I just saw old man 2011 walking by with his sythe

New Years Eve. Not what most think of as New Years Eve since it is just 1:35 am on December 31. I will probably write more when I get home from work tonight, but it will be nearly 2012 when I do get home. So this may actually be my last opportunity to blog in 2011.

2011 has been an up and down year for me. It began with me still employed at Lowe’s in Waynesboro but pretty sure I wouldn’t be a lot longer. I was constantly in trouble with the senior management because I refused to be bullied and choose to think. Thinking got me in trouble. I had reached the point of hating my job, first one in my life. I had left jobs for many reasons, but none ever because I hated what I was doing.

Lowe’s told me I had to go one day in March and I left with mixed emotions. I wasn’t happy about being fired, but I was ecstatic about no longer working for Lowe’s. As it turns out, I seem to have not established a single lasting friendship from my over 4 years there. If I was younger I believe some of my friendships would still be vibrant, but I am so much older than some of my friends there our interest are enough different we just don’t cross paths since I left. Two people I met I will always be glad I got to work them both. A husband and wife, Steve and Kate Lallas. Steve was my zone manager for a while and we were like cats and dogs for a while, even had a serious run in that ended up in the store manager’s office. But after that, we became friends. He left the store and his wife Kate came and eventually ended up working in Hardware with me. I always looked forward to working with Kate and looked forward to seeing Steve when he would come in with their son whose name I am ashamed I can’t recall right now. I’m thinking Ben, but don’t know.

There were other friends, but not lifetime type friends. I really only have a coupe of those.

The time off without a job proved to be productive for me personally. I managed to put together the where-with-all to study and pass two very difficult tests for my A+ certification. If you don’t know what that is, then it isn’t important for you. It is very important in being employed in the computer maintenance and support field, however. I also studied and audited some classes to get my Amateur Radio Technician’s license back. I first got my Tech license in 1987 when it still required copying Morse code. I allowed my license to lapse in 2007 after having it 20 years. So when I was without a job I decided to get it back.

Some of the reason I decided to get back into it was because my very good friend Wayne Bowyers, a General class license holder, had been stricken by Guillain-Barre syndrome about a year before. We really thought, some of us including the UVA physicians who attended him thought we had lost him. His former wife Donna refused to give up on him and prevented the “smart” docs from pulling the life support system, and Wayne did come back and has made a miraculous recovery. He still has some deficits but he has come a long, long way. And he is a true life friend. I blogged about his progress on another blog several times.

All of that to say I renewed my interest in amateur radio partly because of Wayne. I also studied at the same time to take my General class license test. Wayne and I and his brother in law went to a ham fest in Berryville, VA in August where his brother in law and I successfully passed our Technician class test, and I stayed and passed my General class test. I then petitioned the ARRL, the governing body of amateur radio, for my old call sign back and I am once again N4RVG. Thank you very much.

About 45 days after passing my amateur radio tests I interviewed with Shentel in Edinburg, VA. I went “live” with Shentel as a Technical Support Representative on September 26. I will have by tonight, true New Years Eve 2011, worked 14 weeks. I thought it was going to be an easy job to learn and that once I learned it would be pretty boring. Wrong, oh so wrong. I struggled to learn about troubleshooting CATV, Internet distribution and modems of different kinds, and phones of different types. But learn I did, and I am doing much better these days. Or nights. I work from 2 to 11 at night Tuesday through Saturdays. There are NO dull or boring nights. Yes. There are a lot of the same type calls, but none are really the same. I’ve been chewed out, cussed at, yelled at, dragged through the muck, but I’ve also met some amazing and wonderful people via a phone connection.

Georgiann and I put our kitchen rebuild on hold for the most part while I was unemployed, then finished it the week after Thanksgiving. A few minor things still need to be done, but it looks very nice and it turned out pretty good.

I have many thoughts and ideas about 2012 but if I write about it at all it will be after I get home from work on this last day of 2011.

So many books, so little time

My mind is racing in several directions this early morning. First, let me tell about Christmas. This family has never been huge spenders at Christmas or birthdays. Georgiann and I have always done well and always been able to have reasonably nice things, but part of that has been because we are not big spenders. We probably would embarrass others if they knew how little we spend on special occasions. But we always have nice things to give and we receive nice things. This year I was very surprised at what I got. So far. We haven’t finished with the family yet.

