Terry Schiavo was killed today

I just read the news that Terri Schiavo died this morning. Even though I didn't know her I am grieving for her. I'm both sad and angry that her husband was allowed to murder her with the help of the courts. It's a sad day when I am ashamed to admit that I am an American. I have always been proud of my country and I have been and always will be proud of our military personnel. But this atrocity committed by our court system is grievous. I pray that this will never happen again. I believe Terri's parents who said that she responded to them. I don't believe Terri's adulterous husband that had children with another woman while Terri was still alive. He couldn't keep his wedding vows, why should we believe him?

But let the Lord's will be done. For Terri's soul, for peace to Terri's family, for Michael Schiavo, for the judges who ruled against Terri, for our country, let us begin,

"In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name..."

Oops!

My mood:

This is so embarassing. A collegue from Singapore pointed out to me that I left a personal .wav file (a 35.5 MB file) in a corporate public folder for a year or more. So for a year corporate IT has been dutifully backing up this 35.5 MB personal file to tape and saving archive copies offsite and meeting all of the federal guidelines for data retention. Oops. No telling how many folks listened to it either. Fortunatly, the contents of the file don't incriminate me in any way other than being a really bad harmonica player.

So, to back up, this was the e-mail I had in my inbox when I got in this morning, "Strange coincidence... I was looking for [deleted] release notes today, and saw this "Old Smokey" wave file in [deleted]. Since it was the 5th or 6th time I'd seen it (I've not worked on [deleted] a lot), curiousity just got the better of me and I gave it a listen. The voices just sounded so familiar... and I eventually figured out why. :-)
So how's your harmonica career going? Hahah... :) How did that clip end up there anyway? Sorry if I've invaded your privacy!"

My answer was thus, "Thanks for letting me know that was there - I'd forgotten (obviously). This incident warrants a mention on the blog. No apologies needed.
So what happened was a long long time ago I was telling [deleted] (did you meet him when you were here?) about that particular harmonica session with my Dad. I tried e-mailing it to him but it was too big to go through e-mail. So I "temporarily" copied it out there so that [deleted] could give it a listen. But then I forgot about it until you reminded me. I moved it out of there back to my own system. If you REALLY want a copy I'll work to get it to you again but it was never intended to be part of [deleted]'s backup data. :-)"

I've done things that were more foolish and more embarassing but I found this one humorous.

See ya!

The Lord is Risen!

Alleluia!

Christ, the Lord, has died for our sins and has risen.

By rising he has conquered death for us!

Alleluia!

Have a happy and Blessed Easter everyone!

Easter Mass Sound

Sound Board
Originally uploaded by xsive_guy.

Got the sound system set up today with G.'s help. Here's a pic of the signal processing gear. You can get details at http://www.wossilsound.com and you can see more photos from the gym by clicking on the photo to the right.

Have a Blessed Easter!

Short E. is buried

G. and I just finished burying Short E., may she rest in peace, in the garden.

We set up the gym for Mass tomorrow morning. I'm fooling with a photo site called www.flickr.com. I'll try posting some pics later.

Ciao!

And then there were 5

It was a sad evening at home yesterday. As I was tucking G. into bed I discovered that Short E., one of the gerbils, had died.

So January 2004 The Lady Ann and G. went gerbil shopping. I had agreed to this as the pets of choice because G. had a speech problem with the 'r' sound in the middle of the word. Gerbil has a great 'r' sound in the middle and so I believed that having gerbils as pets would help him practice that 'r' sound as he talked about them. He pronounced gerbil as 'ji-bel'. He has gotten better with the sound.

So anyway, The Lady Ann and G. brought home two male gerbils from the pet store. One had no tail so we wanted to call it "Shorty" for obvious reasons. (G. had a soft spot for the gerbil with no tail.) Of course G. wasn't satisfied with that name. He observed them for a while and noticed that the one with no tail was an adventerous explorer that was all over the new cage as fast as it could go. The other one was more timid but had quite an ability to jump. They became Short E. and Jumper, the E. being for Explorer.

A little while later, one of the male gerbils had a miraculous birth! We determined that Short E. was really a she. We seperated Jumper from his bride and kids quickly. We also did research and learned that gerbils get pregnant the same day they give birth! Another litter was on the way. After the second litter we were up to 11 gerbils at home.

