Give Me Back My Rights! the Dangers of Mandatory Arbitration Clauses

Give Me Back My Rights! the Dangers of Mandatory Arbitration Clauses

Warning for Longmont Roman Catholics

I debated with myself for a while as to whether I should bring this up or not. I've decided to bring it up as a warning. Someone calling themselves Fr. Scott Jenkins is starting a new mass at the Longmont Senior Center. They claim to be catholic with and

"an independent Catholic faith community that seeks to make the richness of Catholic spirituality and tradition available and accessible to the many people who, for some reason, have felt excluded from the Roman Catholic Church"

I googled the Pastor, Fr. Scott Jenkins, and came up with this:

"Early in 1996, a former Lutheran pastor, Fr. Scott Jenkins, and his wife, Kris, joined our church. Bishop Peter ordained Scott a deacon on Pentecost Sunday of 1996. Deacon Scott served at Saint Matthew until August of 1997 when he moved to Colorado to work with Christ the King American Catholic Church. Deacon Scott was ordained a priest shortly thereafter. He became the founding pastor of a new independent Catholic faith community in Colorado called Church of the Holy Family."

at some place called Saint Matthew Church.

So the bottom line is that this new so called catholic church in Longmont is not a Roman Catholic Church. They are either "Ecumenical Catholic Communion" or a "Christ the King American Catholic Church" but certainly not a Roman Catholic Church in Communion with the Holy See. If you are Roman Catholic then I advise you to stay away, far way.

U.S. Mint Gears Up To Issue Commemorative County Pennies

You know, sometimes The Onion is down right rude, offensive, and obscene but every once in a while they generate a news article that I think is absolutely hillarious. Imagine that, County Pennies instead of State Quarters. At 5 a year they estimate a run of 639 years for 3,143 counties. This is multi-generational collecting at it's finest. Something else I hadn't thought about:

"But after the lesson of the New Hampshire quarter, I'm not too comfortable putting a natural rock formation on our penny. Luckily, we have another 438 years to decide on a symbol that accurately conveys the spirit of Richland County."

I hadn't thought about what the collapse of the "Old Man of the Mountain" would mean to the New Hampshire quarters. Funny, I thought that would last forever. My parents talk of seeing it on their honeymoon. It was kind of an icon for us even though I don't remember seeing it personally.

I'm Worried About Our Great Republic

I'm worried about our great Republic for a couple of reasons. Let me go over them with you.

First, it seems that most of our citizens don't even realize that we have a Republic and not a Democracy. A democracy leads to "tyranny by the majority" while a republic is a "rule by law". In our Republic we have (or is that had?) the protection of the law and the courts. Lately courts seem to be willing to create laws but that's another topic. Our President is intent on creating democracies around the globe and we ourselves are eroding into a democracy. It's scary how easily so many people go from being uncomfortable about something to crying out for a new law to prohibit it creating a Nanny State. Seat belt laws come to mind. Colorado is poised to join the masses with a primary stop seat belt law. That is, the law will allow police to stop and ticket you for not wearing a seat belt. Currently, they have to have another reason to stop you and then can write up the lack seat belt usage as a secondary offense.

Second, I'm watching the Senate with Bush's judgicial nominees, the filibuster, and the "nuclear option". The Republicans are upset over the Democrats filibuster. Let me state my personal opinion - if the judge is qualified the Senate should aprove them. Right now, that would work in my favor and when Clinton was in office it would have been judges that I don't like but so be it. They are either qualified or they are not and that should be the only thing to determine their fitness for judgeship. There should not be a litmus test for judges.
So the Democrats should not be filibustering judges and the Republicans are going to fix that by changing the filibuster rules. You know that'll come back to haunt us. They should put the original rules back and force the folks in favor of the filibuster to keep talking and bring Senate business to a halt. This "we'll pretend someone's talking when they aren't so that we can continue with other business" is just wrong. It makes the filibuster too convenient. If the filibuster is not more important than other business then it should end of it's own accord.
The Republicans are going to change the rules so that a simple majority vote can end the filibuster. Seems to me like they've neutered the filibuster. If a simple majority can end a filibuster and then a simple majority pass legislation then what's the point of the filibuster?
Someday, the Democrats will have the majority again and the Republicans will not be happy that they can't filibuster either. The rules should not be changed.

