Bob and Debbie Conroy - Enjoying the Journey Together!

I went to the Iowa State Fair today along with 104,621 other paid attendees plus fair workers and vendors. Between sightings of four presidential candidates I kept running into people I know.  I got to thinking I could pass for a native Iowan as well as I have the layout of the fairgrounds memorized.  When the National Weather Service reports Iowa counties under the threat of severe weather I no longer need a map to know where they are located.  I am going to The Iowa Straw Poll tomorrow in Ames. I have become an Iowan. I was born in Ravena, Ohio in 1953 and moved into 1980 Hanover St, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio before my first birthday. In 1963 we moved to Villa Park, Illinois followed by a move to Oak Park, Michigan in 1964. 1965 had a move to Mount Clemens MI, 1966 on to Royal Oak, MI and in 1967 to Beverly Hills, MI and then on to a second house in Beverly Hills in 1969. My last move during high school was to Hazel Park, MI in 1971. My first house on my own was also in Ha...

“Cloud computing” or “in the cloud” are phrases that I read almost every day now that many major technology companies have embraced this as their business model.  On the surface the concept is simple: all applications and data are hosted in secure data centers and user access is over a broadband Internet connection. When I hear about clouds I think about something I have first noticed decades ago: that most people already live in a cloud.  They go through the motions of living but it appears as if outside forces are pulling their strings. Commons symptoms include: following the crowd, keeping up with Joneses, believing that reality TV is real, lacking any substantial interest in current news unless it involves a celebrity, and a general lack of curiosity about the world around us.  Picture in your mind a football field with thousands of people standing, sitting, and moving about the field through a low fog bank that is spreading over the field.  Now notice a hand...