It just occurred to me the other day, that there are people would like to write for a living.

And I do.

You will never read my professional writing, but people who have, have complimented me on it.
I have to be readable to those who can read it.
I have to be concise and logical (like Charles Krauthammer), and clever (like Ann Coulter).

And I have to write in different languages and get different entities to work together because of my writing. It can't be divisive.

Now the analogy starts to fall apart.

I write programs that govern robots, presses and other machines.

I just finished writing a robot program to take parts out of an injection molding machine and place them in a trimming fixture. I also wired and programmed the trimming fixture. They only crashed into each other once (eggs, omelets).

My boss complimented me on the wiring, which has a design asthetic itself. Functional, pleasing to the eye, and easily understood.

I then went back to work on another device that will test washing machine consoles after they are built. These are not your mother's washing machines. There will come a day when you will re-boot your washing machine.

I wrote the overall controlling program for this device, but the device was designed by my co-worker, Dave, and he did a fine job. There are other writers involved. I had already written the vision system program that checks the lights and console color.
For a few hours, Dave was writing his robot program (it tests the buttons) and I was writing the data acquisition routine (to see how hard the buttons are to press!) and the IT guy was wriiting his stuff to get the data, tell us he got it, and allow the robot to continue.  Thee guys, three different minds working towards one goal. That calls for some good communication skills, patience and cleverness. At 6PM we decided we'd run out of all three and would try again Monday.

As usual, we got into Sunday School late this morning.

The topic appears to be about animals in God's scheme of things.

If God can make a donkey speak (think democrats), does that entail that they have souls?

I propose that dogs can have a conscience, because mine acts guilty long before I see the evidence. Yet until God comes down in the form of a dog and dies in a pound for the sins of my dog, my dog may not make it into heaven.

As of right now, I'm ready to send him ahead to find out.

My dog is an escape dog.

I have a large fenced yard that is surrounded by "invisible fence" wire. Typically, he won't go near the fence because his collar zaps him, even when the kind neighbor lady offers him scraps. He has his own entry to the heated mud room where his food, water and bed are.

I take him for walks.

Every now and then I get a call from the neighboring tanning salon that they have Petey.

One day, while at work, I got a call from a neighbor that she had Petey. While talking to her, I get a second call from another neighbor saying she has Petey. Sure enough the first lady has lost him. Then I get a third call from a DPW worker saying he has my dog.

I need to check the batteries on the collar more frequently.

Yesterday, I took the collar off to check the batteries to see how he got out. That's when I found the poop smeared under her collar between the electrodes, shorting the zap out.

No poop anywhere else, just packed between the electrodes. That's a smart dog.

Should have named him Papillon.

The dog is not intimidated by a pistol pointed at it's head. You didn't hear me say that.

Today, we drove halfway across the state to meet some close friends for dinner.

Their anniversary fell on Valentine's Day this year.

Almost there, I get a call. The caller has our dog. I advise they let him go since I'm in no position to retrieve him. An hour later, another call. And as we're finishing dinner, another call. From the Humane Society.

$35 to get our dog back today. Another $25 tomorrow.

So we rush back to find out the Township has started a licensing program and our dog is not. $9 for the license if the dog is sterile, $125 if not. WHAT????

My tax dollars hard at work again.

So they'll sterilize the dog for $75 and sell us the license for $9.

Now if I shoot the dog, I'll have wasted all that money.

All the while, the Humane Society worker is offerring to take the dog off our hands.

I'm looking at a price sheet on the wall, and they charge $250 as an adoption fee for a dog. $100 for a cat! I must not take the chance of insulting one of my few readers by suggesting that it is a sign of incipient idiocy to BUY a cat. It seems to me, though that as a dog nears it's expiration date, the price should reflect that.

I'm thinking that if I surrender the dog as he wants, he'll sit in the pound til they kill him or they'll make $250 off him.

I had the same moral dilemma once before when my kids ran away from home.

My wife insisted that there was no weighing the pros and cons of my getting them.

Q: What do you call a man who shoots dozens and kills 14, in the name of "Allah", in order to bring fear into the heart of his community?

A:  A muslim terrorist.

Q: What do you call a man who doesn't know the correct term to call that man?

A: Mr. President.