Saturday, December 13, 2003
Grape Nuts anyone?
This morning I caught Katy eating Grape Nuts..... I thought to myself, since when? I told her that only OLDER people eat Grape Nuts and that most OLDER folks eat that for roughage..... I also told her that Grape Nuts was a good cereal to pick for OLDER people because you can eat it with or without your dentures.....
Katy and I had a real GOOD laugh over that one. Poor Katy, what is she gonna do with me anyway?
I have the beginnings of a nasty cold. For the last week I have been fighting first a chest cold and then a head cold. Last night I made things worse by working security out in the COLD for 5.5 hours directing traffic at Charleston Southern University. I was so cold my bone marrow hurt. It was only 41 degrees outside so it is not like it was freezing or anything. After standing around for 5.5 hours you could not have told me it was not freezing because I was so cold I wanted to set myself on fire. I went home at 10:44pm last night and my head cold was having a good time with me. I was running like a faucet. Thanks to a hot meal and a dose of Theraflu I was able to settle in for a long winters nap. We did not crawl out of the house until around noon today.
It appears that Katy's 83 station wagon has taken ill as well. It seems that the battery and/or alternator has expired. Who knows, maybe both. When it rains it pours. The jalopy will have to sit in COLD storage until we can gather the funds to fix it and use my car for transportation. Katy works during the day and it looks like I will work at night time so we can make this happen.
It is 13 days to Christmas. I know this because Justin Matthew Moffitt advised us of this today. Do you remember being 8 years old and having Christmas two weeks away? It seemed as if 14 days was an eternity. Now, in my older age, 13 days passes by and I don't even realize what happened. They say that the older you get the faster time flies. Whoever said that knew what they were talking about.
Hey, guess what? NO ONE is leaving comments on my blog any longer. What gives folks? Are you still reading this blather or have you just gone to peeking at the pictures only? Tell me that you, my fan club, are visiting and reading my blog so that I will be encouraged to continue my daily drivel.
Happy Holidays
Thursday, December 11, 2003
SLED Qualifications today
Today was spent in class listening to a level I,II &III SLED instructor talk to us (7 men) about carrying a firearm in the state of South Carolina. After the class room instruction that lasted about 2 hours we made a trip to the ATP indoor range in Goose Creek. We were to qualify with a firearm and make a score of 170 out of 250 to qualify. My score was 236 out of 250 which means that I qualify to carry a firearm as a Security Officer in South Carolina. Now I wait for SLED to finish my criminal background check and commission me to carry the firearm as a South Carolina Security Officer.
Here is the kicker folks. The ironic part of all of this. At the beginning of the class the SLED instructor tells us that if we KNOW that we KNOW that we can not take another human life in the line of duty that no one would think anything bad if they needed to leave the room and not take the course. He reminded us of the somber responsiblity of being in a position to make a split second decision as to whether someone would live or die in the line of duty.
Some of you might be thinking that only peace officers (police officers) have to make those decisions. If you are thinking on this line of thought I can tell you from having been on both sides of the fence that Peace Officers probably have more opportunity to do this just because their jobs are to enforce the law. Security Officers are private sector security personell who protect the lives of the customer , their customers and property. That means that there is a possibility that the Security Officer may be presented with serious bodily injury or death because of the actions of some perpetrator and therefore the need to carry a firearm.
The ironic part of this is what you are paid for this type of responsibility every time you put on the uniform and place yourself in possible danger. Would you believe 8.50 per hour? Here is something even scarier than that. No one can pay you enough to take the risk of getting shot at. How much is enough? Do Police Officers get paid enough to take a risk that they might be shot by someone in the line of duty? What about our soldiers? The answer is no, no one gets paid enough to get shot at. The sad thing is that we live in such a fallen world and there are folks out there that take pleasure in preying on the general population at large. Security and Police and our armed forces are a necessary evil that we have had to put in place to help protect those law abiding families out there that are about the business of living.
You might think that I am trying to play on your sympathies or make you admire the job that these different folks do. What I am trying to do is to make you aware of the dangers that they face and that they do a job that other folks are not able to do. Not everyone is cut out to take those types of risks or make those types of decisions. Maybe you are a nurse and you do not feint at the sight of blood. Maybe you are a steel worker who walks steel beams five stories off the ground with nothing but a leather belt to hold you in case you fall. What about window washers that clean windows on skyscrapers? We all do our jobs for one reason or the other. One reason is because we have a driving need to pay bills and one reason is because we are uniquely gifted to do what we do.
Here are some pictures of my target today!
The white tape were four practice rounds
Here is the kicker folks. The ironic part of all of this. At the beginning of the class the SLED instructor tells us that if we KNOW that we KNOW that we can not take another human life in the line of duty that no one would think anything bad if they needed to leave the room and not take the course. He reminded us of the somber responsiblity of being in a position to make a split second decision as to whether someone would live or die in the line of duty.
Some of you might be thinking that only peace officers (police officers) have to make those decisions. If you are thinking on this line of thought I can tell you from having been on both sides of the fence that Peace Officers probably have more opportunity to do this just because their jobs are to enforce the law. Security Officers are private sector security personell who protect the lives of the customer , their customers and property. That means that there is a possibility that the Security Officer may be presented with serious bodily injury or death because of the actions of some perpetrator and therefore the need to carry a firearm.
