It Was Great Fun

My agency has issued me a new high-end biometric security featured HP iPAQ 5500 Pocket PC. This six-plus-ounce little marvel has been put through its pace. It has served me well on and off work. Last evening, something caused the system to disconnect from the Internet service.

My applying the standard rescue measures failed to revive the Internet connection from the iPAQ. The IT Helpdesk I talked with this morning were clueless also. I couldn't fault them, really. There are several flavors of PDAs being used in the department. Held hand PDA maintenance is not the tech support's forté. Only three iPAQ 5500 issued to selected staff to date. I am the only heavy iPAQ 5500 user among these fortunate few. If any one knows how this thing works, it is I. For the moment, wireless Internet usage with this iPAQ is out of the question.

I am with Cole Porter on this one. It was great fun, but it was just one of those things.

AC or DC, That is the Question

A follow-up to the Perpetual Kitten blog.

For years we have placed chicken wire on various parts of the yardscape where cats would most likely go to do their business. They have worked effectively as a deterrent and are very durable to this day.

Ironically, the largest area where we didn't have problems before was the lawn. Now, that's changed. One section of the front lawn has become the favorite hangout to which our neighbor's cat or likes to frequent.

As a short term tactical ward, we have implemented a two tier defence against Le Moka la Reine de Poop (Mocha the Poop Queen). A layer of chicken wire has been placed over the hot spots. Then later in the evening, the lawn sprinkler system will activate for a few minutes to wet the grass. In any case, the chicken wire would have to be removed on the day the grass is mowed. A long term proactive and more aesthetic solution is needed.

Some high tech pet motion detection and deterrent devices are now being considered. Which to get, AC or DC powered? How about one of each?

Wouldn't it be nice if there were an AC/DC glowworm ala the Mills Brothers song we could deploy against Le Moka?

Till then (another Mills Brothers song),
to sleep, perchance to dream of a good pet motion detection gizmo; ay, there is the rub.

The saga continues.

SA Red Kettle Fund Drive. Part II - Alvin

The Raley's Supermarket (not the one where I blogged about the VFW Buddy Poppies) at the Century Plaza is practically situated next to Gottchalks . In front of the market's main entrance, there was an elderly black man ringing the bells for the red kettle Christmas fund drive. So, it was a surprise for us to see two Salvation Army red kettles only steps away from each other. Since our appointed assignment was at Gottchalks, that's where we went. But we were still curious with whom or what organization this fellow associated.

After driving Martha home I came back to Gottchalks. I wanted to find out who that bell ringer was. Besides, we needed some cleaning sponges. I took a bulging coin purse with me and went to Raley's.

I couldn't find the utility sponges (translation: this guy didn't know where to look) so I decided I would have better luck with this other bell ringer person. I emptied several dollars of changes into the kettle while chatted with the man. He called himself Alvin.

Alvin worked alone from 9 to 6. He came from Lodi (45+miles north of Modesto). He earned $6.75 an hour.

I went back to Irene with the good news and the bad news. The good news was I found out Alvin was a seasonal worker hired by Salvation Army to do the fund drive. The bad news was I couldn't find the type of kitchen sponges Irene wanted.

I beckoned Irene to go look for the sponges. This was the time a woman got to to do a woman got to do. To buffer my embrassment at the failed task , I thought it would be nice if she could say hello to Alvin.

After our shift was over, we went to Raley's for the sponges. I handed Alvin enough money for a dinner that evening. He was surprised. He thanked and then hugged me.

Alvin and us exchanged the "C" word in our goodbyes. Yes, Christmas is the reason for the season - always.

SA Red Kettle Fund Drive. Part I - Martha

It had stopped raining when we arrived at the Century Plaza. The autmnal sun was playing hide-and-seek with the cumulus clouds. Scattered leaves were blown about by a chilly wind. They swirled and eddied round the parking lot. An elderly lady from our church had the solo watch of the red kettle at Gottchalks from 11 to 1. Her name was Martha. Although we go the same church, we had not met before until this past Saturday.

