Severe Weather scares the Bajeezers outta me

I am not sure bajeezers is a real word however it sort of cleans up the original word that i dont want to put on my blog. LOL....

Saturday night I had to run downtown to fix a backup server and I noticed that between Georgetown and Myrtle Beach there were some ugly red cells haning out on radar. Since that is not anywhere near my immediate vicinity I did not give it further thought. As I drove home though I noticed that the storm was headed our way. I got home and fired up Accuweather radar on the laptop and then the weather radio issued that shrill irritating warning sound as it was gearing up for a severe weather alert in Berkeley county. Sure enough the storm I had seen earlier was headed right for us. The thing that fooled me was that the red cell was now just yellow which means it is not as severe and the chances of a tornado is almost nill. What I failed to think about was lightning. The electrical current that starts in the sky AND the earth and meets in the middle. If you are anywhere near it you are instant toast. That in and of itself is what scares the bajeezers out of me.

I gathered my family into the most central location in our doublewide trailer and settled down to pray that we would not get hit. I unplugged all the AC power cords from the computers and unplugged the Comcast cable modem and my motorola wireless switch. What I failed to do was to unplug the coaxial cable from the cable modem. Several bolts of lightning hit between our houses and scared the YOU KNOW WHAT out of Katy who screamed who in turn made me holler and say a couple of choice words. Luckily for us the children thought all of the electrical activity was COOL. Katy and I and the dogs were not too thrilled.

After the storm I plugged everything back in and my Internet access was gone. All the lights were on but the ethernet port on the back was not feeding a signal to anything. Luckily for us we are renting the modem from our cable company and Katy can get it replaced today. I also need to purchased surge protection for my cable modem coaxial port as well. In the meantime I know to unplug that cable as well.



James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Bats in the office?

I am on call for the college this weekend in case there are any problems with any of the servers. At 3:49 pm I got an sms message on my phone that one of the backup servers was not responding to the network management software. I got to the campus around 6 pm and this was an e-mail I wrote to my co workers after I brought the server back online.
_______________________________________________________________________________


I responded to the JC Long building due to Hampton2 not responding at 3:49 pm today. I was unable to ping the server nor use ILO to connect to it. I wound up having to drive over to the JC Long building to reboot the server to get it back up and operational. Once the backups were up and running I came over to the office on the 5th floor of the Bell building. It sort of looks like a scene from a scary Halloween movie when you are walking down the hallway with only the little plug in lights glowing at you. I managed to get into room 527 without anything jumping out at me.

I am sitting in my chair waiting for my computer to boot up when something catches my eye off to the left towards the door. When I looked there was nothing there. Wait , there it was again…. At first I thought it was a large moth or one of those loud flying bugs that they have in the trees near my house. I thought wrong because it turns out the would be moth was a bat and it was dive bombing me or my monitors which caused me to duck. I lost count how many times this silly bat dove into the wall while only inches from my head without ever falling onto the desk. I considered trying to capture the bat but did not have any type of box to put it in not to mention that I did not have gloves or a net to catch the little fella with. I figured we might be able to put it out in the museum box by the back elevator as a souvenir of sorts. The entertainment only lasted for a couple of minutes and I guess the bat got tired of banging its head against the wall and it made one more round of the office and flew out the door.

Can you imagine walking down the hallway late at night being guided by the tiny little lights in the hallway to have a bat fly into your unsuspecting body? Imagine the surprise for the both of you. LOL….

Other than that it is nice and quiet up here.








James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Mobil Blogging

If you are subscribed to my VOX blog you can tell I have thoroughly enjoyed having the ability to do some mobile blogging or moblogging in the last several weeks with my Blackberry Pearl.  I love the ability to take pictures while I am running around doing this and that and  I can share them with you on the fly by just sending them via e-mail to my Vox blog at http://chiefpropellerhead.vox.com. 

I guess that you can tell that I  am sort of fond of VW Beetles and that I take a LOT of pictures of that particular brand of car.  That mostly has to do with the fact that my friend "zoom zoom" owns one and every time I see one it reminds me of hers.  When Katy and I are out together we play punchbug when we see a VW Beetle going down the road or parked somewhere. 

I also like to take pictures of pretty stuff in nature like flowers and wildlife.   I have been able to take some pictures of flowers at the College of Charleston where I work and I even got some pictures of a hawk that found a squirrel for lunch.  The only problem with taking pictures of wildlife is that you have to get close enough to get a good picture with the telephone on my blackberry.  The telephone camera does have a 4x digital zoom but that only does good for relatively close shots.  I have a DVR that has a very nice digital camera however it is much bulkier than my telephone to carry around and so that means most of the time when I see something I want to snap a picture of I wind up using the phone. 

The summer is drawing to a close and before we know it the kids will be going back to school.  Kristina will be starting high school in the 9th grade and Justin in the 6th grade in middle school.  As much as I love the dear children and I am sure as much as  they love me I think Katy and I are ready for some separation during the day.  Katy has been bonding with the children this summer since she is in between teaching jobs and  I think they are driving her batty.