This year I received all very nice things, but want to mention two here. Georgiann bought me a very nice tool that I have had my eye on for 18 months or more since they begin to be a hit at Lowe’s where I was the Tool department manager. It is a SoniCrafter made by Rockwell. There are similar tools on the market that are lighter and less rugged, but Georgiann bought me what I think is the best and toughest of them all. I believe it will last my lifetime and probably someone else’s as well. A beautiful tool.

One thing I have always encouraged those who want to know what I like to have is books. I have some very definite likes in books, and Georgiann knew exactly what would fit. She bought me a book containing three of Tom Clancy’s biggest hits. Three as it happens I don’t have. Perfect.

My daughter bought me a Nook. Now if you don’t know about Nooks or the other eReaders on the market I would encourage you to get acquainted. I was not interested in even finding out about the eReader devices until I received mine. Now I am a HUGE fan. I am so enamored with my Nook. I am a lover of classic literature and pretty much all classic literature is long past copyright and some past publication, but available for free or nearly free for the Nook and other eReaders. On my Nook was a copy of Dracula. I had never been inclined or interested in reading this classic, but now that I have, I highly recommend it regardless of your particular reading interests. Great book.

A sly way to slide into what I really want to write about this morning. I discovered a pastor in California recently and began a running dialog with him. I discovered a series of messages recorded at his church, Crosswalk Community Church in Napa, California. Pastor, Dr. Pete Shaw, is a very creative and insightful minister and speaker. I found a kindred spirit in listening to some of his sermons. In something he wrote to me he mentioned a book by an English woman Christian world leader named Karen Armstrong. The book is titled “The Case for God.”

I purchased the book and have begun reading the 332 page missive. I have to have my browser set for a good pronunciation dictionary so I can make sure I know what she is saying. I thought I had a good grasp of language but am finding I am way outclassed by this writer. She explores what God has meant to man across time.

Beginning with the paintings in the caves of Lascaux in France dating back some 17,300 or 17,400 years ago and what the paintings mean about mans reflections on spiritual beings and coming forward she shows that the Bible is a relatively recent look at spirituality and worship. One sentence that I grabbed and had to study for a while, and will continue to digest for a long time is this: “Religious discourse was not intended to be understood literally because it was only possible to speak about a reality that transcended language in symbolic terms.”

If I am still blogging years from now I may have a sensible response to that statement. Right now I am blown away at the similarity of what I had come to believe in my own research, but still amazed at what it entails.

Without reading the book at least as far as I have you won’t understand that statement. It has to do with humans who are finite in every way putting into descriptive terms an entity who can’t be described in human descriptive terms. We can’t even speak of God because God is so far beyond our understanding and comprehension we have no language or objects to encompass God. One way we know this as fact is the inadequate way in which nearly everyone refers to God as he, and the few who refer to God as she. And I must say I understand my dear friend in South America’s use of the gender, because I know she agrees with me, at least somewhat.

He, her, and what does that mean? God can’t have gender. Gender is an earthy or earthly thing. We don’t even know if it applies to other worlds, how then could it apply to God? We don’t even know what God is or isn’t. Some ancient cultures would not even use speak able names for God. To say God was not possible.

In getting back to the line I quoted from Ms Armstrong’s book I once again am forced into a short stint on my soapbox, as my daughter is so wont to say, and proclaim that to teach Bible stories as literal, such as 2 of every kind of animal on a boat, is lying. And at a point in every one of those little lives will come a time when they will face a decision as to how much of what they have been told is lies as well.

I am filling my head with as much as I can, as fast as I can, fully expecting to die of a cerebral explosion. Hope so anyway. Cheers

MPG is up!

I haven’t blog in 4 days, which I thought was more like 2 or 3. Been concentrating on getting to work and home, little else. I have talked here about slowing down on the Interstate. I was able to get in a full tank of gas at 60 mph or less ending tonight in Mount Jackson. I thought gas here near home was still at $3.09.9 and the gas in Mount Jackson was $3.09.9. So I thought there would be no advantage to getting home on a few gallons. I also saw my miles on this tank of gas was 320 miles, something I had not remembered seeing before. I believe it is a small tank, but it is a pickup. So I filled up with $3.09.9 and found I had raised my mpg from the high 17 mpgs to 21.37 mpg. When I got home my wife informed me that gas near our house is $2.99 and just a little further down it is $2.98.

