Another Bold Brigand Update

Operation Bold Brigand continues, here in my island paradise. Here's an update on some of the things I've worked on this week.

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Arabic:

I've been doing alright with the Arabic, with BBC Xtra listening exercises that teach me a couple of words each week. This week's gems are "المستمعين", which means "listeners", and "المشاركينا حوار", which means "Our Participants' Dialogue" - both of these phrases being endemic to a radio program like Xtra. I've been trying with slightly less luck to do regular study of the Emirati vocabulary, and I'm hoping to add some dialect additional vocabulary that I've studied before. I also tend to use flash cards, but they tend to be a bit cumbersome in circumstances as transient as my own; however, I've hit on an idea to use Excel to turn my Kindle into a digital flash card platform. More on that later.

Physical Training:

Moving right along...

Business Development:

One of my biggest efforts during my time here in Orkney is applying for jobs. Although I'm theoretically still on leave of absence with my company, the organization has gone through a lot of changes since I went on LOA - to include splitting into two independent entities. As a result, I've been actively seeking positions within both of the new branches of the organization, and I've also applied for jobs with eleven or twelve other companies and eleven governmental organizations of one sort or another. I've applied for positions back in the defense sector, in the private security sector, and for positions that have nothing to do with either. I have a handful of contacts and a number of potential employers that I have yet to reach out to. As one of my neighbors in Aberdeen, Kamloops Queen, pointed out: "All you need is one acceptance, though."

It's a frustrating process. For example, one of my buddies who's a recruiter pinged me about a position he was recruiting for, and I spent a good couple of hours putting together a fresh resume and cover letter. I was able to interview with two different representatives about the position, and although things seemed to go well, it sounds like they're likely to keep looking. It's tough to look at that as anything less than about four hours of my life that could have been better spent on other endeavours.

Nearly every job I apply for is through one online portal or another. The benefit of that is that once you have your information plugged into the system, you can usually apply for subsequent jobs with just a few mouse clicks. The drawback is that it's very impersonal, and you don't wind up getting feedback, or being able to get yourself across to the folks who are reading your resume in the first place - assuming that it even gets in front of a set of human eyes, ever. I also know from experience on the other side of the line that hiring managers and recruiters are literally overwhelmed with hundreds upon hundreds of applications for each and every position - I not-so-fondly remember digging through hundreds of resumes from grossly unqualified applicants to find six or eight qualified candidates for a single vacancy. Owing to the workings of the system and the state of the American and international job market, it won't surprise me if I hit four or five hundred applications before I land something... But I hope it happens before that.

Writing Projects:

I've done next to no writing in the last couple of weeks, as evidenced by the fact that I've barely posted anything to the blog in the last week. Fortunately, most of my current writing projects aren't time-sensitive.

World War I Research:

I've been trying to do a sort of final push on the Orcadian Gordon Highlanders Accountability Project. I've done two interviews this week (and a social call on one of my first sources). Contrary to prior projects on which I've worked, it's entirely likely that I won't wind up being the one to do the lion's share of the work, but there's also the digitalization aspect that could see me somewhat easily continuing my work in the coming weeks and months, regardless of my actual location. It's been a really fascinating project on which to work, and hopefully it will mean that my name lives on with some degree of fondness in both the Gordon Highlanders Museum and in Orkney.

Special Projects:

Just thinking about these exhausts me. Moving right along...

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There's plenty more to cover, and there never seem to be enough hours in the day to either accomplish it, or even to write about it. I'm fond of the advice I received from the classic masterpiece, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut...



... and I intend to keep implementing it, if for no other reason than it helps to maintain my sanity.

Bold Brigand Update

Operation Bold Brigand continues, here in my island paradise. Here's an update on some of the things I've worked on this week.

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Arabic:

I got a lot of Arabic done early in the week, and lapsed a bit after that. I did three reviews of my Emirati vocabulary, and listened to a podcast and a half from BBC Xtra. I'm writing this post late Sunday morning, so hopefully by the time I actually post it, I'll have completed a third listening exercise.

Physical Training:

Moving right along...

Business Development:

This week's big accomplishment was to submit around thirty-five job applications. The job market being what it is, I find myself forced to cast a fairly wide net, both geographically and professionally. It feels really tedious, but it's necessary. I'm also recording some more tracks for some more honesty trace work.