Some had to go. We also knew that gerbils are social and prefer to have company in the cage. We separated the boys and the girls and G. had to pick two of each to keep so that Short E. and Jumper would each have one cage mate. Two were selected, Blackhole (a male) and Sandy (a female). Lo and behold, Blackhole turned out to be a she and another litter of gerbils was had and we were back up to 9 and expecting another litter.

Blackhole had an accident - she bit someone who was holding her and the kid's reaction was to fling her because it hurt. I can't blame him but it was the wrong thing to do for both of them. He wound up with a deep cut on his finger that required medical attention and she landed on the floor with blood leaking from her ear. We buried Blackhole in the garden a little while later. We were worried about her 5 babies - were they old enough to be weaned? They were and she never did have that second litter. The gerbil counts is now 8, 5 babies in one cage, 2 girls in a second, and Jumper all alone. One of the babie was almost an albino and so it was named Whitey. Another had a back leg broken (I think it was my fault but it was an accident) and kind of rolled to move. It got a permanent "kink" in it's neck and is named Lefty because it's always looking to the left. The other three babies were simply called "No Name" or the "No Namers".

The cage with Short E. and Sandy were joined with the babies cage. Short E. was always fighting but Sandy seemed to get along with them. We had to seperate them again. Along the way one of the babies lost half a tail and so it acquired a name, Half Tail. Short E. was always blamed for chewing off the tail but I was never sure.

A month ago or so Half Tail and one of the remaining No Namers were given away to one of G.'s friends who became Lucky (aka Half Tail) and Super or Cali or Supercalifragilisticexpialigocious (sp?) and so we wer down to 6.

But Short E. died and we're down to 5. G. told me this morning that No Name has a name now, Pickachu.

That is the story of Short E., her children, and her grandchildren as I know it today. A memorial service will be offered sometime this weekend at the garden. God bless Short E.

The Passion According to Luke

Wow, what an evening I had tonight - but I'm getting ahead of myself...

St. John's hosted a live performance of The Passion According to Luke by St. Luke Productions. St. Luke productions is the same company that created The Therese Movie. The Therese Movie was the movie about St. Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower. The movie is still showing and getting stronger. Please pray for the movie and donate to the movie if you can. They need to raise $400,000 for the next step. So that's the background you need to know.

We have a busy weekend this weekend. G. has an Odyssey of the Mind competition tomorrow and The Lady Ann is judging so Saturday is busy with OM. Sunday we've got a Marriage Encounter thing to deal with so it's a hectic weekend schedule. So I was thinking of not going tonight just because we've got so much going on. But when I got home it turns out that Megan from St. Luke Productions had called to ask me to go because Leonardo Defilippis wanted to meet me. I and the Longmont Knights of Columbus had been a big part of The Therese Movie coming to Longmont.

So I felt I had to go. The cool thing was I got to meet Leanardo. It was really cool. But it's getting late and I need to go. Please pray and fast for Terri Schiavo and her husband Michael.

Here's a pic from this evening: click here (caution, 1.4 MByte file and I can't make the picture show up correctly here.)

Ciao!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I don't see St. Patrick's Feast Day as an excuse to go out and get drunk. St. Patrick is a wonderful Irish Saint cannonized by the Roman Catholic Church. He made the shamrock famous as part of his lesson on the Holy Trinity. Honor St. Patrick today by saying a prayer.

On the other hand, I do enjoy indulging in the Irish stereotype of drinking to excess. To that end, here are some old chestnuts I got via e-mail. But before I give you those I need to give a shout out to my old Irish friend Kevin O'. Happy St. Paddy's day to you Kevin!

Irish Prayer
Murphy was staggering home with a pint of booze in his back pocket when he slipped and fell heavily. Struggling to his feet, he felt something wet running down his leg. "Please Lord," he implored, "let it be blood!!"

Irish Shopping
McQuillan walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar. When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the Irishman started to leave.
"S'cuse me", said a customer, who was puzzled over what McQuillan had done, "what was that all about?"
"Nothin', said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives!"