Now in case you are tisk tisking your tongue at me for driving 10 miles an hour under the speed limit, you can stop. I really don’t care what you think about what my speed is. I have been very careful and I have not had any close calls since the first night. And that one was more me getting adjusted to being slower than it was a close call. I am sure the driver was well aware of how close he was. And unless you want to contribute to putting gas in my truck I’ll continue to drive at what I feel is reasonable and safe.

I got a call tonight from a man with a middle eastern first name and a last name of Kurdi. I asked my friend, Ala, who is Kurdish if there were any Kurds who had a name very close to their nationality like Kurdi. She said she believed he is Arabian. I have for a few weeks now been keeping a personal journal of every contact I have on the phones and I looked this guy up in my personal journal. Sure enough, I talked to him in November. I thought his very rapid speech, his accent and his high pitched very excitable voice sounded familiar. He was just as animated the last time. This time I had to side with him, however. His services were disconnected without warrant.

Even customer service was wringing their hands. It was a string of errors that led to the disconnect but it really was the fault of the tech who disconnected the services without personally informing the customer it was happening. I would love to talk to the people in charge of the service techs because they continually do things that send our customers into orbit and it just isn’t necessary. Evidently cable TV, phone and Internet service techs are held to the same high standards all the computer techs I have known are held to. I would not have lasted in the computer service business for 3 decades if I had done the things these techs do.

We have pretty frequent calls from Middle Eastern and Hispanic customers. There are frequent messages on our inner office messaging system asking for either an Arabic or Spanish speaking translator. Fortunately in our office we have both, except the Spanish translator works days, the Arabic translator works evenings.

Today I received one of three books I found on eBay a short while ago. I had already received “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come” and today I received a 1959 copy of a Weekly Reader Book Club book I treasured when I was very young, “Champion Dog Prince Tom.” The book, written for children, is a partly fictionalized account of a true story. The main character is a pure bred Blond Cocker Spaniel who won more obedience and field trials than any dog in history, before or after. The title of the book is his official title.

One thing about this job, I can do anything I want while waiting on a call. And I normally read until dinner at 7pm, then watch collegiate basketball after dinner until it’s time to go home. I get interrupted frequently on both sides of dinner, but I also get to read a good bit and watch more basketball than I would home. Our phone system uses some kind of algorithm to place phone calls among the 8 to 10 or more operators that are on at any one time. So one never knows when a call will hit their desk. Two nights in a row this week I got a call with one minute left in my day! Gotta hate that.

Cheers.

Can almost hear the sleigh bells

Nothing much to blog about this evening, so this is short. I am very tired and ready for bed. I usually am wide awake after getting home, but not tonight.

We thought we finished the kitchen this morning with Todd’s help. But I failed to secure the drain hose from the dishwasher into the garbage disposal which resulted in a minor leak. I was running close to getting a late start on my drive to work so I left before fixing that. But after being at work a while Georgiann called to say we had water migrating through the basement ceiling above the rec room. She looked a bit and discovered a poor connection in the water line to the dishwasher. I somehow had failed to test my connections before sliding the dishwasher into place.

I don’t believe we will incur any damage, but it could have been very bad. Georgiann took it upon herself to keep investigating and finally pinpointed the source of the water. She knew where to shut the water off and I think she may have got it turned off in time. We’ll know in a couple of days.

Other than that we seemed to have done a pretty nice job and the kitchen looks much nicer. If we replace the kitchen table like she is thinking we will have a very bright and open kitchen.

Nothing more to say about today. I did drive to work at a constant 65 and back at a constant 60. I didn’t cancel cruise one time on the way home until I exited at my exit. Only cancelled it one time going to work to avoid running into a truck who was going slower than me. Don’t see that much. Tonight’s drive home was amazingly calm. Almost no traffic north or south bound and even had several trucks pass me so slowly they must have only been doing 61 or so. Didn’t think I’d ever see that again.

One week from Christmas eve. I saw on Facebook several friends talking about how terribly crowded the stores were today. I thought we were in a recession. I plan on getting all of my shopping done Monday morning. Only have 8 to buy for. I probably better get out $10 dollars just in case, though. Might not be able to stay within budget at $8.

Does it seem hypocritical for stores to play religious Christmas music but force their employees to say Happy Holidays? Maybe "Happy shopping for mostly junk from China at inflated prices days" would be more appropriate.

Hezakia 12:3 Love the literalist, for he needs it.