Writing Projects:

I spent a lot of time on writing projects last week. I made some major progress on my dissertation follow-up by getting a tentative outline made out; then distributing stuff from what I call the "Weasel Bin" - stuff I didn't use in the final product - into that outline; and finally, by reverting my finished product back into a sort of manuscript format (mainly to make the citations easier to work with), and then distributing that into the outline as well. In doing the last bit, I discovered a few errors with some of my citations, so I painstakingly back-checked them and fixed the errors so that I now have what I believe to be an error-free manuscript to use as a writing sample. My tentative outline is as follows:

CHAPTER 1: A LESSON OVERLOOKED

CHAPTER 2: AUSTERITY, REBELLION, AND RENAISSANCE
2.1 MUSCAT AND OMAN BEFORE 1970
2.2 THE DHOFAR REBELLION, 1970-'76
2.3 THE OMANI RENAISSANCE POST 1976

CHAPTER 3: HUMAN TERRAIN
3.1 HUMAN TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
3.1.1 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.1.1.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.1.2 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.1.3 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.1.3.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.1.3.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.1.3.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.1.3.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.2 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.2.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.3 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.4 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.4.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.4.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.4.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.4.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.4.4.1 HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.2 SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.3 GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER 4: PHYSICAL TERRAIN
4.1 PHYSICAL TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
4.1.1 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.1.1.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.1.1.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.1.2 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.1.3 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER
4.2 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.2.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.2.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.3 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.4 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER

CHAPTER 5: INTEGRATING FACTORS
5.1 INTEGRATING FACTORS IN DHOFAR
5.1.1 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.1.2 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.1.3 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.1.3.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.1.3.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.1.3.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.1.3.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.1.3.5 SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.2 DHOFARI SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.1.4 AVIATION OPERATIONS
5.2 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.3 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.4 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.4.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.4.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.4.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.4.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.4.5 SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.2 AFGHAN SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.4.6 DEFENSE AND SECURITY CONTRACTORS
5.5 AVIATION OPERATIONS

CHAPTER 6: STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
6.1 STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS IN DHOFAR
6.2 OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS VERSUS GRAND STRATEGY
6.3 GRAND STRATEGIC LESSONS
6.3.1 CLAUSEWITZIAN TRINITY
6.3.2 POPULATION- VERSUS ENEMY-CENTRICITY
6.3.3 MULTINATIONAL PARTNERS
6.3.4 DISENGAGEMENT VERSUS COMMITMENT
6.3.5 INEFFECTIVE ENEMY
6.4 DHOFAR'S LESSONS FOR REGIONALLY ALIGNED FORCES

CHAPTER 7: PROSPECTS

CHAPTER 8: BIBLIOGRAPHY

So, I'll continue to work on that and other projects this week, preferably with less anal retentive obsession than I found myself demonstrating last week.

World War I Research:

I sort of slacked on the World War I research last week. I have a couple of E-mails and calls to return and some data farming to do this week, so I may try to spend a couple of mornings focused on that in order to feel a bit "caught up". This project is really important to me, but it's also one for which there's less of a deadline or coherent end state, which gives me a bit of flexibility.

Special Projects:

I have yet to do a Demobilization Packing Test. I'll likely do laundry on Monday, and then do a packing test later Monday or Tuesday - it doesn't make sense to do the test without the stuff with which to do the test. One project I did some work on was to put some new clothes into online shopping carts through Amazon, Carhartt, and 5.11. At the moment, all three seem to be out of most of the clothes in my size and my preferred colors, so that'll be sort of interesting if I can't get them lined up before I come home.

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One thing I did that wasn't on the list was to take the night time bus out to St. Margaret's Hope. It's the first time I'd ever crossed the barriers at night, and what I could see was beautiful, although the lights on the bus made it difficult to see very much. I've tended to stay in Kirkwall for most of my stay in Orkney, but I need to make a point of going to see some other sights - and some other islands - over the next few weeks. My big goals are North Ronaldsay and Westray, and the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum at Lyness on Hoy. Perhaps I'll do one of those this week.

Operation Bold Brigand Continues!

Regular blog readers may notice that my posting has been just a touch spotty over the last couple of weeks. I've also now reached the point of having zero, count 'em, zero posts uploaded in draft form. I intend to remedy that over the next few days, as one of my blogging secrets is to do a lot of writing up front, and then post the drafted stuff for a few weeks thereafter - particularly on busy days. I have tons of cool stuff yet to come, but as the Operation Highlander extension, Operation Bold Brigand, continues up here in Orkney, I've had my hands full with a variety of worthwhile projects. Here are a few of the things I've been working on.

