As an addendum to my previous post, when the options which finally present themselves are such that the decision is no longer a hard decision, then you know you’ve probably made the right one. (Or in other words, procrastinating until the right option comes along pays off). To this end, I will be starting in a few weeks as a lead information security engineer for the Navy Federal Credit Union. The people seem like good and honest people, my coworkers seem smart, the work should be challenging and interesting, the work environment seems great, and the pay is significantly better than most other places I was looking at.

My last day at Protiviti is tomorrow (Friday). I’m taking three weeks off during which time I plan on taking my CISSP, finishing unpacking, and pretending I’m a tourist in DC. I’ll start work on June 16. (There’s actually a very interesting story behind this, but it isn’t blog appropriate – ask me in person).

There is now visual proof that I have completed every JAP’s dream of marrying a Jewish doctor. (Sorry about that screaming in the background. That must have been, uh, someone else.)

No longer is this blog written by Mr. and Mrs. Elias-Bachrach. It gives me great pleasure to introduce the first Dr. Elias-Bachrach. I would have videos to share except I left the cable for my phone at home. It’s been four long hard years filled with studying, overnight shifts, hard work, and the occasional annoying patient, but Rebecca is now finally certified to say “take two aspirin and call me in the morning”.

Please note that under no circumstances will anything ever be named after Dr. Elias-Bachrach, mostly as an act of pity on future medical students.

I have a big decision to make in the next few weeks, and as such I’ve been thinking not so much about the decision itself, but about how it is that people make decisions, in an attempt to make sure that my decision making process leads me to the best outcome. (I’ve clearly been spending too much time with auditors). I have noticed (and been told by my wife) that I have a tendency to take the first option that comes along, even if it isn’t always the best one. Part of the reason for this is that I usually hate the decision making process itself, and would rather get it over with even if it means  buyers remorse later on. To that end I want to make sure I don’t take the first option simply because it is  first, however I also don’t want to fall into the trap of  leaving doors open just for the sake of more options.

There is also the problem is judging quality when considering options. We as humans are remarkably bad at judging quality, and frequently rely on superficial ways of judging quality. Have you ever heard the phrase “you get what you pay for”? That’s a perfect example of how we use something superficial (the price) to judge quality. If you want more proof, people apparently get more relief from more expensive placebos.

Then there’s Robert Cialdini’s  six ways in which people are influenced. (They are Reciprocation, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, and Scarcity). Do I really want to make a decision based on what I think other people will think of that decision? Is liking someone a reason to go for their suggestion or not?

One thing that annoys me about reading ESPN’s mobile app page my new palm centro is that for some reason they always give me the cached page first. I can’t possibly imagine why. Of all the websites I could visit, ESPN is probably one of the last places where I’d want to see a cached page. After all, do you really think I’m going to see yesterday’s scores?

From the AP:

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, responding to fresh accusations that he illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a U.S. citizen, on Thursday said he will step down if he is indicted.

Let’s all hope for an indictment.

One story that I have seen no coverage of so far this playoff season is the dominance of the NHL’s Atlantic division. Of the 8 playoff teams in the east, half of them came from the Atlantic. (In other words, everybody from the Atlantic made the playoffs except the lowly Islanders). Throughout the season these four teams have been playing good hockey, and have beaten each other up countless times. If any of the Atlantic teams were in another division (like say the southeast) it is almost a given that they would have a better record than they currently possess, based solely on the weakness of the schedule. In the playoffs the 4 Atlantic teams have been unbeatable. (By anyone other than their fellow Atlantic division teams that is). No Atlantic division team has been eliminated from the playoffs by a non-Atlantic division team. In fact, with the exception of the Flyers letting the Capitals win 2 games once they were up 3-1 in the opening round, no Atlantic division team has even struggled against a non-Atlantic team. (Ottawa was spent, Montreal stole a game and lost in 5). The conference finals now features two Atlantic division teams (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), making it a given that the division to represent the east will be the Atlantic. I realize that any division trying to claim the title “best in hockey” will have a hard time making its claim without the perennial president’s trophy winner Detroit in its midst, but Detroit plays in a very weak division and spends most of its season beating up on weak teams. If you want the single most dominant division in hockey right now (not the division with the most dominant team), its clearly the Atlantic.

When I was in college I was friendly with a very interesting man named Kevin who had some rather unusual political ideas. One of them was that democracy was a failure, and that we’d all be better off living under a monarchy. His main thesis was that a king is appointed for life, and thinks long term. A president is elected for 4 or 8 years, and thinks in the short term. While I disagreed with his conclusions, his premise has been repeatedly proven correct by the current crop of Washington decision makers. Perhaps no example could be better provided than the “gas tax holiday” proposed by both McCain and Clinton. It is, simply put, awful public policy. Yet high ranking politicians from both parties support it. Why? Because in the short term it will give them the results they want – more votes, and less important, perhaps some marginal economic stimulation in the short term. Such short-sighted policies are frequently supported by politicians who simply have no incentive to look beyond the next election cycle or two, and is one of the primary reasons this country is in such an economic mess.

I know it’s a little late, but Ari and I each came up with a way to make breathing forbidden for Jews over Passover. We came up with reasons why the carbon dioxide in the air would be chametz and therefore unfit for Jewish consumption during those 8 days (as opposed to non-kosher elements during the rest of the year which are ignored if below a certain percentage, chametz on Passover is forbidden in any amount).

Anyways, here’s mine:

During Passover, there are people all over the world eating bread (aka: chametz). The bread is broken down into glucose (among other components) which is turned into energy via glycolysis and then the Krebs cycle. With each turn of the Krebs cycle, carbon atoms from that glucose are incorporated into carbon dioxide (a waste product of the process), which will be breathed out and join the atmospheric pool.

Now before you panic about this, there is a solution to the problem. Observant Jews purchase milk and eggs before Passover, because it is forbidden to use non-chametz that was created from chametz (in that case, chicken and cow feed) on the holiday. Therefore, the trick to getting around the carbon dioxide problem is just to acquire a bottled air supply before the holiday and breath that during the following 8 days. Any garden variety air will do, the trick is just to find a place to store it…

Be nice to Ari and maybe he will share his method as well.

This afternoon, I sent my first text message. It was successfully received and replied to. I hope this doesn’t become a habit, because typing with your thumbs is slow when you insist on using proper grammar and spelling.