Movies

Georgiann and I went to see Fireproof Saturday evening. This is an overt Christian film about saving a relationship. If you don't go in with a bias against Christian disposition you just might find some real good advice about keeping your marriage intact. I did. But then again, I am a Christian. And my marriage has lasted this long, and certainly remains intact because of my Christian commitment I submitted to in my wedding. If not, I would have exited the relationship a few years ago. I was ready, but was never able to get around that commitment I had made.

You can think what you want about me, and believe me, it has been difficult for me, but for me, the commitment was made and I will stick by it.

Didn't do much today. Have worked on and off on the front porch railing I am putting up. It was going quite nicely until a few minutes ago when I discovered one of my spindle holes was too shallow to accept the dowel pin. So it had to come apart. I have fixed the problem, but need for some joints to set before putting the top rail back on.

I wanted to put it all together with dowels and glue, and set the rails on pipe set in the support posts so the railings can be simply lifted out if needed.

I also watched The Addams Family, the movie, this afternoon. Funny movie. I always liked the TV series. Maybe I have a very morbid sense of humor, but movies like that always make me laugh. I also like the Tim Burton movies, Edward Sissorshand, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride, Batman, and Return of Batman.

Walt Disney is soon releasing a music album called Nightmare Revisited. Not sure what it is about. I liked the music to NBC. If you saw the movie you will remember a three piece street band that played the most mournful music. I loved it. I would love to have a full length instrumental of whatever it was they were playing. Mournful is great if it evokes a smile, don't you think??

My friend Mike used to be able to sing all of the songs from NBC and quote most of the dialog. Oh, Mike, we had such fun in those days. The three musketeers. Probably nearly got us all fired some days we were having so much fun. Speaking of mournful, that place was turned into a mortuary which I understand it still is. The management is dead from the chest up, what else could it be?? Dark hearts and empty brains. Must be terrible to trapped in their bodies.

If you get a chance to see Fireproof I give it 4 stars. I have only personally considered 3 movies as 5 star. I know you know. LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. 5 stars. Hands down.

I did not get into the woods hiking this weekend. It started raining on Thursday due to some weather off the Atlantic coast and did not stop until today. No, I don't hike in the rain. Now if I get caught in it, different story. I'll continue unless it rains hard.

Thus, no pictures.

Software idea

Thanks to all of the suggestions for passwords. I am pondering on them. Here is a niche that needs a fix. I don't even know if it is possible. What if you had a piece of software that you could enter all of the accounts that use passwords, and when one expired you could generate a command that would then update all of the others to your new chosen password?

Because of the different requirements and maybe even the way passwords are handled in different software packages maybe it can't be done. But an interesting thought.

One piece of software that I thought was out there that I want is a Deadman Switch. I just now Googled it and didn't find anything. It is a piece of software that if not responded to in a preset amount of time, sends out emails to addresses you enter informing the addressees that you might not be around any more. Or some other message I presume.

Today was the first of two Fridays this week for me. I am off tomorrow and the following day, work on Friday, and off the weekend. I have no idea, but I think I can enjoy it without knowing.

I bought a combination belt and disk sander at work for 1/2 price that had been discontinued. I hooked it up and did some sanding. Sweetness. It has a vacuum port for a shop vac and it pretty much eliminates dust in the shop. Wish some of my other tools was so equipped.

I like making my own trim and this sander will be a great help. Haven't posted any pics in a while. Not really doing anything picture worthy. Maybe I can wrangle a day out of the next 4 I am off to get into the mountains and get some before the leaves begin to turn colors. I have a friend who lives next to the George Washington National Forest south of Waynesboro. He has weatherproof cameras mounted high that take pictures of wildlife when triggered by motion detection. He has photographed a lot of bears. I would love to see his place and hike behind his house in the forest. If the weather is nice, I might see if I can do that this weekend.

If I do, I'll post some pics from the forest. Cheers.

Passwords

OK, I have gone over the edge with password generation. I have to remember WAY too many passwords, and to make things worse, they EXPIRE!!!

I want, no NEED, a password scheme that can grow. You say, well, use the date. What if it requires letters? If I would use the month abbreviation, for instance, sept2008, then what ever the next month would be, the computer would refuse it it because it is too similar. If I would get CUTE, say wrap the number around the month, 20oct08, how would I keep track of which generation I am in with which password???

Dinner for the first person with a valid sequence that works.

Remember, passwords typically have to be a mix of numbers and letter, at least 6 or 8 characters in length and not exceeding 8 or 10. 8 will typically suffice.

I await your expertise! You can respond via email.

