House Divided

If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. (Mark 3:25, in Daily Guideposts, 23 February 1986) [Comment: This applies to the senate too. REH, 5 March 2010]
31/Mar/2010 8:55

Recycling

No one wants to admit they gave so much time, energy, or attention to the wrong person or that they did it for the wrong reasons. Often the fear of being wrong will render us dumb or blind to the very thing we must see - the person is no longer right in our lives. (Iyanla Vanzant, Faith in the Valley, p. 333)

******

Early this morning, right after I got dressed, I went out to the shed to bring two boxes of First Day Cover magazines out to the recycle bin that I placed at the curb last night. This is going to be a good week for recycling and clutter reduction. It's the second time I filled the new recycle bin. It's huge and when it's full it's very heavy. Each box took up about one cubic foot of space.

It's time to come to grips with getting the tax reports filled out. I'm planning to hire the CPA out on Route 450 to do most of the work.

I'm working on a project to recover the Henthorn/Kyger genealogy data from a GEDCOM file I prepared years ago for another researcher. I came up with some new techniques which seem to improve the quality of the new RootsMagic file. It looks like there will be enough information to create a 200-page modified register report.

Mr. Dickie
30/Mar/2010 9:00

Our Present

Become free to immerse yourself in this moment - the "now" that's called the "present" - because it's simply that - a present to open, relish, nurture, play with, and enjoy and explore. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, 10 Secrets For Success and Inner Peace, p. 75)

I choose friends who bring me strength and joy, whose qualities magnify my life. (Betty J. Eadie, Embraced By The Light, 10 March)

What if the only thing you ever threw away, was your life? (TLC show about hoarding, 28 March 2010

******

I think I have come up with a way to use EditPad Lite to help me with the word wrap problem in the notes of genealogy data I stored in Personal Ancestral File. The problem is that each line of note text is stored as a separate line when loaded into RootsMagic. The line tags in the GEDCOM files need modification. Some of the "2 CONT " tags need to be changed to "2 CONC ". The CONT tag is followed by one blank and the 2 CONC tag is followed by two blanks before the start of the text of the note.

Last night I watched one episode of the new TLC show about hoarding. Hoarding is a very strong compulsion that is almost impossible to eliminate. It's upsetting to learn more about it, especially if we have family or friends who suffer from this malady. In one instance they worked with a lady who wasn't able to throw away much of anything while the show crew was at her house. Apparently she rented a storage container and had that delivered to her driveway while the show was filming.

Mr. Dickie
29 Mar 2010

Time Shifting

[People who follow a twelve-step program] ... obey spiritual principles, at first because they must, then because they ought to, and ultimately because they love the kind of life such obedience brings. (after As Bill Sees It, p. 27)

******

Friday night I recorded the Matthew Broderick episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" Last night I watch the show before I went to bed. The part about his Civil War ancestor was particularly interesting. I wonder if they rest of us went to those libraries if they would let us untie those document bundles and attempt to open paper from the 1860's. I should have recorded the shows from the beginning. It only took about forty-two minutes to watch the hour long show when I bypassed all of the lengthy commercials. I know this is always a better way to watch a program. I wonder why I don't take the time to put a tape in the VCR more often. (We are still using VCRs.)

I found an article that Robert Guilinger and I wrote about the General Henry Sebastian Atkinson Question. I made a few changes and posted it to my genealogy blog. I think we got this one published in The Navigator of the Monroe County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.

This morning I worked again on my music catalog. I added another sixty-five records. Several hours of work remains.

Mr. Dickie
28/Mar/2010 10:03

'The Story of Stuff': Cycle of consuming and dumping creates heavy baggage - washingtonpost.com

'The Story of Stuff': Cycle of consuming and dumping creates heavy baggage - washingtonpost.com

This is an article about "clutter" issues that appeared in The Washington Post today. I'm not certain that you can read it unless you sign-up. I thought I'd give it a try.

