Travelling computer consultants are a strange group.
We all have two places we call home.

We're broke between contracts, and rich during contracts.
Most people don't want to see us when we're broke, and that's usually when we are hiding in our real homes.

We've done things or are doing things that are outside the realm of normality.
One buddy is walking across the country, another has programmed the Space Shuttle, and another is bartending.
Some flourished with their own companies during the dot com boom, just to fall back into consulting.

You never hear about us, but we do change the world.
I've done some world-first, including adding some stuff to the ATM screens that you see all over the country.

Usually, we come in, do incredible projects, make it work and leave.
If it fails - We are responsible because we are idiots. Fortunately, I've never failed.
If it works - Others are responsible. They almost always get promoted. 
The consultants either move on, go full time, or become managers and never code again.
Rarely, if ever, our names get mentioned anywhere. We almost never get CC'd on the "Job well done" email from the CEO.

But still, it gets into the blood.
We know what we've done. Our abilities to work either independantly or in a group, has molded our ways of thinking.
The travelling is great, the money is good, and we've gotten used to saying "Hello" and "Goodbye".
At night, we either go insane with thought, or we're happy and we do things most locals would never even consider doing.
Its an emotional roller coaster, and the adrenalene rush is addictive.
And it would be hard for me to stop.

(Spoken after 15 years of consulting, 5 years on the road, and 27 years in the business)

Airbeds - Our second airbed has gone flat in just one week.
It turned out our cot had a sharp edge. I wonder if there are other professionals out there who have had this problem. BTW - I'm not sure when or how I got so strange. Its happened slowly after 15 years of consulting.

It's 3am on a Monday, and as usual, I can't wait to go to work.

Jennifer went back to Vegas last Saturday, and I already miss her.
So now, when I say we, I mean Becky and I.
On the flip side, instead of doing just teenage things, we can do adult things too. I'm thinking Concerts!

She has been so much fun!
We've done a lot of travelling and beach combing in this Tampa Bay Area.
But this is probably the worst time of the year to be here. It's hot and extemely humid.
Tuesday, she gave quite the scare.
She had an asthma attack. Here's my take on that:
Medical care is such nightmare these days. 
Jennifer had an asthma attack and she's on Nevada Medicaid. Medicaid is only covered out-of-state in Emergency rooms.
We found one, and after 2 hours they put her in one of those little rooms where she waited for 2 hours.
Finally after they gave her an XRay, a breathing treatment and a prescription. The whole thing took 5 hours.
It makes me wonder how many people don't survive in those little rooms.
This makes me think
If she didn't have any kind of insurance, I'm sure that visit would have cost $1,000.
For $1,000, she could have flown her to Mexico or Canada, where she could stayed in a nice motel, and she could have bought Albuterol over the counter for $12.
Of course, she could have had a bird flu, in which case, everyone in the Emergency Room might have caught it.
Scary!

It was pouring sheets of rain and I was listening to "The Only Living Boy in New York" in the Westshore Mall parking lot.
Lightening was all around me.
And I was feeling alone, smiling, thinking I was the Only Living Boy who has ever really listened to that song.
It was a good day to have the blues.
I'd heard some things said that took me there
I probably shouldn't listen or care.
Listening attempts to add thought to what is being said, and most of what is said is without thought.
Caring hurts, when what is heard malicious or cold, either through mindlessnes, or out of lack of empathy.
Sometimes I feel like the world is trampling flowers while I'm walking around them.
And I wonder, what is the point.

Becky and Jennifer had their nails done yesterday
(their first manicure). Jennifer picked a color that, well, is pretty unusual, but it sparkles.
Becky's nails were two toned. Looks good.
I met them at lunch time at Antonios, which is an excellent Italian restaurant on our block.
Later, we dined at Beef O Bradys. Today was their Grand Openning. We met the Owner/Manager, the food was great, and guess what, its on our block.
Good food, good times, lots of love...thats what life should be about.
At work, I'm playing the role of problem solver for our somewhat large project,
and believe I'm pretty good at it.
Eventually, all the people in my group come by to ask about something.
It's a privilage I very much enjoy.
On the quit smoking front.
We didn't pull off going cold turkey last Saturday, but we did come up with a nice, modified plan to cut down.
We're keeping our smokes in the back of my truck. Becky's down to 8 smokes a day, and I'm down to 12.
That's really good, considering we were smoking anywhere from 20 to 40 cigarettes a day.
Now this is odd, cutting down on smoking isn't uncomfortable at all.
And when Becky and I go out to smoke, Jennifer comes along. We flip open the tail gate, enjoy the sky show, and laugh about the little things in life.
It goes to show, people can change, and even though change may seem bad, it can be a good thing.