I am into my 6th week of exercise and trying to lose some weight.  I lost 7 lbs immediately and then put 2 of them back on.  I have been going to the gym every other day and spending 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer and getting a good solid aerobic workout.  I then go downstairs to the weight machines and do repetitions with light weights.   I want to tone what muscle I have but I do not want to bulk up since muscle weighs more than fat.  At least that is what I have been told. I am hoping that part of this plateu with the weight is my converting fat cells to muscle cells.  I have been attempting to keep my calories down to below 2000 every day.  When I am at work I can stay busy and do real well with my calorie intake during breakfast and lunch.  At night time I find myself struggling a bit with wanting to snack.  I have a bowl of sun flower seeds next to my recliner and when I get the urge to stick something in my head I start eating those.  

The other day someone told me that they have not seen any really fat old people.  That got my attention and I decided that I have between the ages of 45 and 50 to get this excess blubber off of me and keep it off.  I have been looking around for some overweight OLD people and I have not seen anyone that fits that description.  I guess that means that that category of people do not exist thanks to either heart attacks for strokes.  That is what is in my immediate future if I do not get serious about this weight problem folks.  I can no longer use the excuse that I am not working out because I can not find anyone that will motivate me.  If I can not motivate myself to take better care of myself then who in the world would be more motivated than I ?  I told my doctor the other day that I was going to either lose weight or die trying.  I laughed when I said it to him but I am dead serious.  

Thus far  the benefits of gettng more exercise have been good.  I can sleep better at night when I go to bed.  I have more energy during the day and I can handle stress better at work.    Even though I have not lost a lot of weight yet I still feel better about myself knowing that I am taking posession of the problem and taking action on my own.  My self confidence is a little bit  higher knowing that I am not giving in to be slothful and lethargic.  I know that I did not get this weight on over night and so it wont come off overnight as well. My goal is to be faithful to going to the gym and walking in my neighborhood and I believe that in the long run my metabolism will start to burn the extra calories and allow the weight to start dropping off.  My goal is to lose one or two pounds per week if possible. 

A walk through the neighborhood

James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Through the fear onward to battle and victory.

I gained an EXTRA five pounds on vacation. I am here to tell you that I cannot afford an extra OUNCE. In some ways this was a good thing in that it pushed me over the edge of complacency and lethargy into purposeful motion. I looked at the scales for several moments and said enough is enough. It is time for fat boy to get off the scales and determine in his heart to do something about this other than be depressed and feeling sorry for himself. If you are not overweight or struggle with over eating then you probably don't have a clue about the struggles folks can have.

If you will, go with me for a moment. One of the problems with being overweight is that your "self image" goes down the tubes. Not only do you not like how you look to yourself but you feel as if other people also do not like the way you look. I realize that this is probably not the case and that I am projecting my poor self image off onto others and assuming more than I should. Along with the poor self image comes the problem with clothing. I am constantly looking for clothes that will HIDE the fact that I am horribly overweight. One of the best ways for me to do that is to wear larger shirts on the outside of my pants. That way when I sit down the Good Year Blimp that hangs around my waist won't come popping out at someone.

Someone said something the other day that caught my attention. They told me that they had never remembered seeing old fat people. When I thought about it the thought rang true. I have not seen any older fat people either. That leads me to believe that most if not all fat people (me) don't live to a ripe old age. My self preservation kicked in and started to bug me enough for me to think about it. Luckily for me I have some very good friends that are really my friends. They are true friends because they take the time to look beyond the blubber and see me for who I really am. They do not judge me because I am overweight. My true friends also encourage me to do something about my problem and give me some tips on how to do it.

Through the fear onward to battle and victory is my battle cry! The fear is the thought of not being able to get beyond the 20 lb range that I seem to be able to lose and not get beyond. I am tired of not being able to get beyond that limit. I am reminded by a good friend that you cannot eat an elephant in one sitting. You have to eat the elephant one bite at a time. You also can not eat that same elephant in one day either. You have to take one day at a time and just do what you can. Before you know it the elephant will get smaller and smaller. Before you know it this elephant will start to look like a donkey instead of an elephant. I think you get the point. All I can do is what I can do today and I cannot worry about what people think about me or what might happen tomorrow.

Last week I went back to the local recreation center and I renewed my yearly membership and reacquainted myself with the aerobics equipment upstairs. My determination and drive to do something to help myself has rewarded me with the loss of seven unwanted pounds. That means that I have had to keep monitoring my calorie intake and try to keep it under 2000 calories. That also means that I have had to go to the gym several days in a row even when I did not feel like it. My ultimate goal is to get into the habit of going to the gym every other day. I want my life to be something different. I want my lifestyle to change to the point that I can truly enjoy it and do some of the things that I can no longer do but used to.

The positive side to weight loss is energy gain. I do not feel like bouncing up the steps at work just yet but I feel like I have more than enough energy to get where I need to go on campus. Thanks to the sweltering heat here in Charleston I have a new problem and it is called heat and humidity. Luckily for me I have an air conditioned cage (office) on the fifth floor of the Bell South building so I can work in comfort. My short term goal is to lose atleast one or two pound per week and I think that I should be able to meet that goal. My next goal will be to fit into some of the pants that have been hanging in my closet for way too long gathering dust.