The ironic part of this is what you are paid for this type of responsibility every time you put on the uniform and place yourself in possible danger. Would you believe 8.50 per hour? Here is something even scarier than that. No one can pay you enough to take the risk of getting shot at. How much is enough? Do Police Officers get paid enough to take a risk that they might be shot by someone in the line of duty? What about our soldiers? The answer is no, no one gets paid enough to get shot at. The sad thing is that we live in such a fallen world and there are folks out there that take pleasure in preying on the general population at large. Security and Police and our armed forces are a necessary evil that we have had to put in place to help protect those law abiding families out there that are about the business of living.
You might think that I am trying to play on your sympathies or make you admire the job that these different folks do. What I am trying to do is to make you aware of the dangers that they face and that they do a job that other folks are not able to do. Not everyone is cut out to take those types of risks or make those types of decisions. Maybe you are a nurse and you do not feint at the sight of blood. Maybe you are a steel worker who walks steel beams five stories off the ground with nothing but a leather belt to hold you in case you fall. What about window washers that clean windows on skyscrapers? We all do our jobs for one reason or the other. One reason is because we have a driving need to pay bills and one reason is because we are uniquely gifted to do what we do.
Here are some pictures of my target today!
The white tape were four practice rounds
The soldiers Bush didn't visit on Thanksgiving
Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Editorial / Opinion / Op-ed / The soldiers Bush didn't visit on Thanksgiving
This is a reality check for those of us that are safe and secure and warm in our homes this morning here in America. Thanks to the technology of today we are bombarded with images of war every day both on TV as well as magazines and Internet access to sites such as CNN. It seems as if there is nothing that escapes our perview. The only way we can escape the harsh realities of life and the human sufferings of others is to deny ourselves any type of media consumption. How often do we do that?
I believe that because we have such instant access to the violence all around us that we have become desensitized to the pain and anguish of others all around us. That goes for the drive by shooting in North Charleston to the wounded soldier in Baghdad. We hear reports of random violence every single day and we are far removed from becoming emotionally involved. We tell ourselves that yes the world is a violent place to live in BUT it is happening to THOSE people and not me or my family. Some of us kid ourselves into thinking that we dont have to worry about it happening to us. We rationalize that because we are who we are or because of where we live we surround ourselves with a false sense of security and hope in that those things will not happen to us.
I come from a family of men who have served their country. They served their country and went wherever they were sent and did whatever they had to do to stay alive and come back home to their families. It is so easy for us to sit back and be arm chair politicians and analyze the validity of where our men and women are sent. Intellectually we say we count the cost and we realize that some of those men and women will give their lives so that we can have the privelege and right to be arm chair politicians and critics of our government and their policies. This article is not designed to take a political view point or to decide for us IF we should be where our men and women are fighting in Iraq. What this article does is it snaps us back into reality and helps us to count the cost of freedom. Men and women are being killed, maimed and tortured in the name of freedom. If it was your son or daughter that was over there dodging bullets or wondering if they were going to live another day because of worry about landmines, suicide bombers or car bombs then your perspective on the war would probably be much different.
Take time out this morning or whenever it is that you read this and say a heart felt prayer for both the men and women that are fighting for our right to be FREE in America and for those families that have loved ones that are SERVING us with their very life blood on foreign soil. The LEAST that we can do is PRAY to God and ask HIM for HIS devine guidance and protection for our men and women. The next thing we can do is to be sensitive to the needs of those family members that are here and are missing their spouses or sons and daughters wherever it is they have been deployed to.
If those people knew that we are proud of their family members for serving our country and were willing to atleast give them some of our precious time to just listen to them or help out in some small way I know that it would help them tremendously.
Lets pray that somehow this campaign of terror that America is involved in fighting will somehow be resolved so that our men and women can come home once and for all. I know that might be an unrealistic hope or dream but atleast we can HOPE.
This is a reality check for those of us that are safe and secure and warm in our homes this morning here in America. Thanks to the technology of today we are bombarded with images of war every day both on TV as well as magazines and Internet access to sites such as CNN. It seems as if there is nothing that escapes our perview. The only way we can escape the harsh realities of life and the human sufferings of others is to deny ourselves any type of media consumption. How often do we do that?
I believe that because we have such instant access to the violence all around us that we have become desensitized to the pain and anguish of others all around us. That goes for the drive by shooting in North Charleston to the wounded soldier in Baghdad. We hear reports of random violence every single day and we are far removed from becoming emotionally involved. We tell ourselves that yes the world is a violent place to live in BUT it is happening to THOSE people and not me or my family. Some of us kid ourselves into thinking that we dont have to worry about it happening to us. We rationalize that because we are who we are or because of where we live we surround ourselves with a false sense of security and hope in that those things will not happen to us.
I come from a family of men who have served their country. They served their country and went wherever they were sent and did whatever they had to do to stay alive and come back home to their families. It is so easy for us to sit back and be arm chair politicians and analyze the validity of where our men and women are sent. Intellectually we say we count the cost and we realize that some of those men and women will give their lives so that we can have the privelege and right to be arm chair politicians and critics of our government and their policies. This article is not designed to take a political view point or to decide for us IF we should be where our men and women are fighting in Iraq. What this article does is it snaps us back into reality and helps us to count the cost of freedom. Men and women are being killed, maimed and tortured in the name of freedom. If it was your son or daughter that was over there dodging bullets or wondering if they were going to live another day because of worry about landmines, suicide bombers or car bombs then your perspective on the war would probably be much different.