Thirdly (and lastly), our own personal and national tolerance... Think back to the last Presidential election. I don't care if you voted Democrat, Republican, or other. What was your opinion of the other candidate. And, even more importantly, what was your opinion of people who voted for the other candidate? There was a large number of people that voted for Kerry because it was "anyone but W" and there were people that voted for Bush because Kerry was an idiot. But both sides were spewing vile hate towards each other.
Strong opinions are to be expected. Even as our Republic was being founded there were strong opinions. The Federalist Papers comes to mind. But I think that both side respected each other and allowed folks that they disagreed with the benefit that everyone was trying to do the best thing for our country. These days the opposition are "ignorant idiots". So much for tolerance, eh? Some so called prolifers murder abortionists and some so called environmentalists are willing to disregard property laws because they are personally offended. We won't last much longer if we keep this up.

What do you think?

Dykotomy Apollyon

So I have a favor to ask. Back on the 19th of April I put up an entry talking about Dykotomy's CD. The CD is available for sale here and they are participating in an on-line battle of the bands. Please vote for Dykotomy here. You can listen to the tracks on the CD at the for sale site. I put up a page for the band at http://www.wossil.com/dykotomy - http://www.dykotomyapollyon.com should also get you there. If you can spare the cash please consider buying a copy of the CD. Some of the tracks remind me of Black Sabbath and over all IMHO it's a well done local band CD. Take a listen, buy a copy, and vote for it. You'll make Tim's day.

Uh, Oh - Random webbing alert

So I started doing some random webbing 'cause I didn't feel like doing anything constructive. Found some interesting productivity stuff. Follow along as I recreate the journey...

First I was at Excite and found an article called, "'Tags' Ease Sifting of Digital Data", where it says,

"Noah Brier regularly looks for bookmarks tagged "lifehacks" - for everyday productivity tips - and recently ran across an article on better ways to shave."

So off to Google to do a search on "lifehacks" where I find a page called "Technorati: Tag: lifehacks" and if you read the earlier article would seem very interesting so I followed the link. And right there towards the top of the list is "GTD with Gmail (Conclusion)". So, being a Gmail user I am going further down the rabbit hole and realize that this is the last article and just what is GTD? So I start clicking the link to the previous article to get back to the beginning of the Gmail articles. The link to the prior article is called "Shaving...the Old Way", curious, I click. And amazingly enough it's the article on shaving mentioned in the link I followed from Excite. And I wasn't even looking for it.

So back to the Gmail articles. They keep talking about GTD as if I should know what it is. Fortunately, the first Gmail article has a GTD link. This GTD stuff looks really cool. I may have to buy a copy of the book but for now I'm going to go off and read the Gmail articles. I hope you found some of this interesting.

Changing Blog Habits

Happy May Everyone!

Read several interesting things in the paper today - not that I read the paper often. Saw this article and I've decided that I need to change my blog habits. Not that it's really a big deal. I only write things here that I don't mind other folks reading. (Duh!)

Quoting from the article though:

"employees could be blogging on company time or computers, making the company potentially liable for what they say"

I didn't know that. I don't blog about company stuff and I respect my employee agreement with my employer. I guess I'll blog from home now on.

What have we come to?

I was out shopping this evening with The Lady Ann and G. We wound up in a "Michael's, The Arts & Crafts Store" - something to do with a 40% off coupon (sometime's I think we're going broke saving money). I wish I would've had my camera. They had these wonderful looking scrapbooks on an end cap. They said, "United States Marines" (others had Army, Navy, and I think Air Force) with a wonderful 6" diameter emblem of the respective branch of the military. A really nice looking scrapbook that would make our military members proud. But on the box it had a sticker that said, "Made In China". What's up with that?

Friday Fun Fest!

At work this afternoon they had a "Friday Fun Fest!". I think that they're working on improving morale. Munchies and beverages during work hours are a great way to improve morale so Yea! for them. One thing that was interesting. The plan was to hold the event at the Boulder County Fairgrounds Picnic Pavillion but due to the weather (snow and coldish) it moved to the company cafeteria. In the hall was a sign that said, "No Alcohol Beyond This Point". The question remains, was it instructional ("Do not bring alcohol beyond this point.") or was it educational ("You can't get your cup refilled beyond this point.")? I guess I'll never know. Dang.

Hans Groepje for Pope!

Hans Groepje was raised in a Catholic school in The Hague, migrated to the US and, as a young man, aspired to become a priest, but was drafted into the Army during WWII and spent two years co-piloting B17s until his aircraft was shot down in 1943 and he lost his left arm. He was awarded the Silver Star.