You've Been Out Drinking Again
An Irishman had been drinking at a pub all night. The bartender
finally said that the bar is closing. So the Irishman stood up to leave fell flat on his face. He tried to stand one more time; same result. He figured he'll crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that will sober him up.
Once outside, he stood up and fell on his face again. So he decided to crawl the four blocks home. When he arrived at the door he stood up and fell flat on his face. He crawled through the door and into his bedroom. When he reached his bed he tried one more time to stand up. This time he managed to pull himself upright, but he quickly fell right into the bed and is sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He was awakened the next morning to his wife standing over him, shouting, "SO YOU'VE BEEN DRINKING AGAIN!"
Putting on an innocent look, and intent on bluffing it out he said, "What makes you say that?"
"The pub just called; you left your wheelchair there again."

I've Lost Me Luggage
An Irishman arrived at J.F.K. Airport and wandered around the terminal with tears streaming down his cheeks. An airline employee asked him if he was already homesick.
"No," replied the Irishman "I've lost all me luggage!"
"How'd that happen?"
"The cork fell out!" said the Irishman.

Water to Wine
An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut. The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car. He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?"
"Just water," says the priest.
The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?"
The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!"

The Reunion
A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink. "Why, of course," comes the reply. The first man then asks, "Where are you from?" "I'm from Ireland," replies the second man. The first man responds: "You don't say, I'm from Ireland too! Let's have another round to Ireland." "Of course," says the second. Curious, the first asks: "Where in Ireland?" "Dublin," comes the reply. "I can't believe it, me too! Lets have another round of drinks to Dublin." "Of course." The second man can't help himself so he asks, "What school did you attend?" "Saint Mary's", replies the first man. "I graduated in '62." "This is becoming unbelievable!!!" They say in union.
About that time, in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar. "What's up?" he asks the bartender.
"Nothing much," replied the bartender. "The O'Malley twins are drunk again!"

The Brothel
Two Irishmen were sitting at a pub having beer and watching the brothel across the street.
They saw a Baptist minister walk into the brothel, and one of them said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see a man of the cloth goin' bad.
Then they saw a rabbi enter the brothel, and the other Irishman said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see that the Jews are fallin' victim to temptation as well."
Then they see a catholic priest enter the brothel, and one of the Irishmen said, "What a terrible pity...one of the girls must be dying."

Irish Cemetery
Three Irishmen, Paddy, Sean and Seamus, were stumbling home from the pub late one night and found themselves on the road which led past the old graveyard..
"Come have a look over here," says Paddy, "It's Michael O'Grady's grave, God bless his soul. He lived to the ripe old age of 87."
"That's nothing," says Sean, "here's one named Patrick O'Tool, it says here that he was 95 when he died!"
Just then, Seamus yells out, "Good God, here's a fella that got to be 145!"
"What was his name?" asks Paddy.
Seamus stumbles around a bit, awkwardly lights a match to see what else is written on the stone marker, and exclaims, "Miles, from Dublin."

Irish Miracle
An Irishman who had a little too much to drink is driving home from the city one night and, of course, his car is weaving violently all over the road. A cop pulls him over.
"So," says the cop to the driver, "where have ya been?"
"Why, I've been to the pub of course," slurs the drunk.
"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few to drink this evening."
"I did all right," the drunk says with a smile.
"Did you know," says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms across his chest, "that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"
"Oh, thank heavens!" sighs the drunk. "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."

Irish Accident
Brenda O'Malley is home making dinner, as usual, when Tim Finnegan arrives at her door.
"Brenda, may I come in?" he asks. "I've somethin' to tell ya."
"Of course you can come in, you're always welcome, Tim. But where's my husband?"
"That's what I'm here to be tellin' ya, Brenda. There was an accident down at the Guinness brewery..."
"Oh, God no!" cries Brenda.
"Please don't tell me..."
"I must, Brenda. Your husband Seamus is dead and gone. I'm so very sorry."!
Finally, she looked up at Tim. "How did it happen, Tim?"
"It was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned."
"Oh my dear Jesus! But you must tell me true, Tim. Did he at least go quickly?"
"Well, no Brenda ... no. Fact is, he got out at least three times to pee."

Irish Predicament
Drunk, Ole Mulvihill (From the Northern Irish Clan) staggers into a Catholic Church, enters a confessional box, sits down but says nothing.
The Priest coughs a few times to get his attention but the Ole just sits there.
Finally, the Priest pounds three times on the wall.
The drunk mumbles, "ain't no use knockin, there's no paper on this side either."

