Back view of Studebaker
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
Ring that bell one more time...
Do you ever have a bad day at work? I am having one of those NO BELL days. LOL... I work in a computer room which is a secure environment which requires you have a KEY to enter OR you ring a bell. How irritating is that? I feel like Pavlov's dog all of a sudden. Most of the time I put up with the irritation however we have been short one employee this week and I have been pulling double duty doing my job and hers. The bad thing is that I am still learning how to do her job much less mine since I have been here a sum total of 2.5 months.
This morning I am focusing on editing paramater files on VMS which requires my utmost attention to detail. RING RING RING goes the bell constantly. I keep having to get out of my chair and go answer the door. Ok, that is a given, folks need in to get help or do their jobs etc. However, when someone that has a key rings the bell and then just walks away as if they did not ring it that is the final straw. It is even worse when it is your BOSS. So, the bell rings for the umpteenth time, I get up and salivate as I walk towards the door. (Remember the trained response right?) I get to the door as two ladies are slowly walking away. I open the door and stand half way into the hallway and watch my boss walk away. I wait until my boss walks back to the door and when she does not offer any explanation as to why they rang the bell I told her that the next time the bell rings while I am trying to concentrate I will remove the door from its hinges. Of course this was not my direct supervisor nor does my supervisor even answer to this person but she is a director type level person. Can you imagine the look on her face when I advised her that I was going to take the door off the hinges? LOL... Luckily for me she did not take me serious and just told me that maybe they need to hand out more keys for folks to get in that needed them. I was thinking, what a novel idea that would be.
Now , I know, to some that may seem like a tiny thing to be irritated about. The problem with our being interrupted multiple times per day when we are trying to focus on minute detail is that it causes us to make mistakes when our concentration is broken constantly. Here is an example of what I am talking about. In order to delete files on VMS you have to type in a command like this. del hrcc$data:cpy080d*.dat;* Yesterday evening I typed del hrcc$data:cpy080*.dat;* which in turn deleted 28 files. At most it should have deleted 8 files. I thought about that being a larger number than normal but did not think much more about it. So, I finished the task at hand and went to run the manual job on vms and it failed. That is when it occured to me to look back at the del command I did. It took me several comparisons to realize that the D was not there which means I deleted 24 extra control files that were needed by other programs that would be run either manually or in enterprise scheduler. When you delete a file on VMS it is GONE. POOF. No recycle bin to retrieve it from. So, luckily for me the VMS systems admin was in her office and we used this as a training experience for James to do a restore from remote tapes to the disk. That mistake took us 60 minutes to fix. THAT is why it is important that we pay attention to every single keystroke when we are on the system. Does the payroll have any significance to you as you think about these processes? Those mistakes can be very costly to everyone in involved. Whew....
So, with all of that in mind there has to be a better solution to ringing the bell millions of times per day. I will be trying to figure out a way to talk the boss into having a business hours OPEN policy as long as someone is in the computer room. If we are not in the computer room then we will lock the door on our way out and then they will have to go to the receptionist and have us paged. Anything has to be better than what we are currently doing. Amen??
Peace OUT....
This morning I am focusing on editing paramater files on VMS which requires my utmost attention to detail. RING RING RING goes the bell constantly. I keep having to get out of my chair and go answer the door. Ok, that is a given, folks need in to get help or do their jobs etc. However, when someone that has a key rings the bell and then just walks away as if they did not ring it that is the final straw. It is even worse when it is your BOSS. So, the bell rings for the umpteenth time, I get up and salivate as I walk towards the door. (Remember the trained response right?) I get to the door as two ladies are slowly walking away. I open the door and stand half way into the hallway and watch my boss walk away. I wait until my boss walks back to the door and when she does not offer any explanation as to why they rang the bell I told her that the next time the bell rings while I am trying to concentrate I will remove the door from its hinges. Of course this was not my direct supervisor nor does my supervisor even answer to this person but she is a director type level person. Can you imagine the look on her face when I advised her that I was going to take the door off the hinges? LOL... Luckily for me she did not take me serious and just told me that maybe they need to hand out more keys for folks to get in that needed them. I was thinking, what a novel idea that would be.
Now , I know, to some that may seem like a tiny thing to be irritated about. The problem with our being interrupted multiple times per day when we are trying to focus on minute detail is that it causes us to make mistakes when our concentration is broken constantly. Here is an example of what I am talking about. In order to delete files on VMS you have to type in a command like this. del hrcc$data:cpy080d*.dat;* Yesterday evening I typed del hrcc$data:cpy080*.dat;* which in turn deleted 28 files. At most it should have deleted 8 files. I thought about that being a larger number than normal but did not think much more about it. So, I finished the task at hand and went to run the manual job on vms and it failed. That is when it occured to me to look back at the del command I did. It took me several comparisons to realize that the D was not there which means I deleted 24 extra control files that were needed by other programs that would be run either manually or in enterprise scheduler. When you delete a file on VMS it is GONE. POOF. No recycle bin to retrieve it from. So, luckily for me the VMS systems admin was in her office and we used this as a training experience for James to do a restore from remote tapes to the disk. That mistake took us 60 minutes to fix. THAT is why it is important that we pay attention to every single keystroke when we are on the system. Does the payroll have any significance to you as you think about these processes? Those mistakes can be very costly to everyone in involved. Whew....
So, with all of that in mind there has to be a better solution to ringing the bell millions of times per day. I will be trying to figure out a way to talk the boss into having a business hours OPEN policy as long as someone is in the computer room. If we are not in the computer room then we will lock the door on our way out and then they will have to go to the receptionist and have us paged. Anything has to be better than what we are currently doing. Amen??
Peace OUT....
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Right and Wrong choices
We have to make choices every day. Most of the time the choices are not life altering but they certainly can either make our life more pleasant or more miserable. I am thinking about choices because I have made some that might not have been popular with family or friends. As a matter of fact some of my choices have been met with open disdain by some. One of the choices that I have made recently has been to switch from pudding to yogurt. Yogurt is around 140 calories if you pick Dannon Berry in the 5 oz container. If you select the pudding parfait at the Hungry Cougar across the street from where I work you probably consume about 800 or 900 calories. I chose to switch from pudding to yogurt because it is non fat and lower calories. In order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you take in. I have been counting calories for several months now and I am getting pretty good at guessing how many calories are probably being ingested by yours truly. I am still struggling with getting the calorie count down to 1500 but have been hovering between about 1700 to 2200 depending on the given day and whatever emotional stress I may have been experiencing. If you are an emotional eater the more stress you experience the more you try to medicate yourself with yummy stuff from the fridge. I think that I might be self medicating late at night in front of the idiot box. With regards to choices I have had to reprioritize my expectations for whom a friend is and a friend is not. This has caused me more emotional trauma than i would care to admit. You think that you know who your friends are until all of a sudden they quit acting like a friend. After much soul searching I have realized that friendships are a two way street. God gives us unconditional love which is called AGAPE love. God loves us despite our sin and failures. I am not saying that God ignores the sin or is blind to it but if we will come to him with our failures and ask for forgiveness the word of God says that our sin is forgotten and is as far as the east is from the west. God can and will forgive us for our faults and shortcomings however it has become painfully obvious to me that some of my so called friends do not know how to do that. That is why human love is called phileo or brotherly love and it is not unconditional as much as we would like to think it is. Just the other day I had to come to the realization that my expectation for a friendship that I thought was there has long since been destroyed. I was hanging on to the hope that the friendship could be restored over a period of time but I think that I was fooling myself with that expectation. How many times have we done things in a relationship that has caused a tear in the very fabric? Depending on the size of the hole time might allow it to mend and heal. I guess in this instance I must have driven a full sized sherman tank through this relationship and now there are nothing but large treadmarks and oil spills all over the place. I need to understand that I did do and say some things that caused this damage and there is apparently nothing I can do to repair it. As the old saying goes "It is finished". For those of you that know me and love me (or not) you know that while I am not a social butterfly I do enjoy human contact. I am not a loner but rather I love interaction with my fellow man. My pastor told me not long ago that he noticed that trait in me and that it was neither good nor bad but when I am dealing with others I need to realize not everyone needs as much fellowship as I do. That was an eye opener for me when he said that and gave me a whole new perspective on things. So, as I have had to close the book on this friendship that I am thinking about it saddens me. It saddens me that I did so much damage that it could not be repaired. It saddens me that I have to think of this person differently when I see them. It saddens me to think that I really would rather not see them because of the emotional distress that the memories cause. I am saddened to think that I did not cherish this friendship deeply enough to do whatever I could to keep it healthy. I am saddened to think that neither me nor my friend were able to communicate effectively enough to mend whatever fences needed mending. I am saddened by the thought that I did so much damage to the relationship that the other person could no longer forgive me and give me a chance. How about them COWBOYS!!!!