After extensive gene therapy at Sensadyn Labs,
a flat worm has actually learned to play the guitar.
It's favorite song - Layla

?TACL MACRO
comment *******************************************************************
comment * This Macro Creates a Cold start obey file for a runnig pathway  *
comment *-----------------------------------------------------------------*
comment * This example uses $EXP as a pathmon name                        *
comment * To run this macro, enter                                        *
comment *                                                                 *
comment *     PATHCFG $EXP                                                *
comment *                                                                 *
comment * The Cold Start obey file this will create will be called GOEXP  *
comment * To bring up $EXP using the cold start file enter:               *
comment *                                                                 *
comment *     O GOEXP                                                     *
comment *                                                                 *
comment * This will create a cool start file for $EXP called EXPCTL       *
comment * The log1 file will be called EXPLOG                             *
comment * GOEXP, EXPCTL, EXPLOG will be created in the current subvolume  *
comment * The configuration's pathway will be call $P.#PATHMON.EXP        *
comment *                                                                 *
comment * This macro can also be run for several pathmons by entering:    *
comment *                                                                 *
comment *     PATHCFG $EXP $MNTF $STORE $ZVPT                             *
comment *                                                                 *
comment *-----------------------------------------------------------------*
[#if [#empty %1%] |then|
 #output They Syntax is: PATHCTL $PW
 #output where $PW is a running pathway system
|else| [#DEF ascii STRUCT
BEGIN
BYTE byt0  VALUE 7;  CHAR bell   REDEFINES byt0;
BYTE byt1  VALUE 27; CHAR esc    REDEFINES byt1;
BYTE byt2a VALUE 36; CHAR dollar REDEFINES byt2a;
BYTE byt2  VALUE 37; CHAR perc   REDEFINES byt2;
BYTE byt3  VALUE 38; CHAR amp    REDEFINES byt3;
BYTE byt4  VALUE 64; CHAR at     REDEFINES byt4;
BYTE byt5 (0:1) VALUE 27 73;
CHAR clr (0:1) REDEFINES byt5; == escape sequence
END;
]
#push Norm Blink Invert Dim
#set  Norm   [ascii:esc]6[ascii:at]
#set  Blink  [ascii:esc]6b
#set  Invert [ascii:esc]6[ascii:dollar]
#set  Dim    [ascii:esc]6[ascii:perc] #push PathwayProcess PathWayLen PathwayName
#set  PathwayProcess %1%
#set  PathWayLen [#Compute [#charcount PathwayProcess] - 1]
#set  PathwayName [#charget PathwayProcess 2 for [#Compute [#charcount PathwayProcess] - 1]]
#output
comment #output [Dim]                            [invert]Pathcfg %1%[Dim]                            [norm]
#output [Dim]Builds an obey file called [invert]GO[PathwayName] [Dim] to start [invert]%1%[norm]
#output To run this %1% should be up and running
[#case [#INPUT [BLINK]Should I proceed "Y" ?[NORM ]]
|Y| #output Please wait...
PURGE GO[PathwayName]
PATHCOM %1%;INFO/OUT GO[PathwayName]/PATHWAY,OBEYFORM
edit GO[PathwayName]!;99990/LOG1 [PathwayName]LOG/;NA;E
edit GO[PathwayName];10000/START PATHWAY COLD !/;NA;E
PATHCOM %1%;INFO/OUT GO[PathwayName]/TCP*,OBEYFORM
PATHCOM %1%;INFO/OUT GO[PathwayName]/SERVER *,OBEYFORM
PATHCOM %1%;INFO/OUT GO[PathwayName]/PROGRAM *,OBEYFORM
PATHCOM %1%;INFO/OUT GO[PathwayName]/TERM    *,OBEYFORM ==
edit GO[PathwayName];CQF/-- /A;NA;10000/-- EXIT/;NA;E
edit GO[PathwayName];.01/COMMENT *------------------------------------------------/;e
edit GO[PathwayName];.02/COMMENT *----- Obey GO[PathwayName] to start $[PathwayName]/;e
edit GO[PathwayName];.03/COMMENT *------------------------------------------------/;e
edit GO[PathwayName];.04/#PUSH INLINEPREFIX/;E
edit GO[PathwayName];.05/#SET  INLINEPREFIX --/;E
edit GO[PathwayName];.06/assign PATHCTL, [PathwayName]CTL/;E
edit GO[PathwayName];.07/PURGE [PathwayName]LOG/;E
edit GO[PathwayName];.08/FUP CREATE [PathwayName]LOG,TYPE E, REC 132, EXT(100,100), MAXEXTENTS 100/;E
edit GO[PathwayName];.09"PATHMON/cpu 2,name $[PathwayName],nowait,term $vhs/3";E
edit GO[PathwayName];.10"PATHCOM/inline,out $P.#PATHWAY.[PathwayName]/$[PathwayName]";na;e
|OTHERWISE| #output OK. POOF! I'm gone.
]
#output
[#if [#empty %2%] |then| |else|
  run PATHCFG %2 to 99%
]
] == First If