tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35451508134146651922024-03-08T03:27:04.539-06:00Impersonal LogI honestly don't know how much I'll write in this thing, but after years of thinking that blogs are a waste of time, I decided to actually see if anybody cares about reading what's happening in my life. So here goes...Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-79819528772229508712009-12-13T21:09:00.004-06:002009-12-14T00:44:26.779-06:0015 Days, 3115 Miles, 17 RelativesI recently took a 2-week vacation, for which I drove to see most of my family up in Ohio and Indiana (mostly over Thanksgiving weekend). What follows is a brief summary.<br /><br />When I got off work on the 20<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">th</span>, I came home, took care of a few last-minute things to set the house up for "long-term storage", loaded up the car, and headed out. Stopped for the night just past Little Rock. Got up Saturday morning and made it the rest of the way to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Elkhart</span>. Spent Sunday and Monday chilling at home, before going to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Elgin</span> Tuesday afternoon to meet my sister. Brought her back Wednesday morning to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Elkhart</span>, had a quick lunch, then we loaded up and we went to Lima, OH in two cars (me and my mom in my Buick, and my dad and sister in their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Durango</span>). There we left the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Durango</span> behind, everyone piled into my car, and we continued on to Marion, OH for the night.<br /><br />Thanksgiving morning, we finished going the rest of the way to my cousins' house near Mt. Vernon, and I got to see so many relatives I hadn't seen in years (2.5-6, depending on the person). My cousins (once removed) have grown up enough that they're not shy/scared of me any more, which was very nice. My mom had picked up a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Mentos</span> shooter kit (put in up to 7 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Mentos</span>, screw on top of Diet Coke bottle, pull pin, instant geyser), which the kids enjoyed. We had Thanksgiving dinner with everyone (very cramped, two tables and 18 people in one room) and enjoyed the rest of the day with family. Everyone else left that day, so we had a nice quiet evening with my cousin's family before going to bed.<br /><br />The next day, we slept in comfortably, and drove back to Lima, where my sister and mom took the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Durango</span> back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Elkhart</span>, so my sister could finish some schoolwork. My dad and I drove to Clayton, to visit my grandmother and aunt. It was the first time I'd seen my grandmother since she started having memory problems, and the change was somewhat disturbing; with my other relatives who have died, I wasn't around for most of it, so it's never something I've gotten used to. Fortunately, that evening was the worse of it, and her memory was better the other two days. Saturday was spent helping with some things around grandma and my great aunt's houses, and we drove back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Elkhart</span> Sunday after lunch.<br /><br />The second week was more relaxing, and much less driving. Monday I paid a visit to former colleagues at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">HCJB</span>. Tuesday Dad and I worked on some things around home, mostly on my car. Dad figured out several problems I'd noticed but hadn't solved yet.<br /><br />Wednesday Dad and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry, and spent the day seeing all the exhibits. My favorite area was the U-505, a WWII German U-boat (submarine, for those of you who are history-challenged), though there were other very interesting exhibits as well (the model train set and the airplanes were both impressive). After we finished at the museum, we hopped a train to the end of its line, then walked the rest of the way to Moody, where we met my cousin and took her to dinner. After dinner, we walked her back to campus, and then went back to the train station, which we missed the train we were hoping for by under a minute; it was pulling out as we rounded the last bend to the tracks. After we finally caught the next train, we got home very late.<br /><br />Thursday I spent gift hunting, since I finally got Christmas lists from my parents. After a delayed but enjoyable dinner (how I miss gyros), I started packing up. I finished Friday morning, and left for the drive home. Got to the northern edge or Arkansas before stopping for the night, and then finished Saturday.<br /><br />Overall it was a very nice vacation, and long overdue. I also realized how much I miss my family, and how hard it is to not see relatives more than once every several years. A few years of being closer spoiled me. One possible career change was presented to me for consideration that would enable me to be much closer to home, but I'm not sure if I want that specific opportunity. It's something I'm going to have to contemplate for a while, and decide if it's time to start directing my life instead of letting it happen to me.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-13127686203034069402009-06-24T23:48:00.003-05:002009-06-24T23:51:08.592-05:00Safety Leadership TrainingI just spent 2 days in a Safety Leadership Training class. The last thing was a dramatized video based on this poem, which sums it up reasonably well:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="center"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal" align="center"> <span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-size:180%;">I Chose To Look the Other Way</span><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="center"><span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">by Don Merrell</span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="center"><span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="center"><span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I could have saved a life today,<br />But I chose to look the other way,<br />It wasn't that I didn't care,<br />I had the time, and I was there.<br /><br />But I didn't want to seem a fool,<br />Or argue over a safety rule,<br />I knew he'd done the job before,<br />If I spoke up, he might get sore.<br /><br />The chances didn't seem that bad,<br />I'd done the same, He knew I had,<br />So I shook my head and walked on by,<br />He knew the risks as well as I.<br /><br />He took the chance, I closed an eye,<br />And with that act, I let him die,<br />I could have saved a life today,<br />But I chose to look the other way.<br /><br />Now every time I see his wife,<br />I'll know I should have saved his life,<br />That guilt is something I must bear,<br />But it isn't something you need share.<br /><br />If you see a risk that others take,<br />That puts their health or life at stake,<br />The question asked, or thing you say,<br />Could help them live another day.<br /><br />If you see a risk and walk away,<br />Then hope you never have to say,<br />I could have saved a life that day,<br />Instead, I looked the other way.</span> </span></span></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span></span> </p></span></span>Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-25409620444809813512009-06-21T22:08:00.003-05:002009-06-21T22:48:28.634-05:00Busy WeekWell, the past week+ has been rather busy, so I guess I'll update.<br /><br />Last Saturday, my church had an all-day job search seminar. They needed volunteers to help with set up, tear down, and such. I'd volunteered to help whenever they needed, so they tapped me for the last couple hours and tear down. Between that and a couple shopping stops I had to do up in that part of town anyhow, that ate up the afternoon and a lot of the evening.<br /><br />Sunday was calm, though I had a friend staying with me while he waited for a semi to be assigned to him for his job, so I had some traditional "entertaining" duties.<br /><br />Monday night I had a meeting at church. Tuesday evening was small group, and the host family invited me over for dinner before, which was a pleasant surprise. Wednesday was the "quiet" day of the week, though my friend got the good news that they'd found a semi for him, and he started with it, driving solo, the next day. Thursday was the monthly summer Men's Group get-together up at one guy's property near Gilmer; he has a private lake, so a lot of the guys go fishing (I just go to hang out).<br /><br />Friday was quiet again, my first day alone at home for almost 2 weeks, which was kinda weird. Saturday afternoon, I went to see X-Men in the dollar theater; if it was a random action movie it'd be OK, but as a franchise thing it left a lot to be desired.<br /><br />In the downtime I've had, I've been working on a couple things. One is finally getting my Roth IRA planned out. When my truck's fuel pump died the day after I went to meet an advisor, I made a car replacement priority. Now that excuse is gone, so it's time to get this over with. Also, my dad's computer is starting to act up, so he's looking for advise on new, modern pieces, so I did some digging on that for him.<br /><br />Tomorrow evening I had another meeting at church, then Tuesday and Wednesday for work I've got to go to all-day training sessions on safety (it's become the new big thing by our parent company), so I'm probably going to spend the rest of the week trying to play catch-up from that.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-67232475742417052042009-06-10T17:47:00.004-05:002009-06-10T18:35:39.944-05:00Remember the SabbathThis past Sunday, I had to do something I absolutely hate having to do. I had to work on Sunday.<br /><br />Growing up, working on Sunday, or doing things that causes other people to have to work, was avoided as much as humanly possible. In my father's upbringing, the commandment "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" was taken very seriously. You don't work, or do things that might mean other people have to work. You don't go out to eat, you don't go shopping, or anything else where someone would have to be at work.<br /><br />Growing up, we followed my Dad's instruction on this. My mom never had the same seriousness to it, but she respected his opinion. When I got old enough to consider it, I agreed that Dad's way of doing things made sense, and tried to continue the practice.<br /><br />Keeping to it wasn't too hard, until I got out of college. Then, in real life, living with guys who like to do things like go out for lunch or catch a movie on Sundays, I slacked off a bit. Another part of the "rules" before was that we didn't turn down invitations from someone, lest we appear to be flaunting our spirituality (though I think my folks used a different phrasing to get the same point). So I played along for a couple years, though I was never really comfortable about it.