Ten minutes went by since we donned our red aprons and started our bell ringing duty. Martha still had not left. She stood aside and waited. I had to ask.

"My daughter is going pick me up. We are going to a wedding." She said.
"When is the wedding?" I inquired.
"Two O'Clock." She casually replied.

Martha was not attired to attend a wedding while she did her two-hour stint bell ringing at the Gottchalk. That much was certain. I was piqued as to why she didn't seem perturb at the possiblity of missing the wedding ceremony.

"I think you had better call your daughter." I offered Martha my cell phone.
"She is still not readied." She concluded after talking with her daughter.
"Could I drive you to the wedding instead?" I was getting a bit anxious for her.
"Actually, I don't want to go to the wedding. I want to go home." Martha explained.

As it turned out, Martha was not acquainted with the bride and groom, much less received an invitation to attend the wedding. They were her daughter's friends. She depended on her daughter to take her home after the red kettle Christmas fund drive. The latter was Martha's transportation home. The plan was for Martha to go to the wedding first, then home.

I offered to drive Martha home, while Irene continued her duties at the red kettle. Martha was relieved that I would drive her home. She didn't want to go to a wedding not invited.

During the 10-mile one way jaunt to her home out in the country on Paradise Road, I came to know more of Martha and her family. They have lived and worked in Modesto since the 1950s. Both she and her daughter are widowed. They and a granddaughter now live in the same house.

The round-trip back to the shopping center took about an hour. It was a blessing for us to come to know Martha this day. We'll give Martha her red kettle bell ringer picture next time we meet.

God has a purpose for everything.

Bach and Vivaldi and Scarlatti, Oh My!

It's almost midnight. I thought some on-line classical music would help set the mood to pen an account of an eventful day. (To pen something using a wordprocessor is an oxymoron in today's Internet speak. Sigh.)

Alas, my favorite Winamp station has been playing continuously a string (pun) of "bouncy" Bach partitas, Vivaldi concerti, and Scalatti's quartets. Enough already.

I suppose it's too much to hope at this late hour for John Rutter's choral piece "What Sweeter Music." It's taken from the original title A Christmas Carol Sung to the King in the Presence at Whitehall by Robert Herrick (1591-1674).

Chorus: What sweeter music can we bring,
than a carol for to sing
the birth of this our heavenly King?
Awake the voice! awake the string!
Heart, ear, and eye, and everything
awake! the while the active finger
runs division with the singer.

Now, that's a piece to reflect upon and to pen by.

I am going to call it a night.

Off to Salvation Army Bell Ringing

It's raining at this moment.

Three care packages mailed out this morning to the Any Soldier recipients.

Having a quick lunch now and will be heading out to Gottchalks at the Century Plaza to do a two-hour shift of red kettle bell ringing.

The Perpetual Kitten

Le Chat Qui A Joué Fauré

Mocha, the new neighbor's cat, thinks my front lawn is her prized litter box. She prowls about my property constantly. I suppose the grass is greener on this side of the fence. There are no other usual suspects within Mocha's whisker or whiskers. Every now and then I espy a Cheshire Cat grin from you know what. Perpetual and circumstantial evidence lays it all out on the grass. It is guilty as charged.

Yet there is more than one way to sleuth a cat. I have just the title and jacket cover for the next Lilian Jackson Braun thriller, "Le Chat Qui A Joué Fauré"* (The Cat Who Played Fauré). It suits nicely as the sequel to "The Cat Who Played Brahms." I should have my people call her people to do a Kit Kat bar power munch and hash out a contract.

There is always someone like Rindawriter who loves cats and speaks to them the Dr. Doolittle way, however.

To each his own meow.

* Fauré: Complete Works for Cello

Shopping for the Troops

We are on a mission. Shopping for the troops. It's a jungle out there on this after Thanksgiving day. Off to Costco we go.

In the meantime, if you are reading this, go to the sidebar and link the Any Soldier site for details. We have been sending care packages, admittedly not often enough, to our troops in the Middle East and Bosnia since Gulf War I.