Death

This is life. It's not about death and sacrifice. Get rid of what you don't need. Live. (Steve Case, Everything Counts, 8 January)

... death is a human experience that binds all men together. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 33)

... you don't get to choose how you're going to die, or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now. (Joan Baez, in The Promise of a New Day, 5 March)

Death is an appointment, not an accident. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 19)

******

I think I discovered one of my friends from my days in Wichita, Kansas on Facebook. It's always fun to see whether I read the clues correctly.

I picked up two pieces of information to add to my genealogy file "notes" via Facebook yesterday. I never know where I'll find something I can use.

Last night I decided to record the show, Who Do You Think You Are? That way, when I watch the program, I can bypass all of the annoying commercials and the unnecessary reviews after each commercial. I wonder why I didn't think of this after I watched the first show.

I continued to make progress on my paper sorting, shredding and filing project. There's now visible evidence that I have been busy. I did manage to create another pile of paper that needs filing in my file cabinet.

After a break of a couple of days I posted some new pages to my two genealogy blogs. Blog posting is an interesting exercise because there is very little feedback to indicate whether one is posting just for their own amusement.

Mr. Dickie
27/Mar/2010 9:19

What The Answer Might Be

Suddenly I realized what the answer might be. My basic flaw had always been dependence on people or circumstances to supply me with prestige, security, and confidence. Failing to get these things according to my perfectionist dreams and specifications, I fought for them. And when defeat came, so did my depression. (As Bill Sees It, p. 63)

******

I reviewed how Skydrive works. It's simple enough. This is 25Gb of free storage from Windows Live. I uploaded my various comma-separated-value (CSV) files and then downloaded one to make sure it works.

I went for a neighborhood walk yesterday. I stopped for quite a while to talk with one of the neighbor ladies who lives on the Garrison Road cul de sac. She wasn't aware of the recent daylight break-ins. I wasn't surprised. I stopped to talk because I had a hunch she wouldn't know about it.

Mr. Dickie
26/Mar/2010 8:44

Who's Blogging?

Smart Computing - March 25, 2010

Fun Facts & Stats:
The Graying Of The Blog

Once the exclusive purview of uninhibited teen diarists, the online blog is growing up . . . and turning a little gray. According to the latest Pew Internet & American Life study of youth and their use of social media, only 14% of teens say they blog, down substantially from 28% in 2006. Conversely, in 2007 only 7% of users over the age of 30 blogged, whereas 11% of the 30-plus crowd blog now. But it isn’t as if teens suddenly stopped talking about themselves, oh no. Their focus has moved to social networks, where use among this group has catapulted to 73% from 55% in late 2006.

Freedom To Speak Our Minds

The freedom to speak our minds is a precious gift. Throughout the world, throughout history, it has been and is a rare privilege. The privilege should oblige us in return to broaden and strengthen our minds, so that what we speak is worthy of free people. ... If we remind ourselves that free speech was a hard-won fight, we may have more respect for the way we enjoy it. (The Promise of a New Day, 6 March)

Resources - Blogger Gadgets | GeneaBloggers

Resources for Blogger Gadgets | GeneaBloggers - StumbleUpon

Wish you knew more about blogging? Want your blog to be different than the next guys? Maybe you will find what you need on this page.

Order Out Of Chaos

I'd rather be kind than right. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, 10 Secrets For Success and Inner Peace, p. 108)

... complaining about our oppressions and indignities only makes them loom larger and more disturbing. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 15 March)

The Twelve Steps and the Serenity Prayer can be applied to all our problems whether or not they are related to addictions. (After, One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 5 March, REH)

******

Today is the 109th anniversary of the birth of my mother, Ruth. She was a loving, daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, cousin, aunt, teacher, neighbor and church woman. She set a fine example that many of us still strive to follow.

I'm continuing to work on my music catalog. It's fun to review what I have available.

