Details are below the ‘fold’. If interested, drop me a note with your resume at dmintz@esemconsulting.com and I’ll pass it on.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Serve as a senior subject matter expert and trusted advisor to a Federal Enterprise IT Architecture team.

• Provide both high level “thought leadership” and hands-on support in a variety of technical areas

QUALIFICATIONS

General skills:

• Strong documentation skills
• Strong verbal communication skills
• Ability to work well in fast paced, loosely structured, team environments.
• Ability to deal with conflict diplomatically

Expertise in the following is required:

• Experience designing solutions and supporting enterprise data centers and IT organizations for large enterprises
• Storage architecture and virtualization / cloud architectures
• Federal information security requirements
• Experience with advanced systems engineering / troubleshooting / code analysis

Exposure and experience with some of the following is recommended:

1) J2EE Architecture: WebSphere, IBM HTTP Server, Apache HTTP Server

2) J2EE Database Architecture: Oracle, Oracle Grid, DB2, etc.

3) .Net Architecture: SharePoint, IIS, .Net, Performance Point, etc.

4) .Net Database Architecture: SQL Server, SSRS, SSAS

5) Workflow, Content & Case Management: SharePoint, K2 Blackpearl, Serena Business Manager, Autonomy Team site, SharePoint, Drupal, and Siebel

6) Usability and Interface Design: RIA RichFaces, AJAX, Dojo, JSF, JSP, etc.

7) Security Architecture: Tivoli Identity Manager, Tivoli Access Manager , CA SiteMinder, CA Access Manager

8) Services and Data Architecture: SOA, Microstrategy, Informatica, InfoSphere/Information Server, SAS, SAP

9) Modeling, Simulation and Emerging Technologies

Work products may include:

• Transformation roadmaps for various initiatives (such as cloud/virtualization, mobility, security)
• Business and technical requirements documentation
• Architecture framework / governance charters and processes
• Participation in Architecture Review Board (ARB) and Engineering Review Board (ERB) meetings and reviews
• White papers and presentation describing results of market research and analysis for emerging technologies. Research may include in-person vendor interaction.
• Brown bag presentations on topics of interest
• Architectural models / diagrams of  infrastructure and architecture layers
• Logistical and administrative support to the Architecture Review Board by preparing agendas, taking minutes, and supporting documentation/materials
• ERB/ARB presentation slide decks and white papers as needed
• Technology Proofs of Concept (TPOC) as needed to validate products and their use and compatibility with existing infrastructure and standards
• Recommendations of changes to enterprise technical architecture standards
• Recommendations for the refreshing of technology standards, including HW/OS, virtual machines, application servers, open source projects, COTS products
• Solution architectural guidance for  application and project teams by creating and recommending solution architecture framework, best practices and tools

Potential projects include:

• Virtual data center (VDC) O&M
• VDC virtualization / move to cloud
• Security Operations center O&M
• Numerous Cyber Security initiatives
• IaaS / PaaS / SaaS
• Citrix operations
• Oracle RAC deployment
• IBM Tivoli TIM/TAM Architecture
• Middleware O&M support

The way the show works is that each guest brings three articles from their least important, number 3-3-3-3; to their most important, number well you get the idea.

3^rd Most Important Article

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-25/google-says-government-content-removal-requests-rise-26-.html

Google Says Government Content Removal Requests Rise 26%

This article was interesting for a number of reasons. It illustrates the growing integration of the Internet and all aspects of our life as well as Google’s approach to transparency about transparency.

Every six months, Google publishes a list of all requests that were made to remove content organized by source country and what it did in response to the requests. We will ignore the reality that it really is not possible to ‘erase’ an entry on the Internet (it would be like erasing a specific gene combination from your body, which would require a cell-by-cell editing process, not so practical).

The largest single reason for the 26% rise came from requests from Brazil relating to their last election. In fact, a pretty large percentage of the requests related to people in the public eye asking for references they felt were unfair to be removed, in general with Google turning down the request.

In a broad sense we find here the growing conflict that is being waged in the public square between the freedom of action and expression that has historically existed on the Internet versus the attempts of different parts of modern societies to edit speech they find offensive. Sometimes this is under the heading of stopping ‘hate’ speech, sometimes preventing speech/books/writing that some find inconsistent with their religious beliefs.

