News from Misssissippi

A few years ago I was down in Biloxi Mississippi for military training, and was fortunate enough to have a good friend in the area who had me over to his family's house quite a few times, which made a big difference for the months that I ws there.

Dan's dad is a great guy who helped me build my first jalopy computer, launching me on my current career, which has been very good to me. Thanks Ralph.

He writes:

Yesterday I visited the gulf coast where the most damage was done in my state and it was very disheartening.

I tried to forget the shops and casinos and hotels and just thought about the people that were there that just lived there. You know those people have prolly been there many many years. Those old houses are gone, the people are maybe ghosts that once lived in them, many are still missing and will never be found. But I talked to a native of the area, borned and raised (and half cajun), the spirit of the young man was enormous. He has a wife and daughter to care for and three jobs. The stress on his face was very obvious. If there is a God, let mercy and love be given to folks like that. Anyway I was reading your blog and just thought I would share that with you.

Man take care and God bless you.

The human spirit really is an amazing thing. Yesterday, some Iraqi guys who work with us came into the office and we were discussing the current state of the Iraqi telecom infrastructure. Now, realize that pretty much everything sucks here: the phones suck, cell phones suck, Internet access sucks. What wasn't blown apart in the war didn't exist in the first place.

But these guys were just eager to learn and wanted our take on what was the best path to a career. What they should specialize in, etc. They were eager to "not waste time" on generalized experience. What a refreshing attitude. I tried to reassure them that no experience is wasted.

On another note: I've been trying to come up with some pictures that would capture some of the feel of this place. The problem is, there's not that much that's interesting to look at.

I went up on the roof of our single story office yesterday to see if there was anything I could snap from up there.

Nope.

What's worse was I felt horribly exposed up there, like sick feeling in the pit of your stomache, nightmare about 'making a speech in front of the class naked' type vulnerability. I got the hell off that roof right away.