Why I can't vote for Beto O'Rourke

In 1998 Robert Francis O'Rourke, (@BetoORourke) then age 26, was charged with a DWI.

This was no ordinary DWI. It wasn't because a keen police officer noticed he crossed the center line or as a result of a holiday safety check, not even close.

At the age of twenty-six, an age where one should know better, he overserved himself on his birthday, was driving at least 75 mph, lost control of his Volvo, hit a truck, crossed the median into oncoming traffic before he came to a stop.

It was another citizen who called the police.  When they responded 'ol Robert was arrested and his Volvo was impounded.

Since the incident Mr. O'Rourke has lived an example life. The incident was adjudicated and he has apologized over-and-over. He has served his community as a part of their City Council and now represents his area of El Paso Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives.

His apology has been accepted.

But now he is running for the U.S. Senate, this is a game changer.

First, if Mr. O'Rouke wanted to server in the military he would be rejected. He could apply for a waiver however considering his age at the time and the fact that he put other lives at stake the waiver would be denied.

Now he wants a job where he can oversee the activities of the military.

Just a few weeks ago (August 17, 2017) the commander of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (a unit I use to be a part of) at Fort Bliss (El Paso, TX) was relived of her command after receiving a DWI. The reason you see military leaders, both senior enlisted and officers, relieved of command after a DWI is because they loose their security clearances.  Even if they are not convicted their clearance is suspended.

Let's say for a moment that Mr. O'Rourke does get elected.

He will be one of the two individuals representing the State of Texas in Congress. Unlike what the talking heads on late night TV want you to believe about the U.S. Senate and how it is unfair that each state gets equal representation regardless of the size of the population that sent them, the Senate is designed to uphold the rights of the State and not the people (the whole 10th Amendment thing comes into play).

Because of the decisions he made at the age of 26 he will never have a security clearance above Public Use or Confidential. You may think this not to be true but as our friends on The Young Turks (

@TheYoungTurks) might advise, "Goggle It".

Mr. O'Rourke as a representative of the State of Texas will never be able to serve on committee of any consequence.

In a state with the largest military installation in the world (Fort Hood), air bases still operating B-52s and A-10s, the largest military hospital state-side he will never be in a position to make sure those installations and resources (and civilian support jobs) are secure.

My final reason is maybe splitting hairs a little, but it bothers me just the same.

His nick-name is "Beto".

Advertisements to the English speaking audience it is pronounced "Bee' - to".  To Spanish speaking: "Bay' to".  Most of those with the "Beto" yard signs don't know who Robert O'Rourke even is. He is playing to the lowest common dominator and treating people as if they are uneducated and stupid. If you can't run for office using your name then don't run.

My two cents….

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Preamble

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.


Source: United Nations

11 rules for debating a Leftist from Ben Shapiro

11 rules for debating a Leftist from Ben Shapiro

1. Walk Toward the Fire

“The left knows this is war. And they know you are the enemy. You will be castigated. You will get punched. That’s the way it will go because that’s how the left wins: through intimidation and cruelty. You have to take the punch, you have to brush it off. You have to be willing to take the punch.”

2. Hit First

“Don’t take the punch first. Hit first. Hit hard. Hit where it counts. Mike Tyson used to say, “Everybody has a plan ‘til they get punched in the mouth.” That’s exactly correct. But throwing the first punch requires game-planning. Walking through the door, you have one shot – one! – to put someone down for the count from the beginning of a debate. If done properly, any debate on a single topic can be over within the first 30 seconds.”

3. Frame Your Opponent

“I have argued that the left’s entire playbook consists of a single play: characterizing the opposition. It’s incredibly effective. And the only way to get beyond character arguments is to frame your opponent – make it toxic for your opponent to slur you. Then, hopefully, you can move the debate to more substantive territory. This is the vital first step. It is the only first step…There is no way to convince someone that you don’t hate him or her. You can convince him or her, however, that your opposition is a liar and a hater.”

