[ ](/u/2011/12/shuttle.jpg) On the company bus again to Oregon ;-)

[ ](/u/2011/11/sting.jpg) Took the short drive up to Reno for the weekend to catch Sting on his Back to Bass tour, and he was just awesome!

[  ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/1.png) The time has finally arrived for us to move into our new home in California. It has a great open plan kitchen / dining / entertainment area. [  ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/11.png) [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/13.png) [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/3.png) [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/14.png) [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/15.png) [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/16.png) [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/12.png) [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/22.png) Two good sized bedrooms and an office [ ](/u/2011/10/ball_drive/4.

Happy times at Azteca :)

 The email from the atorney said "I am pleased to inform you that your ... application was approved. Congratulations on becoming a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR).". It's been a very long wait, almost 10 years since we came to the USA, but worth it. No more worrying every time we want to go away on holiday whether we will be able to get back in to the country. Freedom to work wherever I want (not that I have any plans to move!

[ ](/u/2010/11/01/fancy_dress.jpg) Time for trick or treating!

 The [Electronic Frontier Foundation](http://www.eff.org/) warned this week that US government agencies are actively using social networking sites such as [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/) and [Myspace](http://www.myspace.com) to spy on people. Agencies named include the [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services](http://www.uscis.gov/) (USCIS) and the [Department of Homeland Security](http://www.dhs.gov/) (DHS). The EFF raised concerns that the breadth of the surveilance program was concerning, altough it did acknowledge that the DHS monitoring of social networks was appropriate, and that they were attempting to apply "

[ ](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_reuse.png) Well, yet again, Randall Munroe hit the nail on the head with [this one](http://xkcd.com/792/). Time to go change all my passwords. :-)

 Photo by Ballistik_Coffee_Boy Courtesy of Creative Commons It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion." - Unknown (derived from Dune)

For all those non-pet owners who like to visit our house, I would ask that you please remember these simple rules: 1. They live here. You don't. 2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it **fur**niture. 3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people. 4. To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons & daughters who are short, hairy,walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.