Captain Groepje spent the rest of the war as a chaplain, giving spiritual aid to soldiers, both Allied and enemy. After the war, he became a priest, serving as a missionary in Africa, piloting his own plane (in spite of his handicap) to villages across the continent while establishing over 200 schools and churches.

In 1987, Father Groepje was elevated to Bishop while serving in Zimbabwe. Shortly afterward, an explosion in a silver mine caused a cave-in. He personally went down into the mine to administer last rites to those too severely injured to move. Another shaft collapsed, and he was buried for three days, suffering multiple injuries, including the loss of his right eye.

The high silver content in the mines air gave him purpura, a life-long condition characterized by purplish skin blotches.

He was elevated to Cardinal by Pope John Paul in 1992.

Although Cardinal Groepje has devoted his life to the service of God as a scholar, mentor, and holy man, church leaders agree: he will never ascend to the Papacy because of his unfortunate handicaps--

No one wants a one-eyed, one-armed, flying purple Papal leader.

Standing Room Only at New Cemetery

Well, that's an interesting thought (see the link under the title). From dust to dust as they say. I'm OK with the concept and it sounds like how I'd like to be buried though I'd like to think that the bags are bio-degradable. If they aren't then I'd prefer to skip the bag. Only thing is, standing up? For eternity? I'm getting tired. I'd rather lay down I think. I know it shouldn't matter, I'm dead, but still...

Thoughts on people who have issues with the new Pope

I keep reading things written by people who say that Pope Benedict is not a good guy because he probably won't alter some traditional Catholic teachings like "condom usage to prevent the spread of AIDS". There are others but I'm not interested in writing about those, perhaps another day.

So let's consider the subject of condoms for a moment. What are the Church's fundamental teachings and beliefs. Not that I'm a theologian but here is how I understand it:

1. Sex of any sort outside of marriage is wrong. This would take into consideration homosexual sex, premarital sex, and adultery be married folks. So the only sex that is licit is sex inside the marital union.
2. Artificial birth control is wrong. Married couples should be open to creating life within their marriage. They should share themselves completely with each other without holding back any part of themselves, including their fertility.

So if we start with those premises, when would be a legitimate time to use a condom? The only sex that should be occurring is between married spouses who are open to new life. If that is the only sex that is occurring then there is no need.

Ah, but there are these other types of sex that are occuring. The Church doesn't condone any of that in the first place. So these folks want to the Church to say that the sin of using a condom is OK when you're committing these other sins. I think there's a problem with that.

Let's consider other facts. A governmental study reports, "Approximately 3% of couples who reported using condoms consistently and correctly (considered "perfect use") are estimated to experience an unintended pregnancy during the first year of use" and continues on later, "In a recent well-controlled randomized clinical trial of monogamous couples using latex male condoms for contraception over six months, the pregnancy rate during “typical use” was reported at 6.3%, with a 1.1% pregnancy rate during “consistent use” (45). Most of these couples had experience using condoms. However, based on estimates from National Surveys of Family Growth (123), 14% of couples are estimated to experience an unintended pregnancy during the first year of “typical” use, a failure rate that includes both inconsistent (non-use) and incorrect use, as well as breakage and slippage. Failure rates in the second year of typical use are about 50% lower". Hmm, if there are that many pregnancies occuring with the use of a condom then just how is it supposed to stop AIDS? Seems to be a problem there.

Coming back to the Church's position, the Church advices abstinence until a monogomous marriage. This seems to me to be 100% effective unless on of the partners uses a dirty needle or some other transmission path. But then, the condom couldn't help with that either.

I believe the Chucrh is correct and I, for one, am happy that Pope Benedict seems to have no plans to change the Church's teaching on condom usage.

Fun day today

Started out cleaning Kensington Park for Longmont's Clean Up & Green Up. We filled two trash bags and called it a day. Went over to Dairy Queen for a snack (lunch?) together. G. and I came home, changed shirts, hopped on the two wheeler and went out to get him a new helmet. Wound up getting him a full face Icon helmet with the Snell M2000 rating. Between two trips to the bike store (forgot my wallet the first time) and the ride afterwards we logged about 85 miles on the bike. Tonight we're going to see a high school play as a family night out. I'm looking forward to it.

So, It's Earth Day Today

So what? I don't buy into the Global Warming myth. There still isn't any scientific evidence to support it. It seems to be a man made crisis to force the world's population into submission to a one world government.