4. Frame the Debate

“It’s important that you neuter those buzzwords quickly, because otherwise you will be arguing against nonsense terms that can be used against you. You can’t argue against empty terms. So don’t accept the premises of their arguments, which are largely buzzword based…It’s important that you neuter those buzzwords quickly, because otherwise you will be arguing against nonsense terms that can be used against you. You can’t argue against empty terms. So don’t accept the premises of their arguments, which are largely buzzword based…As a general matter, the left’s favorite three lines of attack are (1) you’re stupid; (2) you’re mean; (3) you’re corrupt. Sarah Palin is supposedly stupid; Mitt Romney is supposedly mean; Dick Cheney is supposedly corrupt. Take away those lines of attack and watch the discomfort set in.”

5. Spot Inconsistencies in the Left’s Argument

“The left’s arguments are chock full of inconsistencies. Internal inconsistencies — inconsistencies that are inherent to the left’s general worldview. That’s because very few people on the left will acknowledge their actual agenda, which is quite extreme. Leftists prefer to argue half-measures in which they don’t truly believe…There are almost invariably unbridgeable inconsistencies in the left’s publicly stated positions that are at war with their actual fundamental principles. Your goal is to make the left admit once and for all what they believe about policy by exposing those inconsistencies.”

6. Force Leftists to Answer Questions

“This is really just a corollary of Rule #4. Leftists are only comfortable when they are forcing you to answer questions. If they have to answer questions, they begin to scratch their heads. The questions they prefer to ask are about your character; the questions they prefer not to answer are all of them. Instead, they like to dodge issues in favor of those character arguments.”

7. Do Not Get Distracted

 “You may notice when arguing with someone on the left that every time you begin to make a point, that leftist begins shouting about George W. Bush. It’s like Leftist Tourette’s Syndrome. “Why did Obama blow out the budget?” “BUUUUUUUSHHHH!!!!!” Don’t be fooled. You don’t need to follow the idiotic rabbit down into his Bushy rabbit hole…Arguing with the left is like attempting to nail jello to the wall. It’s slippery and messy and a waste of resources. You must force them to answer the question.”

8. You Don’t Have To Defend People on Your Side

“Conservatives get trapped in this gambit routinely, because they figure that the enemy of their enemy is their friend: if the left is attacking someone, he must be worth defending. But that’s not true…Don’t follow people. Follow principle.”

9. If You Don’t Know Something, Admit It

“Don’t get caught in the trap of believing you have to know everything about everything. Your opponent will undoubtedly know something you don’t. It’s fair to simply state, “I didn’t know that, but I’ll be happy to research and get back to you.” Another side-note here: don’t bring up a topic with which you aren’t passingly familiar.”

10. Let the Other Side Have Meaningless Victories

“Leftists prize faux moderation above all else; by granting them a point or two, you can convince them that you aren’t a radical right-winger at all. After all, everyone can admit both parties are terrible!…If the left engages you on immigration reform, your answer should be that you are for immigration reform. Now, how do they define immigration reform? That’s the key question. But because you’ve always granted the premise that you like the idea of immigration reform, you don’t look like a naysayer off the bat…The conversation is meaningless until you force the left to define terms. Until then, we can all agree on useless platitudes.”

11. Body Language Matters (Not on video)

 “The Left is expert at imagistics. The right is not, because the right falsely believes that shallow imagistics can be beaten with substance. Which has worked out fabulously for every great actress who is 300 lbs. in Hollywood — all two of them who are working…Leftists prize faux moderation above all else; by granting them a point or two, you can convince them that you aren’t a radical right-winger at all. After all, everyone can admit both parties are terrible!”

Social Solace

Facebook should be the perfect place for learned peoples to exchange ideas, debate from a position of their perspective, offer ideas for crafting better futures.

Something happened along the way.

The methodology for crafting a better world turned into a method of sport.