<br /><br />Over the last couple years, I've tried to curb things away from going out on Sundays for anything besides church. Since that was about the same time I moved into my own place, it was much easier. Also, I started finding polite and preferably subtle ways to avoid someone suggesting going out in the first place, and have gotten halfway decent at it. For most things short of emergencies, even if I have to do something like pick up a missing food item, I can at least avoid doing something where someone would (theoretically) have to be working. Automated gas pumps and auto-checkout lanes can be handy.<br /><br />Having to work this last Sunday bugged me for a couple reasons. First, because it wasn't really necessary. My boss turned down a perfectly good Memorial Day holiday where we could have done what needed doing, and everybody's happy. It would've meant I couldn't go to visit a friend a couple hours away, but I would've made that trade easy (especially since I might've gotten to "trade holidays" for the Friday instead). Second, it bugged me because we ran way overtime, and I completely missed church; according to the original schedule, I would've made it in time for at least the second service, and maybe even most of Communion. Running late on something always bugs me, but when it means I can't be somewhere else I want to/am supposed to be, that can get me mad.<br /><br />Since then, I've been reflecting a little on the nature of work, and found that my definition has some glaring holes in it. For starters, I don't hesitate to do things like surf the internet and watch TV, even though I know that there are people who have to work to keep those running on Sundays. Also, I've never put "work" stuff at church in the same category. I grew up waking up early every Sunday so that we could get to the school gym where our church met and set everything up, then tear everything down after service and then end up having a late lunch. So there's definitely a reevaluation that needs to take place there.<br /><br />Finally, I realize how little I actually "honor the Sabbath" in my average Sunday. I go to church, sure, but when I get home I treat it a lot like Saturday. I don't spend the time in Bible study or worship, I just watch TV and poke at my computer, maybe do some chores that didn't get done during the rest of the week. This is the one that really bothers me. If I'm going to really practice what the Bible says, there's something missing there, and I'm going to have to spend a lot of time in thought trying to figure out where I want to be versus where I am.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-24178980417582831022009-05-30T15:11:00.003-05:002009-05-30T15:22:51.067-05:00Car Purchase BluesMemorial Day weekend went well. Chris and I went out to Ruston to see Nacho, in my first trip with the new car. Got to hang out there and relax, as well as see Ben Hagar when he came through town on his way back to Alabama. Ben's done well for himself; working for a NASA subcontractor. Makes me wish I'd been able to find a job in engineering sometimes, instead of winding up in IT by default.<br /><br />Looking back at the week, I guess the biggest thing that happened was that I've had my first unexpected car trouble. Wednesday morning, on my way to work, I noticed that my driver's window was down a crack. Tried to roll it up, without success, but it rolled down OK. Then it just kinda sank down some. When I got to work, I forced it up with my hands, but then when I left work, it had sunk all the way down into the door. I called the place where my old mechanic went to when his shop closed, but couldn't get it in until Friday. Fortunately, the rain we'd had on and off for the past week had stopped Tuesday, so I didn't have to find a way to block the window, and there's nothing worth stealing in the car.<br /><br />So Friday I took it to the mechanic. It turned out the problem was a busted window regulator, which was $500 to fix. Hate having to pay the money, but it couldn't be helped. I had also been concerned that the high-beams wouldn't stay on, but it looks like that's just getting used to the new car controls; the car has auto-sensing headlights that come on when it's dark, and to keep the high-beams on you have to manually turn on the headlights.<br /><br />In the coming week, I'll be taking the car to the dealer to have the auto-dimming rearview mirror fixed, and the front cupholder replaced. After that, hopefully I'll be done with repairs for a while.<br /><br />In other news, Chris ended up staying with me for a couple days more than we expected. His trainer came down sick. I pray he starts getting somewhere on training, because I know he's really hurting for money. He's worked something like a week and a half in the past month and a half.<br /><br />At work, they're changing how we're paid. I used to be paid bi-monthly; now they're going to bi-weekly, with a 1-week pay this coming week to synchronize things properly. It won't really affect me much, since I have slack in my budget (which is going towards saving for a house down-payment, now that the car is done), but I'll have to re-work my budget forms once I know what the hard numbers turn out to be.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-52651093260193627512009-05-23T13:07:00.004-05:002009-05-23T13:47:29.067-05:00One Year (Almost)OK, here's the best (brief) recollection of the past year, according to one N. A. Miller.<br /><br />After the TX Republican Convention, the rest of the summer was pretty quiet. That trip burned the rest of my vacation time for the year, save one day I kept for emergency reserve, so I didn't exactly go much of anywhere for the rest of the summer. Biggest thing I think I did was finally talk my parents into cashing out the life insurance policy my grandparents had gotten for me to use for college, and my parents had subsequently convinced me to keep in case of an emergency instead. That was enough to clear my college loans, and I spent Fridays in July trying to call into the Dave Ramsey Show so I could scream "I'm Debt Free!" Never managed to get through, though. I celebrated that financial victory by using part of the leftover money to buy a laptop; got a brand new HP <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">dv</span>1000t right at the end of the back-to-school sales, for the same price as the previous model. It's been nice to have around, though I now have 2 laptops to drag along anytime I go somewhere (personal laptop and the one for work, in case I get called for an emergency).<br /><br />When 41 initiations came along, Nacho wasn't able to make it this year due to his medical problems (more on that later), so I ended up assuming the role of "wise old sage" to the freshmen. Unfortunately, things weren't coordinated quite as well as in past years, so I didn't get to share much of my "wisdom." Oh, well, they seemed to do OK.<br /><br />In September, work got interesting when the economy tanked. Our parent company had been looking to sell us since around March, and had some people interested, but when the credit market imploded, they couldn't get the loans to buy us with, so that all fell through. However, we'd finished separating our systems from Rowan's to prepare for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">sale</span>, so we've been operating as a semi-autonomous entity since then. That was nice, but at the end of October my assistant left for another job in Tyler (where he lives), so I was suddenly doing double duty. He used to handle the routine work like new users and network access requests, so that I could concentrate on the stuff that required an admin to control.<br /><br />Since we're in the energy industry (everything we make is related to oil/coal/gas), a good chunk of our business dried up. This revealed some glaring inefficiencies in some areas, especially poor management of our Houston plant. November began the first round of layoffs for Houston, followed by by another round in January that also hit our Vicksburg plant, and then a third round in March that hit both of them and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Longview</span>, as well. We lost two people from the IT department in Longview, plus another in Houston. My job is secure, since when things tanked they decided not to replace my assistant, but it took me literally weeks each time to process all the paperwork and get everyone access to what they needed to cover all the gaps company-wide. Fortunately, it appears we're finally down to a managable size now; from what I've seen, LTI's even turning a profit. I'm still trying to get back to the projects that were on my list when my assistant left, but some recent reductions in what we have to do for our SOX audits should free up my time again.<br /><br />OK, switching gears from professional life back to personal...<br /><br />Had a notable blow-up with my part-time roommate back at the beginning of November over politics of the time (among other things). Basically came down to a difference in outlooks; he's much more realpolitick than I am, and somewhat more moderate. We went at it pretty good through e-mail for several weeks before it blew over, and we still have the occasional flare-up.<br /><br />Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my birthday were spent over at Nacho's place in Ruston, which was a nice change of pace. Still don't quite get used to leaving home, and I still hate the time lost in travel (especialy in my truck, more on that below), but it was good to not be alone for holidays (which I usually am more often than not). Pretty soon, I'm going to have to start considering what we'll do when he (hopefully) graduates in November.<br /><br />In April, Nacho flew home to Mexico for a month to get several batteries medical tests with a new group of doctors, and left his car with a friend over there. A couple days after he left, a big hailstorm blew through that part of DFW, and did its best to turn his car's body into a lunar landscape. Since he was out of the country, and I was on the insurance, I had the fun of driving to Dallas and getting things set up with the insurance to have the body repaired and the cracked glass replaced, then going back a couple weeks later to get it out of the body shop. Two trips to Dallas in my truck, which has no radio, cruise control, or AC. The "no AC" was by far the worst as it was a warm sunny day both times. First trip, I didn't get enough fluids into me, and got myself into mild heat exhaustion. I spent from the time I got the paperwork done until after sundown hiding out in a Borders and Wal-Mart/Sam's to try and keep myself cool. Second trip went much smoother, but still not my idea of fun.