Making God Chuckle

The old joke goes that the best way to make God laugh is to make a plan, and that's just what I'm doing.  It starts with a return to grad school.  Instead of mathematics, I'll be pursuing a Master's in Security Studies. Eventually, I would like to work in either the Office of Net Assessment, or the USMC Strategic Vision Group.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself, as I still need to apply, be accepted, and find a way to pay for it, but I know that writing is in my future.  With that in mind, I will begin posting once a week, starting next week, a short essay on an article, or book, related to national security.

International Relations and Security Network (ISN): Our focus this week: The Securitization of Organized Crime 

The Nature Conservancy: Will climate change lead to a future with more war?  

It started with the Zombie Apocalypse

Photo by Daniel Hollister; used under Creative Commons Attribution license.

Well, maybe not directly, but it plays a part. It started because I was turning 40 and having a daughter. I thought it might be nice to live long enough to see her grow up. So I quit smoking, cut back on drinking, and started exercising.  Casually at first, but then I got serious when the missus suggested trying P90X.  I didn't think I would care for it, but I really got into it. I've been through one complete round so far, and am in the third week of the second round right now.  However, I do feel the need to complement P90X with some functional fitness workouts, which brings us back to the Zombie Apocalypse.

Simplicity

Moroccan sardines in spicy oil, couscous with preserved lemons and ras al hanout on top of a bed of baby spinach.

I recently watched Islam: Empire of Faith, and I found myself thinking that my ignorance of history is shameful. But then I remembered I'm an American, and we don't have history, just answers on game shows.

Watching Satellites

While it's possible I might have been able to see them in the city, it's definitely been enjoyable to be able to sit my backyard, looking up at the stars and watching for satellites. I had no idea how many could be seen. This page does a good job of showing what's passing by over your head. The default is just the International Space Station (ISS), but it also displays several others if you do a little digging.

My Latest Obsession

I got a lock picking set this past Christmas, after wanting one for several years. I played around with it for awhile, but got a little frustrated at my lack of progress, and so only intermittently would try my luck. But last month Wired ran an article on Marc Tobias, and I resolved to actually learn what I was doing. I started, like you do, with a Google search and found this guide from Locksport International. This was a nice place to start, but it was this document that really helped me understand what I was doing. As a consequence, I've discovered that Master Locks and Kwikset door locks are not nearly as secure as I thought they were. Now I need to find some new locks to practice on. And there's still more theory to learn. There's always more to learn.

Where My Head Is, That's Probably Where I'll Be.

Instead of trying to maintain two separate blogs, and subsequently maintaining neither, I'm no longer limiting this one to food-related activities, but will now write about pretty much whatever comes to mind. I'm sure there will occasionally be cooking mentioned, but I've been predominately interested in several other things these days. Sorry to disappoint anybody.

My Blueberry Rice

I was in the mood for peaches, and wanted to construct a dinner around them. Pork seemed a pretty obvious choice, but what could serve as a side dish? Well, blueberries play nicely with pork and peaches. I ended up with a damn tasty meal of pork in peaches and cream, with blueberry rice. And yes, the title of this post is a reference to Wong Kar-Wai's film, My Blueberry Nights.