I filled the tank in the Expy at lunch today. The pain doesn't seem to bother me as much this time as last time (Friday, April 01, 2005 - can't figure out how to create a link to that blog entry yet) even thought I think gas was up a penny (can't seem to find the receipt). Three weeks on a tank of gas isn't too bad. Of course, two wheelin' helped stretch that tank full out a bit.

So I was reading an article by David R. Francis (For the Christian Science Monitor) titled "The Age of Oil ends" and subtitled, "Fuel Drought Draws Near". I'd provide a link if I knew where it was on the 'net. Some snippets:

"Goodbye, cheap gasoline. The days of tooling around in automobiles with nary a thought of the cost are probably over.
That's because the world's oil production is rapidly apporaching its peak. At that point, the world will be faced with a steady decline in supply jist as demand for petroleum takes off in places such as China and India...
...In the past year, the number of experts seeing an imminent peak in world oil output has risen sharply. A dozen or so now see it coming by no later than 2012, says Mr. Meyer. If that happens, today's oil proce of $50 a barrel may seem cheap in the years ahead.
At its worst, rising oil prices could cause a world economic recession - not to mention lightening the pocketbooks of millions in the United States and elsewhere who rely on cars for daily transportation"

On the whole I can't argue with Mr. Francis. There is essentially a finite amount of oil in the earth though the peak of 2012 may be pessimistic. Of course I have no data but I hear "the sky is falling" way too often to believe it. But I do believe that when oil prices rise because the demand is up and the supply is down that we will hit a recession if not an outright depression. It is coming though I don't know when. My advice is to recession proof your life. Pay off your debts (including your mortgage) so that you don't owe anyone and you hav

What a lunch!

Interesting day. G. had a 4th grade field trip and I got to go to. His school has an annual trek for the 4th graders to a restaurant in Boulder called Mataam Fez. So, about 10:30 AM we boarded a school bus to be on our way. School buses aren't quite what I remember and yet they are everything as I remember. Being 6' 2" I had to duck or hit my head on the roof as we made our way to seat towards the back. We sat over the rear wheel on the passenger side so over half of the floor for our seat was taken up by wheel well. The seat in front of us seemed closer than the seats on airplanes and there was insufficient knee room (at least for me - might be fine for the kiddos). The bus bounced and so forth just like I remember and the seats had very little padding like I remember. But this bus had speakers in the ceiling for the driver to talk to us and white lights that came on at rail road crossings. The lights probably help find your way through the bus at night. There was also what appeared to be a camera up front watching us. These modern electronics are nothing like what I remember. I think the driver had a two way radio, too. But the windows still stick and go "click, click, click" as they go up and down just like I remember.

Lunch was served Moroccan style - we took our shoes off, sat on the floor, and ate with our fingers using only our right hand and had a big towel draped over our left shoulder. During the meal we heard talks of Morocco and about Islam and how Muslims worship. It was all quite exciting! After we washed our hands with tea we were served two salads, a carrot raisin thing for palette cleaning, patilla, chicken, lamb, and couscous. We saw some amazing tricks with pouring tea and then had a tea service (really sweet minty tea) and baklava for dessert. It was quite a spread that took about 2 and a half hours to serve.

The ride home was uneventful - G. was reading his book and I got asked to think about a DJ gig if the regular guy backs out. We were back at G. school, Twin Peaks Charter Academy, at 2:30 PM and I came back to work.

Here's to good company and good food!

Gassed up the motorcycle last night

Hooray! I finally rode enough miles that I had to put gas in the motorcycle last night. Here are the stats:

Odometer: 41026.1 (701.0)
Volume: 3.43 Gallons
Cost: $7.76

The last time I put gas in the bike was 8/25/04 and that was the only time I put gas in in 2004! I need to ride more. If only the thing would run when it was cold or wet and wouldn't give me grief when I run it for a while and then let it set for about an hour. Here's to a better year of riding!

Quickie - Pope Benedict XVI was selected today

My first reaction is, Yea! Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was a great selection for Pope. I'm busy at the moment but I'll come back to this later.

Quickie - Dykotomy released their CD, Appolyon, yesterday

Just a quick note to mention the new Dykotomy CD, Appolyon, was released yesterday. I need to put up a web site for them and the CD is for sale on CD Baby. I don't have all of the details yet but I do have a copy of the CD and a T-shirt. More later in the comments.