<br /><br />About that time, I finally had gotten a good enough emergency fund saved up that I could start looking to a new vehicle. I knew about what I wanted: 4-door, newer than 2000, less than 100k miles, larger than a subcompact, smaller than an SUV or truck. However, with the economy down, I knew it was a seller's market since people are holding onto their cars instead of replacing them. Also, I only had a few thousand to look with, so I settled into a daily routine of checking the paper and Craigslist for good deals. A couple weeks ago, I found an ad on Craigslist for an '00 Buick Regal LS, with 140k miles on the body, but an engine with about half that. I got in touch with the seller, went to Tyler one afternoon to have a look at it, and liked what I saw. It had a couple things that I knew would need work, but I was OK with that. We ended up settling on a decent price, and I am now that car's owner. Title showed up in the mail yesterday. I've had it in the mechanic to fix one problem (bad wheel speed sensor that prevented the ABS and traction control from working); just took it this morning over to have an oil change and transmission fluid flush (which will hopefully fix the jerky upshifting when the engine's warmed up); and I'm taking it into the dealer on Tuesday to have the busted front cupholder replaced and autodimming rearview mirror looked at. Hopefully by mid-week I'll have a vehicle that really does feel like new.<br /><br />Tomorrow afternoon, a friend and I are going over to visit Nacho for the holiday weekend. It'll be our first chance to spend more than a few hours together since he got back from Mexico. The trip didn't do a lot of good, since the doctors weren't willing to listen to him on what's already been tried, and that (along with some other personal issues) has him down at the moment. Hope I'm able to do him some good.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-31485955347711569982009-05-23T00:06:00.002-05:002009-05-23T00:10:17.861-05:00Re-ActivateHaving just found that a friend I'd lost touch with had decided to start blogging again, I've decided that I should do the same. So I'm going to commit to posting a minimum of one new blog entry per week, preferably more.<br /><br />I have no idea what I'm going to write, or who will read it, but I'll let that part work itself out for now. It's time I start treating my life like it might be worth reading about.<br /><br />Tomorrow, I'll try to make a big entry that brings anyone reading up to speed on what's been happening over the past year, since my last entry. However, right now I'm about to climb into bed.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-88276403760443817932008-06-18T19:15:00.005-05:002008-06-18T19:25:02.942-05:00Texas Republican ConventionLast week, I was a delegate to the Texas Republican Convention in Houston.<br /><br />The following is most of a e-mails I sent my parents and Nacho.<br /><br />Wednesday, June 11:<br /><blockquote><div id="1f28" class="ArwC7c ckChnd"><div>I'm in my hotel room safely. Went straight from work at lunchtime and headed out. The speed limit for most of the way to Houston is 70, but I rarely did more than 60. The engine couldn't keep up with the demands on it, and most of the time when I tried to go faster, the vacuum pump couldn't keep up, the vent valves closed, and I lost A/C. So I kept a pace where I could keep a decent A/C level, and not melt en route.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>I got to the conventiton center a little after 5, and got registered. When I got there, there were people handing out flyers about a meeting some people were holding at 7, so I took the time to wander around and figure out where most important rooms were. Wen I got to the meeting, I found that it was a group that's got some major complaints about illegal proceedings by the current leadership. Things like the Credential Committee chairman unilaterally dismissing challenges without allowing a committee vote, the Rules Committee ordering that no recording devices can be used in their meetings, and the order of events set up so that the new state party officers are voted on before the Credentials (which has had above disputes thrown out) have been approved by the delegates. You can see the details at <a href="http://fairconvention.org/" target="_blank">fairconvention.org</a>. I haven't had a chance to find out the leaders' position on all this, but so far this group (lots of whom, but not all, are Ron Paul supporters) seems to have some legitimate complaints.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>I expect tomorrow to be pretty ugly. . . .<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>I'll let you know what happens,</div> </div></blockquote>Thursday, June 12:<br /><blockquote><div>Well, I survived Day One. The first General Session wasn't as bad as I was expecting.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>The session started at noon (well, a little later than that). First, we had opening greeting/prayer. Then a guy gave a very good, detailed description of the origins of the Star Spangled Banner, including a couple details I didn't know about, before it was sung. Then came the speeches. There was the State Chair(wo)man, 2 guys from the Host Committee, Governor Perry (who made prominent mention of the Mansion being torched), the Agriculture Commissioner, the Railroad Commissioner (which is a much more important job that it sounds, he deals with most environmental issues), the Candidate Resource Committee "pass the hat" collection, the Attorney General (trivia: he was jogging one day shortly after graduating college, and an oak tree fell on him, partially paralyzing him, and he's been in a wheelchair ever since), Lt. Governor Dewhurst (who I like a lot more than Perry, anyway), a taped address by the President, and the Speaker of the State House (each whom announced onto the stage all the state Senate and House members and candidates who were there). Decent speeches all, but when we were supposed to be done with the session at 3, and didn't even had the call to order until almost 4, it got to be a little too much. Then there were the speeches by the two people campaigning for the State Party Chair and Vice-Chair positions. One each was the incumbent, and the others were Ron Paul supporters (the people I talked about yesterday). Then came the call to order (Finally!). We then had the "floor fight" I was worried about, but was much more abbreviated than I expected, mostly because the major issues the Ron Paul people were complaining about yesterday didn't come up in detail, plus I got a panic call from work in the middle of it to distract me. Once that was over, and the few challenges were all resolved as the Committee recommended, we finally got to go to our Senate District caucuses.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>There, we were all grouped by county, and had to elect a permanent chair, officers, and permanent members to each committee (Credentials, Organization, Nominations, Rules, and Platform). My county chair (who was just elected, but was my Fed/State/Local Govt. teacher at LeTU and has been long involved) had been appointed temporary chair, and was unconstested for the permanent chair. Then the people who had been temp. members of the Credentials, Rules, and Platform committees were also re-elected, the Organization seat was uncontested, and it was a who-cares vote between two people for Nominations (which just takes the majority vote to the committee; I voted for one guy because in his stump speech he just made a couple jokes about being qualified to take something from one room to another because he runs a transportation service). The only slow-down was the actualy voting and tallying, because the rules say that an under-represented county still gets its fullly-allocated vote count (if you are entitled to have 10 delegates, but only 8 show up, you have to multiply it up to make an even 10) and that means doing it all by secret ballot. So while we waited for votes to be tallied, we got a few more brief speeches from candidates and current state reps. Finally got done around 7, and after some more wandering about I came back to the hotel. (Clarification: "Permanent" means "for the remainder of this convention," not "forever)<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>Tomorrow is going to be interesting. I'll be going to a prayer meeting at 7, then our 2nd state dist. caucus session is at 9 (elect permanent chair/vice-chair), then is our 2nd General Session. The speeches should be good; Newt Gingrich is first, and Mike Huckabee is 3rd. Plus, all the good parties are tomorrow evening; I'm probably going to at least part of the time go to the Young Republicans' Karaoke party, but haven't decided which to go to for the rest.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>Will report tomorrow (probably late),</div> </blockquote>Saturday, June 14:<br /><blockquote><div>Sorry about that [not reporting in on Friday]. I didn't get back to the hotel until just past midnight, and had to be there at 8. The convention's now over, so I can finally breathe.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>Yesterday, the day started early, with a prayer rally at 7. Then at 9, we went into State Senate District Caususes again, to nominate people for State Party Chairman and Vice-Chairman, and State Republican Elections Committeeman and Commiteewoman. One of the interesting things about the Chair/Vice-chair rules is that one has to be a man, and the other a woman. Once the ballots for each of the above elections has been counted, and numbers for each county in the district rounded up to give them full representation, our representative to the Permanent Nominations Committee (who we had elected Thursday) is sent off to the committee meeting while the rest of us do the SREC elections. Then while the Nominations Committee is meeting, we get to mingle around the trade show floor. Picked up decent amounts of swag, signed a bunch of mailing lists, etc. Also, Newt Gingrich showed up for a book signing (I kid you not, the line had to have been over 200 ft. long), and I got to snap a few photos; hopefully they'll turn out.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>At 1, we had our 2nd General Session. First the speeches: Newt Gigrich talking about the org he's running now, American Solutions. He's pumping a new political slogan: "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less." He's also working to gather 3 million signatures to a petition to Congress to open up domestic drilling, which you can do at the website. Next up was the day's keynote by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (who I'm not a big fan of, given her abortion position). Then came Governor Huckabee, who by far got the biggest acclamation. I went down closer to the stage to get some better pictures. I'm starting to think about getting a non-compact camera, with a much better zoom. After Huckabee came the Land Commissioner, nothing special. Then came a surprise; the program said we were supposed to get into business then, but instead we got a great surprise: Senator John Cornyn, introduced by a new video (which is the headline on his website; take a look, it's good and very Texan). Cornyn is one of the conservative heroes in Texas, so having him come in unannounced made a huge uproar.