It is interesting to me that many of these groups who are in favor of one kind of censorship often mock those who are in favor of other kinds of censorship. The old saying that where one stands often depends on where one sits remains true.

In an even broader sense, this is just one aspect of the conflict between information sharing (uncensored at the extreme) versus information protection (deciding on a thought-by-thought basis at the extreme).  Personally I lean toward freedom of speech in as absolute a fashion as possible though I seem to be in a shrinking group (as usual).

2^nd Most Important

http://fcw.com/articles/2013/04/23/dod-directive-cio-role.aspx

DOD issues directive to define CIO role

Here too I was a bit more interested in the general issues this article raised rather than its specifics.

However a few specific comments first: Teri Takai, the DoD CIO has done, in my opinion, a really great job in helping to redefine the CIO role at DoD and in articulating the broad issues that DoD and all Government CIO’s face. This directive is a reflection of her thoughtful approach.

As the article says, one of the major changes was the adding of cybersecurity issues to the responsibilities of the CIO, which is a growing issue facing all CIO’s.

The role of the Federal CIO is being reexamined throughout Government. Congressman Issa has introduced legislation and Senator Carper’s staff is looking at the same issue to potentially update the Clinger-Cohen act which provides the current legislative basis for the authority, or lack thereof, of Governmental CIO’s.

One of the lessons I learned at DOT was that in the Government it is important to both measure program results and process quality. In fact, the latter while in some sense are less important they are much (much) easier to modify and often can lead to improved program results. One of the things I would do if I ran the world , e.g. OMB, would be to take the DoD document as a template for the responsibilities that all Departmental CIO’s should have and measure whether they do and publish the results in a green-yellow-red scorecard.

1^st Most Important

http://fcw.com/articles/2013/04/22/spectrum-search.aspx

The search for more spectrum

One of the big issues these days relates to the implementation of Government solutions based on mobile technologies and the associated changes to system architecture and organizational culture that results from doing so. (Shameless plug, which after all, is the most satisfying kind – take a look at the Advanced Mobility Academic Research Center, AMARC, home page, which I am the President & Executive Director of, http://www.amarcedu.org).

In the end however all of these mobile transactions have to be transmitted somehow, over some part of the spectrum. Once again infrastructure planning and implementation has an enormous impact on results.

The problem here is that we are running out, have run out, of available spectrum. Much of the spectrum that has been reserved and may not yet be in active use is held by the Federal Government. The article deals with the difficulties in deciding how much of this reserved spectrum can be made available for commercial usage.

There are both technical and cultural issues in making these decisions as well as deciding how to make it available (how much should companies pay and where the resulting money should go).

It probably would not surprise anyone to find out that, at least according to the article, that no one has a complete and accurate inventory of who owns what spectrum.

I look forward to the entrepreneur who figures out a way of multiplying the capacity of spectrum already in use.

The page summarizing her activities is here: Ellen’s award summary from the JCC May Center Scene 2013.

All that and she puts up with me on a regular basis, not such an easy task.

I have been teaching a capstone graduate class at the University of Maryland University College, UMUC, http://www.umuc.edu/, about the Management of Technology and Innovation for a number of years. One of the running threads culminating in a discussion in the last session (which ended yesterday) relates to future technologies.

One of the threads this year focused on wireless technologies. One of the students linked to a product called Twine from a company called Supermechanical, http://supermechanical.com/. Twine is basically a sensor box, with some coming standard built-in and some requiring additional purchase and snap-on. It interfaces to the web, communicating to you via email.

It is able to tell temperature, motion and direction when purchased and as one example has an add-on moisture detector. You can, for example, put one in your basement. If there is any water that comes in, Twine sends you an email. The true power of the device, to me at least, is its ability to have additional sensors added.

When I looked at the Twine web-site, they note they can connect to Pebble, http://getpebble.com/. Pebble has a watch ‘form’ and is connected by bluetooth to your smartphone. In effect, Pebble is a customization front end to your phone as well as being another front-end to the Internet. Its epaper screen can be customized to look like almost any kind of watch face, while it can display caller id for phone calls, let you know about emails, tell you the distance to the green if you play golf, using free caddie, and so on.