Fourth of July Fireworks

James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Camp Happy Days Pictures 2007

James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Know what to do before you go offshore fishing

What was supposed to be a relaxing day on the ocean turned out to be the day from hell. This day started out at 5:30 am when my alarm clock went off and I sprang into life. Anyone will tell you that I never "spring into life" before 9 am in the morning. Yes, I may be physically at work at this time but that does not mean there are signs of life nor is there a spring in my step. I arrived at Shem Creek to meet an friend who invited me to go out for an off shore fishing expedition.

The act of actually meeting with my friend was the only nice thing that happened during this 12 hour fiasco. The tickets were purchased and the boat captain gave out his instructions which included directing our attention to a white piece of paper with some instructions on it. The first sentence thanked us for booking our seat on the Thunderstar for a "relaxing day on the ocean". I keep coming back to that statement because something went horribly wrong which means that relaxing day on the ocean which lasted 12 hours wound up being the most miserable day I have had in a very long time. I must state for the record that neither the captain of the Thunderstar nor the crew or company is directly responsible for how my day turned out.

I have always heard that 20/20 vision always happens after the fact and true to form I now have some 20/20 advice for those of you that might consider a relaxing day on the ocean. The first thing you should do before you agree to going on the boat trip is to inform the inviter that you would love to enjoy a relaxing day on the ocean but that you can not commit to attending this function until you review the weather reports the evening before and on the morning of the event. Last night I thought of the possibility of getting sick and wanted to chicken out of the event but to save face and not to offend my friend I accepted the offer. The only thing I forgot to do was to review the weather reports.

The second thing that I would like to share about this fishing expedition is that it is important to wear the proper clothing to fit the weather at the time of your departure. Today was humid and raining slightly. I showed up at the marina in shorts a t-shirt and tennis shoes. The problem is that I assumed (remember I forgot to watch the weather report earlier) that the rain was only going to be onshore and that after we arrived at our destination the sun would come out to greet us and the rain would stop. Not only did the rain not stop it got worse as the day progressed and the winds kicked up making the temperature cooler and the waves higher. I think my friend made the same assumption because when I asked him if I should bring my rain coat he told me that he thought it would be unnecessary.

The third thing I would like to share about my lack of being informed about this event is that it is very important to link the current weather conditions at the departure site and the destination with how the boat ride could be affected. Because I misjudged the weather I found myself sitting on the boat in the passenger cabin having my teeth rattling in my head. Not only was the boat ride very rough but the cabin was freezing cold. So, I was able to enjoy the cold, the boat smashing through high waves dislocating my stomach every time it hit bottom and my teeth rattling around in my head. I think that we saw several 8 and 12 foot waves both on our way to our fishing hole but also coming back. Imagine yourself sitting in a tin can and projecting yourself at 25 miles per hour over the top of one of those waves and crashing into the trough at the bottom over and over again for the 3 hour boat ride.

The fourth thing that I would like to share with you is that the ingredients listed above will make for a very difficult and uncomfortable boat ride. I also would remind you that there are two different types of folks that will be with you on this expedition. There were the regulars who were not affected whatsoever by the weather or the boat ride and there were people like me who were green around the gills thanks to the sea sickness that set in immediately. To their credit the boat mates walked around and gave those of us that were sick some advice on how to overcome sea sickness and they did it in such a way that we did not feel like children or idiots. Some of the regulars on the other hand felt it necessary to sit around and mimic the sound affects of those folks who were having a hard time keeping anything in their stomachs.

This is my third trip on an offshore fishing expedition in the last six years. The last two were very enjoyable but that is because the weather was much nicer. Since I was a newbie at this sort of thing my stomach was still queasy but I managed to keep it under control. To me the lesson that needs to be learned here is that just because you can pay for the boat ride does not mean that you should not do your homework. There are lots of things that need to be considered before you engage in this type of activity.

In summary do the following things in preparation

1. Check the weather forecast for onshore and offshore before you go to sleep
   
2. Check the weather in the morning for onshore and offshore before you leave for the marina
   
3. Take rain gear , warm ups, shorts and a change of clothes if you don't want to stay wet and miserable on the ride back in to shore
   
4. Take Dramamine before you get on the boat
   
5. Try to get outside and put your eyes on the horizon when at all possible to help with the queasiness
   
6. Verify for yourself where the life rafts and life jackets are located and ask a boat mate if need be. Don't just assume that someone else has loaded them on the boat. The last surprise anyone needs is when there is an emergency and there is not enough gear on board.
   

   
    

 

 

Empty nest for a week

Katy and I put the kids on the bus for Camp Happy Days this morning around 10:30 am. We are now free for the week until next Saturday morning when they return with more junk than they took. Katy and I went out for brunch around 11 am and then decided to go catch a movie. We went to see the new Bruce Willis movie called Live Free or Die Hard. Oh my gosh, if you have a pace maker you might not go see this film. This film is just like the rest of his movies with TONS of non stop action. I won't ruin it for those of you that have not seen it yet but if you are a geek and you love action flicks then this is the movie for you to see. On a scale of one to ten I give it a resounding TEN.

