Tag: Chapter 15

November 6, 2026 – The Fountainhead; Part 1, Chapters 13-15

November 6, 2026 /

OK, OK… seems like this is going to happen. We are on a roll now and I am doing my best to stay ahead. So far, all of that I have written about I read before I committed to getting started. So, really that is no feat. Next week will have some new reading involved to make the deadline (which I have already done at this point).

This week we see that Roark has some success, maybe. He designs and builds a gas station that leads another housing commission. Both of them are critically exiled. While the owner of the home approves of the design, his wife does not and refuses to live in it. Instead she moves to Florida.

Meanwhile there is a competition for a movie studio called the Cosmo-Slotnik building. Winning the commission is huge exposure. Roark refuses to enter and ultimately Keating wins but not without the help of Roark. Roark has one last sure thing that only required a few tweaks which he refuses to do and is no longer able to pay his bills.

Due to Keating’s success, he makes partner partially because the former partner Heyer dies due to Keating’s threats of blackmail and ruined reputation. To add insult to injury, the former partner leaves his estate to Keating because at some point he was a ‘nice boy’. Meanwhile, Dominique rebuffs Keating’s offer to marry. Keating makes partner on his ‘merits’ rather than nepotism but the hypocrisy is driving him crazy as well as emboldening his ego.

I was thinking about a time where I stuck my principles to my obvious disadvantage. There was one major life event where I can point to. Although, I cannot say that I handled it as well as Roark did. That was when I quit my job in 2019. I know that I have talked about this quite a bit, but I don’t really think in this context before.

Occasionally, I have the ability to see the outcome of decisions that seem obvious to me but not to others. It all goes back to 2014 when our company merged with a larger Canadian company. Soon after the event, I was offboarded off the project that I was working on due to the extreme amount of time and effort I had put in. It was supposed to be a reward but it turned out that it was worse in so many ways.

The larger company had a major global customer but they also had a huge problem. The mismanagement of project delivery and ineptitude of company leadership to properly address the problem. Since we were new blood, I was moved to this nearly incompetent project team. I was a resource on the project and the tech lead was going to guide us to the finish. It just so happens that this was an ESOP company that paid dividends on the fiscal year which was November. Most of the employees of the old company were large shareholders and would get huge payouts around that time to the tune of $100K or more.

To date, many of the key employees in the account got chewed up and spit out due to the higher level lack of accountability and ineptitude. My tech lead gave the middle finger to the company and I was left holding the bag. I was miserable with four different bosses telling me what to do and what I did wrong every day. I went to every level of the company and finally I realized that no matter what I did, nothing was going to change.

Fortunately my struggles and efforts did not go unnoticed and I was moved to role that had zero to do with Canadian group albeit the same ownership. I was given the opportunity to run the application support group. At first nobody cared what we did. But then, we started running circles around the rest of the company. We believed in listening, owning up to mistakes, working together and continuous improvements. These were all beliefs that I held and it payed huge dividends.

Within my group was named a ‘center of excellence’ and people started to care. They were going to transform my group from application support into managed services and this was going to be the company golden goose. The new president had done this before and went from zero to $100M in revenue in one year. Unfortunately, they hired a consultant to facilitate the transition and no longer was it my methodology.

The consultant was not my adversary nor was he my peer. I began to resent what made us successful they were trying to remove because it wasn’t conventional. Apologizing for errors made made them roll in there graves over liability. The company preferred stone faced and contentious relationships compared to doing the right thing. Because I am not Roark and I was immature in these situations, I started to crack. Ultimately, the only way out was to leave completely. I wasn’t going to be successful knowing that what I did worked and I could no longer operate in that way.

The truth is, I started throwing my success in their faces and I did some things I wouldn’t do again. I looked for opportunities to fight, I felt I was wronged and marginalized for years. In contrast, I offered to anyone including my adversaries to help with what worked. That was met with stone cold antipathy. Like Roark, even a better way is not going to help a non-receptive group.

I guess I should be happy that I got the ultimate revenge. When I quit, half of my group quit as well. The company simply could not sustain business with the staffing level that they had and the company was sold within a year. None of what was planned ever came to fruition because there was not the remaining employee buy in to put profit over people. They had lost the moral and morale war.

End Your Programming Routine: I am not saying that I took down the company or that I am happy it ultimately failed. I had a lot of friends in the local office, I simply saw that what I thought would work worked and the failure to adopt it played a major role in the downfall. Many would say selling is different than failing, but while I worked there, the stated goal was to be the largest integration company in its space, not selling to a competitor. It is a very difficult time for me. Some very high highs and some very low lows.

May 1, 2026 – Surprised By Joy, Chapters 11-15

May 1, 2026 /

I know that it hasn’t been the most direct path, however we have gotten to the end. This week I have finished Surprised by Joy. That means if you are reading along, then you are done as well. The plan is to cover the last five chapters this week and then go over a total review next week.

If I could say anything about this week, I would say that this is my favorite third of the book. Not only did we get the details of Lewis’s conversion but the subject manner was more than dry, ancient authors, titles and fantasy land. You have a bit of a war story, introductions to the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien and the final, happy conclusion.

I will save my overall opinion for next week. We will focus on the subject matter on hand. Here is a brief summary of the final five chapters. Last week we ended in what I would call high school in today’s parlance. We begin there again. There is one thing that I noticed in chapter 11 and that is kind of a change in tone. It is still primarily reading literature and poetry but an internal struggle seems to crop up. That struggle is the difference between fate and faith.