We started voting the weakest link off the island. The pretty girl, even if she is sweet and a wonderful cook wasn’t going to get the bachelor, and the extremely talented isn’t going to be a part of next weeks entertainment because they didn’t get enough phone votes.

There is a neighborhood bar not far from my house. There is always football on in the winter and baseball in the summer although you can’t hear the commentary because the juke box and conversation from neighborly strangers is more important than the last play.

It is a blue-collar bar. The people in there fix air conditioners, sell flooring, or they drive a delivery truck, you get the idea. People like me with a polo shirt and dockers are welcome but no one there is going to belittle me and show me the door just because I might harbor some suggestions on how our local governing bodies can make traffic better or improve garbage collection.

Most of the dockers and polo shirt crowd would call this a place a “shit hole”. There is no karaoke, the bar tenders don’t use a cork screw to serve drinks, and it is just across the county line so smokers are welcome. Not exactly the contemporary white-collar hangout.

This particular bar I’m telling you about I hadn’t been in for over a year. Last week I decided to stop by and drown some sorrows I’ve bee suppressing and I noticed there were a number of improvements. There was more lighting, a wall had been taken out and a room added for a pool table and assorted video console games, some new table and chairs that didn’t rock so much.

I’m guessing that someone convinced the owner that her place was thought of as a “shit hole” so her staff made some improvements.

Question: How do you get a teenage boy to recognize his room is truly a mess, unfit for humans to reside? Get a teenage girl to say ‘yuck’. All the preaching by his mother isn’t going to work, not until he recognizes that there is a problem will he address it.

The principle always works.

Not until an acholic recognizes he or she has a problem, when a drug-user hits ‘rock bottom’, not until the car breaks down on the interstate will someone admit the problem they have been ignoring needs to be addressed.

Not to be the simple stick-in-your-eye partisan on Facebook like everyone else I wrote a joke about a potential Saturday Night Live skit where leaders of different countries around the world were sitting in a circle of folding chairs admitting to one another that they had let their countries turn into something that was just ugly in the eyes of the rest of the civilized world.

I thought it was a somewhat funny joke that would help people who only want to point out the bad in today’s world that some things could manifest themselves as a positive.

You know, like a teenage girl telling a teenage boy his room stinks. Maybe he’ll recognize it as a problem and do something about it, and in a way that sticks; as opposed to when his mom complains the room gets cleaned, but two weeks later…

It was an intellectual joke, or at least I thought it was.

Facebook gave me the venue to float my joke; and open exchange of ideas between learned adults might see through the rhetoric behind the presidential comments being smeared in every direction.

Trying to bring focus back to the real issue.

The post got a few likes, perhaps less than ten. A couple of ‘that was funny’ comments but not much more.

Then early morning two days later someone employed the ‘vote him off the island’ tactics with an all-out personal attack.

Because of my attempt at humor everything was called into question.

All of a sudden, I’m a racist, my parents were racists, my grandparents were racists.  My personal status in our society was only based on the privileges bestowed upon me because of the color of my skin and not the fact that I put myself through college by spending twenty-years in the army. My attitude towards my fellow man were brought into strict question. Because of my attempt at humor a solid ‘off the island’ vote was cast by a friend-of-a-friend-of-an-acquaintance.

The saddest part of this is the gentlemen who posted the retort is a brilliant guy. He could have attempted to articulate where or why my joke was inappropriate and expound on his understanding of the world as he has experienced it.

January 1968, thirty-two years ago (from this posting) I was advancing my way through French Command School during one of the coldest European winters on record; the same month the Space Shuttle Challenger. I’ve stood for those in third-world “shit-hole” countries defending them from those who would push them down further into oblivion. I’ve followed the orders of men and women, color or not, who were my leaders guiding me to defend freedom. I’ve suffered the business end of a knife keeping women from being forced into situations of sexual assault or worse.

I kowtow to no man, to no woman, to no religion or political ideology. 