Since almost everything these days can be accessed by wireless building blocks it is only natural that we are moving toward wireless charging, http://www.ti.com/ww/en/analog/wireless_power_solutions/index.shtml?DCMP=hpa_pmp_wireless11_en&HQS=pmp-wireless11-bpowerportal-en. As we reach the point where everything has an IP address and has the ability to send and receive information, the possibilities for creative design becomes endless; all of it being funded by organizations like kickstarter, kickstarter.com.

VMware is putting together a focused session involving their subsidiary Nicira with technology thought leaders in the Federal government on April 25th in DC. I think this session would be a good way for you to update you or a senior member of your staff. The intended audience is folks that are responsible for setting the technology direction for their respective agencies for the next several years.

Carahsoft is the sponsoring organization.

If you are interested send me a DM, message, or email and I will pass your contact information on.

I am interested in hearing from others what they think of SDN technology in general and Nicira’s offering in particular.

We just finished setting up our webpage, www.amarcedu.org.

We are in the process of creating an Advisory Board consisting of Academic, Government, and Corporate members to provide intellectual direction for AMARC and to provide support for the Summits and Annual conferences where AMARC will be the host organization and/or involved.

If your company is interested in joining, if you need additional information and/or you would like to get involved, please use the “Contact” link on the webpage or contact me directly. I would be glad to meet with/speak to/write about mobile technology issues to help get each of you involved in this very important activity.

The AMARC mission is to Re-imagine Government Through Mobile Communications.  It is a non-profit incorporated in Virginia with three initial goals:

• Increase the efficiency and optimize the delivery of government services in the US at all levels through the utilization of mobile communications technology
• Implement such efficiency and optimization through the greater integration of academic research capabilities with government organizations and their corporate partners
• Emphasize STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) investments, training at academic institutions and the exposure of students interested in STEM to government and academic careers

It is a pretty exciting project. Mobile technologies are in the process or changing the delivery of Government services as well as creating organization disruptions internally. Being a part of these efforts and with the opportunity to give back from some of my experiences inside Government and supporting Government program implementations for <mumble, mumble> years is great fun.

You can get a copy of an AMARC Description.

At this point in my career, my interests revolve around how to improve the provisioning of services and products to the Government on one hand and the ability of Government to make use of these products and services more effectively on the other.

BUSINESS CAPTURE. I find that most companies do not have a well thought out approach to winning Federal business. They mistake being busy for being effective. My experiences in supporting Federal proposals over the last thirty years and in managing companies and large programs focused on both services and product delivery are the basis for my ability to focus a company, grow its senior leadership and to maximize the possibility of winning new business.

My time as the US Department of Transportation CIO added an insider’s perspective. By staying active with Federal trade-groups, writing for and appearing on Federally facing print and radio media, and continuing to be a frequent social networking participant, I have kept my relationships with the Federal IT community to be kept fresh and useful.

STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY THINKING. My current role as the President and Executive Director of the non-profit Advanced Mobility Academic Research Center (AMARC) is complemented by my teaching of graduate programs related to Technology and Innovation Management and Cybersecurity at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) and Syracuse University. Mobile application development and communications lies at the heart of a revolution in Government services provisioning and systems architecture. I can help your organization take advantage of technology to improve your internal processes, external relationships to stakeholders, and the implementation of Federal programs.

PART OF MY TIME IS SPENT HELPING COMPANIES GROW BOTH IN TERMS OF REVENUE AND STRATEGICALLY.  I offer two kinds of relationships. For those companies interested in a direct relationship with me on a retainer basis they purchase such services through my company ESEM Consulting LLC.

For those companies who want a broader range of resources where I would play a participatory role, I am a principal with Deep Water Point (DWP), http://www.deepwaterpoint.com/main.html, and can provide support on an hourly basis through DWP.

PART OF MY TIME IS SPENT HELPING SPECIFIC GOVERNMENT AGENCIES REGARDING TECHNOLOGY AND/OR IMPROVING MANAGEMENT AND PROGRAM PERFORMANCE. They can purchase services directly with ESEM Consulting or through one of my corporate partners.