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Friday, October 06, 2006
UPS is Lost
That is right folks, UPS is LOST. From 4:30 pm until 7:23 pm UPS wandered around in Goose Creek wondering where in the world Mapleridge Drive is located. I can not tell you how insanely funny that has to be. How many times do we see commercials where UPS brags about how they are able to deliver packages all around the globe no matter where we may be. I saw where the package arrived in Summerville and was out for delivery around 7:30 am this morning. I kept checking the tracking page while at work and saw that they had not delivered around 3:30 pm. I called Justin and told him to to make sure he or Kristina stay close to the house in case they showed up. At 8:15 pm it occurred to me that they were not going to show up. I checked the UPS website and put the tracking number in. Guess what folks, UPS needs directions to my house. I called UPS and spoke to someone who answered the phone. I asked them how it was possible that UPS could be lost. When I laughed he laughed and said, oh I get your point Mr Moffitt. To add insult to injury after I gave them turn by turn instructions on how to get to my front door the guy said this. I just sent the message and it was accepted. Someone will be calling you on Monday to verify how to get your package to you. I thought he was sending a message to the driver or something. You know they have those bar code scanners that they use to track when they pick up and deliver packages. Perhaps this guy sent an e-mail to someone ? Maybe he sent a smoke signal up into the sky in hopes that the driver would see it and respond. I guess I will get my package sometime next week. I did recommend to the person on the telephone that UPS might consider GPS devices for their drivers so they wont get LOST. hahahahahahahahah
Monday, October 02, 2006
Missing Things
I am still in shock that Dallas Cowboys beat the Tennessee Titans 45-14 yesterday. I expected that they should have been able to beat them but you know the old addage. Any given team can beat any given team on any given day. Did Vince Lambardi come up with that saying or who? Just because your team has the talent to win does not mean that the talent will actually manifest itself on that day. I know that to be true especially when it comes to bowling. I know that I am capable of bowling a 200 or higher score however that very rarely occurs. I know this because I have done this on several occasions on other bowling leagues. Dallas Cowboys rode into town and forced three turnovers that cost the Titans 21 points on the board. The running game was the best that I have seen in a very long time and Terrell Owens actually managed to make a touch down and a few other catches as well. I titled this blog "missing things" because we have had some missing things in the last week or two. I am not talking about the black hole that continually sucks all of my socks and other underwear into them never to be seen again. I am talking about other stuff that normally does not disappear. The case of the missing gerbils still has not been satisfactorily solved. The jury is still out on the fact that both rodents disappeared without a trace. It is almost as if they had been raptured out of their cage. Then there was the problem with the missing cell phone and car keys. One day last week Katy went to leave for work and could not find her keys. Justin was the last one known to have had them since he unlocked the door after their trip to Walmart the night before. Justin swore he put the keys on the kitchen table where they should have been the next morning. Lucily Katy has a spare set of keys and went to work. We did not find out until much later that Angel, our labrador retriever had somehow retrieved the key ring and was sitting on it on Kristina's bed. Who would have known the dog was hiding them? On Sunday Kristina left her cell phone at home when I took her to church early for praise team practice. I also left my cell phone home and called home and asked Justin to get his mom to bring them both to us. Katy and Justin both found my cell phone but not Kristina's. So, they searched high and low and could not find it. Katy calls the number and then heard it ring. As the ringing continued Katy could hear Ginger, our terrier growling at something in Kristina's room. Katy goes back to Kristina's room and finds Angel with the phone in her mouth and Ginger growling at Angel. Why in the world would Angel have her cell phone?
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Healing relationships
This weekend was spent taking care of typical weekend chores and tasks. I went to Cracker Barrel with a dear friend and had a nice conversation. One of the things that we spoke about was relationships and how people can perceive us and then judge us for our actions. My friend has told me in the past that I should be careful about what I say when I am around other people. That is because those people may not understand everything that I am saying or from what context I am speaking from. Then that person may unwittingly take what you say and then later on pass it along to others to whom it may not be any of their business. You have had it happen to you I am sure. You make a statement and then before you know it that statement or a facimile of that statement comes back full circle through someone else. Then you are wondering how in the world the real meaning of what you said originally got so messed up. The truth of the matter is this. Gossip is BAD no matter whom is involved. I think that the bible speaks about how we should not gossip about our neighbors or brothers and sisters. As a matter of fact the bible spends a LOT of time talking about how we should treat one another. It says that THEY (the world) will know us by our LOVE one for another. The sad fact of the matter is that Christians in general have forgotten how to love one another. We go to church and we sing songs of praise and adoration to Jesus and we learn about the character and nature of God and then when we are living our lives Monday through Saturday we seem to forget how to apply these truths.
I am no different than most folks in that I too struggle with moving head knowledge into my heart and abiding in it. In other words most of us have enough head knowledge about who God IS but we fail to translate that to whom God IS in US. God is God and we are who we are and sometimes there is a huge chasm between the two. Our intentions are noble and humble at times but we get tripped up into the things of this world and our attitudes and preconceived notions of whom we are or whom our brother and sister is that we forget to filter that junk through whom God is in us.
No man is an island and I do not care how secluded a life you live you will eventually rub elbows with a neighbor or two. You will find out that not everyone is going to like you much less love you. That is the same for christians despite the fact that we are to express phileo type love for one another. I found out this weekend that someone that I have very little contact with who attends my church has disliked me for almost 5 or 6 years. When I found out why this person disliked me it was because of things that I have said and done in my life. That person has decided to not only dislike me because of these things but now that I know that and I want to speak to them about those things that have decided to share those things with others and when I approached them about it they refused to talk to me. Like most people , when they are accused of "running their mouth" about someone they would like an opportunity to face their accuser and set the record straight. Remember what I said about gossip earlier? Well, the truth of the matter is that I did share something with someone in confidence. I spoke to a friend about another friend in general terms not intending to hurt anyone. Those comments came back to me full circle through the friend that I was talking about to begin with. Then I was accused of running my mouth to the whole church. Sigh...
I think that it is necessary for all of us to take inventory from time to time and make whatever adjustments that we need to make to line up our vertical relationship with Christ and when we do that we are better equipped to manage our horizontal relationships with our family, friends, church members and neighbors. When the vertical relationship is messed up then the rest of them will be messed up as well. As for the past, that is difficult to deal with at times. We are all by products of our past whether we like it or not. We all have sin in our past which includes things said and done that both dishonor God and our friends and family. All we can do when that happens is to confess that sin or deed and do whatever we can to make it right. We are not supposed to let things fester in our hearts and allow a root of bitterness to creep in and destroy us from the inside out. We are to go to our bretheren in a spirit of love and humility examining our own eye (life) for faults and make sure of our motivation for going to them to begin with.
Some of you that will read this blog post will be able to identify with what I am saying. You know that I struggle with my humanity and my relationship with Christ just like the next person. I have said things and done things that are immature, irresponsible and incomprehensible to most folks. As much as I would like to do it I can not change the past. The deeds are done and I am a miserable dirty sinful wretch because of them. I am ashamed and embarrased because of them. I have tried to right whatever wrongs that I can with those that I have offended. If those folks are not ready to deal with me where I am at because of where they are at then all I can do is turn all of this over to the Lord. All of this stuff is bigger than me and even I do not have the wisdom to understand it all. All I can do is focus on my vertical relationship with my redeemer and ask Him to do a supernatural work in the lives of those folks that I have offended and hurt and bring healing to their hearts despite of what I have done. I also can and have asked HIM to help me to be a better brother , father, husband, leader , worker to those that are around me.