Today I'm planning to continue work on paper sorting, filing and shredding. I accept that it is a never ending project. I'm grateful for the invention of paper shredders. They are a big help. I've just about accepted that next Tuesday will be the day to recycle two cartons of First Day Cover magazines that I haven't looked at in years.

Mr. Dickie
25/Mar/2010 10:48

Community Service

If the greatest benefactor of your acheivement is yourself, then perhaps your ambition is out of control. (The One Year Mini For Men, 10 March)

In ... quiet time, we read and pray and get our minds in the right mood for the day. Starting the day right is a great help ... (Twenty-Four Hours A Day, 4 March)

******

I don't get it. Why is it a punishment, and a good idea, to sentence someone who has broken the law to do community service? Isn't doing service a privilege?

We used our new county-provided recycling bin for the first time yesterday. They took all of the paper I removed from old notebooks. Now I'm inspired to continue working on that part of my clutter reduction project. I found enough paper to shred yesterday to fill the shredder basket. That's progress too.

Mr. Dickie
24/Mar/2010 7:32

Alice in Wonderland

Accepting ... [things we cannot change] puts an end to our futile struggles and frees our thoughts and energy to work on things that can be changed. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 16 March)

I will try to be more objective and not take personally everything that is said or done. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 20 February)

******

I completed my project to create catalog records for most of my commercial music CDs. I still need to review a rack of classical CDs. Maybe I'll do that today. For a while I had a recording machine I used to make or copy CDs. I wore it out. The next part of the project will be to create records for all of the homemade CDs.

Melva wanted to go to a movie yesterday. She took me along. We wen to the theater in Bowie, Maryland. We went to the 2:05 p.m. showing of the Disney movie, "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D. I was shocked at how much they charged. Even with the Senior Discount each ticket cost $11.50. Maybe that's why there were only six people in the theater. We enjoyed the movie. The Cheshire Cat was spectacular in 3D. I think they should include an aspirin in the bag with the 3D glasses so you can get some headache relief as soon as the movie is over. Have you noticed how considerate theater management is of elderly folks with hearing problems. (Sarcasm intended). At one point during the previews I actually had to stick my fingers in my ears.

Mr. Dickie
23/Mar/2010 9:01

Music Collection

Do not make your conduct conform only to that of the world and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of others. (Twenty-Four Hours A Day, 19 March)

Do what is right this week, whatever is, whatever comes down the path, whatever problems and dilemmas you face - just do what's right. (Max Lucado, Grace For The Moment, 18 march)

******

It was interesting last night to observed the conduct of the Republicans immediately after the Health Care Reform vote. One of the House members got the floor and began to implement further delaying and obstruction tactics.

Last night and this morning I continued to work on my music cataloging project. I decided I would build on the file I found and not agonize over records that were lost. In time I'll enter information about all of the CDs in my collection. It's fun to review the albums I own. I even listened to several of them while I worked.

Mr. Dickie
22/Mar/2010 10:55

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung,
The grass is riz,
Where last year's,
Careless driver is.
(Burma Shave)

It is sad when the new generation imitates the sins of the old generation. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 34)

The secret is to substitute the positive for the negative. (One Day At A Time in Al-Anon, 25 January)

All it takes is one determined person who refuses to let the good times be forgotten. (Toni Sortor and Pamela McQuade, The Word On Life, 9 January)

******

First day of Spring yesterday. We went immediately from winter to summer. I turned on the air conditioner late in the afternoon. It was so warm Melva suggested we wash her car. I changed three of the CDs in her car player. We went to Bob Evans to eat an early supper.

I found a 2004 backup floppy of my music catalog. It was in the DBF format with over 2,100 records. I opened the file with Excel and converted it to a comma delimited file (CSV). The CSV file works with my CSVEd program. Once the file was working with CSVEd I keyed 87 new records for CDs I purchased in the last couple of years. There's still lots more work to do because I either lost many records or never created records for several hundred other CDs I created when I had a working CD recording machine.