Take time out this morning or whenever it is that you read this and say a heart felt prayer for both the men and women that are fighting for our right to be FREE in America and for those families that have loved ones that are SERVING us with their very life blood on foreign soil. The LEAST that we can do is PRAY to God and ask HIM for HIS devine guidance and protection for our men and women. The next thing we can do is to be sensitive to the needs of those family members that are here and are missing their spouses or sons and daughters wherever it is they have been deployed to.
If those people knew that we are proud of their family members for serving our country and were willing to atleast give them some of our precious time to just listen to them or help out in some small way I know that it would help them tremendously.
Lets pray that somehow this campaign of terror that America is involved in fighting will somehow be resolved so that our men and women can come home once and for all. I know that might be an unrealistic hope or dream but atleast we can HOPE.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Goose Creek Christmas Celebration December 6, 2003
Katy took these pictures when she took the children up to the Goose Creek Recreation Center this last Saturday. They had face painting , games and such.
Tanda lives across the street and is the same age as Kristina. They go to the same school together and are practically inseperable.
Tanda and Kristina with their faces painted together!
My daughter Kristina with cool face art on her cheek
Kristina writing email to her friend
Sammy and LuLu playing on kitchen floor. This is their favorite past time....
Can I scratch without you having to take a picture??
Monday, December 08, 2003
Woman gets 10 years in mayo spat
Woman gets 10 years in mayo spat
Years ago there was a country and western artist who wrote a song about how frustrating it can be when you experience the drive up window of any fast food establishment. I forget the artist or the name of the song but it was pretty popular for a short period of time. You know the drill. You drive up and are greeted by someone on the other end of the speaker who has a difficult time speaking clearly. If that is not bad enough the speaker is a radio shack reject that should have been tossed out in the garbage. Somehow they always wind up staring you in the face just as you want to have an intelligent conversation with the order taker. The song goes on about a typcial order and because the communications is so screwed up the driver looses composure and winds up driving the car through the plate glass window of the restaurant in frustration.
I wonder if this lady in Houston Texas had this song running around her tiny brain BEFORE she lost all self control and decided to run over the manager. I can relate to being frustrated over my order being screwed up. How long does it take to order a Big Mac with cheese, GREASY fries and a cold drink? How long does it take the mental process of keying it into the computer so that someone else can read it? Nano seconds folks.... Its not that hard or atleast you would not think so. We like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt therefore that is why we do not just drive to the window and hand the person a dry marker board with the order WRITTEN out in LARGE block letters. We figure they understand plain english and that they comprehend that we want CHEESE and MAYONAISE on our freaking burger.
I LOVE the fact that the lady tossed her meal back through the drive through window. How much damage did that cause? Heck, we can all laugh about that. Who knows, on an extremely bad day we might even park our cars, walk into the restaurant in question, identify the manager , take aim and fire the food at the idiot who got it wrong. If you do that remember to take the bun off the burger so that when contact is made it will not bounce but stick to the subjects face when it lands. If you miss, just walk over to someone elses food and grab their burger and yell FOOD fight real loud........ OK, maybe I am taking this a little too far. You see the humor or maybe you are a manager of a drive in burger joint and you probably have already closed your browser window.
Attempted murder with a motor vehicle certainly goes above and beyond the call of duty. Its one thing to catch your husband cheating on you and then decide to kill him with your car. Its another thing to try and kill the manager because they forgot the mayo. I wonder if the lady had the song "Grandma got run over by a reindeer song" just before she threw it in reverse and mashed the gas.....
Years ago there was a country and western artist who wrote a song about how frustrating it can be when you experience the drive up window of any fast food establishment. I forget the artist or the name of the song but it was pretty popular for a short period of time. You know the drill. You drive up and are greeted by someone on the other end of the speaker who has a difficult time speaking clearly. If that is not bad enough the speaker is a radio shack reject that should have been tossed out in the garbage. Somehow they always wind up staring you in the face just as you want to have an intelligent conversation with the order taker. The song goes on about a typcial order and because the communications is so screwed up the driver looses composure and winds up driving the car through the plate glass window of the restaurant in frustration.
I wonder if this lady in Houston Texas had this song running around her tiny brain BEFORE she lost all self control and decided to run over the manager. I can relate to being frustrated over my order being screwed up. How long does it take to order a Big Mac with cheese, GREASY fries and a cold drink? How long does it take the mental process of keying it into the computer so that someone else can read it? Nano seconds folks.... Its not that hard or atleast you would not think so. We like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt therefore that is why we do not just drive to the window and hand the person a dry marker board with the order WRITTEN out in LARGE block letters. We figure they understand plain english and that they comprehend that we want CHEESE and MAYONAISE on our freaking burger.
I LOVE the fact that the lady tossed her meal back through the drive through window. How much damage did that cause? Heck, we can all laugh about that. Who knows, on an extremely bad day we might even park our cars, walk into the restaurant in question, identify the manager , take aim and fire the food at the idiot who got it wrong. If you do that remember to take the bun off the burger so that when contact is made it will not bounce but stick to the subjects face when it lands. If you miss, just walk over to someone elses food and grab their burger and yell FOOD fight real loud........ OK, maybe I am taking this a little too far. You see the humor or maybe you are a manager of a drive in burger joint and you probably have already closed your browser window.
Attempted murder with a motor vehicle certainly goes above and beyond the call of duty. Its one thing to catch your husband cheating on you and then decide to kill him with your car. Its another thing to try and kill the manager because they forgot the mayo. I wonder if the lady had the song "Grandma got run over by a reindeer song" just before she threw it in reverse and mashed the gas.....