FINALLY, IF ANY READER WANTS TO BE AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN THE MOBILE TECHNOLOGY AREA. You may want your organization to join AMARC, a short slide-deck is attached to this email describing our goals for the organization, web-page soon to come, in the interim contact me directly.

- Dan

dmintz@esemconsulting.com

301-332-0717/c

• http://www.ourownlittlecorner.com/2012/04/01/this-years-passover-sedar/
• http://www.ourownlittlecorner.com/2011/04/10/our-annual-passover-seder/
• http://www.ourownlittlecorner.com/2011/04/11/our-passover-seder-quotes/

This year our focus is to look at the choice for freedom that was made in the Exodus story and to consider some of the reasons people might have to support a change to freedom or to resist it.

The Haggadah we use is called A Different Night, http://www.amazon.com/Different-Night-Family-Participation-Haggadah/dp/0966474007/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363877819&sr=1-1&keywords=a+different+night+haggadah.

Below the jump I include the beginning of the instructions I wrote up to help me organize the evening as well as the quotes we will be using this year. Those who have looked at my previous entries much that is repeated and a bit that is new. The instructions explain how we approach going through the Haggadah.

Seder Introduction

This is the 15th year we have held a Seder in this house. Each year I joke about whether our daughters and/or I have changed jobs during the preceding 12 months. Last year, I mentioned that they had but I had been in the same job for two years. This time, each of us changed jobs at least once and some more than once.

Last year we wrote: “In the world outside of our house and this Seder it has been a year of great change and disruption, much of which was in the name of freedom.”; This year there is the same sense of change and disruption, but the goals seem complicated and the results opaque. It is with that in mind that we start our annual exploration of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt and what it means to us.

Readings and songs in Hebrew are interwoven during the evening, but many of the readings will be in English. Each person will have a number and we will have shuffled cards with those numbers in a pile. When we come to an English passage we want read, we will pull a number from the pile and ask the person with that number to read the passage. Be alert, you never know when you’ll be up!

In addition, in our house, we have gotten into the habit of passing out cards with sayings that tie at least a little bit to the broad Passover themes of freedom and often to this year’s specific theme(s). When you first read a passage, you will also be asked to read your card and if you want are encouraged to discuss what it might mean in the context of the Passover event and this year’s theme.

When a person is asked to read a passage, they should:

(a)    Introduce themselves and if possible tell us something we may not know about them or what they have done over the last year (a bit harder for those who have been here many years)

(b)   Read their quote & comment on it if they want; is it related to our theme for this year and if so how, do you agree with it or not and why

(c)    Read the entry they are to read

In past years we have discussed among other topics:

• Risks that have to be taken to achieve freedom
• How current events reflected striving for freedom
• The importance of asking questions about freedom (the ‘why’ of Passover)
• The transition from slavery to freedom, what did it mean and what did it require
• How the concept of time impacts how understanding of Passover
• The role of women in the Passover story

This year we will focus on the uncertainties of striving for freedom and explore some of the reasons why people do so or do not do so.

We first read a passage from a Dvar by Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, rabbi of B’Nai Yehuda Beth Sholom, a Reform congregation in Homewood, Illinois, in 2012:

“If we were to try to summarize the purpose of the Seder ritual in one sentence, we could find that sentence in the Haggadah itself:

 “Bechol dor vador, chayav adam lir’ot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza miMitzrayim—In every generation, each of us must see ourselves as if we, ourselves, went out from Egypt.”

 The foods we eat and dip, the prayers we say and sing, the telling of the story—all these are designed to enable us to relive the experience of the Exodus.

 It is not a story of some other people long ago; it is OUR story. We were there. We were slaves, who tasted bitterness and wept salty tears and made mortar for bricks and baked flat bread. And we were liberated, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with signs and wonders. We, ourselves, experienced these things and, each year, we re-enact them out of our primal memory. We raise our cups and remember both our oppression and our freedom—together.”

 Our time with our friends and family, both those who have come here many years and those here for the first time, is special. We are lucky to share this evening each year we can.

——————————–

And now for the quotes:

Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American social writer

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

Helen Keller, 1880-1968, American author, political activist

The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next.

Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895, American social reformer, orator, writer

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightning.

Edward Abbey, 1927-1989, American author and essayist.

Freedom begins between the ears.

Andre Gide, 1869-1951, French author, Nobel Prize literature winner.

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Wayne Gretsky, 1961-, Canadian hockey player.

You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.

Amelia Earhart, 1897 – 1937, American aviator and author

 The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.

Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers, a novel for adults and others (including caterpillars who can read, American author, advocate for organic farming

“How does one become a butterfly?” she asked pensively.

“You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

Louis Carroll, pseudonym for English author Charles Dodgson, 1832-1898, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

“Thinking again?” the duchess asked, with another dig of her sharp little chin. “I have a right to think,” said Alice sharply, for she was beginning to feel a little worried. “Just about as much right,” said the Duchess, “as pigs have to fly.”

Rosellen Brown, 1939-, American author, wrote Before and After

A slave is one who waits for someone else to free him.

Mignon Mclaughlin, 1913-1983, American journalist and author

Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.

Charles Kettering, 1876-1958, American inventor, engineer, businessman

If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832, German writer, artist, biologist, physicist

Everybody wants to be somebody, nobody wants to grow.

James Gordon, American psychiatrist

It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t.

It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.

King Whitney Jr., civil rights activist

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.

Gilda Radner, American actress

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.

Beryl Markham, British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer (1902-86)

“I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.”

Auguste de Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, French symbolist writer (1838-89)

“Uncertainty is a quality to be cherished, therefore – if not for it, who would dare to undertake anything?”

Brodi Ashton, American, young adult writer (Everneath novels)

“Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.” 

Kami Garcia, American author (Beautiful Creatures novels)

“We don’t get to choose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it.” 

Denis Waitley, American author

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them”

“We don’t get to choose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it.” 

James Gordon, American Psychiatrist, Director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine

“It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t. It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.”

Charles Du Bos, 1882-1935, French literature critic

“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

Marilyn Ferguson, 1938-2008, new age philosopher, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy

It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it’s that place in between that we fear . . . . It’s like being between trapezes. It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold on to.

Alan Cohen American author of Chicken Soup for the Soul

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

When I was in high school, we both rooted for the Northwood Indians. In these politically more sensitive times it is the Northwood Gladiators. Evidently it is more acceptable to have a nickname honoring people who were often slaves and fought to the death, or killed wild animals, to entertain crowds, but I digress.

There is a Facebook page where former students of Northwood can check into the status of classmates and teachers, or ask questions that typically start with “You went to Northwood High School if you remember <something from the distant past>”.

Earlier this year, a teacher currently at Northwood asked if any graduates were willing to talk to a class about their current profession and to provide advice for students who will be entering the job market in the near-term future. Perhaps a dozen or so former Northwood students answered. By chance the two people who responded who had careers in technology, Bette and I, both graduated in 1966.

Having said that, Bette and I were not close friends in high school. As Bette put it in an email leading up to Monday, while she was academically bright, she pretended not to be as she hung out with the “bad girls”. I am sure that no one would be surprised to learn that I was an awkward, social nerd who hung out generally with other awkward, social nerds.

As Bette pointed out I was a somewhat contradictory personality for nerddom. Thus while I was the President of the Science Club, which you would expect, my friend Art Salwin and I ran a Political Science Club which got kicked out of Northwood for inviting overly controversial speakers (after that we met in the homes of the other club members).

Monday, we spoke to about 20 students, most (though not all) seemed pretty interested and asked us questions about our careers, what classes we took that mattered, and about the choices we made.

Bette mentioned how girls when we grew up had far fewer career options then they do today, and that in addition to her modeling work (!!) her typing and short-hand skills proved useful in obtaining jobs after high school. One of the students asked Bette what short-hand was.

Interestingly both Bette and I agreed that the most important thing from high school was not the classes we took, but rather the teachers we had. And more particularly, those teachers who pushed us academically and gave us a love of learning.