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>Then came business, and trouble. The Ron Paul people made the same arguments about Credentials, so getting through that took quite a while. Next was the Organization committee, which was quick and allowed the state chairman to hand off the gavel to the permanent chair. Then the Nominations committee came up, and the incumbent State Chair(wo)man was nominated for reelection. However, there's a rule that if another candidate wins at least 3 districts, that person can be nominated from the floor, which the Ron Paul people did for their candidate. That required a secret ballot...of 5800 delegates. So ballot slips had to be distributed, county chairs had to make sure they got their people's ballots, the votes had to be added up (and then multiplied up if they were an understrength delegation), numbers reported to the state district chair, and once everyone was done with that, the numbers had to be announced by each district chair to the session secretary (it's weird hearing someone announce 137.8 votes for someone, and I'm still trying to figure out how a 0.9 abstaintions is possible). Then they have to add it up, and announce the results. During all this, I was trying to pay attention to the rules and platform that had been left on every person's seat before the session started. Fortunately, after going through the rigamarole with the Chair, having the incumbent win (a woman) meant the vice-chair candidate for Ron Paul (also a woman) wasn't eligible, so we got through that part by voice acclamation. Next came the Rules Committee, which details each ammendment from the previous rules. By the 3rd ammendment report, it was moved that the report be approved in its entirety. After a fairly short debate, that was approved. Then the Platform came up, which I'd already found a couple things I wanted to try changing in the 4 pages I'd been able to read. However, the first motion was to accept the platform entirely, and was approved. So there was absolutely no debate of the Platform, which I was rather ticked about.</div> <div> </div> <div>At that point, it was about 6, we were 2 hours late to dismiss, and we still had 4 10-minute speeches to go. 2 for candidates for the National Committeeman, and 2 for the National Committeewoman positions. A lot of people just got up and left, since there the big-deal Banquet was supposed to start at 6:30. However, afte the speeches, they announced that the banquet would open doors at 7:10, and begin at 7:30. But that was a semi-moot point, because after the general session was over, we went to Congressional District Caucuses, which are completely separate from the Senate Districts (though Gregg county is in District 1 for both) and are one-person-one-vote instead of full-strength. Fortunately, all we had to do was elect a caucus chair and a delegate to the National Nominations Committee. We went through that in near-record time. Then the people with tickets went off to the banquet, but they were sold out long before I registered. I looked through all the evening's evens, and went to the only one I knew the price on: the Young Republicans karaoke party ($5) at a hotel about 3/4 mile from the convention center. I hung around there until after 11, and did my normal party thing (not very much besides sit around the the occasional small talk). Then it was back to the parking garage, and here to the hotel. The one good thing about staying so late is that I managed to miss the traffic from the Astros/Yankees game a few blocks from the convention center.<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>Today started off with the 2nd Congressional District Caucus, in which we voted on National Committeeman and Committeewoman, and then selected delegates for our district to the National Convention (3 delegates, 3 alernates). Again, the Ron Paul people put candidates up for most of the slots, but lost all of them. My County Chair was elected unopposed to the 3rd Delegate slot, which he had told me on Thursday that he'd wanted to go. Then we had a break for the committee to meet, and into the final general session, where we were now arranged by Congressional District (different seating blocks for everyone). We had speeches by the Agriculture Commissioner and Chairman of Texas Victory 2008 (guess what they're doing), then presentation of the US House members and candidates who were there, then likewise for the State Supreme Court (who are all elected in Texas) and Education Board (where they just won a big fight this week, and are re-introducing old-style English requirements like grammar and phonics to the '09 curricculum). Then we had to wait because the Nominations Committee hadn't finished, which took quite a while. We were all expecting another floor fight by for at least one of the National Committee slots, but were almost astonished when the Committeewoman loser came out right after the official Nomination was announced and gave a concession speech. Then there was no opposition for the Committeeman, and were able to dive into Delegates. That was more time-consuming than difficult; the biggest thing was that there were a bunch of misspellings of people's names that people brought up, until it was announced that they could do that at the mandatory delegate meeting after dismissal. We finally adjourned at around 4, but I didn't get to I-10 to get out of downtown until 5 (mostly waiting for the flow of cars from the parking garage to abate so I could back out of my space).<br /><br /></div> <div> </div> <div>Then it was back to the hotel, where I've spent the past hour writing this e-mail. So now I'm going to go find some dinner, and tomorrow I head home. I'll let you know when I get there; feel free to ask any questions.</div> </blockquote>Sunday was nothing special. Just get up in the morning (after catching up a tiny bit on sleep), pack up, load up, and head home. Made better time and higher speed with my old truck on the way back.<br /><br />I'll have another major announcement in a couple days. Just getting the last bits into place.<br /><br />[Ed.: tweaked quotes. All the paragraph breaks got lost]Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-87309368116261877762008-02-07T22:27:00.000-06:002008-02-07T23:16:53.158-06:00Evangelical Support for Republicans Waning?I saw this on the <a href="http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_020608/content/01125107.guest.html">transcript of Rush Limbaugh's program today</a>, and it really struck me. He's discussing why Huckabee (who I support) won the South.<br /><br /><blockquote>...As far as the regional vote, what's been called the regional vote, the Southern vote for Huckabee, there are a number of things that go into this. And one of the things that I think is relevant here is, in fact, geography, the Southern component, the regionalism of Huckabee being an Arkansas governor. Second thing, of course, is the evangelical vote, and I think you heard the anger from Suzanne, and she said that she is Catholic, she's Christian, so she thinks she's Christian right, but I think there's starting to be in the Republican Party sort of an equivalence between blacks in the Democrat Party and evangelicals in the Republican Party in this sense. Now, we've looked at blacks for 50 years. They keep voting for Democrats. The Democrats do nothing but destroy their families. They do nothing to increase their economic circumstances. They do nothing to redress the grievances and yet the blacks keep voting for them on the basis of the promise and the notion that Republicans are racists, sexists, bigots, homophobes, and are going to really make 'em be bad, so they keep hanging with Democrats, and nothing changes. <br /><br />Evangelicals, since 1973, have stuck with Republicans, basically on the promise, "We're going to do something about abortion. We're going to fix the cultural rot that's going on in this country. We're going to make sure there isn't any gay marriage. We're going to stop this overall lurch to depravity that's occurring in our culture," and the Republican candidates have all said, "I'm your man, we're going to do that," and they make the right speeches, but nothing's really changing on it. And so they, the evangelicals, are a little bit quicker to realize when they're being taken for granted. So their votes, "Look, we're going to go with one of ours. At least we can trust this guy, plus we do hate the IRS, you haven't heard us. You keep promising tax reform, not tax cuts, tax reform and every year it gets harder and harder for us to pay our taxes and we're paying more and more and we can't get ahead because of taxes and this guy wants to get rid of the IRS," so, bam, you've had it and they're voting for their guy. They're voting for Huckabee. <br /><br />I think there's genuine support for Huckabee. I think the IRS factors a big deal in his support. I've gotten enough e-mail to know this. There are a whole host of reasons that make up this vote, but you also have, in certain evangelicals, just no stomach whatsoever for Mormons. All of these things, it's not just one thing, it's all these things combined that I think explain the regionalism, Huckabee being from Arkansas, being one of them, dissatisfaction with all the false promises that have come from Republicans, just the lip service, opportunity to vote for one of their own finally who will not take 'em for granted because he is one of them. Getting rid of the IRS is huge. I'm telling you, it is. Then of course the Mormon factor. So you throw all these things together, and it explains why McCain is not ... </blockquote>I personally consider myself a social/fiscal conservative, in that order. I passionately care about a balanced budget and reducing the debt. However, I care about permanently ending abortion more, and that narrows my choices dramatically. Romney is/was way too iffy and recent on his pro-life support, and McCain supports embryonic stem cell research. On the fiscal side, McCain does well, but Romney seems too ready to bail out struggling industries (like the $20 billion he promised Michigan).<br /><br />Limbaugh's comments above sum up a lot of my reasons for supporting Huckabee. He's the only candidate who supports a Human Life Amendment. He wants to get rid of the IRS, and replace it with a reasonable national sales tax. He supports the basic Republican foreign policy. I'll admit I'm a bit more wary of his education and health policies (namely whether he would just use the bully pulpit, or if he would push new federal legislation in violation of the Tenth Amendment). So my support for Huckabee isn't unreserved. He's simply the best of an iffy crowd.<br /><br />P.S.<br />I don't agree with Limbaugh's anti-Mormon line about why people are voting for Huckabee. No doubt there are people out there for whom that was their primary reason, but I don't think that they are nearly as numerous as the pundits do. However, I disagree with the opinion that a candidate's religion should have no relevance to deciding one's vote. I'm not embarrassed to say that my initial hesitation on Romney was related to being a Mormon (if one buys wholesale into a cult, even if raised on it, what does that say for your judgement?). However, his conduct since, with tons of negative adds, trying to buy the presidency by unfaily (but admittedly, unfortunately legal) spending tens of millions of his own money, and his repeatedly saying all kinds of crazy thinks to win local votes (case-in-point is again his promise of Michigan money) showing how dangerous he would be to elect, with is drastic changes on social issues during his governorship being the icing on the cake.