If you haven't already, why not make this Any Soldier care packaging to the troops your personal or neighborhood project this holiday season and beyond. They need more than lip service and car decals. After all, it is they who gave their todays for our tomorrows.

On Thanksgiving

Izaak Walton Hotel, Essex, MT. 08-24-04


God has two dwellings: one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.
--Izaak Walton (1593-1683)


Read President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation here.

Some Enchanted Evening

Elegance is something more than ease--more than a freedom from awkwardness and restraint. It implies a precision, a polish, and a sparkling which is spirited, yet delicate.

--William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is His greatest gift to humanity. This is once more affirmed in last evening's Marie-Andreé Ostiguy piano concert. Her artistry is elegance epitomized.

Log the Walk

This blog is written on the iPAQ 5500 and sent to my weblog site using a WLAN connection.

I have a pedometer that can be called a classic, if the same age criterion accorded to a 20-year-old Honda is applied.

I bought this plastic molded instrument back in the days when "green stamps" redemption stores were in vogue. One such store in my neighborhood is now doing Sherwin-Williams home decors.

This unprentious pre-digital era counter is a simple two-control operation. Unlike today's consumer electronics, there are no modes nor settings in this meter. It has one lever on the side to set the stride length in inches. On top, there is a reset button for a four-cylinder display (000.0) of miles walked.

This thing does what it designed to do. But I have reset it accidentally in too many times than I care to count. As they say, all were user induced errors. After taking it with us on this past summer vacation to the American Rockies, the countdown for a replacement began.

Today, I have added a digital pedometer to a list of growing battery-dependent home and personal "appliances." The thought of buying Duracell stocks is becoming more attractive each step of the way.

How Will I Serve Mine?

This blog is written on the iPAQ 5500 and sent to my weblog site using a WLAN connection.

Last evening, our small group concluded its six-week study of Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life." Except for Phil & Mary, the facilitators, Irene and I did not know who others were in the group.

We were the youngest two in the group. The others five couples were grandparents or in retirement. What faults, thoughts, inspirations, and hopes we shared in these past weeks transcended demographic identities. More important, our collective experience brought each of us a closer understanding of God's purpose for our being.

We have started as distant cousins in God's family. We are now a band of brothers and sisters. "In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:5 (NIV).

Surely, the many Biblical principles expounded in this purpose driven life book will be revisited. Having this book in a digital PDA format facilitates the reviews and evaluations of my life according to His purpose for me.

"For David ... had served the purpose of God in his own generation." Acts 13:36 (NASB). How will I serve mine?

Got Purpose?

The 2004 post-election political commentaries that ensue from the media are familiar echoes of a Shakespearean line uttered on stage few hundred years earlier:

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries

Julius Caesar

Act IV, Scene 3

With the election results settled, the political pundits are now dispensing the "render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" advices for governance. Some are even contriving a social-political agenda on "render unto God the things that are God's." The latter prospect is promulgated by the minority political party for its failing to anticipate the rising tide of the so-called "moral values" gathered at the exit polls. Whether the perceived moral values had contributed to one party's election victory and another's defeat are still being debated.

One ought to be so careful when considering a religion makeover for the purpose of political expediency. God is not mocked (Galatians 6:7).

Faith, hope, and charity are and because of God (1 Corithians 13:13; James 1:27). They can not be grafted on by political motivations nor attained by looking to self-help gurus.

Lest one cirlces or drifts aimlessly, faith and charity are a two-oar endeavor to one rowing in the river of life. They are borne of a contrite heart, with faith and hope placed in God (Psalm 51; 1 Peter 1:19-23). The direction to row comes from an abiding heart in response to Christ's love. All because it was He who loved us first (1 John 4:19).

