Broken Thoughts

I have been waiting for Windows Home Server since Microsoft announced the product.  I have been anxious to download it through my MSDN subscription and test it out.  As long time user, fan, and programmer of Microsoft technologies, I like to investigate their products so that I can recommend products to fill the needs of my clients, friends, and family. 

Someone I work with was showing me his copy of Home Server, which he purchased.  Very excited to test it for myself, I went out to MSDN, only to find that it is not available on MSDN.  After a little searching, I found this blog that talks about why WHS is not available on MSDN.
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I live in the middle of the “fly over zone,” also known as the Midwest.  We are known for corn, cattle, ignorant conservatives, and tornadoes.  I happen to be one of those crazy weather geeks who gets a thrill out of chasing tornadoes in the spring.

It all started when I was in high school.  I became so enamored with the big storms, that I began taking a cheap disposable camera out to snap a few pictures as impressive storms would roll in.  During this time, I managed to get some cool pictures, but none of them came even close to the awesome display I saw.  At first I would go out and get pictures of the wall clouds and wind shear as it was rolling in, and then go home before the actual storm hit.  As my high school career began to near it’s end, I was getting braver and braver by going out when the weather was promising tornadoes and rotation.  Thus began my career as an amateur spotter.
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In the times of feudal Japan, a samurai would travel through Japan in Musha Shugyo.  These wandering Samurai are not to be confused with Ronin, or “Masterless Samurai.”  Ronin are samurai who have been expelled by their master, or their master has been killed in battle.  A shugyosha is a samurai who has left his family and school to travel from town to town, taking challenges and learning at various schools to hone their skills.  This time is also used to seek a daimyo to serve.   The shugyosha would carry only a few supplies, their swords (or weapon of choice), and would hire themselves out for food or money.  During this time, the shugyosha would not be protected by his family or school.  The most famous shugyosha was Miyamoto Musashi.

Being an IT consultant is much like the life of a Shugyosha. Being a consultant and being a samurai require a lot of training and skill. There are good consultants and bad consultants, just like there are skilled samurai and unskilled samurai.
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Thanks for the laugh. 

For the rest of you who weren’t there, allow me to explain.  Last night I was on my way home from sword practice.  At one point, the highway turns from 55 mph to 65 mph.  Ahead of me I could see a car dodging and weaving around the other light traffic.  Eventually, I passed him, but apparently it was the unholiest of sins to be passed.  He decided (with one headlight out), to try to block me in where the highway goes from three lanes to two lanes.  I managed to get a head of him, but this only seemed to make him angrier.  It was at this point that he decided to sit in my blind spot.
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