I have thought so much and read so much over the last couple or three decades about the dichotomy between literal Christian interpretation and evolution’s concepts of how we got to the point we are on this earth, it’s tough to shift gears and move on to other things. One thing that draws my mind back is the fact that few Christians of the literal camp have conceded on any issues. I find that terribly sad and dishonest. To continue to teach impressionable children an indefensible idea is paramount to lying. And from personal experience I believe it leads to a suspicion that others parts of the story or other stories may be inaccurate as well.

A simple story like the flood requires enormous suspension of believe on the hearer’s part. And when they are taught in the literalist view a detraction from any narrative in a King James sourced interpretation brings a rejection of the entire book it is a blow to their basic beliefs in a redeemer. And that is unfair and unbiblical.

An organization that I keep close watch on, BioLogos Foundation, has launched a fundraiser to raise $200,000 by the end of 2011. The money is targeted at funding Christian science teachers in this country. Not Christian Science as you’ve heard of, but science teachers who are Christians first, teachers second. BioLogos exists for the sole purpose of being a forum for encouragement of open dialog between the Christian and scientific communities. I would love to be employed by them in some capacity. And there is no better place to bring the two communities together than in a religious neutral setting of a public or even religious school science class. If the religious schools will open their shuttered classrooms for open and unfettered learning.

I would love to continue to write about many avenues and venues where open thinking and pure research is happening all over the globe. But I honestly do not have the background to be a part of this heartening turn towards rational understanding of ourselves and our creator. There are still a number of people who are serious problems to the cause, on both sides of the cause, like the brilliant but misled Steven Hawking and the hard line literalist Ken Ham. Both are doing great damage to this fledgling movement to bring about sensible understanding of very complex issues.

I don’t know that I can withdraw from the discussion wholly. But I am very tired of the ongoing Christian resistance to an exponential growth in our understanding of earth’s processes.

I have many thoughts I’d like to put to print here so I can knead and shape them so as to make the ideas flow and fit known rules and concepts. I am sure no one who reads this knows how difficult it is for me to arrive at what gets written. I push myself to think critically and objectively. I constantly test the words I use for the meaning I want. I have to spell check like crazy because not only am I a poor speller, I am insistent on using the correct words and spelling them correctly. I believe most good sentence structure has a best order of words and a best set of words to convey the meaning intended. While most things can be said fairly accurately in many ways, I believe there is a best blend and order of words for any sentence. And that is my goal.

I am only a rank amateur in this word business. I have friends who are so far a head of me I cringe to think they may read some of my amateurish attempts at writing.

As you suppose, my mind is losing ground to sleep. It’s been a mentally tough day. I handled some difficult issues at work today. But I am happy to say I came away having learned some very valuable things. And that is always good.

As we approach the day set aside to celebrate the event of the birth of Christ I hope you will take time to ponder the wonderment of it all. As I said in a blog a day or so ago, it is the event of a creator conceiving within the creation a part of the creator. When you get that sequenced please call or write me. I’d love to hear your side of things.

Favorite bible story

I discovered an interesting dichotomy today in looking for the best known Bible story. One list I found was hands down the story of Noah and the ark. Another list claimed the birth of Jesus is the best known story. I would say it depends on the sample. If it is only nations with a significant Christian population, I’d agree with the Nativity. But there are other cultures in the world that have their own versions of a great flood and single hero who stands in and saves a few. I do know from personal study of ancient writings and serious research there are a lot more issues with the story of the flood than the story of God being born in the form of a child.

So many serious problems with the ark it makes the story as we have it explained from a King James translated point of view nearly ridiculous. No craft ever made could house all the animals, if even only two of each kind. Never mind the food they would need. Never mind the carnivores would eat most of the herbivores before they needed a second or third meal anyway. Not mention that thousands of animals have never left their isolated environs nor could they. And the absence of that much moisture within the atmosphere of earth and on and on.

The only real serious hurdles in the nativity is the fact of conception by a spirit which led to a human form housing another spirit, both spirits being one spirit. Getting one’s head around that is difficult enough, however. The creator creating part of the creator within the creation. Sort of begins to look like an Escher print if sequenced. And we thought sequencing the human gnome was a big deal. Dr. Collins, think you and your colleagues want to take this one on? You may HAVE to quit your day jobs.