We see a heart of service poured out from this faith-based poem, “I Shall Not Pass This Way Again.” This poem is an eloquent expression of a Christian woman who seeks and finds a life with purpose. A comfortable and idyllic existence is preferred but not purposeful. The Canadian poet and composer, Eva Rose York (1858 - post-1935), writes in these excerpted passages:

O God, forgive

That now I live

As if I might, sometime, return

To bless the weary ones that yearn

For help and comfort every day,-

For there be such along the way.

O God, forgive that I have seen

The beauty only, have not been

Awake to sorrow such as this;

That I have drunk the cup of bliss

Remembering not that those there be

Who drink the dregs of misery.

I love the beauty of the scene,

Would roam again o'er fields so green;

But since I may not, let me spend

My strength for others to the end,-

For those who tread on rock and stone,

And bear their burdens all alone,

Who loiter not in leafy bowers,

Nor hear the birds nor pluck the flowers,

A larger kindness give to me,

A deeper love and sympathy;

Then, O, one day

May someone say-

Remembering a lessened pain-

"Would she could pass this way again."

To read the complete poem:

I Shall Not Pass This Way Again

Autumn in Modesto, CA 2004

A View from Woodrow Park - E. Rumble Road


Taking advantage of a respite from the rain on this Veteran's Day, I went to Woodrow Park and took some digital photos of the fall color.

This park is a stone's throw from our house. In fact, Woodrow Park is one of three large public parks in our neigborhood. It's rare these days for a neighborhood to be situated within a radius of less than a mile from large parks such as these (pictures not shown).

War and Remembrance - Part II

Arlington National Cemetery, October 2003

Tell them of us and say,

For their tomorrow,

We gave our today.

~John Maxwell Edmonds (1875-1958)~

War and Remembrance - Part I

Red Corn Poppies/Flanders Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

Next to the entrance at the Raley's supermarket on Tully, an elderly man sat quitely next to a table with a sign draping over the front which read "VFW...". Over the white table cloth laid a number of delicately hand-made red poppies. A stack of pamphlets. Near the edge of the table stood a 5-lb coffee container donation canister.

I pressed a bill into the canister and greeted the veteran. The soft spoken man who donned his service cap smiled, and handed me a poppy. He was borne in 1938. He asked if I were a veteran. I said I was a baby-boomer. We touched upon the wars of the past and present.

Many today, he said, didn't see war and remembrance like the "old ways." Before we parted, he asked if I were married. Then he gave me a second flower and a VFW pamphlet explaining the "Buddy" poppy. *

This soft spoken senior I met two Saturdays past was once a young soldier who fought in a war. Many years from now, how would our veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars talk about their "old ways"?

I lost one of the two poppies inside the store. The other one I tied it inside my truck behind the rear view mirror.

Today is the US Marine Corp's 229th birthday. Semper fi!

Suggested readings:

In Flanders Field - John McCrae
A Reply to "In Flanders Field"

In remembrance of a Modesto friend's brother, Justin Wood, along with others, gave their lives for duty, honor, and country on June 25, 1996, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

-----------------
*VFW poppies are assembled by disabled, needy and aging veterans in VA hospital, state veteran's homes and domiciliaries across the country. The majority of proceeds derived from each campaign conducted by VFW Posts and their Ladies Auxiliaries is retained locally to provide for veteran services and welfare.

Buddy Poppy proceeds represent no profit to any VFW unit. The money contributed by the public for Buddy Poppies is used primarily in the cause of veterans welfare, or for the well-being of their needy dependents and the orphans of veterans.

The U.S. Congress by Joint Resolution in Many 20, 2004, honoring past and current members of the Armed Forces and encouraging Americans to wear red poppies on Memorial Day.

Autumn at Monticello, 2003

Monticello, Fall Foliage, October 2003

This picture was taken on a warm October month at the Thomas Jefferson's world renown Monticello in 2003. As I recall, the temperture at Charlottesville, VA, was in the sunny 70's.

We have our Central Valley Fall Color.

If the weather permits (rain is in the forecast), I hope to get a few photos along the tree-lined Rumble Road near our neighborhood.