Mike the Headless Chicken

Was having a conversation with a collegue about a customer presentation next week.. These things are commonly referred to as "Dog and Pony Shows". Well I said I could bring the pony as I have a horse named Rosa. He said he bring the duck so that we'd have a "Duck and Pony Show". But then he declined as the foxes had gotten the two ducks that they were raisng this year. Then he mentioned a headless chicken from Fruita, Colorado that lived for 18 months. I didn't buy it but I went ahead and googled it anyway.

Turns out that the story is true, well sort of. The chicken's name is Mike and there is a website devoted to him and a festival that celebrates him. You can find the story of Mike the headless chicken that lived for 18 months here: http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/story.html. You can decide for yourself as to whether it's true or not.

Weekend Events

G. and I spent Friday Night in a tent at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in a tent. About 1 AM G. woke up complaining that he was cold. I told him to spread out a Swiss Army surplus wool blanket over his sleeping bag and that no, I wouldn't do it for him. He did and said, "Hey, it's warm!". I told him to finish covering his sleeping bag and go back to sleep. As he put his head back on his pillow he asked me, "Dad, how did you learn this?" We found frost on the outside of the tent when we got up in the morning.

We had a great day at the District Scout show on Saturday and spent Saturday evening visiting with some greeat friends. A stellar weekend. Course, I was pretty useless on Sunday.

It was a great weekend.

Social Security

Got an e-mail forwarded from a friend this morning on Social Security and I went off on a rant. Follow along if you like.

Here is the note that I received:

"SOCIAL SECURITY:
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security(FICA) Program. He promised:
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program,
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to "put away," you may be interested in the following:

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent "Trust" fund and put it into the General fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratically-controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the "tie-breaking" deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
A: That's right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive SSI Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it! Then, after doing all this lying and thieving and violation of the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!

And the worst part about it is, uninformed citizens believe it!
Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during this 2004 election year!
If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve."

And here is the rant that I sent back to him:

"Got your note on Social Security. I'd seen it before but my thoughts are a little bit different - not that I truly disagree but I find myself saying, "so what?"

First, Social Security should be completely abolished. SOCIAL Security is Socialism pure and simple. I am completely anti-socialism. In the Bible it says if you don't work you don't eat. Why do Americans think they have a "right" to retire at age 65 (or any other age)? I don't get it. Some folks are wise and save their money so that they can retire. Others don't. Wisdom in your youth should determine whether you retire or not. We reap what we sow. We should all be accountable for our decisions. If you don't plan for your retirement you don't get to. Simple and easy. Now, as much as I would like them to scrap the program right now, no further payments, nor further collections, that ain't gonna happen. Too many folks have planned on Social Security to be their retirement. So you phase it out. Folks who are 65 now get full benefits as planned. Those folks who are 20 right now don't pay and receive no benefits, ever. Those at age 42 now get their payments cut in half and will get half the benefits when they retire. Etc.

Second, I view FICA as simply another tax that we have to pay. There is no "crisis" and it doesn't "run out of money". The politicians have already monkeyed with it. All of FICA goes into the general fund. All benefits come out of the general fund. When there isn't enough money to pay the benefits they will do one of two things: reduce spending elsewhere or raise taxes to cover it. And you know that as much as they ought to reduce spending they won't. Taxpayers have to sign a blank check every year.

It doesn't matter - Republican or Democrat. Their policies are one and the same. Spend more, tax more, regulate more, control the citizens more - bigger government. The policies that Clinton couldn't get in place because the Republicans fought tooth and nail have been implemented under Bush. I'm referring to Homeland Security, the USA Patriot Act, federal control of voting, campaign finance reform, federal control of schools, etc.

So, while I don't disagree with your note I still have to ask, "So what?""

And that's all I have to say on that subject (at least for now).

Cute Trick - Great Message

Got this in an e-mail from a friend today. It's a cheesey trick but a great message so I thought I'd share it with y'all. Here it is:

Place your mouse on the X below and drag to the O.

XEven though you can't see Him, GOD is there!O

See, cheesey. But still, a great thought (and kudos to whoever thought of doing it in the first place). So try to get closer to the ever present God. Amen.

CAFTA Vote Likely in May!

Got the following e-mail from the John Birch Society. Please help stop CAFTA!

"It will get done," said House leader Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) in reference to his plans for a CAFTA vote in May.

On April 6 House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Thomas said his panel would complete hearings on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) this month, with plans to bring it to a House vote in May. Click here for article.