I'm working on an Atkinson genealogy project. I'm gathering information about this family from several sources. The goal is to consolidate all of the information in one new RootsMagic file.

Mr. Dickie
21/Mar/2010 9:37

The Danger

A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. (Proverbs 22:13 in The One Year Mini For Men, 15 March)

Most lives aim at nothing in particular and achieve it. (Max Lucado, Grace For The Moment, 5 February)

... we must realize that not everyone has the strength of purpose to take decisive action or make radical changes in their way of life. (One Day At A Time in Al-Anon, 26 February)
19/Mar/2010 8:03

Is That All He Did?

When the beauty of a person's character is impressed upon us, it leaves an image which in turn reflects through our own actions. So look for beauty of character in those around you. (Twenty-Four Hours A Day, 11 March)

******

This morning, rather than posting to blogs, I went outside to bag up yard debris that I wanted to put out for pick-up on Friday. I didn't get around to preparing this posting until almost 8:00 p.m.

Today I attended the twice-monthly meeting of the computer club. One of the members gave a very nice talk about how to use the program called, Macrium Reflect. This program is used to make an "image backup" of a computer hard drive. The speaker backs up his computer to his external hard drive. He prepared thirty-three slides for his talk. The Senior Center lets the club use the new projector at our meetings.

After the club meeting I stopped at two of the big-box hardware stores in Bowie to shop for items on a list. I had to go to two places because Home Depot doesn't stock birdseed or suet anymore. I did manage to find four of the five things on my list. At Home Depot I bought Milorganite fertilizer for the lawn and three pairs of leather gloves. We both wish I'd done some prior planning about those gloves. It wasn't much fun doing the yard clean up when our fingers kept coming out of the old gloves that should have been discarded last fall.

Mr. Dickie
18/Mar/2010 19:50

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Because some cared enough to dream, to pursue, to follow through and complete their quest, our lives are more comfortable, more stable. That's enough to spur me on. How about you? (Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way, p. 85)

We must never forget our debt to spiritual leaders [and teachers and relatives] who have gone before us. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-to-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 34)

******

The weather was beautiful yesterday. Melva and I took a walk in the neighborhood. Afterwards I walked to the mailbox at the shopping center to mail a couple of bill payments. After being assured that WETA one of our PBS radio and television operations will only ask for funds once a year I mailed a check for another year of membership. I listen to the classical music on their radio station and watch many of the programs on their television channels.

I worked for an hour and a half on one of my clutter elimination projects. There were four cardboard boxes full of notebooks and paper in the shed.. I made a first pass through all of the contents. I filled two and a half milk crates with paper I plan to put in the recyle bin next Tuesday. I hope they will take it. I found one notebook that was definite for the trash can. Maybe I will clean up the other notebooks and donate any that can be salvaged to the thrift store. If I stick to the task I should be able to free up all of the space those boxes were taking up. By the way, this activity isn't "fun" it's just necessary. But, you knew that already without reading my blog.

Mr. Dickie
17/Mar/2010 9:18

Purposeful Forgetting

... the measure of a life is not in what is accumulated, but rather in what is given to others. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic, p. 48)

Inventory your life and get it on purpose. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic, p. 109)

Is your current situation "the result of purposeful forgetting?" (As Bill Sees It, p. 64)

******

I worked on a project to add dates, in the yyyymmdd format, to the "Wills" I already posted to my Obituary blog. The idea is to add the date twice to each "Will" post, first, in the title and second, in the "label" which is used to index the item in the blog sidebar. Most of these "Wills" were available when I had a genealogy website on AOL. It's been a long time goal to make them available again on the Internet. I'm still adding more "Wills" to the blog. I expect to complete this project in another day or two.

Mr. Dickie
16/Mar/2010 7:50

Let's Get Started

To effect the quality of the day, that is the highest of acts. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, p. 117)

Having a baby changes everything. (Johnson and Johnson)

Are you walking on an emotional tightrope? Give an old friend or family member a call. Ask them to pray for you. (After, Devotions for Women on the Go by Stephen Arterburn and Pam Farrel, 15 January)

******

Over the weekend I picked up a couple of additional Facebook friends, bringing my total number of friends to one hundred. It's always fun so see who will show up next.

