Boredom Is A Choice

Life is never boring, but some people choose to be bored ... Boredom is a choice. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Staying On The Path, p. 13)
30/Apr/2010 8:23

Leadership

Without leadership, we would have chaos. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 95)
29/Apr/2010 8:51

Fools

Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions. (Proverbs 18:2, in The One Year Mini For Men, 1 April)

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:7, in The One Year Mini For Men, 1 April)

Fools think they need no advice, but the wise listen to others. (Proverbs 12:15, in The One Year Mini For Men, 3 April)

... there are plenty of old fools around. (Toni Sortor and Pamela McQuade, The Word on Life, 12 Janaury)

There's no fool, like an old fool.
28/Apr/2010 9:06

Thinking About It

Spiritual beings do not allow their thoughts and feelings to flow from their actions, they understand that their thoughts create their physical world. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic, p. 106)

******

I'm working on converting a PAF GEDCOM for the Mozena family to a RootsMagic file. I'm now at the point where I am adding information about the Kasserman family from Switzerland to the file. There are three pieces in the Hardesty history that pertain to this family and there are 1850, 1860 and 1880 census records.

Mr. Dickie
27/Apr/2010 9:22

The Problem Of Life Itself

How to translate a right mental conviction into a right emotional result, and so into easy, happy, and good living, is the problem of life itself. (As Bill Sees It, p. 103)
26/Apr/2010 9:07

Music Collection

Two are better than one, because they have a good reason for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

******

Yesterday we went to the yard sales in Bowie, Maryland. I got lucky at a church flea market. I bought four CDs for $2.00 each.

• Dwight Yoakam - Last Chance For A Thousand Years
• Dry Branch Fire Squad - Live At Last (I've seen this Bluegrass band perform in person many times at the Granite Hill Campground in Gettysburg, PA. Band leader Ron Thomason is a great story teller.)
• Roy Orbison - Black & White Night (This is the soundtrack of the PBS program with the same name. I've watched the show many times. I think I have at least one copy of the show on VCR tape.)
• The Byrds - Greatest Hits (I saw Chris Hillman perform in person when I attended a Bluegrass show at Salon, VA (near Richmond) after I won tickets to camp-out from PBS radio station WAMU).

Mr. Dickie
25/Apr/2010 9:25

Gardening

There are so few who will take the time to face themselves and to face God; and how can a man meet the temptations, stresses and strains of life unless he has thought things out and thought them through. (William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians, p. 14)

******

Rain is predicted for today and the next several days. Yesterday, to get ready for the rain, I spent several hours working in the yard. I trimmed around the edges and then mowed the yard. I gathered two bags of grass. I also picked up a bag of maple tree seeds from the gutter in front of our house and the one next door. In the evening Melva planted two more tomato plants. We are both enjoying the blooming azaleas. It's sad to see the damage that the winter snow did to the azaleas. Without putting myself in too much danger of falling I was able to reset two nails in a short piece of gutter that fell off the back of the carport. This didn't fix the problem. I think I'll need to hire someone to go up on the roof to do the job right.

The Washington hockey team lost the game last night. The series will now go to Montreal on Monday night.

Last night I recorded the Susan Sarandon episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?". I have my fingers crossed that I got it on tape. I want to watch the show without watching all of the commercial breaks and the review after each commercial.

Mr. Dickie
24/Apr/2010 8:27

Advantage of Knowledge

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, p. 178)

The advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors. (Ecclesiastes 7:12, in Wisdom For The Way by Charles Swindoll, p. 57)

******

The automatic feed of this blog to my Facebook notes hasn't worked for about ten days. I don't have any idea what happened. I don't think it's something I can control. It was nice while it lasted.

Mr. Dickie
23/Apr/2010 8:39

People Rarely Learn

[Moses] ... knew that human nature is the same from one generation to another and that people rarely learn from the mistakes of others. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 111)
22/Apr/2010 15:10

Remembering

Why not think of some things you've never done before and do them just because you've never done them and for no other reason? (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Staying On The Path, p. 11)

******

Today is the anniversary of the death of my mother. She died sixteen years ago on April 21, 1994. May she rest in peace.