I’m not upset either; my attempt at these thousand-or-so words is to point out that having an opinion is everyone’s reaction according to their own world opinion; but if your opinion is based on real-world experiences then please provide a retort that isn’t an attack.

Don’t attack, engage. Don’t belittle, uplift. Don’t preach, embrace.

Consider the content of another’s character or at the very least the courtesy of their perspective before casting your vote.

I’m still on the island. I still have an opportunity for the really cool bachelorette. If it weren’t for my arthritic hands and failing voice I might get enough votes to appear next week.

ScrumMasters and Employee Retention

As we move into a projected period of prosperity a key job listing sites are employing 'poach' techniques to get individuals who are already gainfully employed to look at employer listings for other positions.

Sites like Zip, Indeed, Monster and others make their living by charging employers to post their job openings with the promise of supplying them names and profiles of potential hires.

It is only a matter of time when these sites match the skills of your team members with their job postings and start sending them emails with positions for their consideration.

As a ScrumMaster you are the first line of defense safeguarding the technical expertise of your teams from falling for those 'greener-grass' enticements.

The first thing I suggest you do is talk to the others in your company that fill a role of ScrumMaster and those who help create and maintain the work flow. Discuss quality of life enhancements that can be included when putting together sprint goals.

Sit-down with the human resource brain trust that oversee onboarding activities. An HR department professional can put an actual dollar amount as to the cost of finding and onboarding a new employee. They might even be able to help with ideas about those quality of life nuggets you are always looking for.

Use the numbers HR gave you as ammunition when you sit with managers and encourage them to sign-off on quality of life and job satisfaction ideas. Remember, the goal here is employee retention and we're using real-world carrot-and-stick techniques to keep our team members happy while at work.

Convince managers to invest in continuing education group plans like those offered by Lynda.com which have classes that extend beyond those for technology professionals.

It is the 'happy with my job' attitude by your team members that you as a ScrumMaster should have an eye on, you are the first line of defense to safeguard the brain trust of your teams and your company.

Shakespeare and the Hiring Process

Mid-summer of the year 2000, after the excitement of the Subway Series I was finishing up a programming project which took a set of code built by George Washington University called "Blackboard" and retrofit it to build NYUOnline.com.

It was a great gig, but the working conditions kinda sucked.  My desk was more-or-less in a hallway between the operations office and their sales office with the door leading to the elevator behind me. And it wasn't really a desk, it was one of those small reading tables you might find in a library. If I was going to use a reference book or read some of the Blackboard documentation I had to put my keyboard on top of the monitor.

The location was a perfect place to learn about 'The Big Apple'. It was on the 500 block of Broadway, NY which is between Houston (pronounced 'how-ston') and Canal Streets which put me right in the middle SOHO near the neighborhoods of China Town and Little Italy. It is this area of the city where at 5 p.m. the sidewalks are packed shoulder to shoulder with people trying to get to their train or bus so they can go home.

Regardless of the working conditions I had to stick-it-out, I rented a house on Staten Island having made the move from Taylorsville, NC.

At the end of 2000 the "dot.com" bubble was about to burst and NYU decided to take the endeavor in-house, reducing the funding. When they had released half of their sales and operational staff I saw the writing on the wall and went to Monster.com to find another ColdFusion position in New York City.

I had two job offers fairly quickly. ColdFusion programmers who can also do database work (now called "full-stack" developers) were a rare breed back then. It was only a couple of days before I had two interviews both of which turned into job offers.

The first was MarthaStewart.com. This was the time when Martha was at the top of her game and a full three years before she reported for a five-month term in federal prison for lying to federal investigators. They had a large staff working on her web presence, the offices were nice and fully decorated as an homage to Martha with pictures of her and food too pretty to eat.

The other was LAWTRAC.com. Their offices were on the eleventh floor of an office building on Montague Street in Brooklyn.  Here I would be the only programmer taking an older application and converting it to a web-based offering.