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Arabic:

As I've noted before, I've been studying Arabic for years, trying to get myself to the point of basic fluency. During my year in Aberdeen, I was focused mainly on learning vocabulary from the Defense Language Institute's Libyan Basic Language Survival Kit (LSK), though my efforts waned later in the year. At the moment, I've transitioned to the Emirati LSK, as I think that future opportunities in the Gulf are more likely to manifest themselves than opportunities in Libya - the aforementioned Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research being but one example. At any rate, I've been (slightly) better about studying lately, which has involved listening to the DLI audio files while reviewing the written vocabulary on my Kindle. I've also been doing listening exercises with BBC Xtra podcasts and, occasionally, the Radio Sultanate of Oman live stream.

Physical Training:

In theory, I'm walking uphill from the city center to my digs three times per week, doing a full stretch-out three times per week, push-ups and sit-ups twice per week, and two swim workouts at the Pickaquoy Centre per week. In actuality, I've not set foot in the Pickaquoy Centre, I've tended to walk uphill three times, and I've done no stretching and neither a single push-up nor a single sit-up. I feel like this week will be my week... Or next week, maybe.

Business Development:

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my work developing honesty traces over at the Joshua Tree Security blog. I've mentioned honesty traces on the Highlander blog once before. I'm working on this, and a handful of other projects, the idea being that I can either use them in future jobs, or possibly use them as products and/or services in the event that I ever decide to start my own business. In addition to that, I've been applying for at least twenty jobs per week, since I'll eventually have to transition back to the real world - something that requires gainful employment. (I suppose that the Arabic stuff technically falls into this category, but I prefer to keep it distinct.) So, this stuff keeps me somewhat busy as well.

PSP Certification:

I've spoken previously about my desire to get my PSP certification. In theory, I'm reading fifty pages per week in either The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems by Mary Lynn Garcia, or ATTP 3-39.32 Physical Security. The reality is that I've done so much studying this year, that maybe I can leave something for next year. On the plus side, the Garcia book is now available for Kindle, which meant that I was able to leave the physical copy that I'd lugged to three different continents (and only got about a quarter of the way into) with CN Homeboy, who should absolutely read it and pursue his own physical security qualifications.

Writing Projects:

I've actually been doing a lot of writing - just, not so much blog writing. The big thing I'm working on is a follow-on to my dissertation. When all was said and done, my final submission had fifteen or twenty mistakes in it (mainly mixed up citations, a couple of textual and bibliographical inconsistencies). As of last night, I think I've gotten the thing perfected, but should I have an occasion to use it as a writing sample, I want it to be perfect - the way it should have been when I handed it in, but that was a matter of managing my risks, so whatever. (It was still bloody good, regardless.) Anyway, the final submission was also just a portion of what I had hoped to write, so I'm also tearing the manuscript apart, reorienting it, and formatting it to include all of the notes and sources that I wasn't able to include in the original version. As discussed with the Director earlier this year, my intent is to get it to the length of a formal white paper, and then submit it to a think tank or journal for publishing along the lines of what CN Odin and I did earlier this year, except a bit more ambitious (and hopefully for pay this time).

I've also had a couple of other projects that have spun off from that. One (that will probably be included in that white paper) involves intelligence, and another involves cultural sensitivity restrictions with which American personnel must comply while deployed to the Middle East. So, I'm working on those bit by bit as well.

World War I Research:

So... I've just realized that, until now, I've almost completely omitted a major chunk of what I'm doing up here in Orkney. It's a long story, but the gist of it is that I sort of stumbled into a gig on behalf of the Gordon Highlanders Museum, about which I've written before. In advance of the centenary of World War I, I'm working with the Gordon Highlanders Museum and a number of local Orcadian sources to research Orcadians who served with the regiment in World War I. I've been on Radio Orkney and in The Orcadian, conducted several interviews, met with several local experts, and have a great deal left to do while I'm here. It's been really interesting research, and it will sort of forever link me with both the museum and Orkney - that's pretty sweet, huh?

Special Projects:

I've also been working on a number of projects each week that don't fit into any of these other categories. For example, this week, I need to: put a variety of replacement clothing items into online shopping carts to facilitate quick ordering right before I leave Scotland; do a test pack of the stuff I intend to take home with me to ensure that I have enough room in the bags I intend to take; work on a Strategic Studies archive/database project; send an E-mail about an outstanding financial matter; do laundry; and go to the chemist. See? One of 'em's already done!

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Oh, yeah, and I also need to make an effort to see a bunch of parts of Orkney that I haven't seen yet, enjoy my time here, and do a bit of blogging when I have a few moments. So... Stay tuned. Still.

More to come.

The Gear: Wherein Technology is Defeated

I've mentioned several times that the biggest drawback of my Kindle Fire is that it can't connect to the University's network. As I mentioned a few days ago, my solution to this is to adapt and overcome. My Kindle has turned out to be a great piece of kit, and I figured it was worth some effort to get more use out of it.