Jeremy's Senior Picture
Here is Jeremy's Senior Picture. I am so proud of him and all of his accomplishments!
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Men
Men
Metrosexual? Gosh, I thought I had heard it all until I read this little story about men who are learning how to pamper themselves. LOL. OK then, I was certainly enlightened by this story. Just when I thought that I was limited to using DIAL soap or DOVE I now learn it is ok to pamper myself with skin moisturizers and no one will think that I am weird or overtly feminine. Honey, you are off the hook for Christmas. I did want a Jaguar for Christmas but now I realize that I have been missing the boat. I want to pamper myself now. OK, yes, we need an extra bathroom now because once you buy me all those cool pampering items you will never get me out of the powder room. LOL.... hahahahahahaha
Metrosexual? Gosh, I thought I had heard it all until I read this little story about men who are learning how to pamper themselves. LOL. OK then, I was certainly enlightened by this story. Just when I thought that I was limited to using DIAL soap or DOVE I now learn it is ok to pamper myself with skin moisturizers and no one will think that I am weird or overtly feminine. Honey, you are off the hook for Christmas. I did want a Jaguar for Christmas but now I realize that I have been missing the boat. I want to pamper myself now. OK, yes, we need an extra bathroom now because once you buy me all those cool pampering items you will never get me out of the powder room. LOL.... hahahahahahaha
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season
Hello folks! Christmas 2003 is upon us already. Are you ready? How wrapped up and consumed are we with regards to those events that take place during this time of the year? Someone reminded me AGAIN of the need to remember the REASON we celebrate this Christmas season. Its not Xmas as the world would have us to think but rather CHRISTmas. Christ IS the central theme for this holiday whether we embrace it or not. A friend of mine posted a message on a board that I help to moderate and asked what our gift to God was going to be? What birthday present will WE bring Jesus this year? This was my answer.
_____________________________________________________________
I can not believe it is already Christmas.....Where in the world has time flown to? They say (who is they anyway?) that when you get older time flies faster and faster. Gosh, whoever they is, they are wise. Maybe THEY are older than I am? I turned 42 years on Thanksgiving (gulp) and I can attest to the fact that the years are picking up speed.
I think that the best gift that I can give Jesus for his birthday is as much of ME as possible. :)
I was talking to someone at the bowling alley on Monday night about my walking through the trials and tribulations that my family has experienced in the last couple of years. Here are some of those thoughts as I related them.
We all go through some sort of trial or tribulation in our lives. No one is exempt from pain, suffering or trials. No one is sinless and everyone needs grace, forgiveness, mercy and healing in some area of their lives. Maybe some more than others nonetheless we are all in the same humanity row boat. :)
One of the things that I have struggled with is the ongoing battle. I keep asking when is it going to end? Perhaps the answer to that is that it will never end until Jesus takes me out of this world and graduates me to where my Jessica is. Part of my battle has been to accept the battle which is full of struggles, pain and strife. My perception has had to change to accept my circumstances and realize that the battle does not belong to James. I have had to learn (still learning) how to accept the position of weakness and to throw off the never ending struggle for control over those things I have no control over. In my weakness HE is strong. Not in my ability to control my circumstances God provides. :)
So, with that in mind, my gift to the Lord is to learn how to give up the controls in those areas that I feel I am weak in so that HE can do what HE is going to do anyway. I also need to ACCEPT my position within the battle. I so do NOT want to be in the midst of all of this. I so much would rather have a job, be able to pay all my bills on time and NOT depend on anyone for anything. That is so far from reality at this point. Reality states that I am here and I need to have a clearer understanding of the battle and atleast do my part to be thankful and appreciative that things are not any worse than they are. Sometimes being thankful in the midst of adversity is a gift all by itself. So, that is another gift that I will try to bring the Lord. Being thankful in the midst of the adversity.
The other gift that I am going to try to bring to the Lord is the gift of service when I am able to serve. I have precious few dollars to donate but I do have lots of talent and time that I can bring to the table. So, with that in mind, instead of stressing out and being depressed about being stressed out and depressed I will try to channel that energy into areas of service in my local church. I have always served in church and played a role of service to my fellow brothers and sisters. Sometimes that service has given my the ability to forget the battle that rages on within and gives me some much needed respite.
I also want to bring another gift to the Lord for his birthday. That gift is to be a better and less selfish husband to my wife. My wife is a gift to me and even though I try to show her love and appreciation through my lips and sometimes my actions I know that I need to show her more action and less lip service. I need to be more proactive in doing those things that will bring her joy and happiness in our relationship. I need to serve my family more and myself less.
Help me Jesus to see where I have failed and give me the strength and perserverance and faith to embrace your power and love so that I can bring these gifts to your table.
_____________________________________________________________
I can not believe it is already Christmas.....Where in the world has time flown to? They say (who is they anyway?) that when you get older time flies faster and faster. Gosh, whoever they is, they are wise. Maybe THEY are older than I am? I turned 42 years on Thanksgiving (gulp) and I can attest to the fact that the years are picking up speed.
I think that the best gift that I can give Jesus for his birthday is as much of ME as possible. :)
I was talking to someone at the bowling alley on Monday night about my walking through the trials and tribulations that my family has experienced in the last couple of years. Here are some of those thoughts as I related them.
