The purpose of Mr. Dickie's Blog is to provide a place where I can post quotations I like and write about things that are on my mind. As of the summer of 2011 I have NetworkedBlogs posting a link to this blog to Facebook.
This is the day on which another year closes. It is a good time for a quiet, honest look at our personal progress. Has it been a good year, better than those which came before? Has following your day-by-day spiritual program brought you more serenity and acceptance of yourself, the unique individual you are?
If you have regrets for errors or omissions, review them quickly and dismiss them. In the new year, which lies ahead, there will be no time for futile regrets.
Resolve to live the coming year, one day at a time. Whatever comes, meet it with a serene mind.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." (Romans)
(after One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 31 December)
Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr
2011 Reading Program
This morning I finished reading twelve books which were part of my 2011 daily reading program. In all I read twenty-five books this year. There were four other books on my reading list that I set aside and didn't complete. I also skimmed a number of books on computer subjects, Windows 7 in particular, that I checked out of the county library.
I maintained two lists of the books I was reading. I used the weRead application which I set up to work with Facebook. On my own computer I created a file with the CSVed program. Last night I extracted the following list of books read from the CSV file. I also set the "Read It" switch for all twenty-five books on weRead and "tagged" each one with the tag "2011." This was the first time I'd used tags with weRead. I was pleased that it allowed me to easily find the books read in 2011. I'm going to use LibraryThing to track the books I'm reading in 2012. I've already selected the books and done some of the work to set up the two files I'll use to track my reading program.
Andrews, Andy - The Noticer
Anonymous - In God's Care
Anonymous - One Day At A Time In Al-Anon
Anonymous (Casey and Vanceburg) - The Promise of a New Day
Barclay, William - The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians
Barclay, William - The Letters to Timothy, Titus and Philemon
Barclay, William - The Letter to the Hebrews
Case, Steve - Everything Counts
Copage, Eric V. - Black Pearls
Dyer, Wayne W. - Wisdom of the Ages
Franken, Al - Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them
Graham, Billy - Hope For Each Day
Hughes, Selwyn and Thomas Kinkade - Every Day Light
Kushner, Harold - To Life!
Larsen, Earnie and Carol Hegarty - Believing In Myself
Thanks to everyone who took an interest in Mr. Dickie's Blog in 2011 on NetworkedBlogs, Facebook or Google. I hope that once in a while I posted something that caused you:
to think,
to smile,
to laugh.
to learn.
It's my intention to continue posting to this blog and my Arrow Prayers blog on a daily basis in 2012. I hope you'll find my efforts worthy of taking some of your time to see what's on my mind.
Changing our whole way of thinking is a monumental task, not to be taken lightly. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 16 December)
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Yesterday, I spent some time learning about how the Apps on Spotify work. There were two pre-installed: Radio and 123 Top Lists. I particularly like the Radio app. You can have Spotify chose songs to play based on an album or an artist. It's a good way to get exposed to lots of new songs and new artists. I hope there aren't plans to force those using the "free" version of Spotify to convert to the Premium version.
Relax, visualize yourself accomplishing one of your goals.
(after Eric V. Copage, Black Pearls, 16 November)
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From time to time I've written about the fact that I lived next door to a log cabin while growing up on Hancock Street in Bellevue, Nebraska.
The cabin which had no indoor plumbing was occupied by Grandma Mountain. She lived to be nearly 100 years old (I no longer remember how old she was or the year she died.). For a while after her death the place was occupied by a nice couple with at least two children.
When we moved into our house we had two outhouses in the back yard, near the alley. One was in bad condition. My father didn't waste much time in tearing that one down and closing the hole. The other outhouse was a nice, well-maintained building with white siding. Dad was teaching high school and at Halloween the high school boys like to tip over the outhouse. Because the outhouse at Grandma Mountain's house was in a sad state of repair Dad decided to move our outhouse to her property and close the second hole at our place.