After the movie we went over to Sandpiper Lanes so I could bowl a practice game and see if my thumb is up to more bowling. I managed to pick up the ball four times and throw it down the alley. My thumb sent messages to my brain promising me lots of pain if I were to continue down that path. I got the message loud and clear and put my bowling gear away for the summer. I am not too happy about this turn of events. There are very few sports that I can participate in and bowling is one of them. There are only four or five weeks left for the summer leagues so I guess I am out with this thumb for the duration. Someone did tell me that it would take 5 to 7 weeks for this thing to finally heal.

It looks like we will spend part of my vacation time painting the house and replacing some carpeting that got ruined thanks to the darn mutts. I told Katy that if the dogs decided to do their business on the new carpeting that I would go borrow the neighbors gun and put them out of their misery. As you can imagine that went over like a lead balloon. I was threatening harm against her hairy loved ones and placing myself in danger of her wrath. Katy was telling me of one of our church friends who lives in a smaller house than what we are in and she has 21 animals. Can you imagine having 21 animals to tend to every single day? Don't get me wrong, I love my Angel, KC and Ginger but even they are a bit much when it comes to upkeep and feeding etc.

We came home this afternoon and got comfortable in our recliners with the intent of catching a few winks. The rain was coming down and the temperature was dropping a bit so It was a wonderful time to take a nap. I started to hear what I thought was a tapping noise like we had a leak in the house. Upon further investigation we discovered that the UPS was clicking and making strange noises. The next thing I know I hear voices outside and someone was calling out for our next door neighbor. I went outside to find several of my neighbors telling me that my next door neighbor's air compressor to the AC unit was arcing like it had some sort of short. We managed to get the AC turned off and left our neighbor a message about the problem and called the landlord. By this time I am having flash backs to the recent Memorial Day weekend fire that we had across the street.

Crack of Dawn in Duck Ditch

Once again I am up at the crack of dawn. I went to bed around 12:30 am and my bladder woke me up around 5:45 am. I swear to you that my bladder must be the size of a pea now. I am officially on vacation for the next 9 days. What in the world am I going to do with all of that free time? It has been a very long time since I took a real vacation. The last time was in 1999 when our family went to Branson Missouri to visit Hersholt Ford and his wife. Hersholt was a bi vocational pastor at a Baptist church and he sold time shares during the week to help make ends meet. Hersholt and his wife are such nice folks and I met them on the Internet back during the Jesus Connect days.

We were going to jet off to Denver Colorado to hang out with the Carrberry clan. Thanks to budgeting constraints and our desire to not be foolish we decided to save that 1000.00 plane fare and pay bills with it instead. What in the world has gotten into me as of lately? Pay bills instead of going to have fun with friends? Instead of going to Denver to visit our snow bunny friends we will find other things to do here close to home. We may even go to Myrtle Beach and see some of the shows at Carolina Opry and Dixie Stampede. We are taking the kids to the Camp Happy Days bus around 10:30 am Sunday morning and then we are empty nesters until the following Saturday morning. We spent most of the day yesterday running from one Goodwill to another finding some clothes that would fit the kids. They are growing faster than Jack can climb the beanstalk. You would think we are feeding them some sort of growth pills or something. We found a ton of clothes for both kids for around 114.00 and those same clothes purchased new at retail would have cost us over 500.00.

Kristina is like her dad in several respects. Kristina loves the Internet access she has here at home and she is a shutterbug just like me. We had gotten Kristina a cheap digital camera for Christmas but it was so cheap it was pretty much worthless. Kristina has been pleading for us to get her a new digital camera that she could take to camp this year. We went to Wal-Mart and I looked at all the cameras on display and wound up with the Sony DSC series camera. I have an old Sony digital camera that I have had for YEARS that still works. The only problem with it is that you cannot take the pictures off of it because the serial cable interface no longer works. Kristina loves her new digital camera and she darn near wore out the flash last night taking pictures on the porch and in the yard. I just hope she takes some decent photos while at Camp Happy Days that we can share with you.

Since I am blogging again you can imagine that my busted up right thumb is feeling much better after two weeks of some misery. The first four days was much worse than the others. I had to take pain killers at night so I could sleep. This week has been much better. I guess that I am waiting for the thumb nail to finally fall off which will be totally weird. When I think about this event my brain is saying to me, "You are going to just let one of your body parts just fall off and do nothing about it?" Yes , thanks to being an air head and closing the truck door on my thumb I will probably lose the nail. At least I did not break the thumb which is what I thought had happened at first. I am not happy that my bowling for the summer has been greatly impacted. I am hoping to return to bowling next Thursday. I think I should be able to hold on to the bowling ball by then.

Old man winter has long since packed his bags and headed north for the summer as the temperatures and my light bills have been steadily on the rise. I have the thermostat set on 76 degrees and it runs non stop most days. When it is 99 degrees or hotter outside 76 feels pretty darn good. We tried the "lets just be miserable and leave it off routine" but that did not last very long. I figure if we are going to work and pay bills we might as well live in comfort and just pay the light bill.

I am finally getting sleepy enough to take a nap so I am going to close this out for now. Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe.

Ouchie

I think that the earth has stopped rotating on its axis. I say this because Katy has been out blogging me for the last week. Is that even possible? Katy went from being silent on her blog for months and now I can not tear her away from the keyboard.