We all go through some sort of trial or tribulation in our lives. No one is exempt from pain, suffering or trials. No one is sinless and everyone needs grace, forgiveness, mercy and healing in some area of their lives. Maybe some more than others nonetheless we are all in the same humanity row boat. :)
One of the things that I have struggled with is the ongoing battle. I keep asking when is it going to end? Perhaps the answer to that is that it will never end until Jesus takes me out of this world and graduates me to where my Jessica is. Part of my battle has been to accept the battle which is full of struggles, pain and strife. My perception has had to change to accept my circumstances and realize that the battle does not belong to James. I have had to learn (still learning) how to accept the position of weakness and to throw off the never ending struggle for control over those things I have no control over. In my weakness HE is strong. Not in my ability to control my circumstances God provides. :)
So, with that in mind, my gift to the Lord is to learn how to give up the controls in those areas that I feel I am weak in so that HE can do what HE is going to do anyway. I also need to ACCEPT my position within the battle. I so do NOT want to be in the midst of all of this. I so much would rather have a job, be able to pay all my bills on time and NOT depend on anyone for anything. That is so far from reality at this point. Reality states that I am here and I need to have a clearer understanding of the battle and atleast do my part to be thankful and appreciative that things are not any worse than they are. Sometimes being thankful in the midst of adversity is a gift all by itself. So, that is another gift that I will try to bring the Lord. Being thankful in the midst of the adversity.
The other gift that I am going to try to bring to the Lord is the gift of service when I am able to serve. I have precious few dollars to donate but I do have lots of talent and time that I can bring to the table. So, with that in mind, instead of stressing out and being depressed about being stressed out and depressed I will try to channel that energy into areas of service in my local church. I have always served in church and played a role of service to my fellow brothers and sisters. Sometimes that service has given my the ability to forget the battle that rages on within and gives me some much needed respite.
I also want to bring another gift to the Lord for his birthday. That gift is to be a better and less selfish husband to my wife. My wife is a gift to me and even though I try to show her love and appreciation through my lips and sometimes my actions I know that I need to show her more action and less lip service. I need to be more proactive in doing those things that will bring her joy and happiness in our relationship. I need to serve my family more and myself less.
Help me Jesus to see where I have failed and give me the strength and perserverance and faith to embrace your power and love so that I can bring these gifts to your table.
Sunday, November 30, 2003
AIDA32 - Worldwide Sysinfo Tool
AIDA32 - Worldwide Sysinfo Tool
I have not had much time this weekend to read the 14 blogs I am subscribed to. During some down time this afternoon I managed to catch up on my Blog reading and ran into a VERY cool System Information Tool called Aida. Whether you are an I.T. professional such as myself or a curious end user you will find this FREE utility something to be amazed about. I just downloaded and installed the PERSONAL EDITION on my XP Professional computer here at home and it is absolutely astounding. I have looked at more software packages than most humans and I can tell you that this is a Winner in my book. So, with that in mind, click on the link above and enjoy.
I have not had much time this weekend to read the 14 blogs I am subscribed to. During some down time this afternoon I managed to catch up on my Blog reading and ran into a VERY cool System Information Tool called Aida. Whether you are an I.T. professional such as myself or a curious end user you will find this FREE utility something to be amazed about. I just downloaded and installed the PERSONAL EDITION on my XP Professional computer here at home and it is absolutely astounding. I have looked at more software packages than most humans and I can tell you that this is a Winner in my book. So, with that in mind, click on the link above and enjoy.
Friday, November 28, 2003
Black Friday brings rain to Lowcountry SC
Have you recovered from gorging yourself full of Turkey and all the trimmings yet? Maybe you are still slumbering and have not awakened yet after collapsing into your recliner or favorite couch yesterday afternoon.
Our family went to the Meritage Restaurant in downtown Charleston SC yesterday and were blessed by the owner and his staff who volunteered their time, talents, food and facility so that our group from Happy Days and Special Times could enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner and fellowship. There were approximately 45 people who attended and the family that traveled the farthest was from Pensacola Florida.
We came home after filling ourselves with some wonderful food and settled down in front of the television to watch the Miami Dolphins feed the Dallas Cowgirls to the sharks. Can you say OH MY GOSH. What about those Cowgirls? The Dallas defense who is ranked number one (not any more) in the NFC East acted as if they could not stop the run or the pass. The score (cough) was 40 to 21 in the Dolphins favor. Now the Cowboys are 8 wins and 4 losses which I believe takes them out of first place in the NFC East (2nd place perhaps) and Miami is now 8 wins and 3 losses which puts them in a good standing for a wildcard position in the AFC.
This weekend will find us at the Happy Days and Special Times reunion that is held the weekend after Thanksgiving every year in Charleston. This year, since we moved back we wont need to stay in the hotel so we can show up for the festivities and then come home and sleep in our own beds which will be nice.
If you were like most Americans you were out shopping at Wallyworld or one of the malls in your location at the wonderful hour of 5 or 6 am as you went toe to toe with all of the other shoppers trying to cash in on the early bird deals. As for me and my house we were fast asleep with the visions of James finding a job some day soon. Our Christmas will be so wonderful if we can just manage to pay the bills and not have anything cut off or canceled due to non payment. As a matter of fact I just got off the phone with a recruiter who is searching for a Network Administrator in the SC area. They want a 4 year degree and certifications but perhaps if I pass their online screening and telephone interviews they might waive the educational prerequisite and trade out for years of experience and knowledge. We shall see how I do on the online screen test first.