My father, Edward C. Henthorn, left Bellevue for Wichita, Kansas sometime in 1953. Prior to his departure he was a member of the Sarpy County Historical Society. If memory serves, Mr. Shallcross was the president of the group. The society decided to negotiate with the Mountain descendants, probably her son, in an attempt to purchase the property. I don't remember how much they paid for it or whether there was a fund drive. At any rate, they were successful and that's why now, nearly sixty years later this historical Nebraska landmark still exists for all of us to enjoy.
This song was number eleven on the Bluegrass Unlimited
Top 50 Count Down For 2011
I was asked by college friend, Jim Rowe, where he should look for photos of the log cabin. I found several that I'm using with this posting. Thanks to the folks who took the photographs.
Part with self-conceit for it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows. (Epictetus, in Believing In Myself by Larsen and Hegarty, 8 December) 27 December 2011
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Last night I woke up at 1:00 a.m. I didn't get back to sleep until 4:00 a.m. I turned on the TV and watched an extraordinary two-hour program about the life of Canadian classical pianist, Glenn Gould, on American Masters shown on Maryland Public Television.
I spent yesterday morning getting paper copies of our Christmas newsletter printed on some Christmas stationary using my own printer. I went to the grocery store to buy stamps since the post office was closed. Putting these eleven envelopes in the mailbox should complete the Christmas writing project. I'm always glad when it's done. Thanks to everyone who stayed in touch this holiday season. We appreciate the effort you made.
It is the nature of things that all earthly leaders must come and go. They have their part in the drama of life and then the curtain comes down. (William Barclay, The Letter To The Hebrews, p. 195) 26 December 2011
Have you ever thought about what has happened because Christ has come to the world? That Babe in the manger of Bethlehem grew up to become our crucified and risen Savior -- and the world has never been the same. ... If Christ had not come, this world would indeed be a hopeless world. (Billy Graham, Hope For Each Day, 19 December)
Kathy Mattea Singing - Mary Did You Know
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Melva, Dick and Cyndi at the Alamo Restaurant
Cyndi and Dick have been busy upgrading computers this year. Cyndi bought Dick a very nice set-up to replace his old desktop computer which was barely functioning. It's a Toshiba Satellite C655 laptop with a Dynadock docking station and an external ViewSonic 1080p flat screen monitor. A friend at the computer club donated two external speakers to the project. This computer is running the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. From a Library of Congress friend Dick obtained an ASUS netbook computer with an external CD drive. This computer runs the Windows 98 operating system. Dick added a roll-up USB keyboard he bought at a church yard sale. Cyndi has been using this one.
At a flea market Dick bought an external floppy drive with a USB connector. He also bought a case and USB connector for the hard drive from his old laptop computer which had reached the end of its life. He succeeded in getting both devices to work with the new laptop.
Dick and Cyndi thought it would be fun to see if they could communicate with friends and family using the Skype service. First they got the video and voice working between the two computers in our house. Later, Cyndi talked with her friend in Germany and Dick talked with a friend in Bowie, MD and his college friend, Don Gardner, in Missouri. They were somewhat disappointed when they realized that very few friends and family have Skype installed.
The new computer allowed Dick to do many things that weren't possible before. He's enjoyed listening to music videos on YouTube. Sometimes he listens to the streaming audio broadcasts of The Grand Ole Opry over WSM Radio in Nashville, TN. On Wednesday nights he watches the Music City Roots program from the Loveless Cafe near Nashville, TN.
Dick enjoys keeping in touch with family and friends via Facebook and Google Gmail. He's a very active user of Facebook.
Dick with the ASUS Netbook at the opening of Busboys and Poets
He uses the Spotify and the Google Music applications. He stores some of his data in "the cloud" using the 5GB of free storage on Box.net. The county library offers free MP3 music downloads from the Freegal application. Dick remembered most weeks to download the three free tracks.
Dick's alma mater, Pittsburg State University of Pittsburg, Kansas played against Wayne State University of Detroit, MI in the NCAA Division II Football Championship in Florence, AL. Dick watched the semi-final game over ESPN3 on the laptop computer and the final over ESPN2 on cable television. Pittsburg won. This was the fourth national championship since 1957. They won the NAIA championship in 1957 (Dick's first year of college) and in 1961. They won the NCAA Division II in 1991.