Last week, I mentioned downloading some more apps. I decided that I wanted to try to get some more data on there as well, in addition to a couple of new books. I spent about a day and a half preparing. I made a list of categories, then listed specific resources in each category that I wanted on my Kindle, and then consolidated them. Some of them required downloading, and some of them required conversion from plaintext to PDF. My final categories were Strategy, Counterinsurgency, History, Books, and Security.

In Strategy, I assembled some classics (Clausewitz, Machiavelli, Thucydides), some contemporary stuff (Colin S. Gray), and some nuclear strategists (Albert Wohlstetter, Bernard Brodie). This covers strategy in general, as well as one of my current courses that I'll discuss in more detail soon. Wohlstetter's The Delicate Balance of Terror was required reading for the second week of said course, so I'm glad that I got it onto my Kindle with a few days to spare so that I can finish reading it.

For Counterinsurgency, which has become a core component of my studies here in Aberdeen, I elected to include a number of military field manuals, as well as some of the classics: C.E. Callwell, T.E. Lawrence, and David Galula. The PDF files for Callwell and the Marine Corps' Small Wars Manual ended up being too big to send via E-mail, so I'm going to have to download those directly to my Kindle at some point.

History was easy: the Orkneyinga Saga, and Caesar's The Gallic Wars. Every now and again, there's such a thing as reading for fun.

I'd been wanting to get a couple of books for a while. I've been meaning to read The Devil's Sandbox since 2006, which is right around the time when it came out. I read Imperial Grunts in 2007, enjoyed it, and think I may be able to make use of it at some point, so I got a digital copy of it since my hard copy is back in the States. One of the great things about a digital copy is that it's its own index: you can do word searches and find particular sections or topics.

Finally, I wanted to put some of the open source military policy documents for a variety of risk management topics on my Kindle as well. Topics range from physical security, to industrial security, to information security, to foreign disclosure, to export control. In theory, these are all meant to be reference documents; in reality, I've read through a couple of them, and want to read several of them in detail, particularly the stuff on physical security for my eventual exam to get my PSP certification.

My original plan was to E-mail all of the files to myself, and then download them through the web from Starbucks. It wasn't the best solution, but I figured it would work out alright. As it turns out, Amazon actually assigns an E-mail address to each of your Kindle devices for the specific purpose of sending documents to yourself. I had to go in and jockey with the settings on Amazon's website (you have to add the address you'll be sending it from so that it's an "approved" address - a spam prevention feature?), but once that was sorted out it ended up being pretty easy. With this successful test under my belt, I'll probably add a few more categories - for example, a number of items about Oman for my potential dissertation, and a few Arabic language resources. I like to think of it as working smart, not hard.

Oh, yeah, and I got Deer Hunter Reloaded, too. It's pretty good.

The Long Break

My last day of lectures was last Thursday, and my fellow Strategists and I have been playing hard to celebrate. As most of my comrades are in the process of heading home for the long break, I find myself settling in for the long haul. Our exams are in mid-January, which leaves me to my own devices for about a month.

I had considered heading back up to Orkney for Christmas, hiring (renting) a little cottage, and studying. I had also considered a hop to Oman for some sight-seeing and research on the Dhofar Rebellion. Instead, I think I've decided to make one or both of those trips later on.

So, what to do with a solid month "off"? Here are a few of the things I'll be working on.

Studying for Finals: I have a lot of material to review - or, as the Brits say it, "revise" - in that month I have off. I have yet to plough through Strategy in the Contemporary World, Modern Strategy, Secret Intelligence: A Reader, and Intelligence in an Insecure World, and though I finished Modern Military Strategy: An Introduction in November, my attempt to conquer Intelligence Power in Peace and War has been brutally slow-going. I also have a bunch of PowerPoint presentations to review, as well as the Director's "clippings" of various articles in PDF form. My biggest priority is to review/"revise" as much of this information as I can, in as orderly a fashion as possible, in order to prepare myself for exams in January.

Studying Security and Arabic: During this semester, I've somewhat neglected studying for my PSP certification. I've done slightly better with my Arabic, but I'd like to really hit it hard over the break. I've been doing well with doing both a run-through of my current stock of eighty Libyan Arabic flash cards and listening to either a BBC Xtra podcast or Sultanate of Oman Radio.