Meanwhile the Bush administration has been busy buying CAFTA votes from the textile and sugar regions of the nation, telling Hispanic business leaders that they can play a pivotal role in putting CAFTA over the top, and trying to gain Democrat votes by publicizing new vows by the CAFTA nations to strengthen their labor laws and regulations.

However, the outcome is still very much in doubt. As of now, the administration does not have the 218 votes in the House necessary for approval of CAFTA.

We can win this one!

Please help STOP CAFTA by

• Sending copies of the excellent new reprint, CAFTA: Exporting American Jobs & Industry (read reprint; buy reprint) along with an appropriate cover letter to business leaders and other opinion molders in your area.
• Sending online letters opposing CAFTA to your representative and senators.
• Displaying public opposition to CAFTA through letters to the editor, calls to talk shows, billboards, etc.

Visit STOPCAFTA.com for other resources and news updates.

German police baffeled by Bush poo-flags

So I was reading the Colorado Daily at lunch again. I read an article by Leo Griep-Ruiz titled, "A movement movement?" It talks about the fact that folks are sticking Bush flags into dog piles. I don't know if you're a Bush fan or not (how could I?) though I am certainly not a Bush fan. There was no way I could stomach a vote for non-Catholic Kerry and I was afraid that I was going to have to vote for Bush last time around but I found an alternative. In full disclosure mode though, I did vote for Bush the first time because he seemed better than Gore. In all actuality, I don't really believe there is much difference between Bush and Kerry. Enough, I hadn't meant to wander into politics (this time).

Any way, folks are sticking these yellow bush flags in to dog piles. It's kind of amusing. It seems to be a good way of warning folks not to step in 'em. Not sure what they're really trying to say about Bush. Follow the link - sorry I couldn't find a mreo reputable newsource for the information. There are even more pictures here.

klett@ghill.enet.dec.com

Got into a discussion reminiscing about "the good ol' days" with a colleague, a time before the IBM PC back when I had my own uVax under my desk. I got to thinking about my old e-mail address from the very early days of the Internet. I think I was on the 'net not long after it was created.

Anyway, I googled my old self, klett@ghill.enet.dec.com, and the only reference I can find is a beer recipe that I submitted to the Cat's Meow. I remember that beer. It was mighty tasty! I think the kit was a Christmas present from my folks. 'Course, back then, the Cat's Meow was a downloadable file. I had a hard copy of it

Bills & Postal Mail

I hate it! It seems I can only stand going through the snail mail to get out the bills to pay them about once every three weeks. I think I figured it out. The signal to noise ratio is terrible! For every bill I get I get about a pound of junk. So the mail piles up until the pressure of the thought of unpaid bills gets to me and I do the three weeks worth at one sitting. Of course, the problem with that is that by the time I get to them some of them are late and so then there are late fees. I just hate the whole process.

Enough whining. Ciao!

More thoughts on Pope John Paul the Great

While I wait for some code to build I thought I'd say a few things...

Had trouble sleeping last night, again. Woke up in the very early morning and had trouble getting back to sleep so I thought I'd try my usual drug, the telly. It seems like the TV is so mind numbing that it knocks me out again on a regular basis. I usually put something inane and useless on like a sitcom from my youth or one of the late night tv shows that is a rebroadcast. I close my eyes and listen to it and amazingly enough I am usually gone before the first commercial comes on. Or at least I can't remember the first commercial. And this is after a lot of tossing and turning. My conclusion is that television is a powerful narcotic but praise the Lord it really works well.

But last night something like 50% of the channels had the Pope's funeral on. I was impressed by his casket. Understand that this was the most powerful person in that Roman Catholic community with an incredible amount of power and he is in a simple wooden box. Humble to the end. I believe that is why he was so loved by the Church. I've heard about his will. Again, simplicity at it's finest. No material possesions and please burn my personal notes. Amen. I think that if I were him I would have had too many possesions to list. In fact, I have that problem now. So, may God Bless him for showing us all true humility. I thank the Lord for his inspiring example.

On to other thoughts. I have seeing the news and reading articles on line that claim that Americans in general and Catholic Americans want a more liberal Pope, a man that will ordain women and claim that artificial birth control, abortion, and pre-marital sex is OK, and that Priests should be allowed to marry. And I started worrying even though it is beyond my control and Christ himself said that evil will not prevail againt his Church and that I shouldn't worry. You see, I've been an American my whole life and I've watched the press shape the political reality of our wonderful country. And so I worried that the press might actually have the power to change the Church.