Mr. Dickie
21/Apr/2010 8:40

Who Needs It?

The Quakers say, "of your unspoken words, you are the master; of your spoken words, the servant; of your written words, the slave." (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 103)

******

I'm working on a project to convert a GEDCOM file of a Mozena genealogy to format suitable for loading into the RootsMagic genealogy program. It's a time consuming process. This time I used the GEDWRAP program first to see if it will work to eliminate the word wrap problem. It worked after a fashion. I'm still not convinced that this is the answer. Basically trying to convert PAF 2.31 files for use with RootsMagic version three isn't much fun.

A friend of ours came by late yesterday afternoon to pick up things Melva and I gathered to donate to them to sell at the flea markets. We are grateful that they were willing to help us eliminate more clutter.

Mr. Dickie
20/Apr/2010 8:03

Anglo Saxon Gold

You do not have the right to tell the people with whom you are in a relationship what they ought to be doing while they are here on earth. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic, p. 148)

******

I watched a very interesting show about the discovery of an Anglo Saxon gold hoard on the National Geographic channel last night. The hoard was found by an amateur using his modified metal detector. He and the farmer each received 1.6 million pounds for the more than 1,600 pieces.

Mr. Dickie
19/Apr/2010 7:50

I'm Booked Up

If you are constantly defending and rationalizing your actions to others, [it's time to take another inventory.] (After The One Year Inventory For Men, Richard E. Henthorn, 5 April)

All of us are hampered to some degree by our need to justify our actions and words. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 10 April)

******

I continued to review the books in the basement. I found more that I'm willing to give up. I now have more than four crates ready to take to the library this week. The review revealed many books that I'm anxious to read. The question is, when do I think I'll read them? I can't read if I'm not willing to turn off the computer and the television. And, there is one more critical factor. If I want to read I must stay awake. I also have several books on audiotape. I've never had any luck with audiobooks. I suppose my mistake is trying to listen to them while lying down. It never works for me.

The pollen count from the trees is way up. This morning I'm feeling it in my right eye.

Mr. Dickie
18/Apr/2010 7:42

I Played Hooky

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, most people still believe that money brings happiness. (The One Year Mini For Men, 10 April)

******

I didn't post to this blog or to Arrow Prayers yesterday. No inspiration.

I went for a short walk in the neighborhood. I stopped to talk with one person and another person introduced himself to me.

My LaserJet printer finally ran out of ink. I think I was still using the cartridge that came with the printer several years ago. Luckily I have a replace sitting in the closet.

I'm still gathering more books for donation. My goal is to fill four crates. All I need to select is another half-crate. Melva took twelve books to donate to the Senior Center Library yesterday. Their library operates on the honor system. I'm planning to give six of the nine "Little House on the Prairie" books to one of the neighbor children. Maybe someone will do some summer reading.

This morning MicroSoft did eight updates to Windows 2000. During the seventh update I thought the computer had locked up because the progress bar stopped moving. I had to force myself to leave the room while I waited. Eventually after about fifteen minutes the "Success" screen appeared.

Mr. Dickie
17/Apr/2010 8:54

I Don't See It

... a lot goes on that we don't see. (Toni Sortor and Pamela McQuade, The Word On Life, 10 March)
15/Apr/2010 8:12

What's Going On?

... a lot goes on that we don't see. (Toni Sortor and Pamela McQuade, The Word On Life, 10 March)
15/Apr/2010 8:12

Books

I will devote myself to overcoming my flaws of character and controlling my impulsive words and actions. This will leave me no time to concern myself with remodeling ... [anyone else]. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 8 April)

******

This morning I'm planning to take five crates of books to the library bookstore. I brought them up from the basement last night. After breakfast I loaded them into the minivan. The amazing thing is that it's hard to see any difference on the basement bookshelves. Maybe if I remove another five crates of books I'll begin to notice some progress. I need to set some book policies. I should read one and discard three before I buy one. This is a dangerous time of year because it will soon be warm enough for yard and garage sales. Then I will need to guard against the temptation to buy a twenty-five dollar book for a dollar.