I'm working on a project to extract 1005 Atkinson family records from my Conger file because I want to add them to a new RootsMagic file I'm building. It's lots of work and somewhat upsetting because it reminds me of the fact that I waited too long to convert from the DOS PAF program to a Windows genealogy program.

The recent rain and the melting snow caused flooding along the Potomac yesterday. There's a picture of the cherry trees standing in water on the front page of this morning's newspaper. I believe a spring is flowing under the street that runs in front of our house. At the bottom of the hill there's a big pothole of water, mud and asphalt taking up the lane on the uphill side of the street. It won't be easy to fix.

Mr. Dickie
15/Mar/2010 8:33

Happy Trails To You

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life. (As Bill Sees It, p. 33)

******

If you have any doubt about whether our government is concerned for the well-being of the citizens of this county look into how the government plans to solve the problem of the chemically contaminated trailers they bought to house the people left homeless by hurricane Katrina. If you are planning to purchase a cheap double-wide to set the grand-children up in housekeeping, think twice.

Mr. Dickie
14/Mar/2010 9:13

Genealogy Project

It's easy to become addicted to the adrenaline of conflict and chaos. (Stephen Arterburn and Pam Farrel, Devotions For Women On The Go, 15 January)

It is disappointing to depend on people, for often their help never comes. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 42)

People don't look at what happens to others in the same way as what happens to themselves. (His Miracles, Day 51)

******

I'm trying to find my copy of the 1870 census of Monroe county, Ohio. At some point I must have put it in a cardboard box. Now I can't find the box. It's another message about clutter. I did find several boxes in the shed that contain notebooks that I need to review and clean out. I also discovered a box in the basement with some interesting pages of genealogy information that I copied years ago at The Library of Congress.

Yesterday Facebook sent me a message that my genealogy friend, Susan was a member. I sent her a message to find out if it was really her. She responded. Last night we were going through the step of becoming FB friends. I have no idea how Facebook determined we might know each other. That's a little scary.

I worked on a project yesterday to see if I could extract information about the Atkinson family from my Yoho genealogy file. I created a GEDCOM file from my PAF file. Then I spent a couple of hours editing the GEDCOM before I loaded the data into a new RootsMagic file. There were 773 individuals and 275 marriages in the GEDCOM file. I was able to salvage 769 records and 272 marriages. Once the file was loaded into RootsMagic I was able to produce a Modified Register report of 100 pages. It was interesting to see how many different researchers shared their information with me over the years. I've more or less accepted that the best way to convert from PAF to RootsMagic is by extracting the information from the old file in small pieces.

Mr. Dickie
13/Mar/2010 8:39

Behaving

If you behaved yourself into a situation, you must behave yourself out of it! (Dr. Therman Evans in Until Today! by Iyanla Vanzant,

******

Two houses have For Sale signs in front of them. I don't think anyone has sold a house in this neighborhood for over two years. There are several other houses standing vacant (at least six). Repair work is underway on some and some are just a blight on the area. There's another article about foreclosures on the front page of The Washington Post this morning. We'd be in big trouble if we needed to sell in a hurry. There's no end in sight.

Mr. Dickie
12/Mar/2010 8:06

When You're At Peace

When you're at peace, you radiate a different kind of energy than when you're stressed or depressed. The more peaceful you become, the easier you can deflect the negative energies of those you encounter. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, 10 Secrets For Success and Inner Peace, p. 58)

******

We are trying to get the yard ready for spring, decorative grass needed trimming, bushes needed pruning. We are making progress Now we have a big pile of debris that will have to be cut into small pieces and put in bags. Each spring it is getting more and more difficult to do all this physical work.

I skipped blog posting yesterday. It's something I have to have time to do and be in the mood to do.