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-51931877216066482482008-01-21T20:55:00.000-06:002008-01-21T20:57:11.778-06:008 Days of Hope VI spent New Year's week in Mississippi, working with a reconstruction organization called 8 Days of Hope. It's a bit of a blur, because of all the work we did there, but I'll try to sum things up.<br /><br />We left the Friday morning before New Year's in the church van with a trailer full of tools, and drove to Bay St. Louis, MS, a town between New Orleans and Gulfport. 8 Days of Hope V was based out of a retreat center run by a Catholic church there, St. Rose de Lima. A couple of the ladies for our group left a few hours ahead of us, and got our lodging set up. We were assigned a couple cabins with bunk beds and foam mattresses at a Baptist church about 15 minutes away from St. Rose. This was a pleasant surprise, because we had expected to just be in some gym. Also nice was that a Baptist church from Alabama had brought a couple of full-length trailers that were outfitted with 3 full bathrooms each, and hooked them into the church's water and sewer. So we had nice facilities compared to what I was expecting.<br /><br />Friday evening was a brief orientation, just enough so we knew what to do the next day to get work assignments. The guy leading our team from here was one of the project managers, so he chose a project that our entire team (our leader, his wife, and two of their grandchildren; a family of four; a family of six; two teenage girls who came without their parents; and myself and two other single guys) could work on.<br /><br />The original "job" was at a house just a couple blocks from St. Rose, and the sheet said that we were supposed to move his personal items out, remove the kitchen counters, and tear out the ceiling in 2 bathrooms and 1 bedroom. However, it was planned that once a team did that part, other teams would come in to star fixing up the insides. They like to set the jobs so that specialists can just do their thing, or unskilled people can do simple stuff so the specialists don't have to. Instead, we just took the whole house on.<br /><br />The home owner, Tal Raboteau, works at the Stennis Space Center, and is a reserve police officer as a second job. He's lived in Bay St. Louis most of his life. When the Storm came, he was at Stennis, where he's an emegency shelter manager. His house came off the foundation and floated around his lot for about an hour. A previous relief group had gotten his house back on the foundations a few months after the storm, another had raised the house 2 feet above ground level on concrete pylons, while a third had repaired several leaks in the roof that had damaged the ceilings. He's been living in a FEMA trailer next to the house with his son since the Storm.<br /><br />The one thing that I had to get used to for the trip is the schedule. We were up at 5:30 every morning, working 7:30-5, and lights out at 9:30 PM. Sleeping with 7 other men in a bunkroom was rather interesting, especially when several of them snore.<br /><br />We started work on Saturday, and it took about half the day to complete our "official" job of removing all his stuff and tearing down those ceilings. Then we started into the real work: restoring his home.<br /><br />I spent the rest of Saturday working with the other single guys and one of the dads on hanging new sheetrock ceilings in one of the bedrooms. Given all the moves the house had been through, we quickly learned that the word "square" was not going to be in our project vocabulary. It slowed the work down a whole lot for us, and the fact that none of us had hung sheetrock before didn't help. However, we figured out what was up, and started making better progress around the end of the day. Other groups from our team started working on taking out old flooring and doors, as well as priming the walls and remaining ceilings.<br /><br />On Sunday we had the morning off, so we went for a drive along the coastline to see what it looks like now. Some people have rebuilt their houses, but a lot are still living in trailers, and a lot more have either been abandoned or demolished and cleared. Insurance rates went through the roof, so it's not worth it for a lot of people, and they those who've left are trying to sell their property and failing miserably due to the prices.<br /><br />Sunday afternoon we were able to almost finish the bedroom we'd been working on, and started looking at the second to plan strategy for it. Monday we finished the first bedroom ceiling, and got about halfway through the second. That night, they had a New Year's Eve worship service out on the beach, but we still ended way earlier than midnight. First time in about ten years that I haven't been awake for the new year.<br /><br />Tuesday the last family arrived, so we split into two groups for sheetrocking, and did both the second bedroom and the bathroom in one day. Once we got the bedroom done, I started bouncing from here to there as needed. I did some caulking, some "mudding" (filling in the gaps between sheetrock panels and any cracks in the walls with goop to seal them), a little painting, and helping with the new flooring (we were putting hardwood paneling down everywhere except the kitchen and bathrooms).<br /><br />On Wednesday, we had a major cold snap. It was 20 degrees when we got up that morning. Fortunately, we weren't going to be doing any major exterior work, and the house's heater worked well. I did some more odd job work, and helped hang a couple new prefab doors in the morning. The doors gave us major trouble for the entire week, as many of them didn't even fit the frames they came in. For the afternoon, I assisted with laying down the tiling in the kitchen. It took all afternoon, but we just barely made it before we had to quit for the day, and were able to let the cement harden overnight. By the end of the day, they'd also been able to start painting on the outside of the house.<br /><br />Thursday was cold again, only a few degrees warmer than the previous night. It progressed pretty much like the previous day, doing odd jobs for part of the day, mostly hanging additional doors. It went slower, because there we had spread out a little more and I had less help with it. Then I was assisting with grouting the kitchen tiles in the afternoon, and cleaning off the excess grout took the rest of the day. However, we also lost about half our group, as they had to head back, so the next day was going to be the race to the finish.<br /><br />On Friday, it was a little bit warmer, but still too cold for much outside work. It was just as well, because we had plenty for the rest of us to do indoors. We had almost finished the master bathroom, but had to get the fixtures back in before we could take down the main bathroom to tile it. So first I helped get the fixtures in, then I went charging into the main bath, got its fixtures out, and seated the cement board for the tile to attach to. Then we got the cement mixed and tiled the entire room before lunch. While the cement mixed, I helped get the kitchen cabinets back in and fastened down. It hardened enough that by early afternoon we were able to grout the tiles and hang the remaining doors. Meanwhile, the other groups had finished painting, and we'd gotten another small team in that finished painting the exterior of the house. After the grout was done in the bathroom and the doors hung, we were in cleanup mode. We managed to get the entire place swept and mopped, and moved a few key items back in (we'd put everything into the attached garage, so it was protected from the weather all week). Tal was extremely grateful for everything we'd done, even though there was still a lot of minor work yet to finish. We didn't get some of the lighting replaced, and some electrical work still needed completion. However, it was livable again, and he planned to move in that night, even if it meant just using a sleeping bag.<br /><br />Friday night was our wrap-up meeting, where they told us that there had been over 1100 volunteers, and had finished about 330 jobs. This was almost double the job total from the previous trip a year before. Saturday, we left as soon as we'd packed and cleaned up our cabins. We drove through New Orleans on I-10 to come back. I'm told that it looks much better, but there are still large sections that have either been abandoned or not completely rebuilt. It's sobering to realize that even 2+ years after the Storms, there is still so much work that needs to be done throughout the region. At the rate things have gone, it may take a decade for things to return to normal.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-38438399030650870722007-12-08T22:53:00.000-06:002007-12-08T23:13:11.606-06:00Bittersweet memoriesI always hate when December 8th rolls around each year. It's one of those days that is of personal significance to me, though it probably shouldn't.<br /><br />9 years ago today is the day my family left Sioux Falls.<br /><br />For a lot of people, they'd see that sentence and say "big deal, so what?" I often wish I was one of those people. For me, leaving Sioux Falls tore my life apart.<br /><br />I was born in Sioux Falls, grew up there. At the time, I'd only lived in 2 houses within living memory. It was where all my friends were, where my church was, where my life had been built around. To be virtually torn from my roots was rather traumatic for me. Having it happen on two months notice didn't help any either. I knew my family would be moving at some point, but we'd all expected that it wouldn't be until after I was in college. At that point, it wouldn't matter a whole lot to me -- I'd already be gone.<br /><br />I think that the worst part of that move was losing all my friends. As far back as I can remember, I've always been a person who had many acquaintances, but made very few friends. Those that I did make were close friendships, and were the only close contact I had with anyone other than my parents and sister. I'm honestly not sure how long it took me to recover from that move. I certainly didn't until I was at LeTourneau, which means at least 9 months. I'm honestly not sure I've recovered completely even now. I still have only 1 or 2 people I would call close friends, and I'm not sure how close they really are.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-54795210166921128802007-11-28T21:23:00.000-06:002007-11-28T22:07:53.357-06:00Presidential Debate Opinion IIJust finished watching the CNN/YouTube debate, so here's my scorecard:<br /><br />1) Huckabee/Hunter tie<br />3) Tancredo<br />4) Romney<br />5) McCain<br />6) Giuliani<br />7) Thompson<br />8) Paul<br /><br />Same judging criteria as before.