Mr. Dickie
14/Apr/2010 7:57

askSam

If we eradicated ourselves with the lethal means at our disposal, we wouldn't be the first species to disappear. But wouldn't it be a shame? We humans have the capacity for transcendence as well as destruction. Surely we're adaptable enough to guide our own development away from our current preoccupation with deadly toys. (The Promise of a New Day, 21 March)

[Comment: This is an interesting observation in light of the fact that currently there is a two-day conference on nuclear disarmament going on in Washington, DC. When some terrorist nut gets his hands on one of the thousands of weapons now in existence and makes use of it, the world will finally have a wake-up call. Mr. Dickie]

******

One of the few, rather expensive programs, I purchased is, askSam - The Information Manager for Windows. I'll admit I never made as much use of the program as I should have. Apparently I never installed the program on the desktop computer I'm using now. I mostly used the program on one of my laptop computers. At some point I copied the program and all of the files onto a Zip disc. I can't remember whether I checked to see if the program would run from the Zip disc. It turns out it would work without reinstallation. Yesterday I copied the program and all of the files to the desktop computer and created a shortcut icon on the screen so I can quickly start it. I located the two manuals on the bookcase in the room where I have the computer. Last night I read through the Getting Started manual and checked the chapter about Importing and Exporting in the other manual. I found a floppy disc with three DBF files of address information. For a "getting reacquainted test" I created an askSam file and loaded the three files into it. This worked without a hitch. It's my intention to resume using the program. I'll create a file that I can use like Post-It notes. The beauty of askSam is that it indexes every word.

Link to askSam website:
askSam

Mr. Dickie
13/Apr/2010 9:28

Character Defects

Character defects ... have a way of taking hold unless uprooted early. (As We Understood, p. 65)
12/Apr/2010 10:06

There's More Than Television

Few people take responsibility for their own actions; they prefer to blame someone or something else. (The One Year Mini For Men, 6 April)

******

Last night I decided to keep my hands off the remote. Instead I put on the headset to listen to some music while reading a few more pages of "Walden." One of my favorite singers is Tony Rice. It's wonderful that he made so many good albums before his voice gave out. I enjoyed listening to twenty-three tracks from the albums, "Cold on the Shoulder" and "Me & My Guitar." It was great to hear those songs again after months of not playing either album.

Be careful if you are considering joining the National Wildlife Federation. I made the mistake of providing them with my phone number and my Email address in addition to my mailing address. Silly me, I should have known better. Within less than a week they started to send me Email messages. I was very surprised when they had someone call me to ask for more money. My recommendation is, "Think twice before joining, unless you are willing to deal with the aggravation."

Mr. Dickie
11/Apr/2010 8:53

There's No Comparison

Don't compare yourself to others; they are just as fouled up as you are. (After Max Lucado, Grace For The Moment, 24 March)

******

I was up at 4:30 a.m. today, catching up on my daily reading and listening to some music. The weather turned colder during the night. We had to turn the furnace back on after we got up.

Last night I recorded the show "Who Do You Think You Are?" Afterwards I was disappointed when I realized that they repeated the first episode featuring the family of actress, Sarah Jessica Parker. That was my least favorite program of those I have watched so far.

Some of the information I recently posted to my genealogy blog I never shared when I had my genealogy website on AOL. I'm hopeful that some folks with similar interests will notice the new information and enjoy it.