With both offers being exactly the same dollar wise the choice was easy. I went to work for LAWTRAC where I would be 'the guy' with, more-or-less, a free hand to simply develop.

For the next fourteen years I was 'the guy'. Not only did I do all the application programming, but I designed the database, made the hosting and delivery decisions, added modules and functionality that no one in our industry of matter management software for corporate legal departments had or were even close to having.

I was in Hog's Heaven, working most of the time from my house on Staten Island, then moving to Brooklyn after a stabbing incident (another story) and finally to a neighborhood on Long Island called Carle Place.

I was fully engulfed in ColdFusion and database programming and the world of corporate legal needs and using the programming to meet those needs. I traveled the country doing product demos, working with customers, tradeshows and had speaking engagements on both corporate legal data management and ColdFusion programming techniques.

By 2009 we had hired two additional programmers. One had a focus on creating custom reports for clients and the other's forte was writing the data exchange packages so the legal and financial data could talk to other programs.

Life was great - I was THE big fish in a little pond, making great money and had earned five-percent ownership in the company, a reward for sticking around during the lean times when the company was struggling.

By the time we received our buy-out offer from Mitratech and Vista Equity Partners the software industry had completely recovered from the 'Dot.com' downturn. This recovery period ushered in more structure to the methodologies software companies were using to produce their products. The older method called "Waterfall" turned to piece-meal structure called "Agile". The industry incorporated things called Product Managers who worked with the clients to identify needed changes to continue to meet client needs. The Agile methodology also used positions called Scrum Masters who took the needed changes and broke the requirements down so the changes could be done in a structured, more modular method.

A far cry from what we at Lawtrac were doing. After all, with a programming staff of three we didn't need all that additional overhead because I was doing all the things Product Managers, Project Managers, and Scrum Masters were doing. And we were doing fine, we had clients like Oprah, United Technologies, all the major oil companies, health care equipment providers, Federal Express, even the American Bar Association used our software to track their legal matters.

The American Bar Association, getting them as a client was like getting the contract to provide the candles to the Vatican. To this day I don't understand why the new owners haven't leveraged that to boost their sales.

Mitratech is a 'best practices' company using the Agile method to produce software. So quickly I had to adapt; I took classes on Lynda.com, bought books from Amazon and by February of 2014 I was up to speed and had brought the Lawtrac development and support staff up to speed as well.

I realize now that during the time I was the 'big fish' writing the software I did so in a bubble. My world consisted of writing code, caring for customer needs, speaking at conferences, doing trade shows, generally helping to enrich my meager five-percent ownership. The industry of software production had introduced business processes I was unaware of and the handing-over of Lawtrac source code to Mitratech felt like landing on the moon.

But I had helped to build a software company. I fought the good fight and afterwards walked away with enough money to buy and furnish a house in Austin, TX. I moved there thinking that I would fit in at Mitratech and could continue working on what was more-or-less my baby and help it grow even more.

I eventually had to resign because the person at Mitratech (VP of Product Development) removed me from the role of being a programmer who worked with clients to continue to build a better product had placed me in a role of doing nothing more than support ticket changes and handed the day-to-day programming tasks to complete strangers.

Three years have gone buy, I'm still trying to fit in where I can use the ColdFusion and database programming skills I have to earn a living.

But I'm finding that software companies don't want learned programmers. The conventional hiring practice follows the acronym "HIPLE" which stands for 'High Potential, Low Experience'. Recently I interviewed with a company which does corporate patent and trademark software (which would be right up my ally) called iRunWay and they actually said during the interview that they were concerned how I would fit in with a staff made up of all younger people. Two months ago, I meet with a company called CoStar; I had gone through four interviews before they meet me in person and I guarantee you that the only reason they rejected me was my greying hair. I'm still getting calls from recruiters about that position, CoStar had no other reason to reject me.

Since leaving Mitratech I've worked to bring my skills up-to-date taking courses for my Project Manager Professional certificate and Amazon Web Services Architect certification.