The problem with being transparent is that you have to be painfully real to everyone around you. That means that those that know you, see you and live with you do not experience a facade or fake persona but they see you for who you really are. I do not share these things with you to bring glory or attention to my faults or how I have failed my fellow man. I say these things in the hopes that I can illuminate the fact that with God there is HOPE and that relationships can experience healing and redemption if people are willing to do their part.
I hope you have a good week.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
I am no different than most folks in that I too struggle with moving head knowledge into my heart and abiding in it. In other words most of us have enough head knowledge about who God IS but we fail to translate that to whom God IS in US. God is God and we are who we are and sometimes there is a huge chasm between the two. Our intentions are noble and humble at times but we get tripped up into the things of this world and our attitudes and preconceived notions of whom we are or whom our brother and sister is that we forget to filter that junk through whom God is in us.
No man is an island and I do not care how secluded a life you live you will eventually rub elbows with a neighbor or two. You will find out that not everyone is going to like you much less love you. That is the same for christians despite the fact that we are to express phileo type love for one another. I found out this weekend that someone that I have very little contact with who attends my church has disliked me for almost 5 or 6 years. When I found out why this person disliked me it was because of things that I have said and done in my life. That person has decided to not only dislike me because of these things but now that I know that and I want to speak to them about those things that have decided to share those things with others and when I approached them about it they refused to talk to me. Like most people , when they are accused of "running their mouth" about someone they would like an opportunity to face their accuser and set the record straight. Remember what I said about gossip earlier? Well, the truth of the matter is that I did share something with someone in confidence. I spoke to a friend about another friend in general terms not intending to hurt anyone. Those comments came back to me full circle through the friend that I was talking about to begin with. Then I was accused of running my mouth to the whole church. Sigh...
I think that it is necessary for all of us to take inventory from time to time and make whatever adjustments that we need to make to line up our vertical relationship with Christ and when we do that we are better equipped to manage our horizontal relationships with our family, friends, church members and neighbors. When the vertical relationship is messed up then the rest of them will be messed up as well. As for the past, that is difficult to deal with at times. We are all by products of our past whether we like it or not. We all have sin in our past which includes things said and done that both dishonor God and our friends and family. All we can do when that happens is to confess that sin or deed and do whatever we can to make it right. We are not supposed to let things fester in our hearts and allow a root of bitterness to creep in and destroy us from the inside out. We are to go to our bretheren in a spirit of love and humility examining our own eye (life) for faults and make sure of our motivation for going to them to begin with.
Some of you that will read this blog post will be able to identify with what I am saying. You know that I struggle with my humanity and my relationship with Christ just like the next person. I have said things and done things that are immature, irresponsible and incomprehensible to most folks. As much as I would like to do it I can not change the past. The deeds are done and I am a miserable dirty sinful wretch because of them. I am ashamed and embarrased because of them. I have tried to right whatever wrongs that I can with those that I have offended. If those folks are not ready to deal with me where I am at because of where they are at then all I can do is turn all of this over to the Lord. All of this stuff is bigger than me and even I do not have the wisdom to understand it all. All I can do is focus on my vertical relationship with my redeemer and ask Him to do a supernatural work in the lives of those folks that I have offended and hurt and bring healing to their hearts despite of what I have done. I also can and have asked HIM to help me to be a better brother , father, husband, leader , worker to those that are around me.
The problem with being transparent is that you have to be painfully real to everyone around you. That means that those that know you, see you and live with you do not experience a facade or fake persona but they see you for who you really are. I do not share these things with you to bring glory or attention to my faults or how I have failed my fellow man. I say these things in the hopes that I can illuminate the fact that with God there is HOPE and that relationships can experience healing and redemption if people are willing to do their part.
I hope you have a good week.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Myrtle Beach
I kidnapped my wife and took her to Mrytle Beach this weekend.? We did some site seeing, went to Starbucks, walked on the beach and then went to the Casting Crowns Concert Sat evening.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
I thought I saw a putty tat, I did I did....
Katy and I landed at Myrtle Beach safe and sound. The new land yacht made the trip nicely. I have a friend of mine that has an older Chevy Suburban and I used to give him grief about his HUGE land yacht. I can not tell you how many negative whiny comments I have made while driving behind one of those irritating land yachts. Not only can you not see what is going on in front of those monster machines but during wet weather they are almost as bad as a big rig going down the roads and throwing water all over the place. I can not do anything about throwing water all over the place during rain storms but I will be mindful of how it felt to be trapped behind one of those things. LOL. I love how high you sit off the ground and I like how quiet and smooth the ride is. You can not even hear the engine when it is running. Yes, if you have not guessed the obvious I am in love with the big blue beast.
On our way down to Myrtle Beach I looked over at Katy and she had this puzzled look on her face. I asked her what she was thinking about and she told me that she was thinking about the whole "Bailey must have eaten the hamsters" yarn that Bam Bam has been spinning for the last couple of days. If you think about it when the resident feline manages to catch anything there is nothing clean about it. Part of the thrill when you are hunting is when you capture the prey. It has been our experience from watching past forays into the wilderness that the kitty cat will proudly bring home its bounty and prance around in front of us or at least run past us to get under a piece of furniture so that it can play with its new found toy. Even if we are not privy to watch the feline gloating over its new found bounty you at least wind up finding the left overs when the cat gets bored with it later on. Bam bam was the only person who saw the supposed fur ball that Bailey coughed up on Thursday afternoon. The house cat is of the domesticated tame version that has not seen the grass outside of our front door. That means there is no place for the kitty cat to take its bounty except for right there where we live. Did Bailey swallow one hamster one day and then the other hamster the next day? Maybe Ginger the wannabe Billy goat is the culprit and Bailey is totally innocent.
Then there is the issue about the cage. Why would the cat suddenly grow interested in the two hamsters that have been there for over a year. If he knocked the cage off of Justin's dresser wouldn't the cage be slightly bent somewhere? If that did happen why would one hamster stay in the cage while the other one was gobbled up by the kitty cat? Did Sniffy or Huggy calmly sit by and watch the big bad putty tat eat their friend and not move a muscle. If it were me I would have died of a heart attack or made a run for my life. When we got home we would not have found either one of them. Hummmmmm
We think that Justin probably found one of the hamsters in a stiff position not breathing and freaked out about it. We have always had to remind him of how important it is to be a responsible pet owner and to be sure and feed and care for the rats in a timely fashion. He probably was worried that he would meet the wrath of mom or dad and be accused of rat abuse which ultimately lead to the demise of said rodent(s).
I am having flash backs of the yarn about the invisible burglar that crawled through the front window of our porch, broke Katy's antique table and then left out the back door without touching a thing. Nothing was broken other than the table and nothing was out of place. All sorts of stuff could have been picked up and hauled off and that did not happen. We found out several days later that the invisible burglar was bam bam himself. He did not want to admit he broke his mother's antique table that has been in her family for generations.
Missing things
As much as I try to resist it I find myself turning to my laptop and blogging for much needed therapy. I have a saying. Everything has its place. Well, it is true. If you want to find something again give it a permanent home where it resides and always put it back there when you are done using it. In the last week three things have seemingly wandered off despite our best efforts and keeping them in their respective homes. The first two items that are missing are Justin's hamsters Huggy and Sniffy. Trust me when I tell you that I was not involved in the name creation but I was involved in the adoption process. I not only paid good money for the rodents but Justin and I both signed papers at Pets Mart swearing before God and country that we would be responsible rodent owners. We got Huggy and Sniffy sometime last year. Every since then they both have been stinking up Justin's room as well as keeping the ferris wheel moving between the hours of 12 midnight and 6 am.