Dick continues to maintain four Google blogs. He tries to post to two of them daily. He feeds his Mr. Dickie's Blog to his Facebook page using the NetworkedBlogs service. The blogs, with number of posts and number of page views, as of 22 December 2011 are listed below. There is also some genealogy information available on a Google Site and a Google Group Dick created because he wanted to learn about how those free services work.
Dick shares some of his bookmarks on the public bookmark application, Delicious. There are bookmarks that would be of interest to folks working on genealogy and to people planning a visit to Washington, DC. Look for bookmark tags: "Washington" and "WashingtonDC."
In 2012 Dick plans to install a genealogy program on the new computer by upgrading to Version 5 of RootsMagic. He's looking forward to trying out some of the features he couldn't use on the old desktop computer.
Melva continues to enjoy attending weekly quilting class at the Bowie Senior Center. The ladies also get together for lunch about once a month to celebrate birthdays. This year the group set up tables at the Senior Center Holiday Bazaar and sold items donated by the class members. The proceeds were donated to Haiti through the church of the class teacher. Melva sent quilts to Panama for the first time this year. She made one quilt for her sister, Aura, and another for her brother, Olmedo. One day Melva found and purchased an unfinished quilt at a thrift store. During the year she completed the quilt, adding batting, a backing and border. At the quilting class Christmas party she won a prize of an unfinished Sun Bonnett Sue applique quilt. This will, no doubt, be one of her 2012 projects.
Thrift Shop Quilt Finished by Melva
The jobs of both Melva and Cyndi came to an end during the year. Both resignations were surprises and entail long stories. There was another reorganization where Cyndi worked. After working there for ten years she decided it was time to take a break and look for something else. Melva seems to be all right with hanging up her scissors except for an occasional job at someone's house.
Both Dick and Melva continued their program of daily reading. Dick tries to read a page each day from several books. This year he will finish eleven books on the last day of the year to add to the list of those he completed earlier. In November Dick selected a stack of books for his 2012 program. He plans to use the application, LibraryThing to track his 2012 reading program.
During the year we experience three encounters with Mother Nature. Twice during high winds we lost shingles from the roof. This had never happened before in the thirty-three years we have been in this house. The three of us were in different rooms during the earthquake that struck the Washington, DC area. The shaking was rather severe. Some CDs and Zip discs in the computer room fell to the floor, a door stuck for several seconds and the door of the china cabinet swung open. We haven't noticed any structural damage to the house but there seem to be new cracks in the driveway and sidewalk. It was the first earthquake for Cyndi and I. Melva had felt them in Panama.
In late November Cyndi went for a twenty-eight day visit with relatives in Panama. She returned to Dulles airport about 12:30 a.m. on December 23nd. It took about an hour to clear customs.
View of Volcan Baru from Melva's hometown of Volcan
On December 14th, Dick and his Library of Congress lunch buddy, Dave Naylor, road the subway downtown to attend the Christmas Retiree Luncheon hosted by The Librarian of Congress. Before going to the Christmas Carol Singing in The Great Hall they stopped at an Information Technology party on the sixth floor of the Madison Building. After lunch they attended a meeting of a small group of folks held in Conference Rooms B and C of Information Technology Services. It was fun to see retired friends, folks still working and three who will retire at the end of the month.
Main Reading Room - Library of Congress
In September 2012 Dick's classmates in Bellevue, Nebraska and Wichita, Kansas are planning to hold their 55th Class Reunions. The dates are on consecutive weekends. Dick has stated that he is interested in trying to attend both events. Both classes established Facebook pages where folks can communicate and share photos.
Thanks to everyone who made the effort to keep in touch this year via: Email, Facebook, Skype, telephone and cards and letters.