Non-Catholic Americans (and non-Catholics every where else) have no business worrying about who the Pope is just like Europeans have no business worrying about who the next President of the USA is. It's not there place to comment, it's not their leader. And so I don't care what "Americans" think about who the next Pope ought to be and I don't think the College of Cardinals care either.

So we're left with American Roman Catholics who think that the Church needs to be more "liberal" and in step with modern times. I argue that these so called Roman Catholics are not informed about their Faith and are not really Catholic. I heard once that someone who agrees with the Church and the Holy See 99% of the time isn't 99% Roman Catholic but that they are 100% Protestant. Amen. If you claim to be Roman Catholic then you need to accept and believe what the Church teaches. And the Church teaches the Truth. The Truth is unchanging and doesn't change for the convenience of people. Sorry folks, but the Truth from 33 AD is the same as the Truth 2005 AD.

And so I pray for a new Shepherd, a Shepherd that will lead us and teach us for the greater Glory of God and not for his own political gain. I've stopped worrying about it, that is for God. And I know that no matter what happens or who is chosen I will follow the new Pontiff as a Catholic gentleman and that somehow it all fits into God's Grand Plan even if I can't figure out how.

Amen, and may God Bless and Keep you.

Zoom!

Got the motorcycle (a 1979 Yamaha XS-1100 Standard) out of the garage last night. No juice in the battery so I had to jump it with my battery charger. Got it going (belching a lot of blue smoke) and found the new stickers for the tags and went to a meeting. The handling felt "mushy". When it was time to leave the meeting there wasn't enough juice in the battery to get it to kick over again so I had to use jumper cables. Got home, parked it, and hooked up the battery charger at 2 amps over night. Plenty of juice this morning! Checked the air pressure this morning - 8 lbs in front and 31 in the rear. No wonder it was mushy. Pumped the front up to about 34 and rode to work. Everything seems "normal" again.

So why does a ride on the two wheeler, even a short one, relieve so much stress and tension? Everything is better on two wheels (except snow and ice).

VACUUMING THE LAWN

Saw this on the front page of the Colorado Daily:

"One Alabama man convinced his wife to rip out their lawn and replace it with artificial turf, claiming he was tired of all the yard work. “People thought it was just crazy,” the wife said. “But, after it was done, people would compliment it and tell us that it made sense.” The couple said the turf saves them on water and lawn care costs – including needing to own a lawn mower. “We use a leaf blower, or sometimes a heavy duty vacuum cleaner,” he said."

I've thought about doing this...

Went jogging at lunch

1 mile, 1 lap around the block, 14:29.02 minutes.

Mourning the loss of Pope John Paul II

In Mass on Sunday I discovered that I was mourning the loss of Pope John Paul II. I had thought that he was distant enough that the emotional impact would not be so great. I was wrong. At Mass Sunday morning they had a picture of him displayed with candles next to the picture and in the middle of the Mass it hit me. My eyes began to water and I was truly grieving. It was difficult to breathe at points and a few tears did actually leak out of my eyes. I miss him.

St. John’s is having a Rosary tonight at 7 PM and a Vigil Mass tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7 PM for Pope John Paul II. I will be at one or both of these.

I am encouraged though. I am starting to look forward with eager anticipation as to who the Lord has selected for the next Pope. I am curious as to what the Church needs now and how the change in personality of the Pope will affect things. These are exciting times as we move forward. I am waiting for the white smoke from the Vatican with bated breath.

Daylight Savings Time - Ugh!

We've done our bi-annual change of the clocks. I don't mind "falling back" in the fall but this "springing ahead" in the spring just kills me. Having to get up an hour early doesn't work real well. This morning I was an hour "late" to work - not because I forgot to change the clocks but because of the time change. I simply couldn't roust my lazy self out of bed this morning. The comforter was too heavy and had me pinned to the mattress. I'll try harder tomorrow. I promise!

Curtis & Patricia Are Married

I witnessed Curtis and Patricia get married today. A beautiful Mass. I've never seen Curtis smile so much or speak so loudly when he said, "I Do!" I'm glad I was there!