Several weeks ago Justin twisted Katy's arm and they bought a new and improved HOME for the rodents. I am not so sure what was so cool about the new cage but I do know that the rodents figured out how to break out of it OR our cat Bailey figured out how to break in and free them from captivity. Just the other day Justin told us that the cat was seen coughing up a fur ball and not too long after that one of the rodents, Sniffy, was pronounced missing. Sniffy was gone without a trace. Well, without a trace plus a fur ball the cat coughed up. I called the FBI to report a missing family member but when I had to give a physical description and one of the prime suspects was the family cat they told me they do not get involved in rodent/cat disputes. So much for that idea. As of this morning the other rodent, Huggy was pronounced missing by Justin. He thinks the RAT errrrr rodent is hiding somewhere in his room. If I were a rodent I can promise you that the last room I would hide in is Justin's room. That place is a natural disaster if I have ever seen one. Not only that but there is that god awful smell that we continually have to fight. I think that has to do with the animals constantly using his carpeting to tinkle on. Sigh.....
Now that I have the feline/hamster mystery fully disclosed here I can move on to the toothbrush fetish that one of the animals must have. I am thinking that the only way for me to figure out who was the culprit would be to do a breath freshness test with all the animals. You know the drill, stand up on your hind legs, open your mouth and say AAAHHHHHHH. LOL... I have lost two tooth brushes in the last several weeks. They are always located later all chewed up. The weird thing is it is not ever the handle that is chewed on but rather the bristles. Do the animals all of a sudden have an irresistible urge to practice good oral habits? I wonder if Bailey is snacking on hamsters in the middle of the night and then needs to go brush his teeth? Is that even possible?
The other thing that is missing is my love and appreciation for insurance companies. Insurance companies have never been on my top ten list with regards to favorite things to talk about. They rank right up there with politicians. Katy informed me last night that our health insurance is going up another 164.00 per month which means that they will be taking almost 600.00 per month out of her paycheck for insurance. They were already taking 432.00 out of her check for the last year for insurance. Open enrollment is coming up and I told Katy that she needs to see about dropping some options or whatever to see if we can lower that amount. I would LOVE to DROP that coverage however that is just not an option seeing that Katy and I are both baby boomer's in our middle 40's and we have teenage kids. I also found out that along with a bigger truck payment we are also the winners of a larger car insurance payment. I think that I need a substantial raise folks. LOL... The cost of living is going through the roof and our salaries are not going up to keep pace. The economists wonder why our economy is not booming. Could it be because no one can afford to go out and just spend money? We don't have any extra money to spend after we take care of the necessities.
OK, I think I feel much better now, thanks for listening. LOL...
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Blogging is better than a rerun on TV
Can I hear an AMEN or Oh ME? Blogging is much better than sitting in front of the boob tube aka Idiot box watching TV shows I have already seen before. We flipped channels tonight until I almost fell out of the chair with boredom. Actually, I got out of the chair and shut down the laptop and figured I would do something different tonight. I gave up my time in front of the TV for a trip to the restroom and then got comfortable in front of my main computer and scanned in some OLD pictures that Katy found the other morning when I was looking for the title to the Pontiac Grand Prix that I used to own. I remember when the Pontiac was NEW to us at least. The Pontiac had 50,000 miles on the odometer and that was GREAT compared to the 238K that was on the 93 Cadillac. The poor Caddy was just about done for. The red pimpmobile had been rode hard and put up wet on more than one occasion. In 2004 we got the Pontiac even when we did not think it was possible. Looking back now Katy and I had not really started working on our credit report in earnest. At that point in time I was in a defeatest attitude and had just given up. Anyway, Ashley Preferred took care of us and gave me a HUGE down payment on the Caddy even though the car was probably only worth about half of what he gave me. I also had a friend of mine loan me a down payment on the car as well. So, when you have a good down payment on a car sometimes it really does not matter how bad your credit is. Lets not forget the OUTRAGEOUS interest rate that you will get stuck with too. LOL...
Fast forward through 2.5 years of driving the silver bullet with little to no maintenance nightmares. The car certainly did not leave me stranded on I-26 at midnight like the Caddy did after getting off at 11 pm while working security downtown. I can not tell you how much fun that was. There is nothing like being stuck in a broke down car on the side of the freeway watching all the motorists fly by you and no one other than the police to stop by and check on you. One of the main reasons we got the SUV was we needed more room for passengers and cargo. There was nothing wrong with the Pontiac other than the kids were out growing it and we needed more room to be able to cart their friends around to church and youth group activities. So, now we are in a 2006 Dodge Durango. Did I tell you that I absolutely LOVE this vehicle? Did I tell you that I am praying that the gas prices will go DOWN even further since it costs more to fill it up than the pontiac. I figure that my gasoline expense went up about 80.00 per month with this new vehicle. Oh yeah, I need a name for the "Blue Goose" which I guess is the name for it until someone can come up with something clever.
There is not much new on the employment front these days. I go in at 8:30 am and get off around 5 or 6pm depending on how soon I can get out the door. I figure that there is no sense in my getting off at 5pm because the sooner to 5 that I enter into the drive home madness the more I will sit in a traffic jam. I told someone the other day that the reason we moved out of the BIG CITY in August of 1997 is because we HATED the big city living and the big city traffic nightmares. Atlanta Georgia is not much better in comparison and Charleston SC and Goose Creek SC are half as bad as that. Yet still the traffic around here is starting to remind me of big city congestion.
Despite the fact that I spend 90+ minutes of my life in traffic I am still riding in style these days. That reminds me of something. I have several friends who have been jumping my case about Katy not driving the new vehicle and getting stuck in the OLDER vehicles all the time. LOL... I had a LONG talk with Katy last night and told her that any time she wants to drive the SUV , she has a key, all she has to do is jump in and go. Does that mean that I will be over joyed at driving her 93 Ford Escort Station wagon? Of course not, anyone in their right mind would pick the Durango in a heart beat. Katy told me that if she wanted to drive the SUV she would but she would rather that I use the newer vehicle to make the longer trip to downtown Charleston. The Ford Escort has a LOT of miles on it and we are trying to baby it for as long as we can. We certainly can not afford a 2nd car payment. Well, anyway, that is the story on Katy and her driving the Durango. Katy has full access to it anytime she wants to drive it. In the very near future I will see about getitng her AC fixed in her car as well. I actually did go buy a hose and several cans of freon and tried to get the system to take it but it did not work. That probably means that something is wrong with it that will need to get fixed. Other than that the Ford is running ok for now.
I hear my bed calling me so I am going to wrap this up for now. Have a good day tomorrow and a good weekend.
Fast forward through 2.5 years of driving the silver bullet with little to no maintenance nightmares. The car certainly did not leave me stranded on I-26 at midnight like the Caddy did after getting off at 11 pm while working security downtown. I can not tell you how much fun that was. There is nothing like being stuck in a broke down car on the side of the freeway watching all the motorists fly by you and no one other than the police to stop by and check on you. One of the main reasons we got the SUV was we needed more room for passengers and cargo. There was nothing wrong with the Pontiac other than the kids were out growing it and we needed more room to be able to cart their friends around to church and youth group activities. So, now we are in a 2006 Dodge Durango. Did I tell you that I absolutely LOVE this vehicle? Did I tell you that I am praying that the gas prices will go DOWN even further since it costs more to fill it up than the pontiac. I figure that my gasoline expense went up about 80.00 per month with this new vehicle. Oh yeah, I need a name for the "Blue Goose" which I guess is the name for it until someone can come up with something clever.
There is not much new on the employment front these days. I go in at 8:30 am and get off around 5 or 6pm depending on how soon I can get out the door. I figure that there is no sense in my getting off at 5pm because the sooner to 5 that I enter into the drive home madness the more I will sit in a traffic jam. I told someone the other day that the reason we moved out of the BIG CITY in August of 1997 is because we HATED the big city living and the big city traffic nightmares. Atlanta Georgia is not much better in comparison and Charleston SC and Goose Creek SC are half as bad as that. Yet still the traffic around here is starting to remind me of big city congestion.
