On the eve of war, my friends are worried and depressed. Realistically, this
war will not impact me in short term, other than it has created circumstances
we've not seen in over a decade. But in the long run, I think this war will
have large consequences. 

<p>
I gather that the administration is looking 50 to a 
100 years in the future when WMDs are easily accessible, when an unexpected
first strike can immobilize a major city or nation, when we can't defend
ourselves against an unheralded first strike. If we can't defend ourselves,
how can we prevent this? The administration appears to be using our temporary
military and economic advantage to replace the planet's rogue nations with
stable, slow (democratic) governments. 

<p>
I also believe the military is finished with supplying insurgents as it has come
back to bite them too many times (Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Iran). The 
administration believes that the only path to the goal lies in war. War on Iraq,
War on Iran, and War on North Korea. 

<p>
IF this is the Plan, I want to know why we are 
jeopardizing our future coalition building efforts in order to gain 6 months
on Iraq. Maybe we have less than 50 years to do all this work, maybe the 
administration thinks they only have 5 more years. 

<p>
IF this is the Plan,
I want to know who architected its marketing. No one is arguing that Saddam
is a nice guy, everyone is arguing over Bush's War. The marketing failed and
now we pretty much have to go it alone. 

<p>
IF this is the Plan, we'd better get our space program back in shape because
we're going to need a whole new home if it doesn't work. 

<p>
<hr align=center width=75% noshade>
<p>
Last week culminated in illness, I spent the weekend bundled up, consuming
4000+ calories per day, and drinking a boatload of water. Unfortunately, the
symptoms are fading, but the cause (stress) remains.  The good thing is that
work is going to be a lot less stressful this week (no late night installs and
early morning maintenance), and I've resolved the following money stress issue
(which is retarded, the whole point of having money is so you <b>don't</b> have
to have stress), but school is starting back up. 

<p>
When firms merge, many customer service issues can arise. The two firms I have
brokerage accounts with just merged (Datek and Ameritrade), and their customer
support (that I've experienced) has fallen through the floor. 

<p>
The biggest problem is that I've gotten multiple answers for a question. 
Because of this, I can't trust the answers I'm given, and I have to call back
and verify. Luckily, after a week of getting things ironed out (one cancelled
check and two incompleted market orders later), things should be fine tomorrow
morning. 

<p>
On an interesting side note, all electronic orders have a ticket number
associated with them. But, manual orders have no tracking numbers whatsoever
(according to Datek/Ameritrade, so this could be misinformation ;). Regardless,
Allen said I should give <a href="http://www.brownco3.com">Brown & Co.</a> a
chance, and I'll be switching to them when I next switch investment stances. 

<p>
<hr align=center width=75% noshade>

<p>
Orthochrony is a good word. It's Greek for uptime (as in a server's uptime), 
but it also can mean timing things correctly (from development releases to 
picking the right moment to talk to someone). 

<p>