<br /><br />Full disclosure: I support Mike Huckabee<br /><br />Hunter scored as well as Huckabee, but he was asked half as many questions. If it'd been equal time, that may not have held.<br /><br /><br />Tancredo didn't punch his "America is closed" line, which was appreciated.<br /><br />Romney did his normal OK job. Mostly he got docked for taking shots at other candidates. Still seemed to dodge questions.<br /><br />McCain properly emphasized his military experience and care for the troops. Again, too many shots on other candidates.<br /><br />I disagree with Giuliani on a lot of issues, which is where he lost points, but at least he has logical explanations for his positions.<br /><br />Thompson just seemed asleep at the podium. Between that, his shots at other candidates, and his belief in old-fashioned federalism over morality, he got hurt badly tonight.<br /><br />Paul is completely out of touch with reality. Nice theory, but completely impractical. At least tonight, he brought up valid points about deficit spending.<br /><br />A couple points I want to make:<br /><br />On torture: I recently found out from my roommate from an NPR program he heard that waterboarding is not the technique commonly described. The normal belief is that either they have water dripping on you slowly but steadily, or put plastic wrap over your face and pour water on that. What really happens is that they pour water directly into your mouth, effectively drowning you for a few seconds. The common belief I might support as not being torture, but what it really is, I would never support. I don't know if we should be saying what is allowed, but I believe that we definitely should say what is not.<br /><br />On federalism: Several candidates, particularly Thompson, believe that on issues like abortion, the federal government should get out, and let the states do their thing. In principle I agree, but there is the reality check of the Supreme Court. Given that the Court can override any state legislature, there are some questions that need to be determined at the national level. I place abortion in that category. Huckabee said it right a few weeks ago: abortion is this time's slavery debate, and it is an issue of human value. It cannot be decided on a state-by-state basis.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-11110656442629052942007-10-21T20:53:00.000-05:002007-10-21T21:16:24.459-05:00Presidential Debate OpinonWell, I just finished watching the Republican Presidential Debate on FoxNews, and here's my finishing order:<br /><br />1) Huckabee<br />2) McCain<br />3) Romney<br />4) Hunter/Tancredo (Tie)<br />6) Thompson<br />7) Giuliani<br />8) Paul<br /><br />My criteria:<br /><br />Plusses: Answers I agree with, good (but not attacking) "zingers"<br />Minuses: Answers I disagree with, going overtime, not answering questions<br /><br />I'll fully admit that I'm already supporting Huckabee, but I still think he did the best. His answers were on-point and short, and did not attack the other candidates. He's just the most relaxed and likable candidate, but also has the experience and grit to back it up. He even advocated the one thing that really needs to happen to restrain judicial activists: impeachment.<br /><br />McCain showed his consistent principles, and how his military service would make his an excellent Commander-in-Chief.<br /><br />Romney did well, but didn't answer a couple questions.<br /><br />Thompson was OK, but came out seeming more attacking than solving problems.<br /><br />Ron Paul disgraced himself as always. His loyal base may be able to make noise and pay money, but is way too small and completely wrong.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-23586032853091725972007-10-02T17:46:00.000-05:002007-10-02T18:43:13.867-05:00Life of FrustrationYet another long break between posts.<br /><br />So, what have I been doing over the summer? Looking back, the short answer is not much. No vacations, no travel, no major projects, no friends. I work, I come home, I sleep. Thursdays and Sundays, I go to church. A lot of the time it feels like I could drop of the planet, and the only people who would notice would be my co-workers, wondering why I didn't show up. To this day, I doubt anybody else would really care, including my supposed roommate.<br /><br />Overall, I'm frustrated. Frustrated in my job, in my church, my personal life, and in politics. I guess I'd better explain those.<br /><br />My job situation's changed recently. In effect, I've been demoted, though they aren't calling it that. I used to be a Systems Administrator, basically one of 3 people responsible for keeping all the servers at work running smoothly. Over the last couple months, I've been moved more and more into being, and now officially am, a Network Security Specialist -- a fancy term for an overhyped paper-pusher. My job now is to make make sure everyone has access to the network locations they're supposed to (and nowhere else), and that all the little security software bits we use are staying updated on everyone's computers. It's the kind of job that you could hire anybody with rudimentary computer knowledge for, but has to be done by someone the company trusts. I've been selected for this august imbecility because I'm the least experienced person, and because I'm the only one who thinks about security before doing something stupid. It also means I have absolutely zero chance of any advancement within the company, and insufficient experience or contacts to have a good shot at getting a job elsewhere.<br /><br />My church situation feels like it's going downhill steadily. A few months ago, my church made a decision that I strongly consider un-Scriptural. They asked for private comments from the congregation, so I made my feelings known. The pastor of course disagrees, and we ended up in an e-mail debate for about a week, until I, in a single e-mail, found a self-contradiction between what he was saying and his past statements, and brought out what is probably our base source of disagreement: I take a passage literally, and he doesn't. At that point, he went silent, and I haven't heard a word from him since. The change made doesn't affect me, so I haven't left. In the pastor's sermons, though, he's taken a couple of passing shots at my position -- saying that my position is wrong, but without providing any information or basis for people to actually think about. In some ways, I feel the only reasons I'm still going there are because I have been for years, and the Men's Group is good enough for me to stay around. That doesn't mean I'm particularly happy, though.<br /><br />My personal life, really, is just going nowhere. All my old friends are gone, and I haven't connected with anybody new to fill those voids. The only person left I have a long-term connection with is Nacho, and he's here for maybe 2 days a month, on average. We enjoy ourselves during those times, but over the last several months I've seen him breaking ties with his former mentor, albeit for very good cause, and it's eating him up more than he wants to admit. Add in that his physical condition is steadily deteriorating, and he's not really willing to make the major changes necessary to improve, and I'm getting tired of having to fill the role of his Keeper. At least he knows where he wants to go, which I don't. But I'm becoming less certain he realizes how much he'll have harmed himself before he gets there.<br /><br />Finally, there's the always-annoying world of politics. As a hard-line "conservative," I can't remember the last time something happened in the political arena that I agreed with. Then I look ahead to the 2008 election, and it gets worse. I've already found the candidate I support: Mike Huckabee. I don't agree with him on everything. In fact, I'm downright opposed to a couple of his key platform points as being un-Constitutional. However, they're points that are shared to some extent by all the candidates, and I agree with him on the rest of his ideas, many of which I am fervently in favor of, like the Flat Tax. The problem is that he's a "second-tier candidate," firmly in 5th place, and not even close to being a contender on fund-raising. He's operating on a shoestring budget, working off the hope (I'd like to call it a theory or premise, but honestly can't) that if he can win or do very well in the very early primaries (IA, NH, SC), it'll give him the momentum to win the rest of the country. Now, I'll be the first to say he's probably the most likable and personal of the candidates. He's got the relaxed speaking abilities of his Baptist pastor past, and is able to clearly articulate his ideas and make them sound like the common sense they are. However, he's barely keeping his campaign afloat financially, bringing in less than $1M in the just-finished 3rd Quarter, and I think his "primary slingshot" theory is fundamentally flawed. This leaves me in a rather frustrated position, because I don't think that I can in good conscience vote for any of the "front-runners," for various reasons.<br /><br />So, that's my life. Not very fun. I'm going to Houston for work training next week, so we'll see if I think to post again.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-32730257496446176552007-05-12T22:11:00.000-05:002007-05-12T22:36:13.101-05:00France Leads the Way?Election day was today. I'd almost forgotten, as I did early voting on Monday. Now, the polls are closed, the counts are in, and I'm appalled by the results.<br /><br />In Longview, we didn't have any offices being voted on, just 7 propositions: 5 for tax bonds and 2 related to liquor laws. I voted "no" to all the proposals, but all except one passed. I'll admit that it doesn't make me any happier, but what I'm appalled about was the turnout.<br /><br />The total voting count for the election was <7,000, in a city of somewhere around 75,000. 10% of the people decided what the other 90% should do. To compare to that, the French presidential elections got an 85% turnout a week ago.<br /><br />Now, I realize that a local ballot is nothing compared to a national presidency. However, it still makes me wonder, when did voting become an unimportant act? In this republic of ours, we don't really get a say in what goes on in the big picture. People like to think that they can contact their member of Congress and that what they ask that person to do will affect his or her vote, but in truth that's wishful thinking, unless the vast majority of fellow constituents also express their opinion in the same way (and oftentimes, even that doesn't matter). The closest we come to that is in a presidential election, when we vote for our representative to the Electoral College. My opinion expressed to Louis Gohmert ain't worth jack squat.<br /><br />The only place where I really have any hope of being heard is at a very local level. And to see that only 10% of my fellow citizens feel the same shows how far we are from restoring any control over this nation.<br /><br />I'm not really that mad that I lost this round. I'm mad that so few people care enough to spend 10 minutes checking out what the issues were, and another 30 minutes to go punch a few buttons at a polling booth. We have become so lazy that an hour of our time is too much to spare for our civic duty.