Despite the fact that I spend 90+ minutes of my life in traffic I am still riding in style these days. That reminds me of something. I have several friends who have been jumping my case about Katy not driving the new vehicle and getting stuck in the OLDER vehicles all the time. LOL... I had a LONG talk with Katy last night and told her that any time she wants to drive the SUV , she has a key, all she has to do is jump in and go. Does that mean that I will be over joyed at driving her 93 Ford Escort Station wagon? Of course not, anyone in their right mind would pick the Durango in a heart beat. Katy told me that if she wanted to drive the SUV she would but she would rather that I use the newer vehicle to make the longer trip to downtown Charleston. The Ford Escort has a LOT of miles on it and we are trying to baby it for as long as we can. We certainly can not afford a 2nd car payment. Well, anyway, that is the story on Katy and her driving the Durango. Katy has full access to it anytime she wants to drive it. In the very near future I will see about getitng her AC fixed in her car as well. I actually did go buy a hose and several cans of freon and tried to get the system to take it but it did not work. That probably means that something is wrong with it that will need to get fixed. Other than that the Ford is running ok for now.
I hear my bed calling me so I am going to wrap this up for now. Have a good day tomorrow and a good weekend.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
In loving memory of Jessica Ann Moffitt
September 11, 2001 is remembered by most due to the horrible disaster that happened when two jumbo jets flew into the north and south tower of the World Trade center. On that horrible day many innocent and not so innocent people lost their lives. All this week we have been reminded of this by the media and while it is important that we never forget those who lost their lives I feel regret that the families of these lost souls must be reminded over and over again via the media of their loss. One thing that we must remember is that a week from now the media reports will dwindle but the families will experience the pain of grief long after that.
Today lives in infamy for my family not only because of the world trade towers going down and the loss of human life but it reminds us of our daughter Jessica Ann Moffitt who would have been 16 years old today. Jessica Ann Moffitt died of cancer on August 5, 2001 around 2:30 am. I will never forget that moment in time for as long as I live. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of my daughter Jessica who brought so much joy and happiness to our lives. Jessica was born 3 months premature and spent the first three months of her life in NICU. We had a lot of folks praying for our little ray of sunshine and God brought her home to us and gave us 10 years with her. I am looking forward to the day when I reach the other side when I can run up to her in Heaven and hug her neck and tell her once again in person how much I love her.
Jessica, you live on in our minds and hearts and you will never be forgotten.
Love Daddy
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Today lives in infamy for my family not only because of the world trade towers going down and the loss of human life but it reminds us of our daughter Jessica Ann Moffitt who would have been 16 years old today. Jessica Ann Moffitt died of cancer on August 5, 2001 around 2:30 am. I will never forget that moment in time for as long as I live. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of my daughter Jessica who brought so much joy and happiness to our lives. Jessica was born 3 months premature and spent the first three months of her life in NICU. We had a lot of folks praying for our little ray of sunshine and God brought her home to us and gave us 10 years with her. I am looking forward to the day when I reach the other side when I can run up to her in Heaven and hug her neck and tell her once again in person how much I love her.
Jessica, you live on in our minds and hearts and you will never be forgotten.
Love Daddy
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Friday, September 08, 2006
Configuring the Cisco 851W or 871W: Standard IOS
This is an excellent article on how to configure a wireless router from Cisco...
Configuring the Cisco 851W or 871W: Standard IOS
Configuring the Cisco 851W or 871W: Standard IOS
Wireless Security Article from Tech Republic
The six dumbest ways to secure a wireless LAN by TechRepublic's George Ou -- For the last three years, I've been meaning to put to rest once and for all the urban legends and myths on wireless LAN security. Every time I write an article or blog on wireless LAN security, someone has to come along and regurgitate one of these myths. If that weren't bad enough, many "so [...]
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Icicle and her ducklings
I must be bored because I decided to film my neighbors ducks and give them a few minutes of fame on the world wide web.? So, without further fan fare I give you Icicle and her ducklings.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Tropical Storm Troy arrives before Ernesto in Duck Ditch
When I woke up this morning I expected tropical storm Ernesto to be the one to take out our electricity sometime today. We figured that with the forecast for today that sometime beween 2pm and 8 pm that the full force of Ernesto would be upon us and we had a good chance of losing our lights. As the day has been progressing we have been getting a lot of rain from the tropical storm as it passes us going up the east coast. The weather forecasters are saying that we dodged this bullet for now and that the storm is going to hit up around Myrtle Beach or Willmington North Carolina.
I think it is pretty cool that we can add images to our blogs. It makes them come to life and gives you something to associate with the words. I am a weather watcher by nature because I absolutely HATE bad thunderstorms. One reason is because they have a tendency to spawn lightning, high winds and tornados. When bad weather events like this happen I am usually tuend in to any type of weather reports I can on whatever type of media be it cable tv, Internet or radio.
Unbeknown to me there was another tropical storm brewing and his name is Troy. I did not know that Tim the toolman has a cousin that is very closely related to him but apparently he does. Tropical storm troy came blowing into our house today and took out our power. As far as I know there was not any lightning or high wind or hail that came along with this storm but it took out the power anyway.
Troy happens to be our landlord and thanks to our main breaker dying a slow painful death this week he tried to get it fixed before Ernesto came into town. Little did Troy know that he would take out the power more efficiently than a thunderstorm. LOL.. I am happy to report that the storm did little damage and was very self healing as he found the correct part and got everything running smoothly in short order. I did have to smooth the feathers on the wifey unit when she came home with groceries and found out that we had an unplanned and unannounced electricity outage thanks to tropical storm Troy. LOL... I assured Katy that if anyone could fix the problem Troy could fix it. After all, Troy is a REAL man. hahahahahahaha There is a LONG story behind
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
In Loving Memory of Carl Hickson
I do not have a lot of time to write this morning however I do want to remember my Uncle Carl who passed away in Terrell Texas yesterday. This was my favorite uncle out of the several that I did have. Uncle Carl was in a nursing home and I do not have many specifics of what happened other than he passed away sometime yesterday. I do know that I have a LOT of fond childhood memories of this uncle. Uncle Carl was the one who had the patience to teach me how to drive as a teenager. I guess I was 15 or 16 years old when I started spending the summer vacations with my Aunt Mickey and Uncle Carl in Terrell Texas. Both my aunt and uncle treated my sister and I just like one of their own kids. My uncle was a contractor who built homes in the Dallas Ft Worth area for many years. I remember that I used to get up with him at 5 am every work day and have biscuits with peanut butter and maple syrup with a cup of coffee. Uncle Carl spent many hours in the sun and I can always remember the deep tan that he developed because of this. I remember how he would take me to a parking lot at the high school in Terrell and let me drive his new Chevy Silerado Pickup truck and teach me how to park and backup and parallel park. Uncle Carl loved to play golf and spent a lot of free time on the weekends on the golf course in Terrell Texas. I am forever grateful to both of my aunt and uncle who are now passed on for the love, affection and care that they extended to me and my sister as teenagers. I lived with them one summer when they took care of my grandmother who had several strokes and required a lot of nursing care at home before she passed away in 1980. I remember how hard that was on them and the family at that time. God bless you Uncle Carl, you are loved and will be missed.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Sunday in Duck Ditch USA
Quack Quack... I say Duck Ditch USA because we have several ducks that live in our neighborhood at the bottom of the hill. If you are from the south you know who Jeff Foxworthy is. One of his famous lines is "You know you are a redneck if...." One of those is "if instructions to your house includes turn off the paved road". Instructions to my house includes go to the end of county maintenance sign, go around the old oak tree and then drop off the pavement and go to the bottom of the hill. Our doublewide trailer is next the last on the left. When it rains here it takes about 20 minutes but then the bottom of the hill becomes a pond and you have to use a life raft to paddle out to the car. I have noticed that the ducks that live here LOVE the rain and the pond. Just the other day I took a picture of the momma duck and all of the chicks splashing and playing in the muddy water. They could not have been happier and did not give me a moments notice as I sat there watching them.