Irish Last Request
Mary Clancy goes up to Father O'Grady's after his Sunday morning service, and she's in tears. He says, "So what's bothering you, Mary my dear?"
She says, "Oh, Father, I've got terrible news. My husband passed away last night."
The priest says, "Oh, Mary, that's terrible. Tell me, did hehave any last requests?"
She says, "That he did, Father.."
The priest says, "What did he ask, Mary?"
She says, "He said, 'Please Mary, put down that damn gun!'

Should we save Toby?

Well, I've been slow at posting - we've had a stressful week here in the K. household. G. has been getting bullied and harrassed at school and it has really affected Lady Ann. So we've been having a tough week and blogging hasn't been on the list of priorities. Sorry about that but that's the way things go sometimes.

So I just heard about an interesting website: www.savetoby.com. The gist of it is that if the owner of the website doesn't get $50,000 from internet transactions then the rabbit named Toby gets eaten. Fundamentally I don't have a problem with eating rabbit. Even old ones can be good if stewed long enough. I am bothered by someone attempting to hold us internet users hostage and trying to claim it's our fault if Toby gets eaten. Toby's owner should take responsability for his own actions and eat or not eat Toby as he sees fit but not make us, the collective, a part of his decision. On the other hand, it's a cool way to try to make a relatively quick 50 Gs.

Work is getting busy. Trying to figure out a new software build system using gnu make. If you have to ask what that means then I probably can't explain it.

Ciao for now, stay in touch,
xsive_guy

When did you get into embroidery ...?

So the other part of yesterday's question was, "When did you get into embroidery?" It's another day and time for another story (though this one isn't nearly as long nor as interesting as the other one).

Some number of years ago, but since we moved to Colorado, the Lady Ann desired a new sewing machine. So, being the gracious hubby that I am (translates into "It is so hard for me to tell her no") agreed to let her buy a really fancy machine, not that I probably had much say anyway. It was this Pfaff Creative 7570. She was going to class for this machine for what seemed a really long time (months? a year?). She brought home from class really interesting stuff like towels and bags embroidered with some picture. The stuff looked really great! Some of you may have even gotten one or more as presents.

So the newness of the machine wore off eventually and it was rarely used - sometimes to embroider a present but more often to mend something or to create something that couldn't be store bought (like a Pikachu Halloween costume). So friends of ours desired a logo and name on some winter jackets that they wear as part of ski team. We had months to get it sewn but it didn't happen. We thought D-Day had arrived and I attempted to do the computer processing of the images to be embroidered on the jackets. The software was terrible - remember it was written 5ish years ago.

So off to the store to buy new software to translate .BMP files into sewing machine files. That software is really pricey! But a committment had been made and so the software was purchased and a new business was started to try to pay for it! So now we can translate .BMP files into embroidery stitches on cloth and I'm looking for customers.

So how did I get into the sound system?

A friend asked my via e-mail, "BTW, when did you get into ... sound products?" I decided that this was a story worth blogging.

Last year (2004) about this time Lent was almost here and Mel Gibson was releasing his movie "The Passion of the Christ" with an opening on Ash Wednesday. My Knights of Columbus Council managed to arrange a special pre-release showing of the movie on Monday evening two days before it opened. The original plan was to have a clergy-led discussion of the movie immediately following the movie. The theatre wanted about $1000 to hook a microphone into their sound system. I looked into renting a PA system and the rental company wanted $120 to rent one (and I wasn't confident that it would be big enough for the theatre). Both of these prices seemed outrageously high (at the time) so I went out and spent well over $3000 (probably closer to $4000 at the time and nearing $5000 now with all of the extras that I've picked up) on my own sound system with visions of renting it out and making money. The Lady Ann is still waiting for me to demonstrate profitability but it has gotten me into some interesting places that I would not have been at otherwise.

So, introspect, it would have been much better (at this point) to my families bottom line to have rented the $120 PA or even paid the $1000 to use the theatre's sound system. But I didn't. I have also learned that buying a PA system is much like buying a pickup. You're not sure what you would use it for when you buy it but as soon as you do everyone want's to borrow it. I am so in the hole financially on this and there are so many more parts I want to buy (sub woofers, cordless lapel mics, etc) that it does cause some friction betweent he Lady Ann and I on a somewhat regular basis (maybe if I stopped looking at those sound gear catalogs?).

So if you know someone that needs a DJ or a PA for a special event let me know.

Mike

Get LOST!

