Tall Grass

This is a picture of the front lawn of the house two doors down from me.  The sign in the front yard is a notice from the town that the owner has 10 days to cut the grass or the town will take action to do it for him.  The house was recently sold and is currently not occupied.  The sad part of this story is that the town did not take this action until receiving complaints from various people in the neighborhood.  The ironic part of this story is that the town was voted the “4th Best Place to Live” in the US by Money Magazine last year!
Although you probably cannot tell how high the grass really is by looking at the picture, the smaller of my two dogs, who is about 12 inches high, disappears from sight in this grass.  The other dog, who is about 15 inches high, fares a little better…you can see the top of his head!

DOS and Chinese PCs

There’s was article today in Federal Computer Week about the Department of State’s (DOS) recent purchase of 16,000 or so PCs from Lenovo, a Chinese company with ties to the Chinese government.  Seems a little bizarre to me that a US Government agency, especially one with a critical mission such as the DOS would  this.

But, having done business with Uncle Sam for many years, I guess I should not be surprised… Lenovo was probably the low bidder and met the minimum requirements…and obviously, DOS viewed Lenovo as a qualified and reputable bidder.

Wonder how many PCs the Chinese government has purchased lately from Dell, Gateway and HP?

Armed Forces Day

Looked at the calendar and it says today is Armed Forces Day.  I find it strange that there has been no mention of this in newspapers, or on radio or TV that I’ve seen or heard…especially here in the Washington DC area.  Maybe I missed something or my calendar is wrong? 

Nope, checked it out and today is indeed the day. Armed Forces Day is celebrated every year on the third Saturday in May.

So, here’s a “BIG THANKS” to all those who have served in the past and are currently serving our country from an old veteran.

Go Mason II

The basketball coach at GMU just signed a contract extension that is good untl the 2011-2012 season. Since GMU’s recent success in the NCAA Tournament, he has become a hot commodity and has been a candidate for coaching jobs by some other more well-known schools.  But, in the end,  he chose to stay at GMU.