We had an awesome time at church today. I attempt to sing on the praise team every Sunday morning and I found myself getting choked up during one of the songs. One of our challenges on the praise team is that we are to help the congregation to enter into worship. Over the last two years we have slowly been building our musical talent. Once upon a time all we had was one piano and four singers which happened to be the pastor , his wife and his two daughters. Since that time we have rebuilt our sanctuary and added all new sound equipment. We now have 4 to 6 singers that sing regularly , a piano player (pastors wife), keyboard player (praise and worship leader), bass guitar (pastor), drums, congas, electric guitar and saxaphone. We also have a flute player from time to time. We also have a 48 channel sound board, personal computer, digital projectors, compressor, cd/dvd player and tape deck. We have come a LONG LONG way with regards to technology and what we can do with regards to our church services.
Despite the fact I feel more comfortable back in the sound booth taking care of technology I was recruited onto the praise team to sing. At first I was a bit reluctant to do it because I do not think that I sing well enough to be up there. The worship team leader says differently and needs some more male voices to even out the ladies so I am getting used to it. It is very different to be on the platform singing with everyone being able to watch you vs being all the way in the back not being noticed until something goes amiss with the sound or with the projector. Then everyone knows to turn around and stare at you until the problem if fixed. LOL.
Anyway, back to signing on the stage and leading others in worship. How exactly do you lead others in praise and worship? What IS that exactly? Why do we sing at church? Is it for show? One of the things that I noticed quickly is that for the members on our praise team that have been singing for a long time it seems that their singing is really sort of mechanical. I can see how that would be easy to happen. It would be easy to get caught up in the mechanics of singing the song correctly and being in time with everyone else. One of the things that I have been doing is learning how to sing the songs correctly and to get the timing down. That does not come that easy to me so I have to work at it harder than say some others who have been doing it for years. I also have to close my eyes from time to time and imagine that I am out in the congregation singing right along with them. Then I am able to put my focus on God who I am singing to and for. I am not there to perform or put on a show. We are certainly supposed to have a spirit of excellence and do the best that we can do but it is not a performance to entertain anyone.
Today I got caught up in one of the songs and found myself getting choked up and had tears in my eyes as I identified with a need in my life and felt overwhelmed by how much God does love us. It is easy for us to say we know how much God loves us and how much we love him but do we really live that truth out in our lives on a daily basis? If we really realized how much God loves us and is really in control would we continue to worry and stress out over the little things in our lives? That is what praise and worship is all about. It is making a connection between our minds and hearts through the songs and lyrics to the throne room of God. Once we really engage ourselves like that then God can touch us and heal all of the broken and hurting places.
There is nothing more touching to me than to look out at the congregation watching people as they sing and raise their hands and lift their voices and close their eyes and allow the power of God to fill their hearts with his love. It is good to see them being real with God and connecting with him through the praise and worship time. That alone inspires us to do the very best that we can so that they will not be distracted from the main purpose for our being there which is to praise God in all that we say and do.
I hope you have a very good week in all of your endeavours.
God bless
We had an awesome time at church today. I attempt to sing on the praise team every Sunday morning and I found myself getting choked up during one of the songs. One of our challenges on the praise team is that we are to help the congregation to enter into worship. Over the last two years we have slowly been building our musical talent. Once upon a time all we had was one piano and four singers which happened to be the pastor , his wife and his two daughters. Since that time we have rebuilt our sanctuary and added all new sound equipment. We now have 4 to 6 singers that sing regularly , a piano player (pastors wife), keyboard player (praise and worship leader), bass guitar (pastor), drums, congas, electric guitar and saxaphone. We also have a flute player from time to time. We also have a 48 channel sound board, personal computer, digital projectors, compressor, cd/dvd player and tape deck. We have come a LONG LONG way with regards to technology and what we can do with regards to our church services.
Despite the fact I feel more comfortable back in the sound booth taking care of technology I was recruited onto the praise team to sing. At first I was a bit reluctant to do it because I do not think that I sing well enough to be up there. The worship team leader says differently and needs some more male voices to even out the ladies so I am getting used to it. It is very different to be on the platform singing with everyone being able to watch you vs being all the way in the back not being noticed until something goes amiss with the sound or with the projector. Then everyone knows to turn around and stare at you until the problem if fixed. LOL.
Anyway, back to signing on the stage and leading others in worship. How exactly do you lead others in praise and worship? What IS that exactly? Why do we sing at church? Is it for show? One of the things that I noticed quickly is that for the members on our praise team that have been singing for a long time it seems that their singing is really sort of mechanical. I can see how that would be easy to happen. It would be easy to get caught up in the mechanics of singing the song correctly and being in time with everyone else. One of the things that I have been doing is learning how to sing the songs correctly and to get the timing down. That does not come that easy to me so I have to work at it harder than say some others who have been doing it for years. I also have to close my eyes from time to time and imagine that I am out in the congregation singing right along with them. Then I am able to put my focus on God who I am singing to and for. I am not there to perform or put on a show. We are certainly supposed to have a spirit of excellence and do the best that we can do but it is not a performance to entertain anyone.
Today I got caught up in one of the songs and found myself getting choked up and had tears in my eyes as I identified with a need in my life and felt overwhelmed by how much God does love us. It is easy for us to say we know how much God loves us and how much we love him but do we really live that truth out in our lives on a daily basis? If we really realized how much God loves us and is really in control would we continue to worry and stress out over the little things in our lives? That is what praise and worship is all about. It is making a connection between our minds and hearts through the songs and lyrics to the throne room of God. Once we really engage ourselves like that then God can touch us and heal all of the broken and hurting places.
There is nothing more touching to me than to look out at the congregation watching people as they sing and raise their hands and lift their voices and close their eyes and allow the power of God to fill their hearts with his love. It is good to see them being real with God and connecting with him through the praise and worship time. That alone inspires us to do the very best that we can so that they will not be distracted from the main purpose for our being there which is to praise God in all that we say and do.
I hope you have a very good week in all of your endeavours.
God bless
Friday, August 25, 2006
Power boat for a power lunch
It rained and rained and rained again today. The rain started in Goose Creek around 6 am and apparently just kept on going for HOURS. At 9 am I wandered out into the RAIN to go deliver reports and print outs to all of the respective departments on campus and I found that I needed a boat to get around. Downtown Charleston floods if you drop a glass of tea at high tide so you can just imagine how WET things were after it rained for HOURS.
I got lucky and caught one of the mail room clerks hopping into a golf cart and hitched a ride with him for several blocks to get where I was going. I made the trip there nice and dry but that did not happen on the way back. I had planned on buying an umbrella YESTERDAY so that I would be prepared TODAY for the eventual FLOOD that seems to happen every afternoon. Did I make good on those plans? No, of course not, I just found OTHER things to do than getting an umbrella. I made my deliveries and after about 15 minutes of waiting the downpour turned into a very light rain so I made my move. I walked to the college bookstore with plans on making good on my PLAN from yesterday to buy an umbrella. I arrived at the bookstore looking like a drowned "big foot" to find that they were SOLD OUT. Can you imagine that they would be sold out of rain coats and umbrellas?
As I was squishing around on the side walk headed back to my building I saw some young ladies standing under an awning in two segways. Those are the motorized humanoid two wheel "cart you around" thingies that are so cool. I tried to get one of them to give me a piggy back ride over to the building but they were not about to budge out of their cover. They offered me coupons for a free bagel and all I could think is that I would need 500 of those things to act as an umbrella to keep me dry.
Before I made it back over to our building I stopped at the HUNGRY COUGAR for a power lunch which consisted of one slice of pizza and one banana pudding parfait. By the time I got through with my power lunch purchase the skies had let up on the drowning routine on the ground below and I was able to squish back across the street and go into the building and head for the freezer that I sit in every day.
