutlass.
This movie is really a great one and good for just about the whole family. Anyone who could survive the Disney ride should enjoy this film. Go see it!

Well, it looks like I’ll be a Road Warrior again.

At least, to a lesser degree. I got word this week that I’ll be doing some travelling for Loomis Fargo & Co. It’s nothing real complicated, just a PC upgrade, but they’ve got a deadline of September 15. Frankly, that deadline is somewhat artificial, but, still, it’s good motivation to get everything done.
I’ll be going to the Chicago area first, later this month, then I’ll be back off to New Orleans in September. I have to admit, it will be nice to see Mom and Dad back in Chicago for dinner at least once while I’m there. And, I’ve never actually stayed in New Orleans, just the airport, so I’m looking forward to that, too. Maybe I’ll finally get my “voodoo rattle” that I’ve been joking about since I got into IT!
In any case, I don’t really like business travel, but at least I’m going to major cities. And, of course, I’ll get paid fairly well for my trouble because I’m still a contractor, so I punch a clock. Anyhow, you can bet you’ll see entries about being on, and from, the road.
Stay tuned!