JMS Transactions

I'm really starting to hate these.  I need them to protect our requests when tomcat is restarted but I can't get them to work in our current setup.

I may need to go through the pain of upgrading mule and spring for the whole project but we will see.  I'm hoping to avoid that.

Ugh...

Still Undecided

I'm still no closer to deciding who I should vote for in this election.  Having my name associated with either candidate via a vote is about as comfortable as an old metal church chair. 

Despite the best efforts of my friends, I can't be convinced to take abortion lightly, and I can't be sure that Romney will take the environment seriously as President given all the oil he has used to slide into this position.

So I will probably sit it out and see what happens.  At the very least it should be interesting.  I do think that we are at a pivotal point and that this election could shape our future for a long time.

Pics

We finally broke down and bought a really nice camera.  For us, a really nice camera means an entry level DSLR, so we aren't going to be opening up a philadelphia wedding photography any time soon but we are hoping to learn how to take better pictures.

Even with the default settings our new camera takes incredible pictures, but I have no doubt that we could learn some really cool tricks to make them even better.  I have been planning to read up on it but I haven't quite gotten it done yet.  Hopefully I will get that done at some point and feel like I am using the camera to its fullest potential.

Reds

I'm not really a Reds fan but if they make it to the post season I generally root for them to do well.  Only if they had to play the Indians in the World Series would I root against them.

This year they were up 2-0 against the Giants and have lost two in a row to even the series.  They haven't won a playoff series since 1995 and before last night it looked to be all but assured, but now they are in trouble.  They are going against the Giants best pitcher, and their best guy is hurt.

Here's hoping that they can pull it off somehow.

Political Flair

Have you or anyone you know ever changed who you were going to vote for because of a pin someone was wearing?  Most candidates have a wide selection of personalized pins that their supporters can proudly display.  So other than to identify you as being on "their team", what is the point?

I can't seen that any of those things by themselves change peoples minds, but perhaps it's the combined bombardment of seeing one person's name everywhere you look for a period of time.

I think that that is how advertising works as well.  You see something enough times that when you see it again at the store your brain tells you "I know this brand, so it must be good".

Bad Fan?

So am I a bad fan if I want the Browns to lose the rest of their games so that they can get a better draft pick?  Frankly, I see nothing that could be gained from them winning 4 or 5 games to finish out the season.

Unfortunately, I don't see any really high profile guys at the top that they could draft.  I wish that they had done this last year so that we would be starting Andrew Luck.  As it is, they won't draft another QB in the first round since they just did it last year.  I'm not convinced that Weeden is they guy so in my mind, we have to deal with him for another year or two before we can draft someone else. 

Given all that, I don't see a winning season on the horizon any time soon.