I passed!

So I finally took the test, and passed, so I can now officially call myself a "Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform 1.4". The test was quite a bit more difficult than I expected. There aren't supposed to be any "trick" questions, but I will say you really have to pay attention to the details. Some of the questions, it seemed to me, got you focusing on one part of the question when the really important details were subtly lurking in another part of the question. Let me just advise you that if you are planning on studying for this test there is probably no such thing as studying too much. You should also take several of the many practice exams that you can find online to get a better idea of where you stand. Next on the agenda for me is studying for the web developers certification. No rest for the wicked!

So how about those wackly al Qaeda? I am so disappointed to see the reaction of the Spanish people to the the tragic terrorist attack in their country. They have given al Qaeda exactly what they wanted. They Spanish people have given in to fear and thrown out the existing Spanish government which took a hard line against terrorists. They have replaced it with a government which apparently favors the approach of many of the other European countries, i.e. "if we play nice and leave the bad guys alone maybe they'll play nice and go away". It seems to me this is just going to encourage the terrorists to commit further acts of terror. Maybe the Spaniards have bought a little time for themselves, but the terrorists will just keep going after other governments now. Who is next? Britain? The US?

So, while we are talking about politics and world affairs, I've had mixed feelings for awhile now about President Bush. I like a lot of things about him, particularly his foreign policy approach. Call me crazy, but I'd much rather have a president who puts our country's interests first. Not a president who is greatly admired by other "foreign leaders" with their own agendas, which in many cases probably don't squarely line up with the best interests of the United States.

However, there are also certainly a lot of areas where I feel President Bush is lacking. This past weekend I ran across this editorial in our local Gwinnett Daily Post newspaper. It's as if the author is tapped into my brain, because it does a great job of summarizing many of the things I admire about our current president, as well as the many issues that have me concerned.