The Providential Election

There is a plethora of postmortems why Senator Kerry did not win the 2004 presidential elections. They are all very similar in diagnosis. I like to entertain heretofore an unexplored explanation. Senator Kerry was not destined to win this presidential election. Only God could have written, produced, and directed the implausible screen plays for George W. Bush's winning the two presidential elections.

Our United States, once founded upon Judeo-Christian principals, is now drowning in a sea of discontent and ever angry secularism from within. It now also facing the rising tides of post 9-11 Islamofascism from abroad. The country is treading precariously in a roiling sea of hate.

Christianity always seems like one generation away from extinction. Yet God never fails His own. He has a way of passing the baton to the next chosen one to race ahead of Satan in this pre-ordained contest. I am inclined to think George W. Bush has walked and is walking in the light of God's countenance (Psalm 89:15-18). His presidency is an act of Providence. His faith and moral clarity could be viewed as a beacon of hope, purpose, and anchor for the world's last and strongest bastion of Christianity.

In Ephesian 1, verse 10, Paul speaks of how God is a good steward with the history of His creation, which includes man. He manages this world well, not only as it relates to people in general, but most important, how it relates to our salvation. God has a plan for this president (and all believers). Perhaps God's purpose for this president is to take on a pivotal role in the on-going spiritual warfare with evil (Ephesians 6:12), thus ensuring the message of salvation goes forth still.

Suggested readings:

On Secularism in US Politics:
Read Here

On the Isalimzation of Europe:
Read Here

On Islamofascism Rising in Holland:
Read Here 1 of 2
Read Here 2 of 2

Fair and Balanced on PBS

I suppose PBS has discovered by doing "fair and balanced" news commentaries other than showcasing Bill Moyer and his ilk could improve its image and rating. The syndicate is now featuring the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal to a weekly 30 minutes roundtable news discussion as The Wall Street Journal Editorial Report.

This group is the braintrust of the Wall Street conservatives. I am not going to look at this gift-horse in the mouth. I welcome the program while it lasts.

Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune

Last evening was a hectic time. I ran my own election decision desk for the states Ohio and Florida. Brit Hume et. al at Fox News Channel were biding their time in calling these two states for incumbent President George W. Bush. The ghost of the year 2000 Florida state election mess still haunted the networks. Notwithstanding the lesson of the Florida electoral projection debacle then, I thought it’s time to crunch my own election return numbers for these two swing states.

My election decision desk consisted of a Window XP PC, a television tuned to Fox News. I had several IE browsers windows opened and multi-tasked the following sites: The Drudge Report, The Fox News on-line electoral count, the Florida State on-line return tabulation, the Ohio State on-line return tabulation, and the Republican Red State blog.

I called both races for President Bush by 9:30 PM PST (12:30 AM EST). Nevertheless, I hovered about the television set waited for the validation of my projections. The confirmation finally came from Brit Hume near or at about mid-night (3:00 AM EST).

My able assistant, Irene, had provided this learned observation of the popular vote. The nearly four million popular votes President Bush received over Senator Kerry could very well have been cast by voters with strong religious and moral beliefs. (Note: The Republican top strategist, Karl Rove, estimated in the 2000 election, four million Christians did not vote.)

From under the vitriolic mud-slinging and accusations, the President had endured and won the election for a second term in office. The fringe Democratic Party elements are so despondent and outraged that the fortunate-son, President George W. Bush, has won - again. The President's resounding victory gives rise to a new meaning of the oft quoted phase, “Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune.”*

*Wiliam Shakespeare - "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" Act III, Scene 1.

Vote!

Consider King David's last words when you vote.

Thanks to Richard and Ginger Colla for this Randall Thompson's inspirational chorale piece at Sunday's service.

The text for "The Last Words of David" is based on verses taken from the Book of Second Samuel:

"He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God, Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain" -- II Samuel 23:3-4 NASB)

Listen to Randall Thompson's "The Last Words of David"

Presidential Election Predictions

Frank: Bush 56; Kerry 44

Irene: Bush 53; Kerry 47