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.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
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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