Last Monday was sad for several reasons. One reason is because we said our final goodbyes to a dear church member and because of the nine firefighters that died while fighting a blaze at a furniture store in West Ashley. To make matters worse I closed the truck door on my right thumb. For the last four days I have been crippled with regards to my typing ability and not being able to go bowling. That does not mean that I stayed away from the Internet alltogether though. I would have to have both hands in a cast and be completely bedridden for that to happen. I am not used to hitting the space bar with my left hand so that has been sort of weird. We need to leave and go get the kids from the bus since they have been on a two day outting to Carowinds in NC. There will be no peace and quiet in the house for us tonight. hahahahahahah








James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

In loving memory of Chris Teasley

On Monday June 18th we said our final good bye to Chris Teasley. Chris was survived by his wife Sherry and son Wesley and his mother. Chris was the praise and worship leader at Grace Fellowship Church for the last several years and it was during this time that I got to know him. I was not super close to Chris but I know that he loved Jesus and his family. I also saw that Chris loved music and was quite talented when it came to playing the keyboard. Chris brought a new level of experience and expertise to our praise and worship team. Chris was a fun person to be around and he passed on his love for music to his son Wesley. Chris struggled with his health and had a chronic heart condition that made life difficult at times. Even when Chris did not feel good he would come to church and play the keyboard anyway. Because Chris was a believer in Christ we know now that his suffering is over. Chris is in a better place and we will see him again soon. The bible says to be absent in the body is to be present with Christ and so we know that is where our friend and brother is at today. We love you and miss you Chris!!

Please say a prayer for Sherry, Wesley, mom and friends during this time of sorrow. Thanks


James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Memorial Day Fire on Mapleridge Drive

Here I sit listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the roof of our tin box. We have a storm front blowing through the low country and luckily for me all it is doing is just dropping some much needed rain on our sun baked land. It has been in the upper 90's for the last week or two and we are several inches below where we were this time last year with regards to rain fall.

The last time I wrote in my blog I posted a video of the house fire across the street from me on May the 27^th which was Memorial day. Two trailers are totally damaged, a shed is destroyed and the lives of five people were disrupted. I am happy to report that all of the parties involved were able to find a place to stay. One family is staying next to me in a small trailer that has been vacant now for some time. My landlord, who has a heart of gold, was nice enough to let these folks move in so they would have a place to stay.

It remains to be seen if anything will be done to challenge the actions of the rural fire department that arrived on the scene and did a poor job of containing the blaze. I realize that it is very easy for me and others to be arm chair judges of how or why the firefighters did what they did. To be fair the fire did not spread any further than it did. Part of that was because of the firefighters and what they were doing with only one fire hose and partly because of what the neighbors did to pitch in and try to keep small amounts of water on the second trailer to keep it from being fully engulfed in flames.

One of the renters pleaded with the fire chief on the scene to have someone go put some water on the back of her trailer so it would not wind up a total loss like the first one. From what the lady told us the Fire Chief cursed her out and told her to get out of the way or face some jail time. From what I could tell this lady was a bit hysterical but I guess if all my belongings were going up in smoke I would have been a little less than calm on that day too. Was it necessary for the Fire Chief of this rural fire department to be this rude and uncaring? I wonder if they are like that at all the fires that they go to or were they reserving that kind of treatment to us rednecks that live in trailers at the end of Mapleridge drive?

When the fire fighters were being pleaded with to put some water on the secondary fire (second trailer) they were reported as saying that they could not touch that fire because it had not been called in yet. In other words they were responding to a house fire at a specific address and that is what they were supposed to fight no matter how much damage was happening right next door to them. To me that does not seem very logical. When they arrived the shed was 100% gone and the first trailer was a good 90% gone as well. At what point do they consider those two structures a total loss and try to keep it from spreading to other houses right next to them? I guess that is a question for the experts.

Something else that sort of baffles us is that there were five fire trucks but only one hose being used. We were told that because the fire hydrant was on Old Back River that they could only fill up one fire truck at a time and then bring it down to the bottom of the hill and use it to fight the fire. Does that mean that all of the trucks that were responding were empty and had no water? The fire trucks were there for at least two hours. I am not sure I understand why truck number one could fight the fire with hose number one and then truck number two be filling with water and then bring that truck down the hill and have two hoses engaged on the fire. What about the other two trucks that were sitting up at the top of the hill on the asphalt running their flashing lights and engines but not being engaged to fight the fire? Was it that there was only room for one fire truck on our small street and that is why the other units stayed on the asphalt? If that is the case then I don't understand why the second and third truck did not run a hose from their trucks down to the fire. There were plenty of fire fighters physically on the scene to handle more than one fire hose.

I am hoping that the events of May 27^th will come into question so that whatever lessons need to be learned will be learned. Surely that fire was not the only fire that these fire fighters have encountered and surely not every single fire has a fire hydrant conveniently located at the location where the fire is. I cannot help but believe that these men and women have been given professional training on how to fight fires. From what I could see on the afternoon of May 27^th I am wondering how much training has been given or if it is adequate. I think that the only thing that saved the entire end of Mapleridge drive from going up in flames was that the neighbors pitched in to help where the firefighters could not or would not and we did not have any high winds that day. Had there been high winds or if this had happened when not many people were around the losses could have been much worse.