I'm working on a genealogy project for the Fox and Brague families of Monroe county, Ohio. There's no particular reason to work on these two families. I just enjoy passing them time seeing what I can do with the "raw" information I have available.

Mr. Dickie
11/Mar/2010 11:08

Miracles

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. (Albert Einstein in 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, by Dr. Wayne Dyer, p. 133)

******

I woke up this morning with a vision problem. That's the first sign of a migraine headache. I took my usual preventive steps and got some relief. When this happens it pretty much puts me out of action for the rest of the day. I have a hunch the problem was brought on my some yard work I did yesterday. Sometimes I notice that my bad back can be the cause of a migraine after I do lots of bending.

Today is the 110th anniversary of my father, Edward Charles Henthorn. I created an Ahnentafel chart for Robert, the brother I never knew, in honor of the birthday.

Melva has been working on some of the spring yard clean-up.

Mr. Dickie
9/Mar/2010 14:18

Walking

Your thoughts are much more important than you may have realized. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic, p. 103)

Do you concentrate more on what is wrong with people than on praying that they will be made right with God? (Oswald Chambers, Prayer A Holy Occupation, p. 78)

******

Yesterday it was warm enough to go out walking. I walked to the pharmacy and took a one-lap walk in the neighborhood. Others were out too. I was able to get caught up on some of the news. I found out that the winter hasn't been kind to several of our neighbors.

8/Mar/2010 7:54

Begathon

You never solve your problems by blaming other people. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 56)

A spiritual person is comfortable with the idea of having teachers, observers and divine guidance available at any time. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic, p. 41)

No one is exempt from failing. ... Fortunately, failure is not fatal. It does not mean you are substandard - only human. What you learn from your failure is what really counts. (The One-Year Mini For Men, 3 March)

******

I skipped a day of posting yesterday. We were busy visiting with Cyndi at her apartment. There's renovation going on in the building hallways and inside of her apartment. Things are a mess and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. It's very stressful.

In the evening I watched part of the 1937 Walt Disney classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I also watched part of the Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Show on PBS. Before I turned on the TV I never considered it would be another episode in the nearly constant "Begathon" of WETA. I was somewhat disappointed as the last 45-minutes of the show progressed because it became apparent that the program really wasn't a 40th anniversary concert. It was several shows pieced together into what was probably about an hour program which took one and a half hours to watch with all of the begging for money.

Mr. Dickie
7/Mar/2010 8:35

Genealogy Project

[Without taking a drink or drugs you can experience a hangover, an ] ... emotional hangover, the direct result of yesterday's and sometimes today's excesses of negative emotion - anger, fear, jealousy, and the like. (As Bill Sees It, p. 48)

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts ... take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. (Marcus Aurelius in 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace by Dr. Wayne Dyer, p. 101)

******

I'm working on a project to develop a method of salvaging some descendant charts I created years ago with the program, DESCEND. The idea is to convert these "text" files to "PDF" files that are suitable for viewing on a computer screen or printing out. I'm using a document about the Winland family of Monroe county, Ohio that I created in 2004 for my testing. Yesterday I made lots of progress. Lots of steps and several programs are involved. The process involved the shareware program, DESCEND. The freeware programs, EditPadLite and PDF995. And, the commercial program, MSWord.

The weather was nice yesterday. I took the opportunity to locate the pruning saw in the shed and use it to remove the damage part of the holly bush. I also pushed two grocery carts from "the hood" back to the grocery store parking lot. One of them was in neighbor, Fred's, garage and the other down at the end of the street that runs past his house. In all I returned three carts that showed up during the bad snow storm. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, "This kind of thing drives me nuts!"