The most remarkable thing about the whole day however, was getting to meet and learn a little about Bette. We had not talked for 47 years (at that age it never occurred to me that I would have any aspect of my life that would be 47 years long), had little contact during high school, and lived radically different lives. She married shortly after high school and had a son from that time; her current marriage of over thirty years is her third (as she put it the third time for her was a charm). I wasn’t married until fifteen years after I graduated, though that marriage also has now lasted over thirty years.

She didn’t finish her college education after graduating from Northwood. However she ended up getting her college degree along with her grandchildren while she ran her own printing company for many years. In a variation, while I got a degree from the University of Maryland, I never finished the doctoral program I started after that; though I got a Masters from the University of Maryland University College around the same time Bette returned to school.

With all of those differences and that large gap in time, it was as if we were close friends who had gotten back together after a long weekend. Comparing our lives, the teachers we remembered, the fellow students we both knew, there was far more in common than different regardless of the surface differences.

Anyone who thinks that modern social networking has only negative consequences, I can only say that the wonderful couple of hours I was able to spend at my old high school, connecting with someone I probably would have enjoyed knowing fifty years ago would never have happened without the connection of Facebook.

A remarkable Monday, one I will long remember.

We had lunch at one of the restaurants that has become a favorite of ours when we visit, Cedar’s Café, http://www.cedarscafe.com/. This is really a wonderful middle-eastern restaurant. We have met the family who owns it and does much of the cooking a number of times. They spent some time showing Ellen how they made the food which has made our visits a bit more special.

By game time it had actually gotten a bit cool but as we reminded ourselves it was still warmer than in the Washington DC area (re-enforced when we got back to DC the next day).

The competition was Houston which in the best of times this year is sort of half a triple-A minor league team. As was typical with visiting spring training games, most starting roster players stay home and those who come are generally designated for being sent down by the end of spring training except perhaps for some of the pitchers. Thus the Nationals were facing the backups to a lightly better than triple-A team.

Starting for us was Stephen Strasburg and the entire expected starting lineup. Ryan Zimmerman was at third base for the first time (he had been the designated hitter up until then) and the pitchers were for the first time going to bat.

Naturally, of course, the Nationals lost 4-2 with the Nationals starting lineup doing absolutely nothing which is not so unusual for spring training.

There were a few highlights. Strasburg was almost overwhelming, even considering who he was facing. He went six innings, giving up one run, a home-run to former National Rick Ankiel. He has such a natural motion that one does not realize how fast his pitches are and how much the ball is moving around when he throws off-speed curves. The Houston batters rarely hit anything solidly and in a number of cases just looked at third strikes.

Strasburg remains one of the really intense players. Each time he would come into the dugout regardless of the results of the inning he pitched, he always had a scowl on his face and looked annoyed that any batter had touched any pitch he made, even if only a foul or out.

Zimmerman made only one play at third, charging a ground ball and thus having to throw it sidearm to catch the runner so we did not get a chance to see how the surgically repaired Zimmerman threw overhand.

The wind blew the ball around a lot with fly balls so outfield fly balls and even high infield popups were an adventure for both teams.

Before the game I was able to talk briefly to Tom Boswell one of my favorite baseball writers. I had sent him a copy of my write-up on the last Nationals season, http://www.ourownlittlecorner.com/2012/10/02/turning-a-page/. I mentioned that my father had the ability to put two fingers in his mouth and doing so whistle very loudly, a talent I have never been able to duplicate. Boswell wrote back telling me that was true of his father and him also.

We also were able to spend a few minutes with F. P. Santangelo, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP_Santangelo, the Nationals current color guy for TV broadcasts. We reminded him that we met him on the elevator at the Hampton Inn the first day he worked for the Nationals. He was very nervous that day, holding multiple briefing books trying to learn more about the then Nationals ball players.

I told him that while I looked at his first year as very much a learner curve, over the last few years he had really become a very strong color guy, providing insider analysis that I rarely heard from other radio and TV announcers. We all agreed that the improvement of the Nationals over the last three years was remarkable.

One of the common themes one hears over and over again is how good a clubhouse the Nationals have right now. How the veterans are teaching the younger players how to act ‘right’ and how well everyone seems to get along. Having read about the serious dysfunction that goes on with a number of other clubs in baseball and other professional sports, we should consider ourselves lucky to have this be true of the Nationals.