I think many non-Christians can relate to this. How can God be good and all powerful and yet bad things happen especially to good and faithful people? You hear that as a criticism to faith. That is a question that everyone has to wrestle with but I tend to side on the side of fatalism. I cannot diagnose any situation other than my own but I tend to look at it more like ‘your mission is done’. We cant see the future and only the individuals knows all of the details about their past. What may appear to be upstanding could only be a shell. I simply do not know.

Of course there are all kinds of nuances. Babies cannot be shells, right? Agreed, but it could be that death of an infant spurs some kind of reaction like starting a foundation or a sibling becomes a doctor or researcher. I simply cannot say the impact outside of the obvious ones.

From there, Lewis enlists in the Army and is eventually shipped off to the front in World War I. There is surprisingly little written about this time. It seems that this experience is so polarizing in those that have survived but it really does not seem to make much of an impact in Lewis’s life. I would characterize his attitude as ambivalent and certainly not galvanizing.

After getting wounded and subsequently discharged from the army he starts his life again, now at Oxford. The next chapters cover his life and changing attitudes as they are shaped by that experience. For example, Lewis starts to notice that Christian authors have more depth to their stories. And for that reason it starts to persuade Lewis that he needs to change his path.

I find this a little strange actually. I am not aware of many author’s religion but I cannot say that Lewis or Tolkien stories are any deeper than a lot of the fantasy I have read in my life. One reason that I stopped reading that genre is that I found it incredibly convoluted and nonsensical. Sure, I can suspend belief that magic can happen but when it comes to names, characters and events without definition or context, I simply kind of glaze over.

Another strange behavior is that Lewis admits to attending church without actually believing. I think in most cases, people lose their faith while attending church but never have I heard the other direction. The sensibility of it all is irrational. I shouldn’t have to explain that but dedicating time to something that has no significance is simply not what people do.

In the last chapter, Lewis describes that he doesn’t really know how it happened. Somehow throughout this process he became a Christian. Lewis’s description is Atheist to Theist to Christian. As a result, here is my synopsis of the book title. Joy is a synonym for faith and belief. The whole title is about being surprised to find faith despite the path to get there.

End Your Programming Routine: I would say the ending is a bit of a letdown. Based on how I started this post and where I am at, I bet that you can guess how I am going to come down next week. As evangelists, it makes no matter on how you come to faith but I find it hard to believe that reading literature written by Christians that would make it so. In fact, this might be the only documented case. Then again, people emulate those that they admire. Does that make genuine faith? I am not here to tear down Lewis. He most likely has done more good in his work. It is just that the story seems so improbable.

June 13, 2025 – In the Gravest Extreme: The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection, Chapters 15-16

June 13, 2025 /

Reading gunfighting tactics from a book is probably not the best idea. Don’t take my word for it, I am no consultant or trainer. I do believe that even with the best laid plans, practice is required. The problem is that most ranges do not allow holster draw. Mine specifically does but it does have to be with the intent of practicing techniques. I am not sure how you prove that but word to the wise.

The value of reading tactics comes after some training. This provides another perspective and the ability to analyze information. I do have to say that I learned something in this chapter that I never knew. Apparently, some revolvers have full length ejectors while others do not. Truthfully, I don’t know which ones I have or how to look for them, what models, etc.

The reason that I bring this up is that I was considering some classes for my wife. Nearly ever single self-defense pistol class requires a pistol (not a revolver). I don’t really have such a thing that I would consider appropriate. If it were me, I would just take what I have because that is what I might carry. The point is that I paid much more attention to the revolver information in this book whereas the vast majority of today’s concealed carrier would have a pistol.

Practice: no truer words were said. If you cannot hit anything at the range, how in the heck do you think you will defend your life properly? I have to admit that while I take a handgun nearly every range trip, I am a significantly better rifle shot. Not only are handguns harder to shoot accurately, but I practice rifle shooting most days with the air rifle. Most of my practice is offhand (no support) or left hand (weak hand) as well.

When it comes to things like shotguns and trap shooting, my kids can shoot my pants off. They shoot at least 75 targets for sixteen weeks a year whereas I might shoot 25 targets in one season (2X a year). They have significantly more experience than I ever have and it shows when we compete or shoot together. Those are two examples where practice is better than a loaded handgun in the sock drawer.

I do believe that you can read about safety from a book and it is effective. I am not going to extensively cover the rules of firearm safety. Some groups reference three rules while others say four. Neverthess, if you follow these you will always be safe.

  1. Treat every gun as it is loaded
  2. Keep your finger off of the trigger until ready to shoot.
  3. Verify your target and what is behind it.

Something that I think about is when others are around. I know that I am not going to do something stupid but what happens when there are other kids around? For that reason, when I am going to clean some firearms over the course of several days, I make sure that they are disassembled to the point of not being able to be used. I suppose kids smart enough could figure out how to put it back together but then they would have to know where the ammunition is, how to load it etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t leave stuff laying around routinely, even temporarily. But, I like to put stuff back in the safe clean. Often when I come back from the range I don’t have the time to clean up that day. I may have stuff on the bench for a few days while is am actively cleaning. Always make sure that I get my stuff put away expediently and be aware of what others may or may not know.

One last story. I know someone that was sleeping with a 9mm handgun under the pillow. One night while this person was sleeping they accidentally pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the only consequence was a hole in the wall. I have never gone out shooting (intentionally) with them but I highly suspect their judgement. Don’t do this.

End Your Programming Routine: We are approaching the end. Next week will be the last chapter and I will offer a conclusion as well. This will be unlike most books where the conclusion follows the last chapter. I felt this book was sufficiently short enough that it didn’t warrant another week. It is extremely unlikely that you would ever have to defend yourself, above everything else… be safe.