In lieu of fighting with holiday shoppers for this or that we stayed home and managed to get our Christmas tree up along with most of the other holiday trappings. I have SEVERAL pictures to show you but for the complete list of pictures you can go to Thanksgiving Pictures for your enjoyment and there you will see the entire list of 30 + pictures that I took in the last day or two. If you click on each picture from that web page you will view the picture in your web browser of choice.
Christmas Tree View 1
Christmas Tree with Lights
Justin & Kristina putting together the tree
Moonbright stood still enough for me to get this picture. Stray cat that has adopted us!
Sammy on right (light brown) Angel on left (black) romping in living room
Sammy trying to sleep on living room floor!
Sammy is wondering if I am close enough to his nose for this picture!
The annual Christmas village goes up along with the tree!
Close Up of Christmas Village
Another shot of the Christmas Village
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Score: Brick Stairs 1, James ZERO
I fought the law and the law won.... No, that does not match. I ran out to my car and lost my footing and tumbled down three brick stairs at church. The bricks did not even give for a second. I now can honestly say that I have invested, blood , sweat, tears and money into our local church. I could have skipped the blood portion of this experience but atleast I can say I have a well rounded experience. :)
The Dallas Cowboys are still number ONE in the NFC East division with a record of 8 wins and 3 losses. They lost to the Patriots last week and won against the Carolina Panthers this week. Wahooooo ! Go Cowboys!
My part time assignment through RHI in Charleston lasted all of 14 hours this last week. They needed for me to set up a new computer system in their office and get the data transferred from the old computer to the new one. Once all of that was done they had someone who could step in and do the photography and auctions online.
Katy is now registered to work as a substitute teacher in both Charleston and Berkeley Counties. Katy has worked now for almost two weeks substituting for Charleston County. Atleast that means one of us will start bringing in some sort of income in the very near future. Katy also has an interview in the morning at a local school in Goose Creek for a teachers assistant position which would be full time employment with benefits. That would be very nice if she gets it.
Out of desperation I went to a security company and filled out their paperwork to see if I can get a security commission in SC to do security work. That is the LAST thing I want to do at the moment but since I can not seem to find any type of employment I suppose that I might be able to fall back on my 10 years of experience in Security. Now I get to wait on the criminal background check from SLED to see if they will authorize me. I already got clearance to be registered as an alarm installer so I dont see why I cant get authorized to get my Security Officer commission as well. We shall see.
That means working nights and weekends and probably holidays. I figure I can work nights , come home and sleep six hours in the morning and then hopefully find some part time computer gigs to do in the afternoon hours while looking for employment. Hopefully it wont last for too long since I have not worked night shift in almost 15 years.
The lady in the boot. Do you remember her? She is married to Mr. Bunyon. The REAL man who lives next door with his family. The family in the new boot. :) They had their house warming party this weekend and 60+ people showed up. My son Justin was running around looking for a flashlight so he could help park cars. It was funny to watch him all excited about doing that. I think he thought he was going to get dad's nice flashlight to do this with. NOT....
My son Jeremy just had his senior picture taken but thanks to our FTP site being down I can not show it to you here. As soon as it is up again I will upload it and show it to you. I am so proud of him and I can not believe he is almost 18 years old. April of 2004 he will be a young adult ready to wander out into this world to make his mark.
Friday, November 14, 2003
Robert Half International
Robert Half International
On Tuesday I registered with the "Office Team" division of Robert Half International. I left the house at 8 am and arrived downtown Charleston at approximately 10:15pm. My appointment was for 9 am. I tried going down N. Rhett to 526 but ran into a parking lot. At 8:45 am I finally turned around and took the Rivers Avenue route to I-26 towards Charleston and ran into another parking lot. Gosh, it was almost as if I should have just stayed in bed. I perservered and made it to Meeting Street downtown. I took several exams. Data Processing, Word, Excel and last but not least typing. I did 85k keystrokes for Data Entry, scored basic skills for Word and Excel and 70 wpm with 97% accuracy for typing. That all means that I qualify for a clerical position through Office Team. Oh yeah, I am so excited about that. LOL....
I received a call from RHI on Thursday stating that a company is looking for part time help two days a week to handle a company's Ebay business. I can do that in my sleep so it looks like I atleat have a part time position on Monday's and Tuesday's. The position is supposed to go permanent within 2 months so we shall see.
Robert Half Technology which is RHI's Technology division is located in Greenville SC in the Upstate. Jennifer called me from the Greenville branch and told me that the client that has the asset inventory position wants to see what my qualifications are before they make a decision to let me take the 1 or 2 week contract. I told Jennifer that I was probably WAY OVER qualified for an inventory job.
This is an employers market. Too many people out of work and not enough jobs to go around. That means employers can pick and choose the cream of the crop and they dont have to pay people what they are worth not to mention UNDER what the market could bear.
On Tuesday I registered with the "Office Team" division of Robert Half International. I left the house at 8 am and arrived downtown Charleston at approximately 10:15pm. My appointment was for 9 am. I tried going down N. Rhett to 526 but ran into a parking lot. At 8:45 am I finally turned around and took the Rivers Avenue route to I-26 towards Charleston and ran into another parking lot. Gosh, it was almost as if I should have just stayed in bed. I perservered and made it to Meeting Street downtown. I took several exams. Data Processing, Word, Excel and last but not least typing. I did 85k keystrokes for Data Entry, scored basic skills for Word and Excel and 70 wpm with 97% accuracy for typing. That all means that I qualify for a clerical position through Office Team. Oh yeah, I am so excited about that. LOL....