I Just Want to Be OK

My wife drew my attention to a young female vocalist and songwriter named Ingrid Michaelson. The song she pointed me to, a video actually, is titled "The Way I Am." A wonderfully cute video that has meaning on many different levels to me, and makes me laugh every time I watch it or even just listen to the song. You can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJOzdLwvTHA

Google Ingrid and find her other hit song, "I Just Want to Be OK." I am under the impression it was inspired by or in response to a women's group with breast cancer or survivors of breast cancer. Or maybe both. But it is a song that got into my head and I find myself singing the chorus over and over again. Again, it is so cleverly written it is applicable on many levels.

Her other songs are very good, as well. She is going to be at the Birchmere in November. I am thinking about booking tickets. Anyone interested in going or meeting me there? Tickets are $25.00. The Birchmere is a dinner/music theater in Alexander, VA. Very renown, and more can be learned about them here: http://www.birchmere.com/. After looking over the menu, I am very inclined to go.

But the reason for this blog post is to talk about the song title and line, "I Just Want to Be OK."

Many people, especially in 1st world countries like the United States, want a lot out of life. People are more and more living their lives to be as much as they can be, accumulate as much as they can, go as many places and see as many things as possible, all for their own gratification. I find very few people in this country who have a heart of outreach and would rather do something for someone else than for themselves.

When you get below the surface and into people's lives in 3rd world countries you find a remarkable absence of this mindset. That, unfortunately is changing somewhat as more of the less privileged of the nations strive to improve their standards and infrastructure. There are more and more peoples in poorer nations adopting a capitalist mindset and become more focused on themselves.

But for the most part, people who have less seem to want to share it more readily. And are far more thankful for what they have. They don't regard life as owing them anything. They have a clearer understanding of the distinctions between rights and privileges.

I never was one that sought to gain a lot in life. Probably a good thing, since I haven't. But as I have gotten older I find myself even more willing to give of what I have to others. I don't believe I could be accused of ever being greedy, but I can see where I have been protective and selfish in the past with my possessions.

But this song hit a stong chord with me, and sort of encapsulates my life's proverb at the moment. I just want to be OK. Not rich or powerful or successful in the eyes of my neighbors or peers. Not wise or talented or funny or witty. I just want to be a guy who others can say, "You know, that Bruce, he's an OK guy.

RUOK?

Abigail Kate

Abigail makes it three. I really don't know why myself, but I just thought 3 granddaughters just 17 months apart would be wonderful. I won't be here for a lot of their lives, I am sure, but perhaps I will get to see them around college age.

Three girls who will be as different as they can be I am sure, but probably similar in many ways. Abigail has really blue eyes. Madison's eyes are blue, too. Amari missed the blue eyed blond hair genes. Madison came by with Chad today to see me at work and she is really into waving goodbye and throwing kisses. She isn't quite as vocal as Amari. Amari has also been learning sign at her day care. She can sign "more, please" which she does ad infinitum.

I held Abigail a short while today but made her cry inconsolably. She was doing fine in Grandma Mary's care, Todd brought her over to me, still quiet, but she cried when I held her.

I don't remember holding Madison much in her early days. By the time I got hold Amari she was or nearly was 9 months old. And Jill said that babies who are orphans and up for adoption seem to sense how to pour the charm on. And Amari certainly put on the charm for me those first few days in Ethiopia.

More pictures as we get them. I wasn't planning to go by this evening or I would have taken my camera with me. Todd has some great pictures as well as a video of her first few moments in the world on her own.

Cheers for now.

Third granddaughter

Well, our third granddaughter was born today about 12:30 pm. As of this moment she doesn't have a name. Here is her picture:

I realize you can't tell very much from this picture, but she was born weighing 7 lbs 8 oz and 19 inches. She has very blue eyes, and perfect little features. She is very healthy, and mom, Diana, is doing well.

Here are the two of them:

Here is the new dad, Todd, with his precious little girl:

And this is a long view from Diana's room in the hospital:

Labor Day

We had dinner with the entire family this evening except for Diana who had already made plans. Speaking of plans, the plans for this baby of Diana and Todd's is 1:00 pm Thursday, 9/4/8. I believe that is the latest at this time.

The weather here has turned warm again, more like most Labor Days in this area. We had several cool wet days last week so the grass is growing again. Looks a lot better, too.

Not a lot of new information to share. Work continues to be frustrating because we are still short of people who really want to work. I have had so many shifts missed lately for one reason or other which throws everything behind. Some one has to make up for missed shifts and it just stresses the couple of us doing most of the hours. Right now there are just 2 of us full time in the department. For real time coverage the department must have 3 full time associates. I know the shortage is tied to the slow economy, but it is STRESSING me. And the lower stress was one of the major things I liked about my job. I knew moving up to mgr would entail more stress, but I didn't think I would fall victim to taking the pressure personally. Surprises me actually.

More when it happens.