Mr. Dickie
5/Mar/2010 8:11

Faces of America

Sharing experience, strength and hope acts like a medicine on the spirit, giving us a perspective on ourselves and our woes. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 7 February)

In mental work it takes time to gain the victory over wandering thoughts; they do not come necessarily through supernatural agents, but through lack of concentration. Concentration is only learned little by little, and the more impulsive you are the less concentrated you wll be. (Oswald Chambers, Prayer A Holy Occupation, p. 46)

******

Last night I enjoyed watching the fourth, and last episode of "Faces of America: Know Thyself" on PBS. Host and producer, Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. investigated the use of DNA testing in extending ones knowledge of their family tree.

Mr. Dickie
4/Mar/2010 8:46

Correcting Faults

San Andreas Fault

Let us always remember that any society of men and women that cannot freely correct its own faults must surely fall into decay if not into collapse. Such is the universal penalty for the failure to go on growing. Just as each ... [of us] must continue to take moral inventory and act upon it, so must our whole Society if we are to survive and if we are to serve usefully and well. (As Bill Sees It, p. 65)

******

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning. I was still trying to get my nose open enough to breathe at 7:00 a.m. I used the extra time to write a couple of yellow pages of journal notes, listen to The Pastoral Symphony on WETA-FM and catch up on some of my daily reading. I finished reading, "10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace," by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I posted the "date read" to my 2010 reading database. I plan to post to WeRead when I sign on to Facebook later today.

Every once in a while someone will surprise me when they mention that they noticed I didn't post to one of my blogs or that they read something in one of them. I have some followers of my blogs. "Followers" are people who registered as such. Google notifiers them whenever I post. There's a "followers" box in the blog sidebar. I use the Google Reader to follow serveral blogs, including my own.

Melva asked me if I could remember the author and book title of two quilting books she checked out of the library. I couldn't. It was a good question because it presented an opportunity to test out a new library service. My online library account now offers an option "to save a history" of books I've checked out. I signed on to my account and went to the history display. In a minute I had the information she wanted about the two books by, Jill Reber. Next I checked the library catalog to see how many copies of each book the library owns. At the same time I could check which branches have the books on the shelf.

Melva and I were pleased yesterday that we were able to hire two men to replace the 2' x 8' section of flooring that rotted out in our shed. My idea for waterproofing turned out to be a big mess. The material I bought was too thin, making it difficult to apply. I felt bad about that. Because I didn't have any experience with the product I bought I had no idea how it would work. Of course there were no clerks available at Loew's. You shop in the "big box" hardware stores at your own risk. I have a hunch that the material will work once it has time to dry.

Yesterday I made Facebook friends with Diane, the daughter of one of my cousins. I was already friends with her two children. I'm still hopeful that there will be more interaction among the various family members on Facebook. Only two of my generation are on Facebook.

Mr. Dickie
3/Mar/2010 7:04

Attitude Check

"the ancestor to every action is a thought." (Ralph Waldo Emerson, in Real Magic by Dr. Wayne Dyer, p. 25)

I will continue feeling bad until my attitude improves. (Iyanla Vanzant, Until Today!, 6 January)

******

One of the men who cleared our driveway showed up this morning wanting the job of replacing the shed floor. He had a helper with him. We agreed on a price and took the minivan to Loew's to purchase the supplies. They left for a while to get tools. While they were gone we cleared everything that we'd thrown in the shed out of the way and ran the extension cord from the kitchen to the shed. I spent $63.00 on supplies. Both Melva and I are looking forward to putting this long-standing probelm behind us.

Mr. Dickie

2/Mar/2010 13:07

Searching

... possibly from the accidental discovery of the warmth of fire, and the consequent use of it, at first a luxury, arose the present necessity to sit by it. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, p. 14)

When one worrying or impatient thought enters my mind, I will put it out at once. {Easier said, than done. REH, 18 Jan 2010] (Twenty-Four Hours A Day, 17 January)

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I tested to see if I could install a Google search engine on the computer club website. The test worked. I'm sent an Email to the chairman of the website committee along with the URL of my test. I even came up with a trick that will allow anyone using the search option to easily return to the club's homepage.

Mr. Dickie
1/Mar/2010 8:00