I received a call from RHI on Thursday stating that a company is looking for part time help two days a week to handle a company's Ebay business. I can do that in my sleep so it looks like I atleat have a part time position on Monday's and Tuesday's. The position is supposed to go permanent within 2 months so we shall see.
Robert Half Technology which is RHI's Technology division is located in Greenville SC in the Upstate. Jennifer called me from the Greenville branch and told me that the client that has the asset inventory position wants to see what my qualifications are before they make a decision to let me take the 1 or 2 week contract. I told Jennifer that I was probably WAY OVER qualified for an inventory job.
This is an employers market. Too many people out of work and not enough jobs to go around. That means employers can pick and choose the cream of the crop and they dont have to pay people what they are worth not to mention UNDER what the market could bear.
Friday, November 07, 2003
A new day and a new direction
This is a new day and I have a new focus and direction. The commission only sales position at ADT lasted 7 weeks. I believe that this would have been a possibility after building the business for 6 months to a year. The only problem with my remaining active in this role is that my finances just wont allow me to do it. I need income now and not six months from now. Economics forced my hand and now I am back to the drawing board looking for a job with a paycheck attached to it.
Wish me luck!
Sunday, November 02, 2003
What are you doing right now? I am in front of the television watching the South Carolina Panther and Texas Texans NFL football game. Thus far this looks like a pretty close game. The score now is 7 to zero with Carolina leading the game. I am not what you would call a football fanatic but I do like to follow the Dallas Cowboys when they manage to to win a few games. This year Dallas is 5 wins with 2 losses so that means that they are doing much better than their performance over the last four or five years. Today Dallas and the Redskins will go head to head. Dallas usually wins the match when they are playing at home so we shall see if they can come off their loss to the Bucaneers last week and play some football.
The weather outside is 80 degrees with no clouds in the sky. Katy announced it is Happy Nappy time (2pm) after feeding her brood a yummy lunch. The weather is nice, the doors and windows are open and the children are outside enjoying the wonderful weather.
Did I tell you that we live close to the Charleston International airport? The airport shares runways with the Air Force Base and the LARGE transport planes (C17's?)that fly out of there sometimes fly so low they rattle my eye teeth. I have heard of eye teeth before but is there such a thing?
Ok, it is half time and I think that it IS Happy Nappy time. I need to recharge my batteries in time for the Cowboys Redskins game.
Displaced Make Do in Calif. Shelters (washingtonpost.com)
Displaced Make Do in Calif. Shelters (washingtonpost.com)
Just when I thought that I endured a week this side of hell I read an article like this one. Thanks to information over load most people find themselves deluged with more news stories than we have time to read them. More often than not a lot of folks are probably paying attention to what is going on in Iraq instead of paying attention to what is going on right here in our own Nation.
When I read this article it reminded me of how blessed I truly am. By some standards where I live and what we live in probably does not measure up to what some may be comfortable with. Nevertheless my family and I have a safe place to live which provides us with the necessities of life and then some. I was reminded of this again as I read of the displacement and loss of thousands of Califronia residents who have lost everything due to the raging fires. I would encourage you to take the time to read this article and then to pray for those folks. Most of us reading this probably do not have the time or means to make a trip to California to help those that are less fortunate than ourselves. However we can pray and we can make small donations to the American Red Cross via their website so that we can do "our" part to help. When everyone does a small part all of a sudden there is a LOT of help being given to those that need it.
Life is God's gift to us, what we do with it is our gift back to God and those around us. Pay it forward!
God bless
Just when I thought that I endured a week this side of hell I read an article like this one. Thanks to information over load most people find themselves deluged with more news stories than we have time to read them. More often than not a lot of folks are probably paying attention to what is going on in Iraq instead of paying attention to what is going on right here in our own Nation.
When I read this article it reminded me of how blessed I truly am. By some standards where I live and what we live in probably does not measure up to what some may be comfortable with. Nevertheless my family and I have a safe place to live which provides us with the necessities of life and then some. I was reminded of this again as I read of the displacement and loss of thousands of Califronia residents who have lost everything due to the raging fires. I would encourage you to take the time to read this article and then to pray for those folks. Most of us reading this probably do not have the time or means to make a trip to California to help those that are less fortunate than ourselves. However we can pray and we can make small donations to the American Red Cross via their website so that we can do "our" part to help. When everyone does a small part all of a sudden there is a LOT of help being given to those that need it.
Life is God's gift to us, what we do with it is our gift back to God and those around us. Pay it forward!
God bless
Saturday, October 25, 2003
Pictures and more pictures....
The other day I told ya about Justin and his silly hat. I just downloaded some pictures off my digital camera so here are some pictures to share with you. If you run your mouse pointer over the picture itself you will see the caption for each one. Enjoy!
Solar Storm Warning
Solar Storm Warning
Have you ever had anything unusual happen to you ? Have you ever done anything out of character and found the need to say "the devil made me do it?" If that happened to you yesterday you have a valid excuse. You can now say, " I am sorry, that is really out of character for me but I probably did thus and so because of how I was affected by the solor storm that hit us". I am positive that your response to any inquiries about unusual behaviour patterns or bad decisions will be met with much empathy once you give this reason.
If you are in sales or are tethered down by any electronic leashes such as pagers or cell phones then you can always tell your boss that " the incoming solar storm probably kept the signal from reaching me". LOL....