I am alone in my walkin freezer for now and I have 2 hours and 16 minutes before I am free again. Until then I will sit here and wait for a customer to request this that or another. I figured I might as well drivel about something so that it will give me something to do. The power lunch that I ate at 1:30 pm is kicking in and I can feel the eye lids starting to try and slam shut.
Have a good weekend, stay dry and for goodness sake please remember to bring your raincoat or umbrella.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
I got lucky and caught one of the mail room clerks hopping into a golf cart and hitched a ride with him for several blocks to get where I was going. I made the trip there nice and dry but that did not happen on the way back. I had planned on buying an umbrella YESTERDAY so that I would be prepared TODAY for the eventual FLOOD that seems to happen every afternoon. Did I make good on those plans? No, of course not, I just found OTHER things to do than getting an umbrella. I made my deliveries and after about 15 minutes of waiting the downpour turned into a very light rain so I made my move. I walked to the college bookstore with plans on making good on my PLAN from yesterday to buy an umbrella. I arrived at the bookstore looking like a drowned "big foot" to find that they were SOLD OUT. Can you imagine that they would be sold out of rain coats and umbrellas?
As I was squishing around on the side walk headed back to my building I saw some young ladies standing under an awning in two segways. Those are the motorized humanoid two wheel "cart you around" thingies that are so cool. I tried to get one of them to give me a piggy back ride over to the building but they were not about to budge out of their cover. They offered me coupons for a free bagel and all I could think is that I would need 500 of those things to act as an umbrella to keep me dry.
Before I made it back over to our building I stopped at the HUNGRY COUGAR for a power lunch which consisted of one slice of pizza and one banana pudding parfait. By the time I got through with my power lunch purchase the skies had let up on the drowning routine on the ground below and I was able to squish back across the street and go into the building and head for the freezer that I sit in every day.
I am alone in my walkin freezer for now and I have 2 hours and 16 minutes before I am free again. Until then I will sit here and wait for a customer to request this that or another. I figured I might as well drivel about something so that it will give me something to do. The power lunch that I ate at 1:30 pm is kicking in and I can feel the eye lids starting to try and slam shut.
Have a good weekend, stay dry and for goodness sake please remember to bring your raincoat or umbrella.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Denver Colorado Picture
My friend Patty doctored up this picture and got some of the shadows out of my face in this picture. She did a good job, thanks Patty. I was in Denver Colorado when my friend James took this shot.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Drama less Monday
Today the moon and stars are lined up correctly and all is well at work central. The two ladies I am working with have not tried to kill each other yet nor have they yelled at one another either. I guess you could say that the drama needle is not even quivering this morning. Thank you JESUS for that one. I am not much into drama. I love a quiet peaceful environment to work in if at all possible. I work in a server room so I have to listen to the roar of the many power supply fans that are on the other side of our make shift cubicles here at work. I can not wait for the powers to be to allocate some new space and move us computer operators out of this computer room. It will be nice for someone to be able to talk to me and say something without me going HUH? When one of my co workers says something to me they have to talk loud or repeat themselves. I sometimes just roll my chair over to their corner and listen to what they are saying.
I wonder why "computer operators" are called computer operators when it comes to using the main frame. I would think that a computer would be a COMPUTER, wouldn't you? I mean, we have thousands of Personal Computers all over the campus and in all of the buildings that administrative folks use. We call them "users" instead of computer operators. Hummmmm I guess it has to be because when you use a personal computer you are in a client server configuration (client being PC and Server being where you log on for files, email etc) and the computer operators use a dumb terminal connection (attachmate) to communicate directly with the mainframe. So, if I am a computer operator (mainframe users) and a PC user that makes me a computer operator/user person.
In three years the powers to be have decided to ditch the mainframe and port all of the openvms code to Mickeysoft and Oracle. That ought to be fun and keep all of us busier than we care to be for years to come. LOL... I have spent the last 16 years in supporting Novell & Microsoft Network Operating Systems in five different industries so being a computer operator is quite different environment for me to be in. I am on week number 4 and I am much more comfortable with openvms than what I was on day one. Luckily for me I come from the DOS 3.3 world and typing in commands is no big deal. You just have to learn what command does what, what syntax to use and the directory the data is in and the file name you want to manage.
All is back to normal in our household. The billy goat (Ginger the terrier) is in her cage, Angel (the non destructive Lab) is gaurding Kristina's room and both children are at school, Katy is at her teaching job in North Charleston and I am downtown flying my keyboard. I have my last bowling night for the Summer league tonight and I think we might be in fourth or fifth place which means no awards money. We start our Winter league on September 17th so we have three weeks to rest up and do something else on Monday night like go to the gym.
Speaking of the gym, I am feeling much better and my shoulder is sort of back to normal after over doing things on Saturday afternoon. I guess I am not 18 any more. I can not lift what I used to. That is ok though, I need to be toning and doing more cardio anyway so I can burn some fat calories. If you burn more calories than you take in then you start to lose weight. It is amazing how many calories you can eat if you do not pay attention to it.
Ok, I think I have driveled enough for today. I hope you have a good day today.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
moffittj@bellsouth.net
I wonder why "computer operators" are called computer operators when it comes to using the main frame. I would think that a computer would be a COMPUTER, wouldn't you? I mean, we have thousands of Personal Computers all over the campus and in all of the buildings that administrative folks use. We call them "users" instead of computer operators. Hummmmm I guess it has to be because when you use a personal computer you are in a client server configuration (client being PC and Server being where you log on for files, email etc) and the computer operators use a dumb terminal connection (attachmate) to communicate directly with the mainframe. So, if I am a computer operator (mainframe users) and a PC user that makes me a computer operator/user person.
In three years the powers to be have decided to ditch the mainframe and port all of the openvms code to Mickeysoft and Oracle. That ought to be fun and keep all of us busier than we care to be for years to come. LOL... I have spent the last 16 years in supporting Novell & Microsoft Network Operating Systems in five different industries so being a computer operator is quite different environment for me to be in. I am on week number 4 and I am much more comfortable with openvms than what I was on day one. Luckily for me I come from the DOS 3.3 world and typing in commands is no big deal. You just have to learn what command does what, what syntax to use and the directory the data is in and the file name you want to manage.
All is back to normal in our household. The billy goat (Ginger the terrier) is in her cage, Angel (the non destructive Lab) is gaurding Kristina's room and both children are at school, Katy is at her teaching job in North Charleston and I am downtown flying my keyboard. I have my last bowling night for the Summer league tonight and I think we might be in fourth or fifth place which means no awards money. We start our Winter league on September 17th so we have three weeks to rest up and do something else on Monday night like go to the gym.
Speaking of the gym, I am feeling much better and my shoulder is sort of back to normal after over doing things on Saturday afternoon. I guess I am not 18 any more. I can not lift what I used to. That is ok though, I need to be toning and doing more cardio anyway so I can burn some fat calories. If you burn more calories than you take in then you start to lose weight. It is amazing how many calories you can eat if you do not pay attention to it.
Ok, I think I have driveled enough for today. I hope you have a good day today.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
moffittj@bellsouth.net
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Sunday Musings
So far today has been a pretty good day. It started out at 7:30 am when my bladder awakened me to a new day. I went to bed at 1 am this morning after watching Lucky Louie on HBO. I normally do not stay up this late but this was Saturday night and I could sleep in later than normal.
Our youth at church were in charge of the service today and took care of the announcements, prayer requests and other things that normally the pastor or other adults take care of. This gave our pastor a much needed break. It seemed as if every gremlin that could show itself showed itself today during the service with regards to the sound system. We made it through the service without too many disasters. We went to lunch at Taco Hell and ate enough tacos to choke a horse. How many .49 cent tacos can one adult eat? LOL.. Well, I tried to behave myself but since I had not had any breakfast this morning I was famished.
After lunch was over we went home and I attempted to put freon in the wife's 93 Ford Escort Station Wagon. That task never was meant to happen. I think that the system is clogged because it wont take in any new freon yet the gauge shows that it is empty. I guess that is why the AC blows hot air huh? We are trying to keep from taking the car up to a garage because they already quoted us 150.00 to test for leaks and put in freon. That does not include any parts or repairs that might have to be done.