I have on many occasions engaged in conversations with people of the cloth and other devout but enlightened Christians about the feasibility of the story of Noah. And by the way, do you know how many souls were saved in Moses ark? Better think about that one. Nearly all of the people I’ve brought that question up to (not Moses' ark, Noah's ark) I knew were well anchored in their own sense of faith and pretty much all of them indicated they have more issues with the flood account than the nativity account.

I’ve thought about that a lot, and I’ve come to a conclusion as to why. I retain the right to change my conclusion at any time, but this is what I think now.

The account of the flood has built in many truths, lessons and illustrations of biblical principles. But the account of the nativity is inexorably tied to our concept of salvation. Without a birth of God in human form we have no death of God in human form, thus no redemption. The flood is great reading, but the nativity is essential.

I laugh at the ongoing expeditions that surface from time to time to find evidence of the ark. I can’t imagine that real scientists engage in such ridiculous endeavors. Even if the story of the ark was true to the infinite detail, it has been, even by biblical dating, close to 3000 years. That is a long time to hope your wooden boat survives. And like many other ventures to prove old biblical stories, why would one feel they have to? It’s wasted effort. It certainly does not impact my beliefs.

On a lighter note, I stumbled upon a gallery of Youtube videos of trains tonight. Trains in the US, Europe and Asia. Modern, high speed passenger and powerful freight trains. There is a “sport” for lack of better term in some regions of standing as close to the tracks as possible where permitted as high speed passenger trains go zooming past. It is called train surfing. Seems to be a number of such adventurers in California who try to get close but not too close to Amtrak trains. Bet that puckers the body parts that can be puckered.

I bet standing too close only happens once. Being hit by a train at well over 70 MPH would convince you to not do it again. Might even convince your friends who try to find all of you over the next 17 miles of track. “Did anyone see his left pinky fingernail? I just bit mine off.” “Yeah, beHIND the fingernail.”

Playing Interstate frogger

Interesting day at work. It was exceptionally quiet after dinner. I watched University of Charleston (as in WV) trail University of Tennessee until about 10 minutes left in the game then take over and win by 6. Fun game. Two great defensive teams head to head. I also read a while between infrequent phone calls. I am halfway through Night Comes to the Cumberland. A tough book to read. Not because of style or level but because of the content. Some of man’s history isn’t very pretty. And this is a gut wrenching story of tough times.

So how fast is 2K RPM in 5^th gear in my truck? 55 MPH, exactly. Now if I wanted to take US Route 11 all the way to work I can drive at 55 on all the open areas of the road. That is the speed limit. But the problem with Route 11 is that it runs through a significant size university town (it runs through the university for several blocks with traffic lights, crosswalks and lots of pedestrian traffic most of the day) Add in 5 little towns most with one or two traffic lights, an occasional tractor or other farm vehicle and the drive is hectic most days. And to drive it at night is taking chances of playing tag with large animals. The only redeeming feature of my drive on scenic, and it really is a pretty drive any time of the year, Route 11 is that it is not in either the morning or afternoon school zone times. If the drive was in those times it would be senseless to go that way.

But going up the Interstate at 55 isn’t bright night or day. So going up I set the cruise at 2300 RPM which turns out to be 65 MPH. Now 65 can be a little scary in certain congested areas where a lot of really dumb drivers believe observing the 60 MPH signs is a sign of weakness. But today I managed to pull it off without feeling I was endangering anyone. On the way home I was able to dial back down to 2200 RPM and run along at 60. Only had two trucks try to impress me with how close they could come and still not hit me. I really resent being bullied by those guys, but short of breaking the law I don’t know how to retaliate. I try to not watch them because one of the benefits to driving slower is being able to relax a bit. So I concentrate on not letting them worry me.

No idea how this will effect gas mileage, but I can say already am doing a little better. I’ll post mpg numbers when I figure them out.

Spent considerable time today thinking about a slogan I drafted and put on my computer as wallpaper. It says “It matters not how we got here, or where and how we are going, but rather what we do while we are here.”

Now in case you don't know me well enough to look through the rhetoric, let me explain that slogan for you. It isn't just a quick thought up slogan that has a catchy rhythm to it. OK, it isn't catchy and has no rhythm. But let me open up the meaning hidden within. The first part, how we got here, is a reference to the on going debate of creation vs evolution, or young earth vs old earth. The second part is a reference to the many theories of the earth's last days. As in rapture, Millennium, pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, Apocalypse, heaven, hell, purgatory,yadda yadda yadda vs a slowly decaying orbit of the planets and a consequential falling into the sun.