I read through most of the article that this blogette is referring to and it was interesting reading. I was reminded of how LARGE and IMMENSE our universe really is. I was also reminded of how awesome and humbling it is to realize that we are only but a small part of the cosmos that we inhabit. I think that we get so tied up in the daily events of our lives that we fail to see anything higher than the roof of our cars or houses and we forget about those things that we are shielded from in outer space. Some of our friends and family might accuse us of being "lost in space" when we walk around in a daze or do something silly.
This concludes this Solar Storm summary for today. :)
Have you ever had anything unusual happen to you ? Have you ever done anything out of character and found the need to say "the devil made me do it?" If that happened to you yesterday you have a valid excuse. You can now say, " I am sorry, that is really out of character for me but I probably did thus and so because of how I was affected by the solor storm that hit us". I am positive that your response to any inquiries about unusual behaviour patterns or bad decisions will be met with much empathy once you give this reason.
If you are in sales or are tethered down by any electronic leashes such as pagers or cell phones then you can always tell your boss that " the incoming solar storm probably kept the signal from reaching me". LOL....
I read through most of the article that this blogette is referring to and it was interesting reading. I was reminded of how LARGE and IMMENSE our universe really is. I was also reminded of how awesome and humbling it is to realize that we are only but a small part of the cosmos that we inhabit. I think that we get so tied up in the daily events of our lives that we fail to see anything higher than the roof of our cars or houses and we forget about those things that we are shielded from in outer space. Some of our friends and family might accuse us of being "lost in space" when we walk around in a daze or do something silly.
This concludes this Solar Storm summary for today. :)
Friday, October 24, 2003
Yeah! Friday is HERE!
They say that time flies when you are having fun. This week ZOOMED past me and I am still trying to figure out IF I really had fun. I had fun last Monday night when I bowled a 141, 156 and 167. That is way over my average for this league which is a 120. I am finally getting used to the synthetic lanes I guess.
On Tuesday of this week I went out to Cottagville and made a sale , BA and Cell backup which equals to two units. I have 8 more units to meet quota for the month and I have 3 more weeks to make that. I spent most of my day at the Convention Center in Charleston and working with a Dental Office on a proposal. At 8 am I was to meet the Dentist at his new location and wound up speaking to him on the phone. Get me a proposal, I am already an ADT customer and this needs to be done yesterday so I can get the sheet rock people to finish their part in this construction. So, with that information in hand I spend some time doing just that. At the end of the day the customer says, wow, I need to think about this and get back with you. I think that the monthly charge was giving him heart burn. I have an 11 am appointment this morning through Telmar which means that someone saw an ADT commercial or heard ABOUT ADT and called in to our call center requesting to speak to a sales rep.
I had to put my Thursday night small group attendance on hold. I am not too happy about that since I had made a committment to do it. I wrote an e-mail to the small group leader and I know he was/is disappointed that I can not make it. Sometimes priorities really stink. I am 9 months past due on all of my financial responsibilities which means that my number one priority for now is to get my business off the ground and profitable. That means some 12 and 16 hour days for a while until I get established. That means working 6 days per week.
I hope you have a great weekend folks!
Sunday, October 19, 2003
Check out the Ryze Network
The Ryze Network
I got sucked into the Ryze Network today. I started out this weekend by searching for sales leads and business networking groups on Google. If you dont know what Google is then you need to know that it is one of the best search engines on the Internet. No, it is not the ONLY search engine but I choose to use it because of how simple it is to use and I seem to get the most hits off of it.
The link above will take YOU to MY Ryze home page. I am using this home page to advertise my Information Technology and Business Risk Assesment and Asset Protection services that I offer. They offer a GOLD subscription which is 9.95 per month but I think that I will check this out a bit longer before I make the plunge. I am very interested in all of the different NETWORKS that have been started already and I subscribed to quite a few of them today.
My primary purpose for joining Ryze is to network with other sales and I.T. Professionals here in the lowcountry of SC. My secondary purpose for joining is the network with other christians and folks who have the same interests as me. So, with that in mind, you probably received an e-mail from me today asking you to join. The cost to you is FREE and all it will take is a few moments of your time to fill out the form. I think it took me all of 5 minutes to join this morning before I headed off to church.
Justin and Kristina went to Awana's tonight and apparently they had a contest to see who had the goofiest hat. Gizmo got creative in the last minute and I will be sure to upload the pictures so you can see them soon.
God bless
I got sucked into the Ryze Network today. I started out this weekend by searching for sales leads and business networking groups on Google. If you dont know what Google is then you need to know that it is one of the best search engines on the Internet. No, it is not the ONLY search engine but I choose to use it because of how simple it is to use and I seem to get the most hits off of it.
The link above will take YOU to MY Ryze home page. I am using this home page to advertise my Information Technology and Business Risk Assesment and Asset Protection services that I offer. They offer a GOLD subscription which is 9.95 per month but I think that I will check this out a bit longer before I make the plunge. I am very interested in all of the different NETWORKS that have been started already and I subscribed to quite a few of them today.
My primary purpose for joining Ryze is to network with other sales and I.T. Professionals here in the lowcountry of SC. My secondary purpose for joining is the network with other christians and folks who have the same interests as me. So, with that in mind, you probably received an e-mail from me today asking you to join. The cost to you is FREE and all it will take is a few moments of your time to fill out the form. I think it took me all of 5 minutes to join this morning before I headed off to church.
Justin and Kristina went to Awana's tonight and apparently they had a contest to see who had the goofiest hat. Gizmo got creative in the last minute and I will be sure to upload the pictures so you can see them soon.
God bless
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