Getting past the young recruiter staff software companies employ too has been a challenge. If I remove much of my work experience and the dates from my resume so my age is not as apparent I get calls, but once they begin to since I'm over thirty those calls go downhill very quickly.

The whole experience reminds me of Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day Speech, the ending….

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

Of all the start-up companies in Austin, TX you would think that one would like to have a seasoned programmer who would bring a 'been there, done that' attitude. One that has experienced programming pit-falls many on their HIPLE staffs will make.

But I really think Shakespeare was onto something. A recruiter or young hiring manager looks over my resume they experience their own feelings of having missed out on something, like the birth of the Internet and that history that has lead up to what the industry is today.


@TheCoStarGroup
@iRunwayInc

A Modern Shotgun Wedding

Many may balk at this story, but I assure you that every bit of it is true.

In 1989 I was eight years into my army career and everything seemed to be going great. I was on the promotion list to get another strip, I had an assignment as a drill corporal, the 97th Signal Battalion which did the communications for NATO headquarters and as an AIT instructor at Fort Gordon, GA.

It was at the end of my assignment as an AIT instructor that I came down on orders to attend Army Recruiting school at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.

I didn't want the assignment. I don't think anyone does, but couldn't turn it down. Only the top five-percent of any given peer group gets the assignment because it is a high stress job and the peer group rating indicates you a person who can handle the transition from soldier to salesman.

I was at the school to become a Recruiter during the San Francisco-Oakland World Series earthquake, there is another couple of stories there, so I include that fact now just to provide a time-frame. The school was intensive, especially if you come from a job where you are focused on taking care of soldiers and keeping them focused on a mission. This was thirty-percent rules and regulations and seventy-percent sales.

With school complete I received my assignment, my home town of Roseville, CA and my territory included my alma mater Oakmont High School.

Arriving at my new duty station I found I had inherited three seniors at Oakmont who had enlisted under the 'Delayed Entry' program and were just waiting for graduation so they could start basic training. My responsibility to those young men was more-or-less to babysit them and make sure they graduated. There was a secondary goal of getting these three to recommend their peers to join the army too; the best way to do this was to befriend them. So when I found out that one had missed three days of school because he was sick with the flu I traveled to him home in Granite Bay to check on him. It gave me an opportunity to meet his family and do my due-diligence and make sure he wasn't skipping school. Something we called a "health and welfare check".

Before I get much further into this I should mention that army recruiters, at least when I was in the game, targeted individuals in different categories because they were worth points. For example, a high school senior is worth a point, after graduation two points, a person in college would be three points. Additional points were awarded for a female, had graduated college, was a nurse or doctor, etc. So J*** was worth a point and I would get another point once he graduated and was shipped off to meet his drill sergeant.

His father was the pastor of a local Baptist church, so the house was the church was it's parsonage.
Being a recruiter I was wearing my dress uniform with all my awards and other appropriate acoelomates pinned in their proper locations. I checked on J*** and yes, he had been under the weather but was on the mend.

His father invited me to sit for a time in the living room and being polite I accepted. His wife brought a cup of coffee and conversation between dad and myself turned to items on my uniform as he too was army airborne, so we bonded a bit over stories of Fort Benning.

Also in the room was J***'s older sister, she was more focused on the needle point project in front of her. I had found out through previous conversations with J*** that his sister had completed two years of college, something army recruiters call a "high grad", and if I could sign-up a female with two years of college I would have been a hero as these 'categories' give you extra points.

I thought it a bit gosh to recruit there in their living room, so I thanked them for their hospitality and returned to Roseville and the recruiting office.

Over the next week or so I asked J*** to introduce me to his sister. His standing reply was to come to church and meet her there.

Being the ambitious, young, focused on acceding Sergeant I was guess what I did…

…I went to church.

That Sunday I went all out; spit-shinned my shoes, made sure my brass belt buckle reflected everything,  even a fresh haircut.

J*** was a perfect host. He introduced me to everyone; from the elders to the youngest members.