Mr. Dickie
10/Apr/2010 7:27

Hot Buttered Rum

HOT BUTTERED RUM

(Music & Lyrics by Tommy Thompson)

Recorded by : Priscilla Herdman; Laurie Lewis; Red Clay Ramblers; Voices Of Winter. Also Byran Bowers, Mary Chapin Carpenter


When chimney smoke hangs still and low across the stubbled fields of snow
And angry skies reach down and seize the sorry blackened bones of trees
In the dead of winter when the silent snowbirds come
You're my sweet maple sugar, honey, hot buttered rum

When dreary Christmas decorations line the streets and filling stations
And dime store Santas can't disguise their empty hands and empty eyes
In the dead of winter when the tinsel angels come
You're my sweet maple sugar, honey, hot buttered rum

When gloves and boots and woolen parkas bring cold comfort to the heart
And bitter memories freeze the tongue and words of love are left unsung
In the dead of winter when the cold feelings come
You're my sweet maple sugar, honey, hot buttered rum

Believe That Life Is Worth Living

Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact. (William James in 10 Secrets For Success and Inner Peace by Dr. Wayne Dyer, p. 143)

The true measure of how your life is going is in how you function with other people. (Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magix, p. 133)

******

I got in a 45-minute walk in the neighborhood late yesterday afternoon. I listened to classical music on my headset radio while I walked. Today is trash pickup day. Along the way I stopped at one place to put three or four soaking wet freee "county" newspapers in the trash can at one of the places where we have many Latinos living. It seems to be that the anti-litter laws ought to apply to this newspaper which is just a blight on the environment.

I took a chance on a CD I noticed at the thrift store and spent eighty cents. The CD was recorded locally, in 2005, by local guitar player, Kevin Artz and is titled "One." He plays seventeen songs on his 1973 Martin D-28 guitar.

One of Melva's friends is in the flea market business. We are gathering items to give her next week. Yesterday I put some 3.5" floppies in Ziploc bags and I took books off the book shelves, all part of my clutter reduction project.

Last night Cyndi had trouble getting back to Washington from Oklahoma because of bad weather in Atlanta. For a while she thought she might have to spend the night in Atlanta. She was able to get a flight through Memphis. She arrived back at her apartment after midnight. She earned her money yesterday.

This is the 700th posting to this blog.

Mr. Dickie
9 Apr 2010

Anger-Sickness

The symptom of the anger-sickness is an uncontrollable impulse to judge and condemn someone else. (One Day At A Time in Al-Anon, 9 March)
8/Apr/2010 9:28

Crank It Up!

Let's not fall into the error of thinking that we have made a wrong decision just because we are sailing into high winds. (Erwin Lutzer, His Miracles, Day 73)

******

Doing yardwork yesterday reminded me just how much work is involved in maintaining even a small yard. I was only "up for" spreading one bag of fertilizer on the grass. It's time to put gas in the lawn mower to find out whether I'll be able to get it started this season.

Friends and family, in the U.S.A. and Panama, have been laid off work. They have no idea whether there's a chance they will be called back. It's ironic that the price of food, gas, and almost everything else continues to rise when the economic situation shows little or no signs of improvement. Is it possible that our leaders are lying to us?

Mr. Dickie
7/Apr/2010 7:57

So What

I know how I feel about this and I know that it doesn't match how you feel, but so what. It is enough that I know it in my mind. I have no need to make you feel worse. (After Dr. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic, p. 146)

******

Yesterday I went to the thrift shop looking for plastic cases to store floppy discs. I didn't find any. I did find two Case Logic CD cases. I bought those to store the Spanish music CDs. I stopped at the hardware store to buy two bolts to repair the hinges on one of my floppy disc cabinets. I think the end is in sight on my project to label my floppy discs. I see only about a dozen that still need labels. Lots of the floppies are stored in the little 10-floppy boxes they came in. I'm affixing external labels to those boxes before I return them to a bigger carton.

Mr. Dickie
6/Apr/2010 7:50

Clutter On My Mind

I believe that men are generally still a little afraid of the dark, though the witches are all hung, and Christianity and candles have been introduced. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, p. 172)

******

Looking at boxes and boxes of floppy discs quickly makes one realize just how inefficient it is to try to catalog the contents of hundreds of discs containing hundreds or even thousands of files. The good thing about floppies is that only one floppy at a time is vulnerable to destruction.

I've done preliminary labeling on about thirty of my unlabeled floppy discs. I going to put some external labels on some of the boxes before I return the discs to the boxes. I think that will help me find files when I want them.