The Counterinsurgency Paper: CN Odin and I will be working independently on our respective portions of a paper on counterinsurgency. Our presentation for Strategic Theory was on the Director-provided topic "Scrutinize the major requirements for successful counter-insurgency in the modern world", and we used examples from the Dhofar Rebellion (me) and the Algerian War (Odin) to illustrate six key requirements. We'll be combining the information in our memorandum with the information in our slide deck, and expanding them into a formal paper.

Photographing Local Sites: There are some local sites that I want to get pictures of for the blog. This one won't be particularly time intensive, but the month off from class should give me some time to accomplish this.

Day Trips: I have a few spots that I might try to see, if the completely asinine RMT strike doesn't stop me in my tracks - literally. My buddy Chris wants me to revisit his old digs in Edzell, I want to go harangue Captain John down in the Borders, and I'd like to get a couple of things at Edinburgh's Army/Navy store.

More Planning: With the first semester almost over, it's time to go back through my spreadsheets, find individual points where my strategy needs adjustment, and adjust accordingly.

So, there are plenty of things yet to do. Fortunately, I have twelve more posts already written (or mostly written), which should allow me to focus on some of the bits I've listed above.

The Gear: Overcoming Kindle Fire Challenges

I bought my Kindle Fire with two functionality expectations:

#1: That I would be able to buy some of my books on it, thus saving me hassle and back ache.
#2: That I would be able to use the wireless functionality to supplement my laptop both in my residence and on campus.

One out of two ain't bad, right?

So, the University's Internet provision is all routed through a proxy server. Beyond playing a bit of havoc with the security software on my laptop, this presents a problem, as the Kindle Fire provides no support for proxy servers. There's apparently a roundabout way of making it work, but it's probably not worth the effort.

So, what we do when we encounter a hiccough? Simple: we adapt and overcome.

My Kindle can connect to the wifi at Starbucks (and I can also download the virus definition updates for my laptop there as well), so if I head in for a cuppa or some weird sandwich thing, I can download whatever books I may need - in addition, of course, to those I already picked up when I was back in the States. The Union Square mall - which, coincidentally, is within spitting distance of the Northlink Ferries terminal that will take me to Orkney in a matter of weeks - has a Starbucks, as well as several other shops of one use or another*, plus a bus station that can get me back to my digs when I'm done.

Two of the things I intend to study on a weekly basis are physical security, and Arabic language. Once I've finished with The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems, I'll move on to the US Army's FM 3-19.30 and ATTP 3-39.32. So, I downloaded those yesterday at Starbucks. I also downloaded the zipped PDF of the Defense Language Institute's Libyan Basic Language Survival Kit. Unfortunately, the Kindle Fire doesn't provide any automatic provision for unzipping files. Fortunately, a right smart bloke like myself can find the PDF, unzipped, at another website. So, now I have the three documents I'll need to start being effective at several of my goals, without having to lug my laptop all the way to campus in order to study all of it.

Adapt and overcome, friends. Adapt and overcome. And, let's be honest, it would be great if the Kindle Fire came with proxy support, but as far as I'm concerned, it's the University's system that's at issue, rather than the Kindle.

Right, then, back to work.

* One such shop is Boots, the chemist (pharmacy/drug store) that appears to be Aberdeen's leading employer of fit birds (attractive young women). On that note, I'm going to introduce another feature on the blog, entitled "Separated by a Common Language", in which I'll note differences in speech between Americans, Brits, and - as necessary - Scots.

Some Other Projects

I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't have anywhere near the amount of free time that I expect to have once I get to Aberdeen. Even so, I have some other projects I want to work on during my year abroad.

What I'm hoping to do is what I now wish I had done as an undergraduate: treat school like a forty hour per week job. Even with the amount of pre-reading I've done, I expect that my actual course commitments will take up a great deal of time.

Arabic: I've been studying Arabic since 2005, and not only has it helped me to get a couple of jobs, but it's been helfpul in both my professional and personal lives. I'd like to spend at least an hour each day working on Arabic.

Other Security Stuff: In addition to the master's degree, part of my overall plan is to get a couple of additional security certifications: the Physical Security Professional certification from ASIS International, and a graduate certificate in Terrorism Studies from the University of St. Andrews. I think both of these are attainable, if I can treat them like an additional class.

Physical Fitness: I've had a workout plan that I've wanted to complete for a few years now, but I either haven't had the opportunity, or haven't been on a stable enough schedule to stick to the plan. My hope is that a more defined daily routine will allow me to make this happen.

Skydiving: I've wanted to get my Accelerated Free Fall certification for about three years now. I'm hoping that I can do that through Skydive St. Andrews. Aberdeen itself doesn't seem to have any sort of skydiving program. I'll investigate further once I get to Scotland.

It's going to be a busy year, that's for sure.