This Day in Gary's History...

September 11, 2001 I was on a consulting assignment to help install and configure a web based software product at Caterpillar in Pontiac, Illinois. I arrived at the Bloomington, IL airport on the morning of September 10th, and was asked to visit the headquarters in East Peoria on September 11th. To save the customer money, another consultant agreed to lend me his pickup truck for the drive to East Peoria (on the other end of the state)....

11 Sep 2008 · 3 min · Gary Allen Vollink

Back From New York

I've posted a few pictures online from the trip. Mostly business, didn't really get to see anything too exciting on such a short weekday only trip. http://picasaweb.google.com/gary.vollink/NewYorkTrip

10 Sep 2008 · 1 min · Gary Allen Vollink

Bad Speling Iz Ok Now?

This article has been in the back of my head, bugging me since I first read it. Mind, it's not the article itself that bothers me, it's the assertion that is being made in the article. Bad Spelling should be acceptable at the college level. Spelling "truely atrosious," says academic (sic) I've been mulling this over for weeks, and I've heard a few people make the argument that standardized spelling is a relatively new construct from a historic perspective....

25 Aug 2008 · 2 min · Gary Allen Vollink

Beijing : Attack and Murder at the Drum Tower

I feel that I should begin by expressing how safe I felt while I was in Beijing. I felt safer in every part of Beijing than I do in downtown Minneapolis. The news outlets don't really say that enough while sharing this bit of news. Actual physical attacks on foreigners are very unusual in Beijing. Like any large city, crimes of opportunity are common, but confrontational attacks against foreigners are incredibly rare....

9 Aug 2008 · 3 min · Gary Allen Vollink