Trailer Fire May 27 2007 Goose Creek SC

Watch the video

The fire took place near 159 Mapleridge Drive at approximately 3:15 pm Sunday afternoon.  Goose Creek Rural Voluntary Fire Dept responded.  Goose Creek Fire Dept responded at approximately 4 pm.  No one was hurt in the blaze that burned up one trailer and one shed and partial of another trailer. 

Tags: trailer, fire, goose, creek, sc

Memorial day to remember

Guess what we did this afternoon? At approximately 3:15 or 3:30 I heard a short siren outside and shouting voices. Come to find out one of our neighbors trailer and shed burned to the ground. The rumor is that the shed caught fire first which was what I saw and then the wind blew the fire into the woods and trailer next to it. There is a couple with a new born baby that did get out in time. The shed and trailer however are gone. My friend Chuck and I had to hook up a couple of water hoses to keep one of the trailers near us from catching on fire. The roof was on fire and the back of it near a propane bottle. We kept the propane bottle soaked and the side of the trailer we could reach. Apparently the only water the fire trucks could use was the water they pumped into their tanks at the end of Mapleridge drive. That means all they had was one truck and one hose to handle three buildings that were on fire. How special is that? The back bedroom to our neighbors house burned up but they saved the rest of the trailer. They disconnected the power cables to both trailers and then cut the power back on just a few moments ago. Yes, believe it or not, I drug out the Digital Video camera and caught 30 minutes of the fiasco on a DVD RAM. The rural fire dept was the one who responded first and then finally Goose Creek Fire Dept was called in. All I can say is I am glad that no one was injured other than maybe some smoke inhalation and it appears that everyone involved will have a place to stay for the interim.



James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

Internet Separation Anxiety

I found myself suffering from TSA and ISA this weekend while at lunch with my wife celebrating her birthday two days early. Katy celebrates her 48^th birthday on Monday but since we are both working tomorrow we celebrate it on the weekend before. I asked Katy what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said she wanted to go to Red Lobster because they had 30 shrimp for 12.99 plus tax. So, off we go to Red Lobster on Mall Drive.

We are sitting in Red Lobster and Katy and I had been running errands for several hours when the TSA and ISA set in. TSA stands for Toy Separation Anxiety and ISA stands for Internet Separation Anxiety. It is bad enough to suffer from one or the other but when they come together in tandem it can cause a grown man to twitch like a baby missing its pacifier. Katy noticed the beginning of the symptoms and asked me if I would be ok with my Internet connection and I said I would do my best. The waitress had been serving us our appetizer and drinks and so I figured I would ask her if there was an available WiFi connection at the restaurant. When I asked her this the young lady rolled her eyes and laughed at me. The waitress said, "does this look like a hotel to you". At this point I rolled my eyes and told her , "no this does not look like a hotel however it would be nice if the restaurant would cater to TSA and ISA victims such as me." It would make things much easier for me when the food arrived. After all the Internet Access connection IS more important when the symptoms start to show.

While we were waiting on our food and I was contemplating the actuality that this restaurant actually did not have Wi-Fi and really did not seem to be aware of the small group of people like me who really appreciate the presence of Internet connectivity. I saw another waitress and asked her if they had Wi-Fi available and she said HUH? This young lady who could not have been more than 21 years old had no clue what Wi-Fi or Internet wireless access was. I asked her if she had a computer at home or if she got on the Internet and she just gave me a blank stare. Before you know it our original waitress comes back to the table and tells me that the manager advises her that they indeed have Wi-Fi Internet access and that it was installed that Monday. Needless to say I was out of the front door and on the way to my SUV to fetch the toy bag with all of my Internet connection gizmos.

I got back to the table as the food arrived and I fired up the laptop which luckily had a fully charged battery. I fired up the laptop and plugged in the wireless card so I could find any available connections. I did find a wireless connection however the SSID was not being broadcast which means when I tried to connect to the security enabled WAP I was asked for the SSID and the Pass Phrase. I managed to find out that the SSID was Linksys however I never figured out the password. Whoever set up the Wireless network had the good sense to change the default password which is a good thing for the business and bad for me. You would think that the manager on duty would be aware of what the connection settings for the Wi-Fi network would be but she was not. Once again I was like a baby sitting on the floor watching a rattle that was just out of my reach. The manager came over with one of her assistants and told me that it must be a problem with my computer because they had a laptop that connects just fine. I tried to explain to the assistant that you only have to enter the SSID Name and Password one time and then the Wireless configuration program could save those settings for any subsequent connections. I might as well have been explaining how to do brain surgery on a chimp for the response I got. The response I got was, just pull out your wireless card, that must be the problem, mine does not have one. At that point I politely thanked them for trying to assist me and quietly turned off the laptop and focused on the shrimp in front of me.

I am thinking that what has happened is that the corporate office installed a POS system in the restaurant and part of that functionality is a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet. They probably are not even going to offer free Wi-Fi to their customers and therefore that is why it is locked down. What is funny is that they barely even knew it was there or how to access it. I am hoping that more and more restaurants will adopt Wi-Fi for their customers that would love to jump online and check their e-mail or check on movie times or buy tickets online. Another example of wanting to get online would be if we are dining in a restaurant and there is a storm approaching. I might want to get on a website that has weather radar to see where the storm is coming from and where it is going. How about being able to check on one of your EBay auctions you are bidding on? There are many other examples of what a customer might want to do.