May every heart and every home continue through the year to feel the warmth and wonder of this season of good cheer. (Helen Steiner Ricer, From The Heart, 12 December) 24 December 2011
I mustn't go on singling out names. One must not be a name-dropper, as Her Majesty remarked to me yesterday. (Norman St. John Stevas in Believing In Myself, Larsen and Hegarty, 2 December) 23 December 2011
Today pledge to maintain all year the warmth of love and cordiality generated by this Christmas season. (Helen Steiner Rice, From The Heart, 12 December) 22 December 2011
Truth is truth and that's all there is to it. Anything we can add to it doesn't make it better. (Steve Case, Everything Counts, 3 December)
It is a truth of life that in many ways it is easier to stand adversity than to stand prosperity. Ease has ruined far more men than trouble ever did. (William Barclay, The Letter To The Hebrews, p. 126)
"Truth is always strong no matter how weak it looks, and falsehood is always weak, no matter how strong it looks." (Phillips Brooks in Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 841)
Fight for what's right. Fight for others. (Steve Case, Everything Counts, 16 December)
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This morning I'm listening to the The Wronglers with Jimmy Dale Gilmore - Heirloom Music. I received this CD as a premium for supporting the PBS Internet radio station of WAMU - BluegrassCountry.org. For a while I thought the CD wasn't going to arrive.
Yesterday, Jim Mc. called to let us know he arrived safely in Gulfport, MS. We hope he has a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. In the evening I called Tom W. in Wichita, KS. Tom and I went to the same high school but didn't meet until the second year of college when he came to Pittsburg, KS.
Most of us are much sterner with others than we are in regard to ourselves; we make excuses for things in ourselves whilst we condemn in others things to which we are not naturally inclined. (Oswald Chambers in Everything Counts by Steve Case, 5 December) 18 December 2011
Some decisions made by bosses, bureaucrats, other powerful higher-ups can wreak havoc on our personal lives. As carefully as we planned some things we counted on just aren't going to be. And some things we thought would never happen are laid squarely in our laps. (Larsen and Hegarty, Believing In Myself, 16 December) 17 December 2011
There is in life an essential duty of discarding things. There may be habits, pleasures, self-indulgences, associations which hold us back. We must shed them as an athlete sheds his track suit when he goes to the starting mark, and often we will need the help of God to enable us to do so. (William Barclay, The Letter To The Hebrews, p. 172-73)
"The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous." (Margot Fonteyn in In God's Care, 11 December)
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Yesterday David Naylor and I took the subway down to Capitol Hill where we attended all of the Library of Congress Christmas events we could. We went to the party on the 6th floor, we attended the carol singing in The Great Hall, we went to The Librarian's Retiree Luncheon, and we attended a "meeting" in conference rooms B&C in the ITS area. We enjoyed visiting with our retired friends, with those still working and talking to the three who will retire at the end of the month.
Sometime there are problems because unqualified people get into places of leadership or because places of leadership have not been filled. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 806) 14 December 2011
To say the right thing at the right time, keep still most of the time. (John W. Roper in Believing In Myself by Larsen and Hegarty, 29 November)
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I'm still on schedule to finish all of my 2011 reading on the last day of the month. I've been reading twice a day rather than once a day.
Melva started baking Christmas cookies last night. The house certainly does smell good during these projects.
As mentioned on Facebook I'm taking a look at whether we can cut back on our cable service. The issue is whether we will have to give up a few of our favorite channels. For example, I enjoy watching the Keith Olbermann show, Countdown, on the Currrent TV channel. On the other hand, since a person can only watch one movie at a time, why is it necessary to have twenty movie channels?
Perhaps the single most predominant feature of mental well-being is the ability to be in the present moment, fully and with no thoughts of being elsewhere. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Wisdom of the Ages, p. 243) 12 December 2011
...take one concrete action - write a letter, make a call, look up an article - ... [further one of your goals.] (Eric V. Copage, Black Pearls, 19 November)
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Last night I watched the last three quarters of the semifinal NCAA, Division II, college football game from Carney Smith Stadium at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. The Gorilla's opponent was Delta State from Mississippi. I watched the game on ESPN3 using my laptop computer. I don't remember when I last watched a football game of my alma mater. I know it has been fifty years since I attended a game at the stadium.