I remember the sermon like it was yesterday. The pastor (J***’s dad) must have been given the heads-up that I would be attending because he spoke of the pitfalls and evils of pride.

Picture it, I’m sitting in a back pew in my dress uniform being told my accomplishments, brightly displayed with shinny medals and ribbons, was a bad thing. I was wearing my pride on my chest for all to see.

I couldn’t wait to get out of there; when all was said and done I was the poster boy demonstrating everything the preacher just proclaimed was wrong with the world.

But I was there on a mission.

And the mission was accomplished; I had a lunch appointment with the high-grad female.
I say “appointment” because that is exactly what I intended; I was going to “put her in boots”.

Best laid plans of mice and men…

I’m still not sure about the exact sequence of events but I can assure it went quick. She was intelligent, got my odd-ball humor, and loved the uniform.

Right away I was smitten. Even as I write this I have to admit to this day I have never felt as in love as I was that spring.

And for a twenty-something army nerd it was perfect.

She loved me too.

In the early mornings on her way to work in Sacramento she would call and I would unlock my apartment door; she would stop by and we would make love.

We would every chance we could.

After church, before work, after work, anytime she could get away from the pastor.

We were in love.

She assured me she was on The Pill.

Everything was great. I had a job in the army where I didn’t need to slosh around in the mud,  I was in my hometown around family and friends, and I was getting laid more then anyone in the history of mankind.

The only thing I had to do to keep this up was go to church, which was OK because I was “getting some” afterwards as we would pretend a lunch date afterwards.

Nothing lasts forever.

In a Baptist Church once the preacher finishes his sermon and while the songs are been sung there is an “alter call”. This is where people who have been ‘moved by the spirit’ go to the front of the church and confess their sins and their love for God.

One Sunday in May while on of these alter calls my love left my side in the pew and approached the front of the church.

She left me sitting alone at the place we had carved out as a couple for ourselves, away from her family; after all we were a couple, building a future.

She confessed her sins.

If there is such a thing as a nuclear bomb in a church it went off that spring day.

She confessed premarital sex and informed the congregation she was pregnant.
This is how I learned my Love was with child.

Alone, at the right far end of a pew, on the right side of the church in front of a hundred or so strangers who’s focus changed from the sinner to the one who caused her to sin.

And there was a baby.

Let me pause one moment and remind you, this is a TRUE story.

I’m in a Baptist Church, and the preacher’s daughter just told everyone she is pregnant and I’m the one who is responsible for this shame.

Some of the church elders along with the preacher himself took this as an affront to their Christian since-abilities and their reputation in and around Roseville.

Some of them were old soldiers.

I’m sure they were thinking of the reputation of their church and community, but they started contacting the army expounding on their embarrassment and shame.

Called into the commander’s office in Sacramento I was reminded that I represented the US Army in my community.

Trust me, no one was more embarrassed then I.

Their phone press worked, and I convinced the commander I would do the right thing.

After all it was an easy decision, I loved her… embarrassed aside I was happy to incorporate M*** as the one with whom I embark on the next chapter of my life.

The wedding was quick, two weeks top.

In the month or less since the bomb and the wedding the calls from the elders to the army hierarchy took root.

I had embarrassed the army and their sensibility of their right and wrong.

Although I had married M*** my reputation in the community had been ruined as far as my First Sergeant and Sergeant Major were concerned.

I was an embarrassment to recruiters everywhere.

The Monday following the wedding I was released from my responsibilities as a army recruiter and after my son was born sent back to the 'regular' army as the First Gulf War had broken out and they needed me.

I never told M***. I wasn’t ever going to admit that a consideration for our wedding was my career, I’m sure her considerations for that alter call would have the impact it did.

With the community pressure on the Army and myself this was a modern shotgun wedding.

To this day I harbor anger at the elders of Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Roseville, CA. Their meddling and busy-body backroom gossip has only stiffened distain for organized religion.