Katy and I finished our lunch at Red Lobster and headed out to go downtown to the Tall Ships exhibit in downtown Charleston. By the time we got downtown there were more people down town than I cared to fight with. So, we decided to go to the water front park and go for a walk. I also wanted to find out if I could actually get connected to the Radius Network which is supposed to be a MESH Wi-Fi network downtown Charleston. The only problem is I never found the RADIUS network. I guess it could have been down for maintenance on Saturday. During the week when I am at Calhoun and St Phillip street using my Pocket PC the only connection I can connect to is the Radius connection because there are so many of them. The only problem with the Pocket PC and the web browser is that it does not recognize the java or active x script that allows you to log on to the Radius network. During our drive around Waterfront Park and the adjoining streets in down town I found plenty of unsecure Wi-Fi connections but not the Radius network. I guess I will have to try and connect sometime this week during lunch when I can take my laptop with me.

Today was a typical Sunday in that we went to church, lunch and then did what most families do on Sunday afternoon. Well, I guess I am not that normal so after lunch Katy took Kristina to Wal-Mart for groceries and Justin and I curled up in front of our LCD monitors to do what we love to do the most, get on the Internet. Justin is hopelessly addicted to Runes cape along with the neighborhood kids that have access and I found out today that our new feline is hopelessly addicted to chasing the mouse pointer on my monitor. I sat here for about 15 minutes this afternoon moving the mouse pointer around and watching KC the kitten pawing at it and trying to eat it off of the screen. I almost split a gut laughing at the silly cat. I will have to get some video of her going after the mouse pointer and upload it to Google Videos so that you can see it and laugh too.

KC taking a nap

 

Here is another picture of KC taking a nap by the keyboard.

KC the cat

 
Katy had to do some lesson plans for the next couple of weeks at school. KC decided he would curl up in front of the monitor and keyboard and keep Katy company. He is such a loving and playful feline.