Pittsburg State University has a long history of fielding excellent football teams going all the way back to 1957, my freshman year. The school won the NAIA National Championship in 1957 and 1961. They won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1991.
Last night they won the semifinal game, 49-23, after playing an impressive second quarter. They now move on to the NCAA Division II National Championship against Wayne State next Saturday, the 17th of December at 11:00 a.m. in Florence, AL. The game will be carried on cable on ESPN2.
Do I practice what I profess? Do I tell others what is right but then do what is wrong? Do I expect more of others than I do of myself? (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 731)
[Politely and tactfully let others] know that ... [you are] not going to be seduced into a discussion of their complaints and grievances. (after Wayne W. Dyer, Wisdom Of The Ages, p. 221)
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they, too, have their story. (Desiderata by Max Erhmann of Boston, dated 1927, in One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 7 December) 7 December 2011
Remove yourself physically as subtly as you can from those who persistently insist on burdening you with their grievances. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Wisdom Of The Ages, p. 222) 6 December 2011
"Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy." (Howard W. Newton in Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 750)
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Yesterday, Melva and I began the Christmas decoration project. I brought some of the boxes down from the attic and set up the artificial tree and got the lights working as well as I can. We agreed that I won't set up all of my Christmas Village this year. There are several new buildings that we found in some of the boxes we brought down. We will display those.
Cyndi was traveling to Volcan yesterday. She called twice, once during the trip and then after she arrived at her destination. She will stay with her aunt, Yiyo and her husband, Alfonso. I hope she can use the computer of a friend across the street from her aunt's house.
I continued to work on my project to download some of the photos that friends have shared on Facebook. I also created an album on Picasa where I uploaded seven photos taken by Vic K. at the Bowie Seniors Computer Club holiday luncheon. I put a link on the website homepage to the photo album.
Saint Elizabeth Seton window in the chapel at the Grotto
Emmitsburg, MD
I will strive to demonstrate spirit-filled behavior. (In God's Care, 9 November)
I will remind myself not to be too determined in my judgments and actions. (Daily Guideposts - 2009, 25 October)
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Last night I used the computer to listened to some of the Grand Ole Opry on The Legend WSM 650 am from Nashville, TN. Suzy Bogguss came on about 9:15 p.m. and sang two songs. I particularly enjoyed the second song, Shenandoah, from her latest album.
This morning Cyndi should be traveling by bus to her mother's hometown, Volcan, in Chiriqui Province in the Republic of Panama. Volcan is near the border with Costa Rica. It's a long trip which takes many hours.
... I will take five minutes to look for a piece of information that will help me toward accomplishing one of my goals. (Eric V. Copage, Black Pearls, 29 October) 3 December 2011
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I've been doing some website updates for the Bowie Senior Computer Club and the Monroe County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogy Society (MCC-OGS). I enjoy the challenge of assisting the two organizations.
I started making some notes about topics that I might want to write about in the Christmas letter this year.
This morning I finished reading Wisdom of the Ages by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. I recommend the book. It's one I bought used either at a yard sale or thrift store. I'm pleased that I finished the book before the end of the month as it was part of my daily reading program for the year 2011.
This morning I'm listening to the lovely Christmas album Joy For Christmas Day by Kathy Mattea. It's one of two Christmas albums she recorded. Both are great.
An obsession is a repetitive or persistent thought or idea which crowds into the mind and thus helps to relieve one's basic anxiety. (Selwyn Hughes, Every Day Light, Day 326) 2 November 2011
... describe in a journal what you are going to manifest into your life. ... your journal will not give you reason to doubt your dreams. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Wisdom Of The Ages, p. 217) 1 December 2011
I have been retired from the U.S. government for many years. I was a long time paying member of AOL until May 2009. Until October 2008 I had a fairly extensive genealogy website on AOL. They dropped support.
You can send me an Email if you click on "Email" in my profile.