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-50133044021545390802007-05-02T17:26:00.000-05:002007-05-02T17:54:34.969-05:00Back OnOkay, I know. I haven't posted anything in three months. No, I don't have an excuse. I've thought of posting many times, just never actually did it.<br /><br />The reason that I'm finally typing away is that I'm bored. I'm in a hotel room in Houston for the week, atending a training course. So now you know what it takes for me to actually say something about my life.<br /><br />So, what's been happening to me? In short, not much that I consider noteworthy. However, I'll run through the high points.<br /><br />February came and went pretty quiet. The only thing I really remember was that I did my taxes. When that's the high point of the month, you know it was quiet.<br /><br />March was a bit more active. I bought the parts for a new computer, and put it together. I'm still trying to get the TV card to work, but that's another story.<br /><br />Also, we got a new guy in at work for me to break in (even though his position makes him senior to me). He's OK, though still getting up to speed on some stuff. He's already taken over a couple of projects that I didn't like anyhow.<br /><br />April started on a bad note. My grandmother had a stroke that destroyed the left half of her brain. She went into a coma, and died a little over a week later. She had signed a DNR, including no feeding tube, so she basically starved to death. I spent the days before Easter in Ohio attending her funeral. Not exactly the circumstances I wanted to see my family under.<br /><br />The rest of April was quiet. I missed a Saturday canoe trip with the Men's Group that I had really been looking forward to. My apartment's AC had died, and I couldn't get to sleep. Woke up for the alarm clock, and fell asleep again. I was very annoyed.<br /><br />May looks like it'll be busy. I've got to re-work a project plan for the 5th time, and I'm getting sick of it. However, I have to have the first phase of that project complete by the end of the month, and I lost half of last week on another system failure.<br /><br />In other news, Nacho's found that he has bigger medical problems than he thought. He went home to Puebla for a physical a couple weeks back, and not a moment too soon. He has severe sleep apnea, which pushes his heart rate to over 200 in a vain attempt to keep his blood-ox levels up. Recently, this has resulted in his blood pressure crashing during the day and his almost fainting. He also doesn't get into REM sleep, so he's been walking around exhausted for a couple years. He's now got a respirator for use at night, so hopefully it'll let him sleep properly. Time will tell. He also finally has a court date later this month on selling his house, so we will officially be roommates again.<br /><br />We'll see when I write more.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-6057655905541534232007-02-05T18:38:00.000-06:002007-02-05T19:07:27.485-06:00Settling InWith January come and gone, many things have changed in my life. New year, new home, new responsibilities, new church, even a new age. Fortunately, I can look back on these one at a time.<br /><br />2007 came to me like most years, quietly, watching the ball drop on TV, alone. Can't say I really mind, as everyone I know will tell you I'm not a party person. I'd rather worry about retraining 12 months of muscle memory and putting the right number on everything I date. I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, either, but something <a href="http://www.daveramsey.com">Dave Ramsey</a> said on his show on that last day stuck with me enough for me to write down. He was talking about goals, how to make them, and what they had to be. He gave six categories for goals, and four requirements.<br /><br />The categories were:<br /><ul><li>Career</li><li>Financial</li><li>Spiritual</li><li>Physical</li><li>Family</li><li>Social</li></ul>and goals must be:<br /><ul><li>Specific</li><li>Measurable</li><li>For a specific time limit (no "one of these days" allowed)</li><li>Your own (not someone else's goal for you)</li></ul>That's gotten me thinking, and starting to wonder what goals I have, or should have. No good answer for that yet. I'm not an ambitious person, nor one to really push for something (which explains a lot of the "perpetually single" part of my bio). There are things I want to do, but I always feel like most of those desires are the hands of others, not me. Something to keep thinking about, and I'm trying to have some sort of goal set by the end of the month.<br /><br />The apartment lease was signed the first week of January, and we cleared out most stuff that weekend. The furniture barely fit in the U-Haul, but fit it did, and we managed to get it all moved in one trip. Our measurements of the apartment were nearly perfect, and the floor plan we'd worked up was fine. Then the next 3 weeks of shuttle-runs of more boxes of stuff (mostly mine) that either didn't fit in the U-Haul but could wait, or just wasn't packed by then. I am happy to say that I unpacked the last box Saturday, and just have to go get some drywall screws to hang stuff on the wall to call our move Complete. Next step is getting Nacho to actually go through with it and sell the house, so he can officially join me here -- not that it makes much of a difference, given how rarely he's in town.<br /><br />To my astonishment, things have smoothed out at work. At the time of my last writing, I had serious doubts about my new manager. The very next day at work, I found out our department head had transferred to a newly formed position in the company, and that the manager I trust the least had been named to succeed him. I still have some serious doubts about his ability to lead, as well as my manager's ability to manage, but for now they're keeping their hands out of my business. We'll see how long that lasts. Also, the newly-formed position of Senior Systems Administrator was filled shortly before Christmas, only to be vacated again mid-January. From what my manager's said, I'm not confident on the caliber of whoever his replacement will be. The answers to those three personnel questions will determine the longevity of my stay.<br /><br />No, I didn't leave Fellowship Bible Church. We just moved 100 yards. After 5 years, our Worship Center is finally complete. They made some design choices I wouldn't have, and there are still some things that need to be fixed and tweaked, but it is amazing to see the place full. For this month, there is only a single service instead of 2, and we're not even cramped. Now to see if the new building brings an unnecessary pomp to the proceedings. I hope it doesn't, but there are disturbing signs.<br /><br />Last and least, my birthday came and went. Like New Year's nothing too fancy. But then again, most people don't consider watching the State of the Union Address to be much of a birthday party. That's OK, too. 26 isn't that different from 25.<br /><br />Now that the past has been examined, on to the future. Given the only thing of note in February is Valentine's Day, I expect (or at least hope for) a very quiet month.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-55685188032555288712006-12-31T17:52:00.000-06:002006-12-31T19:31:06.459-06:00Language BarrierAlone at last.<br /><br />My roommate's parents and sister flew in from Puebla, Mexico for the 21st-29th. While it was nice to have someone around from Christmas, it was also frustrating. They usually spoke English when addressing me, but anything else was mostly in Spanish. I took Spanish back in high school, but was never any good with it. I might catch one word in ten--enough to catch the general idea of the conversation, but that's it.<br /><br />While they were here, they did do one large piece of good: the house is mostly packed. Nacho's family turned his life into shredded paper and cardboard boxes. I'm progressing more slowly, but that's OK since they used all the boxes, and I've got until the end of the week to pack. We're not really moving until Saturday, so I've got plenty of time.<br /><br />For the move, things have hit some bumps. The apartment company doesn't like that Nacho's having house payment problems, so they and he are wrestling over whether he can move in now, or after the house is sold. Either way, I should be able to sign the lease on Tuesday.<br /><br />Happy New Year.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-80481976384431643742006-12-10T18:17:00.000-06:002006-12-10T18:36:10.853-06:00Of Alpha Particles and Cardboard BoxesA few highlights of the week:<br /><br /><ul><li>A couple months ago, our steel mill got a load of scrap that, somewhere in it, included a piece of radioactive material. We don't check loads for that sorta thing, so it wasn't known until the leftovers went to our <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">recyclers</span>, who does check that. They determined that the stuff had been inside some shielded box, and was vaporized during the melting process. It left traces throughout the refuse vents, and they've spent tons of money to clean those vents and install sensors to check incoming material. Monday was the day to get the sensors working, and I got pulled in to fix a couple of bugs our networking guys couldn't figure out. So I spent the morning waving a piece of Cesium-130 around to figure out all the combinations of how the alarms, software, and e-mail system worked. They say that the stuff is harmless, but anything involving the word "radioactive" doesn't exactly set me at ease...</li><li>I spent another day's worth of time at work packing up my office. No, I'm not quitting. Given the increase of personnel in our department, we've run out of room to shoehorn people into, so next week they're going to completely redo the cubicle layout of our office. None of us are going to be in the same place, so we've all had to pack up everything, and find temporary working spaces for next week. They're dumping me in the data center, which isn't exactly a quiet environment. I'm glad I have those bid Bose sound-man's headphones and the Creative Zen MP3 player I just bought.</li><li>I think we've found an apartment. A place called <a href="http://treehouseaptstx.com">Treehouse Apartments</a>, and we're going to get a 2-bed, 2-bath apartment (the B2 floor plan, if you want to have a look) that opens up at the beginning of the year. All the basic utilities are included with the rent, so we only have to take care of phone, internet, and satellite. When split between me and Nacho, it'll come out to a little less than what I'm paying Nacho now, and way cheaper for him. I'll be turning in the application tomorrow. Then I have to start packing what I won't need for the rest of the month.<br /></li><li>I got an e-mail a couple days ago saying that a replacement TV card for my computer is on its way here. The one I bought a month ago never worked right, I'm hoping this one does better. The DVR is full and overwriting old shows. Also, got the RMA for my video card, which is also not behaving. Hope they get that back to me quick.