Open Windows

As I write these blog posts I am peering through an open window in time and reflecting upon life. There are times when I reflect upon the things that happen to me or to my family and friends. Sometime I am directly involved in the activities and then there are times when I am a casual observer standing off to the side taking it all in. I told a friend of mine just last night that I love to write when I am inspired to write. I told this friend that I find it difficult to just write one paragraph and then stop. There are days that go by that things happen but it is not enough for me to blog about it. I like to allow several days to go by and then I can have a collection of thoughts to share with you as I peer through those windows of time where I have experienced life and seen how my friends and family are affected as well.
Just yesterday I was reminded that there are still good honest people that are living in this world with me. I was bowling over at Sandpiper Lanes to pass the time and to get in some much needed practice. I spent the time bowling and then when it was time to leave I had gone out to the truck hauling the 30 lbs worth of bowling equipment and decided that it would be a good idea to get a locker since that is the only place I will be bowling now.
I rented the locker and at some point before I left I discovered that I had misplaced my wallet. The search was on as I back tracked my steps to the different locations to see if I could find the wallet. The man behind the counter got a phone call from a customer when I was outside in the truck looking through it and they had found my wallet out in the parking lot. The customer had found the wallet and instead of coming back inside he drove home and tried to find my phone number in the directory. My number has always been unpublished so he was not able to find me that way. His wife told him that he should call the bowling alley which he did and then he drove back and gave my wallet back. While I was waiting I was having visions of someone helping themselves to a free tank of gasoline via my debit card or credit card. I was agonizing over how much of a moron I had been to lose my wallet in the first place.
The important point to that little drama is that an honest person found my wallet and returned it to me unharmed. Just when we think that we are living in a world full of bad people something like this happens to renew our hope in humanity. I wish that I would have remembered who the man was or what the name of the company was on the side of his truck so I could thank him personally. My hat is off to you my dear sir and I want to say thanks for doing the right thing and bring my wallet back to me.
While I was out bowling and losing my wallet my wife was out playing chauffeur to my daughter and her four teenage girlfriends as they were shopping for a prom dress. Katy and I got to watch our princess turn 15 this weekend and my son 12. The month of May is particularly difficult on the budget because we have three birthdays and a wedding anniversary to plan for. The last couple of years have been particularly interesting as I have watched my “alien” daughter go from the age of 12 to the age of 15. It seems as if they older she has gotten the more independent and secluded she has become. One day my daughter was a typical 10 year old girl who was happy go lucky for the most part doing her thing and interacting with her family somewhat and then she turns into this alien being that I have never met before. One day I looked at my wife and said, honey where did the alien come from? Not only have I not gotten a manual on how to raise my children through the teenage years but I also have not gotten anything on how to relate to a female alien at the age of 14. I am happy to say that the alien daughter seems to have grown through the seclusion stage and is now making her presence known more. The other day my princess came up to me out of the clear blue and said, “Daddy when you get paid next will you buy me a prom dress?” I have to tell you that I almost fell out of my recliner. I cannot tell you how many times I have told both of my children that it would make me very happy if they would interrupt me when they need something. Most of the time they just go talk to their mother and leave me alone. I told Kristina that there is something special between a father and his daughter and that if she was careful that she could wrap me around her little finger pretty easy. I told her that all she has to do is make more of an effort to include me in her day to day activities. I do not expect my children to greet me like Ginger does. Ginger is one of the family pets and for some unknown reason she loves me like there is no tomorrow.
Unlike most men I am not the strong silent type. I thrive on human contact and verbal interaction with other humans. I love to be the communicator. There is nothing more enjoyable to me than to sit down and have a deep meaningful conversation with someone whether it is one on one or via Instant Messenger on the Internet. I have also been known to write letters to my pen pal friend in Texas and numerous e-mails to my friends around the world. I like to open up a portal into my world and allow folks to peer in and see what is going on. I also like to be given the opportunity to do the same with others but most of the time that does not happen too often. Most folks like to keep things really simple and superficial.
This week Kristina will be going to her 8th grade prom and I will have to figure out how I can become part of the crowd so I can keep a fatherly eye on her and the BOYS without being too obvious. I wonder if there will be some sort of observation deck in the gym or wherever the dance will be held that has a two way mirror for parents to watch from a distance. Will this observation deck be equipped with small portals for the tranquilizer guns that we dads will be carrying just in case some boy gets too close to our daughters? There is something about knowing that she is growing up and will be exposed to the dangers of the world and I won’t be included in the activities. Before I know it Kristina will be getting a drivers permit and going to her senior prom in high school. Between now and then I am expecting that she will start to admit to liking the boys and wanting to have more and more to do with them which will include dragging them home to meet ma and pa kettle and asking for permission for the boys to take her out on a date.
Game plan A is that Kristina won’t go out on a date by herself until she is 25 years old. Game plan B should that fail is that I will use the Dodge Durango as a dual purposed tool. Kristina can get experience driving with her learning permit at the same time that her date is in the back seat two rows behind me and I am in the passenger seat next to her. That seems to be a very comfortable arrangement. Kristina gets to drive and have her date at the same time.
Justin “Bam Bam” Moffitt turned 12 years old just today. The day before he turned 12 he copped an attitude because his darling sister got her prom dress and new shoes and he was afraid that all the money was gone and he was not getting what he wanted at Game Stop. Being the communicator of the two I engaged Bam Bam in a conversation about his expectations. I told him that no father wants to deny his children what they want within reason especially on his birthday. However there are things that happen in life which qualify as reality that keeps dads and moms from fulfilling every want that a child might have. The reality of our situation is that bills have to come first. Not too long ago I would have probably said to heck with the bills and I would have just given in to the pleadings of the kids and gotten them what they wanted. Then I would have had to face the music of the consequences for not paying my bills on time. I explained to Justin that his expectation of what he wanted to get for his birthday and what I was able to provide might not be reality.
All in all the kids had a decent birthday weekend. It could have been better but then again it certainly could have been much worse. As a father I feel a bit better knowing that it turned out better than I had expected.
On May 12th Katy and I will have our 17th wedding anniversary and on the 21st of May Katy will turn 48. Someone special to me is creeping up on the BIG 50 mark. I wonder if gizmo will go from being considered OLD by the children to ANCIENT. LOL… That is ok honey I am not too far behind you. I am so fortunate to have you as my friend, wife and mother of my children. You are such a blessing to all of us. I pray that we are together for another 17 years.






James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net

esnips

My friend zoom zoom told me the other day that I had a TON of hits on my esnips page. I was like , say do what? Sure enough, I have had a lot of hits on this page and some comments were made. Guess what folks? When you change ISP's and your e-mail changes you can NOT change your e-mail address on esnips. Sigh.... So, I finally revisited my esnips account and realized how much I did miss it. I do have a lot of stuff on here. However, I am working with tech support to try and resolve this.

I was told the solution was to create a new site with my new email address. Then share ALL of my folders on this site have to be shared and then I have to invite this site over to the new site and PRESTO somehow all the data can be moved. It sound easy, it smells easy, it tastes easy but it does not appear to be as easy as they told me. LOL... I have everything shared on this site but I have no clue how to invite this site to visit my new site. I only see a way to invite a PERSON via their email account and if I do that then guess what. My old email account will not respond and if it does it will be because some other human has access to it on Bellsouth. I dont want to do that.



The other problem I have on my new site with the CORRECT email address is that I can NOT create a new folder. I do not care how I try to do it, I can not create a new folder. That means that the new site is all but useless. Anyone need a boat anchor? Ok, maybe it is too light to do that.



Now on to the OTHER issue I am dealing with. I tried to install the esnips toolbar add on to my laptop which is running Vista Ultimate and my Dell workstation at work which is running Vista Business. Guess what folks, it does not work with a flip... I know, esnips has never said that their product would work with Vista and IE7. I have living experience that will tell you not to waste your time. It was sort of funny at work because the dual core cpu's in my Dell pegged at 100% and the 2 gb of ram went to about 65% and then the esnips app would not connect. I thought at first that maybe it was being blocked by the networking group here at work but then again I had the same problems at home with my comcast high speed internet connection.



I LOVE you Esnips and I am waiting patiently and somewhat verbally for you to help me with my new account so I can get to saving all kinds of cool stuff.



Thanks


James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
http://moffittjc.blogharbor.com/blog
james.moffitt@comcast.net