I was late for the wedding though I did manage to just get into the church before the Bride's mother. I had to set up the sound system at Hunter's Restaurant and then get home and finish getting ready. I had a little more to do than I thought I did and got out of the house at something like 12:47 PM for a 1:00 PM wedding. (I just heard on TV that the Pope died at 12:37 PM local time.) It seems like all of the slow drivers and buses were out (I counted two busses) and I was hitting all of the lights red. I got stopped at one (second in line) and all of a sudden the railroad lights started blinking and the gates started coming down. I think I said a curse word. So I hooked the left and went around and over the via-duct, over to Second, and back on to Main Street on the other side of the train. Fortunatly, there was parking right in front of St. John's. I never even considered that the wedding might've been in the Chapel. I got to the north doors and there were signs up saying "Wedding in progress". I got in, grabbed my chapeau, cape, and gloves and got into a pew with my fellow Knights. As the bride's mother came in (and everyone is taking pictures of the back of the church) Bob is helping me get my cape on.

The wedding went well and the reception was great. Hunter's served a great meal. Thank you Curtis and Patricia for inviting me, The Lady Ann, and G.

Papa John has left the building

Pope John Paul II in the Popemobile at World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto
Originally uploaded by xsive_guy.

The Pope, Pope John Paul II, aka Papa John has passed away. I would've really liked to have met him in person and I'm halfway considering trying to get to Rome.

Back in July of 2002 I took my nephew and Godson, Ben, to World Youth Day. Before World Youth Day I like Pope John Paul II. At World Youth Day I fell in love with him. There are many, many memories from that event filled week and many, many people I owe a debt of gratitude to. This picture was taken when the Pope arrived for Vespers Saturday evening. This was the closest that I ever got to Papa John. To see all of my WYD2002 pics go to http://www.peakpeak.com/~mklett/WYD_pics.htm.

So where does the title Papa John come from? For me it's a term of affection and endearment. He was the Pope with all of the authority and respect of the office but he wasn't distant. He was of the people and for the people. While we were in Toronto for World Youth Day I remember one of the headlines in a Toronto newspaper was, "Papa John is in the house!" It seemed appropriate, I think he liked it.

My feelings are mixed. I'm sad that he had to leave us. I loved him. He was a great and Holy man and we are worse off now than when he was with us. I'm also filled with joy to realize that he has run his race and is now home. Home where I hope and pray that we all make it some day.

May God Bless you and keep you. Amen.

$2.249 / Gallon!

I filled the gas tank at lunch:

25.345 gallons @ $2.249 / gallon = $57.00

A new record price for a fill-up. The scary part is that some are saying that this summer I'll be fondly looking back to now and thinking that these are the "good ol' days".

I gotta un-bury and dust off the motorcycle and get it going again to save a few bucks. Imagine G. arriving at school on the back of a motorcycle. Won't that be cool!

PS: Don't forget that Colorado has this "altitude penalty". My truck requires 87 octane (so sayeth the owner's manual from Ford) which in the rest of the country is "Regular". Here in Colorado 87 octane is the mid-grade because "Regular" is 85 octane.

Happy New Year! (April Fool's Day)

I was reading the Colorado Daily today at lunch and the claimed this as the origination of April Fool's Day:

"The beginning of the tradition was 1582 in France. Prior to that year, the new year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25 and culminating on April 1st. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX New Year’s Day was moved to January 1st. Some people had not heard about or didn’t believe the change in date, and were labeled as ‘fools’."

Who knew? I didn't.

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

lj-cut tag

So this is blogging?

So this is blogging, eh? I need to write Mike's words of wisdom nearly daily? Well here goes today's installment.

One thing that really stood out for me in this Sunday's readings was the following:

For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for usin that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

That had me thinking, "Wow! Christ really did that for me? A sinner? Yes, he did." It was my revelation for the day.

This being Monday I had to head back to work. Not much fun but it pays the bills better than anything else I could do.

While I'm on the subject of paying bills, I need to shamelessly plug my new website at http://www.wossil.com. I hope to eventually make some money with the sound or embroidery business. Preferrably both.

Last thing I wanted to talk about today was an idea I had back in my early post-college days. A friend of mine, Kevin O., had a "land yacht" convertible. I forget the exact year, make, and model but it was huge! An early 70's kind of car. I always wanted to turn it into a boat. We never did it but some guys from cuba stole my idea!

Later!

My First Blog

So this is blogging, eh? What am I doing here? It's Sunday morning and I should be getting stuff done like taking down the Christmas Tree or working on my Marriage Encounter presentations or cleaning the house or or or... The list is almost endless. Instead, I'm sitting here on the couch working on momentous decisions like, "What should I eat for lunch?"

I have no idea where this blogging thing is going to go and I have no writing creativity. Why are you here reading this?

Ciao for now,
Mike