I watched part of another episode of the show about hoarding last night. This issue is serious and I think not easily dealt with. It's upsetting to watch. In my opinion they aren't doing a very good job of educating the viewers about what the afflicted person goes through.

Mr. Dickie
5/Apr/2010 8:41

Easter Sunday

When you find yourself rationalizing your actions, it's time to pause and truthfully assess your motives, your actions, and their potential consequences. .. The sad but amusing side of rationalization is thinking that you are brilliant while you are acting foolishly. (The One Year Mini For Men, 22 March)

******

Melva worked for someone else yesterday. All day I kept thinking it was Sunday. I went for a walk in the neighborhood. I stopped several times to talk with people.

About a year ago, when renters moved out of a house on Hendricks they left a pile of trash on the concrete patio behind the house. I tried several different ways to get that junk removed. After I talked to the county inspector I gave up and just put some of the small pieces out for trash pickup on two occasions. Imagine my surprise at the end of this week when I looked over at the patio when I walked past and everything was gone. I wonder if anyone living down there will know, "the rest of the story."

I'm still working on the project to label my floppy discs. It's a multi-step process. First I take a quick look to see what's on the disc. Then I attach a Post-It to the floppy. Later I come back and review my note while I write a label to affix to the disc. I'm glad I didn't count the number of floppies without labels before I started. I'm finding some files that don't mean a thing to me. I'm finding others that have information I can share on my two genealogy blogs.

Mr. Dickie
4/Apr/2010 8:40

The Half and The Whole

With respect to wit, I learned that there was not much difference between the half and the whole. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, p. 199)

******

Yesterday the two of us went for our first four-lap walk of the year at Schrom Park. We stopped at the thrift store loading dock to drop off a box of darkroom supplies that I removed from our shed. We also went to the nursery near our house. Melva bought marigolds and a camelia. I bought a bag of Perlite that we use to make up our indoor plant mix. I was pleased that I was able to get this material without driving all over looking for it.

I'm working on a project to review unlabeled floppy discs. Some are labeled with Post-its and some don't have any external labels. I wonder why I never took the time to affixed labels in the 1990s. It's more of my clutter issues.

Mr. Dickie
3/Apr/2010 7:34

Good Friday

Painful though it may be for us to admit it, here in this great land of America, we're losing touch with one another. The motivation to help, to encourage, yes, to serve our fellow man is waning. (Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom For The Way, p. 96)
2/Apr/2010 9:39

******

Melva worked in the backyard resetting some of the stones around one of her flowerbeds. I worked in the shed reviewing a box of darkroom supplies, all of which I decided to either throw away or donate to the thrift shop. I also continued my review of several notebooks full of paper about, now obsolete, computer interests. I took the paper out of several notebooks and placed it in the recycle bin. Today I'll put out four of the old notebooks and some very ugly flattened cardboard boxes for trash pickup. I've made good progress on my project to review the boxes of notes in the shed. I've looked at the contents of every box at least twice and I eliminated more than half of the boxes. I have a hunch that I will never miss anything I was able to discard.

I went to the Computer Club meeting. I enjoyed hearing about, and seeing, the little robot car that Ted built. Watching how the car learned how to navigate a maze was very impressive. The program chairman and various club members continue to do a great job of providing us with interesting speakers.

Mr. Dickie
2/Apr/2010 9:47

Send Me Money

It is a great and neglected law of life that however right we happen to be there is nothing to be gained by rudeness. There is never any reason why courtesy and determination should not go hand in hand. (William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians, p. 17)

And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)

******

A distant relative called yesterday to warn me that I might receive an Email from her saying that she was stranded in a foreign country and needed $2,500. The crazy thing is that she no longer has access to the Internet. We hadn't heard from her in several years, so the phone call was a surprise.

Yesterday I went for a 50-minute walk. I tried to listen to a radio with my yellow earbud headset. That didn't work very well. March was "going out like a Lion." All I could hear was the wind whistling around the earbuds in my ears.

Mr. Dickie
1/Apr/2010 8:39