I was reading the March 7, 2005 editiion of The New American and was really disturbed by the article titled "Sink the Law of the Sea Treaty!". So President Bush, Secretary Rice, and others want to ratify this treaty. This treaty is bad news! It gives the UN control over the oceans and water ways. It's another stepping stone in the dissolving of our sovereignty that we must stop. Quoting from the article (William Norman Grigg is more eloquent than I am):

Twice before, ratification of LOST has run aground on the formidable reef of public opposition. Americans committed to our national independance must ensure that the treaty is scuttled for good.

So there is my wish, that you get informed and get involved. Tell your senator to oppose the Law of the Sea Treaty. Congressional contact information can be found at www.thenewamerican.com/congress/contact.htm.

Beans, Beans, Good for your heart...

Gonna try my own bean recipe this weekend. I got my inspiration here.

2 cups pinto beans
1 pressed garlic clove
2 teaspoons salt

Soak beans in cold water overnight. Drain water and rinse. Add three quarts of water and garlic. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 1/2 - 3 hours until beans are soft (add water as needed). Add salt and cook for 10 more minutes.

Eat your fill and toot, toot, toot!

Uh, Oh! Another gadget

Saw one of these in a collegues cube. According to a Google search I did it seems that they sell at Walmart for about $30. I can't find them on their website but I "hear" that they're in the stores. I might just have to get me one of these cool gadets to try out. Makes travelling MP3 players pretty cheap!

Modern Dentistry / Webelos Cub Scouts

Wow! Started some new dental work this morning - the first of a few crowns. Things sure have improved since my last filling! The anesthesia actually worked! that's the first time that has ever happened to me in all of the dental work I've had done. Got the temporary crown this morning - I go back on the 17th to get my permanent crown. Those babies are pricey. I hope it'll be worth it.

My webelos cub scout den decided to convert to a patrol. their new name is the "Flaming Arrows". A few boys have earned their Webelos badge. It's a good year so far.

Colorado Mandatory Seat Belt Bill

Yuk! Got an e-mail forwarded from Dave Christy. I need to get a hold of my state representative and complain about this one. His e-mail:

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

Tomorrow, March 1st, represents the 49th legislative day of Colorado's Session. 71 days remain in a normal session of 120.

The following specific bill represents a Freedom Of Choice threat NOW, with implications for the future:

House Bill 05-1138 is a Primary Offense Seat Belt bill that was passed by the House Transportation Committee on Feb. 3; at that point it was sent to the Appropriations Committee due to the substantial fiscal note accompanying it. Some slick "re-adjustment" of that substantial fiscal note as per the initial January 29 document has been changed to a "ZERO" fiscal note as of February 24! Obviously this manuever is designed to keep the bill alive, as now it appears it will be headed to the House floor for a full vote (2nd & 3rd readings.) As of right now the bill is not on the calendar for a second reading.

If you are opposed to being stopped and ticketed by police for simply not wearing your seat belt, and then being subject to any other questioning by police, then concerned motorcyclists and other interested motorists are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to contact your state representative (not senator) NOW, by letter, phone call or fax. State that you are a consitituent and are opposed to this legislation. Relate your concerns (some talking points are provided, below; also there is an attachment to this e-mail that outlines many, many concerns - read it, save it, & feel free to use it to compose your own thoughts). State that you wish to have your representative oppose the bill. By all means ask for a response.

1) This legislation does not prevent accidents or crashes nor does it make better drivers; if I choose to not wear a belt, it harms
no one...
2) There is already a Secondary Offense seat belt use law on the books - this is unacceptable now; an addition to this law
further encroaches upon my right to make personal adult choices.
3) This bill is leveraged by NHTSA "incentive" money and represents a playing field that is not level; policy should be effected
upon the merits of equal discourse and not influenced at any time by federal involvement. To do so is capitulation.
4) Be advised that legislators are heavily lobbied by insurance, law enforcement, and medical people - and they always focus
on the "saving lives" and "cost to society/public burden" aspects (money) - you need to learn to counter this because you
will always have to if you want your liberties and choices intact... You pay into the "system" (Insurance)
5) You are not asking to be "protected"

You have a week or less to influence your legislator; don't know your legislator ? go to www.vote-smart.org

Should this pass the House, you will have to go to work on your state Senator...

Dave Christy
ABATE of Colorado Legislative Affairs Specialist

Things to remember not to forget

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