Now I am sitting in my favorite recliner thinking it is "happy nappy" time. I am so thankful that the AC works in the house and in my other car. I am wondering if there is some way that the wife and I can just use my car for us to get back and forth to work. Maybe she could take me to work early downtown and just take the car to work and then at the end of the day she could pick me up. It would mean more gasoline consumption but at least Katy would be much more comfortable. Perhaps I need to find someone that lives in my neck of the woods here in Duck Ditch and find a way to car pool with someone and share expenses.
I think I mentioned that I re injured my shoulder at the gym yesterday afternoon. It is much better now but it is not 100%. Hopefully it will be OK enough to bowl tomorrow night. Tomorrow ends the summer league and September 17th starts the winter league. Our summer league team "Not for Profit" has signed up to bowl on the Winter League. I have a whopping 139 average since I have been having some pretty horrible bowling nights in the last several weeks. I did have a whopping 143 average at one point. My bowling balls react better on wooden lanes and not synthetic ones such as the ones at the bowling center on the Weapons station. Basically speaking I throw the balls down the second arrow to the right and the ball is supposed to go long down the lane and then hook over into the head pin. I just can not seem to control when the ball starts to break so I am lucky if I even hit the head pin anywhere near the pocket. I got so frustrated last Monday that I took a house ball and just started throwing it down the middle at the head pin. I actually did much better doing that.
Happy Nappy time just caught up to me.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Drama and schedule changes
On July the 31st I started a new job in downtown Charleston. I am working in Information Technology which is probably no surprise to you. I was pleasantly surprised when a previous supervisor contacted me in the later part of July and asked me if I was available to give her a hand where she worked. When I was told that I would be working in the mainframe world I immediately told her that I did not have any experience in that part of I.T. My ex boss told me that she was sure that if anyone could learn something new quickly that I was the man for the job. So, before I know it she offers me a six month temp position and told me that it could very well turn into something more permanent. I was faced with working security 20 hours per week or get a substantial raise and work 40+ hours per week in a computer operations center. It took me all of 20 seconds to accept the position.
My contract ended in Moncks Corner when I worked as a network engineer for Systemtec out of Columbia SC. From June 23rd until the third week of July I was busier than a one armed man in a wind tunnel hanging paper trying to find a new job. My preference would have been full time with benefits but you have to walk through whatever doors are opened to you at the time. The whole month of July really messed up my schedule. I went from working 8 am to 5pm to whatever crazy hours the security company would give me. I worked mostly evenings but then wound up working some midnight shifts which really screwed up my sleep cycle.
For the last sixteen years I have worked in I.T. doing some type of pc/lan/wan/network support and most of the time the Network Operating System has been either Novell Netware or Microsoft Windows. I have always worked around the computer operators that maintain the BIG IRON mainframes. So, when I entered into this role I was already feeling like a fish out of water as I learned all the many different commands that I had to use while editing and printing and running jobs on the main frame. Open VMS is the OS of choice where I am working now and apparently it has been around a very long time.
My first two weeks were very stressful because my boss has high expectations that I will step into this role and pick up whatever skills I need very quickly so that I can be a resource for her in this department. I look back now and I remember that on the very first day I wanted to leave so many times it was not even funny. Probably the only thing that kept me there was a deep seated need for a regular paycheck that would help pay my bills and keep the toy fund alive. On top of my having to learn a completely new OS and understand the many tasks that happen on a daily basis in the Ops center I also entered into a less than perfect working environment. All I can say is that there was and still is some underlying tension between certain folks within our group. My hope and prayer is that those issues will be worked out very soon and that everyone can be a team member and we can all get our jobs done and get along while we are doing it.
Why must there be drama in the work place? I am a man working in a predominately female work environment. Usually it is the other way around however the roles have been reversed on me. The other day I was in a coworkers office and she laughed when I told her about the drama that I was having to listen to on a daily basis. This lady told me that she would much rather work with a bunch of men than with a bunch of women because the drama can be rather thick at times. I also have a friend of mine from church that works in an office with primarily women and she tells me all the time about the bickering and backstabbing ,rumor mill and drama in general. I just want to go to work and get the work done and then leave at the end of the day and forget about it all. I love technology because it allows me to solve problems. I also love technology because it changes all the time and it forces me to learn now things, like open VMS. There is not a day that I go to work that I don't learn something new and interesting.
Justin and Kristina went back to school this week at Berkeley County schools and Katy went back to her teaching job in a Charleston County school. Life as we know it is back to normal. We all scatter to the winds around 7 am each morning and then we come back together as a family unit in the late afternoon and early evening hours. Justin is in 5th grade and Kristina is in 8th grade. Thus far both children have been AB Honor role students for the last several years so I am pretty happy about that. Justin is in the gifted and talented class which means that he is taking advanced subjects of study for his age. GO KIDS GO. Get that education that you desperately need to survive in this world.
Back in May of this year I got serious about losing weight. Ok, let me correct that. I got serious about trying to do something about losing weight. Thus far I have not been very successful at that goal. I have lost ten pounds and then I will put some of it back on and lose it again and well, you get the picture. I have a 10 lb weight range that I keep taking off and putting back on. One of the things that I did accomplish was to get my blood pressure under control. Imagine that, there are benefits to regular exercise. I went from having a 140/90+ bp to 110/70 bp. That in and of itself is worth all of the exercise. I have been educating myself on counting calories and exercising. My body has been educating me about overdoing things as well. I have been using the treadmill for 20 minutes and the elliptical trainer for 20 minutes every other day and then hitting the weights. At first I was using too much weight and the trainer there told me that I needed to do less weight and more repetitions so I can tone my muscles and not build them. Muscles are heavier than fat and that was one of the things causing me to gain weight instead of lose it.
My left knee and right shoulder have been complaining to me for the last two weeks. So, thanks to the pain I have refrained from going to the gym. I finally went back to the gym today and figured out that my right shoulder does not like the bench press. As of tonight my right shoulder is not very happy with me. I am thinking it probably has something to do with my rotater cuff since it only hurts in the joint when I move it a specific way. Thus far my left knee is not hollering too much. I am going to stay away from the weights and stick to the tread mill this week. I am going to try and go early in the morning before work around 6 am. Starting over is my motto. Every day I start over learning how to eat less food, better food, less junk food and getting the right type of aerobic exercise for my heart. My focus is on living healthier more than just losing weight. If I can keep my focus right then the weight loss will come eventually. At least that is the game plan for now...
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Friday, August 11, 2006
New U.K. rules put laptops in checked baggage - Network World
New U.K. rules put laptops in checked baggage - Network World
Well, there ya have it. Thanks to the actions of some idiots who have nothing better to do with their time now we have to place the care of our delicate electronics with baggage handlers. Now, in defense of baggage handlers I am sure that their job is hard enough with the volume they deal with to have to gently handle every single piece of luggage as if there is a laptop inside. I guess they would never get the plane loaded at that rate. What that tells me is that if I am going to travel from point A to point B with my laptop and I have to check it I will be putting it into a large metal camera case that I can put egg crate padding in so that if it is dropped or shoved around roughly it will stand a better chance of survival. Anyway you cut this pie it still means extra hassle for everyone. I am glad that those 21 folks were nabbed BEFORE innocent lives were lost.
Well, there ya have it. Thanks to the actions of some idiots who have nothing better to do with their time now we have to place the care of our delicate electronics with baggage handlers. Now, in defense of baggage handlers I am sure that their job is hard enough with the volume they deal with to have to gently handle every single piece of luggage as if there is a laptop inside. I guess they would never get the plane loaded at that rate. What that tells me is that if I am going to travel from point A to point B with my laptop and I have to check it I will be putting it into a large metal camera case that I can put egg crate padding in so that if it is dropped or shoved around roughly it will stand a better chance of survival. Anyway you cut this pie it still means extra hassle for everyone. I am glad that those 21 folks were nabbed BEFORE innocent lives were lost.
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