</li></ul>Until next post,<br />NAMJoker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-60282700686220766462006-12-02T19:40:00.000-06:002006-12-02T20:30:47.879-06:00There And Back AgainTwo days ago, about this time, I completed my first business trip. I was sent to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a training course called Crucial Conversations, given by a course named Vital Smarts.<br /><br />I was up ridiculously early Monday morning (which means anytime before dawn in my book, 5:30 in this case) to go the East Texas Regional Airport for a puddle-jumper to DFW. From there I sat around the terminal until my flight to Minneapolis, about 4 hours later. I finally got to Minneapolis around 1:30, got my rental car (a Mustang convertible--terrible instrumentation panel), and got lost trying to find my way around 1-way streets in downtown Minneapolis (in which 5th St. meets 7th Ave., with a few named streets mixed in to mess you up) to the Raddison Hotel, where the company had decided to put me up.<br /><br />After I got settled in my room and checked-in with work, I found out that the class I was supposed to fly to Chicago for in a couple weeks was already full, and had to cancel plans with my folks. By the time that was done, it was past 7, so I decided to go looking for some food. I then discovered one of the great things about Downtown: the 2nd-story Skywalk that connects most of the buildings. You can get almost anywhere downtown without ever having to step foot on a sidewalk or go outside. The annoying parts were that it's a very confusing layout and there aren't many maps to help guide you from building to building, and that everything except the major stores closes up at 6, so all the food joints were already closed. Had to venture out of Downtown to get dinner, then come back in, which I survived and only got lost once. I didn't touch the car again until I was leaving town.<br /><br />The class was 8-5 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not a lot of revolutionary material, just general stuff about disengaging your emotions. They also gave us the book and audio CDs, which I have yet to read. The intent of my going to the course was to evaluate it for the rest of my department, and my general evaluation was that there may be some nuggets to pull out, but the course itself isn't worth sending people through normally. The fact that I was the only non-manager there didn't help much (most people were managers or executives from hospitals). I've still got to go through the CDs and book to see if there's anything more directed there.<br /><br />Tuesday evening I decided to venture down to the Mall of America, courtesy of the Light Rail that runs straight there from a station 2 blocks from my hotel. Unfortunately I didn't know it was 2 blocks, and ended up walking to the wrong end of the Nicollet Mall before figuring that part out. At the MoA I went straight to the aquarium, which didn't exist when I was last there 10 years ago. It's a walk-through underwater aquarium, so my engineering training kicked in right away at how many tons of water pressure were around me trying to turn me into filleted bits of shark food. Having stingrays and tiger sharks resting on the tube directly above me didn't help much with that part, but by the time I got halfway through I was getting over it. They have a small touch pool near the end, where they keep some smaller stingrays and sharks. They'd just fed them, so they were very active, and I eventually mustered up the courage to touch one of the stingrays; very slimy feeling, but I'm not sure how much of that was just the water. That was the last stop in the aquarium, so I went on and walked around all 3 main levels before grabbing dinner and heading back to the Light Rail station. I didn't buy anything except dinner and a Strawberry Banana Julius, not that I'd planned to. A mall is never a good place to buy something, especially not a mall designed as a tourist trap.<br /><br />Wednesday evening, the class was over, and I was debating what to do. I found out that the Hollidazzle, a small Christmas parade down the Nicollet Mall, was starting that night. The cold weather had finally come in that day, and the temp was about 12 degrees, but that didn't deter me from going down to see it. I even was able to get pictures of about half the floats before my camera's batteries froze; I'll try to post some of then here in the near future. After that, I went back to my room to warm up, and watch CBS for the night. However, during CSI:NY, I heard real-life gunfire outside my window. I wasn't able to see the actual shooting site; I was on the 6th floor, and there was a bus between us. From what they said on the news later, two guys got into an argument, one of them pulled a gun, and I heard 4 or 5 shots. It took the police about 5 minutes to get there, and the ambulance another 5 past that. Rather poor response time in my opinion, given it was light traffic downtown at that hour, but the guy who was shot was moving and looked OK when they got him into the ambulance. I just checked the local news station, and it says that as of the next morning he was listed in serious-to-critical. That kinda spoiled my mood for the rest of the evening.<br /><br />Thursday morning, I was up too early again, and got lost again trying to find the I-35 on-ramp. Managed to get to the airport eventually, and checked my car back in with Avis. The flight to DFW was fairly good, though we hit some turbulence during our descent. I even think I got some sleep on the flight, which is amazing. When we got to DFW, I sat around for a while, then walked all of B Concourse, and found that it connected directly to D, so I walked all of that too. Then, an hour before my flight's supposed to leave, they announce that they're providing a bus to Longview for anybody who wants it. They hadn't canceled the flight yet, but given the cold weather had followed me from Minnesota and it was actually snowing outside, plus what the turbulence we'd encountered on the way in would do to a puddle-jumper, I decided the bus was a good idea. We didn't leave the terminal until almost an hour after our plane was supposed to leave, and there were only a half dozen of us on the bus, so I think the plane made it. However, we made it to Longview safe and sound, and it worked out since that's when Nacho had just gotten into town and was able to pick me up.<br /><br />Friday I was back at work, in the mad rush to get caught up. Now it's the weekend, and I'm starting to look ahead; I've still got more catching up to do, and Nacho and I need to go look at an apartment on Monday. We hope we like it, because the price is good and it's the close to both LeTourneaus, while still being in what looks like a safe neighborhood. More on that in my next post, hopefully.Joker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3545150813414665192.post-49953679023005445942006-11-23T15:00:00.000-06:002006-11-23T19:03:08.515-06:00And So It BeginsWell, first off, a blessed Thanksgiving to you all.<br /><br />After finding that one of my college friends has been writing <a href="http://beekerific.blogspot.com/">her own blog</a>, I decided that it's about time that I give this blogging thing a shot.<br /><br />First, an introduction to those of you who have forgotten me, or don't know me:<br /><br />My name is Nathaniel A. "Joker" Miller. I'm a 25 year-old, perpetually single geek. If that amount of information doesn't scare you off, congratulations. You're braver than most.<br /><br />I work as the Junior Systems Administrator in the Information Technology Department at LeTourneau, Inc. (soon to be known as LeTourneau Technologies, Inc.) in Longview, Texas, where I am directly responsible for approximately 60 servers and most of the software on them, as well as having partial responsibility for another 20 servers at various other locations throughout the company.<br /><br />I live outside of Longview with my part-time roommate and college friend Juan "Nacho" Lopez, a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Louisiana Technical University in Ruston, LA. Nacho owns the house we live in, and I "rent a room" from him. A pretty good deal, given how infrequently he's around. I practically have my own house, without all the extra expenses.<br /><br />I was born and raised in Sioux Falls, SD, where my father was the engineer for KNWC radio and my mom was a captioner and home-school teacher. I have a younger sister by almost five years, Carolee, who is currently a junior at Judson College in Elgin, IL studying Architecture.<br /><br />I attended public school until 8th Grade, at which point my mother started home-schooling me and my sister. We attended Central Baptist Church until I was 10, at which point we went with Grace Church, a plant Central started, with which my father served a term as an elder, my mother was head of the Missions Committee, and my whole family was the primary Sound/Media Crew.<br /><br />My family moved to Elkhart, IN just before I turned 18, where my parents are now serving with HCJB World Radio. My dad is a Design Engineer, and my mom helps in Accounting section. 8 months after we moved to Elkhart, I left home for college at LeTourneau University here in Longview, where I studied Computer Science Engineering, and later added a second major for Engineering, Computer Concentration (yes, they are different things, but there's a lot of overlap). I was placed on a floor known as <a href="http://www.dorm41.org">41</a>, which is where I met Nacho and many other great brothers with whom I spent 5 years.<br /><br />After graduation, I was looking for a job in Computer Logic/Hardware Design, but was coming up empty. To pay the bills for the summer (during which I was finishing my <a href="http://www.letu.edu/_Academics/Engineering/engineering/student-projects/auvsi/">Senior Engineering Project</a>), I got a job as a Student Field Technician with LeTourneau, Inc.'s IT department. After the project was done and they kicked me off campus, I hadn't found anything else to do, so I just kept working at LeTourneau and moved in with Nacho, who had 1 room open at the time. I continued that way for over a year, until LeT-Inc was able to offer me a position - as Systems Administrator. I was surprised, but given the job stability and a not-small raise, I accepted.<br /><br />Since shortly after coming to Longview, I've been attending <a href="http://www.longviewfbc.com/">Fellowship Bible Church</a>, where I've been involved with the College Group and, in the last few months I've joined the Men's Ministry.<br /><br />That pretty well sums up my life to this point. I'll have some things occurring over the next couple weeks that I'll try to write about here, but as anybody can tell you, my communication skills are not all that great. Hopefully I'll be able to keep writing here, though I don't know if anybody will read it.<br /><br />Until next time,<br />NAMJoker41NAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08238425252198932688noreply@blogger.com0