NO body, as in Noooobody knows the trouble I've seen... has solid evidence of how we as humans arrived at where we are now. And even fewer (only 3 at last count, humans that is, me and two others who will remain anonymous) know how time will end. And I've bribed the others to secrecy. But it doesn't take rocket science formulas to figure out what we need to be doing for each other while we are here.

Nothing earth shaking or perhaps even original. Maybe a paraphrase of others in fact. But when I look around and see all of the really terrible and tragic things happening in this world I know that nothing is quite as important as what we do while we have the opportunity. I can remember being very young in church and listening to occasional missionaries come to speak and having my heart tugged at to do the same. I can’t really put my finger on how or why I missed out doing something as challenging or important as giving my life to help someone who can never repay, but I did. And while I would trade all of my tomorrows for a real opportunity to go to an impoverished area and help make a difference, I am afraid I may now not have the courage to do so.

Even without going anywhere there are so many avenues one can help make real differences. I briefly mentioned in my last blog about the senatorial proceedings on child abuse in America. I wrote down some numbers but those are at work. If my memory can be trusted there was somewhere around 800,000 reported cases of child abuse in 2010. Reported. And how many go unreported because the victims are traumatized and afraid to come forward? For a host of reasons. In most cases the abuse is done by someone the child had complete trust in. 180,000 reported cases of sexual abuse. One Hundred and eighty thousand children sexually abused in this advanced and civilized nation of ours in a SINGLE YEAR.

Makes you want to puke.

So how do we make the best use of our lives? Not sure, but I’m looking for answers.

One thing I know, I wasted most of my life learning all the wrong things about why we are here. And now I am feeling sick.

Speed limits and other things

Just home from work on the first day of my week. My week runs from Tuesday through Saturday. The Interstate was so wide open tonight I decided to turn down the dial a bit and set the cruise on 60. I only had one anxious moment when a car was over taking me in the left lane and a tractor trailer was pacing him/her in the right lane and didn’t appear to be slowing enough to miss me. But miss me he/she did.

From that point on I had no issues. I like the lower speed because I am aware of more reaction latitude. I feel I have a lot more ability to avoid possible close encounters at 60 than I do at 70. Of course when I drive 70 I am still passed by what would seem to be 75 percent of the vehicles on the road. Possibly more. But I sure like being able to stay in the right lane and not overtake anyone. I did speed up to 65 for perhaps 10 miles or so, but when I realized the traffic was just not there I dropped back. There is always an idiot or two that wants to make an impression on you that you are going too slow. But if you haven’t noticed there are no minimum speed limits posted any more.

I did have a Virginia State Trooper tell me that if a driver is impeding traffic at any speed they can be written a ticket. I have also looked extensively on the Internet for minimum speed limits and found nothing. I did find this following blurb at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dr-gridlock/2010/10/vdot_recommends_higher_speed_l.html :

The old 55 mpg as the "most fuel efficient speed" is a myth. It was simply based on averages. The most fuel efficient speed is when the car is stays at 2000 rpm in its top gear. So, it depends on the car, the driver, and the conditions.

So at what speed is my truck when the tach is sitting on 2K? I don’t know, but I’ll know tomorrow on my way to work. I would like to put in a set of fuel economy gauges, or at least a vacuum gauge. The less vacuum your engine pulls the less fuel it is using.

I am getting between 18 and 20 mpg driving at or near 70. Would really like to kick that up some. Be nice to make three complete round trips to work on 15 gallons of gas. I can normally make about 5 ½ trips one way as it is. Can’t quite make that last leg of three round trips.

Work was busy tonight until about 9:30 when it seemed like the phones became very quiet. By 10 they had pretty much stopped ringing. I think I answered one phone call the last hour and it was very short. Sometimes when it gets real quiet I’ll read a book or launch a tool we have called Slingbox. Slingbox allows us to look at the head ends where our CATV signal is distributed. I don’t know how many head ends we have, perhaps hundreds, but we can only “see” perhaps 20 of them. And not all 20 are viewable at our level of permissions. But we do have a number we can look at. The purpose of the tool is to look at the head end channels to see how the channels look and compare that with what a customer is describing their picture looks like at their TV. Helps in making decisions on where problems lie.

I launched Slingbox about 9:30 or so tonight and caught part of a History Channel presentation on the scientific plausibility of the parting of the Red (or Reed) Sea as told in the Bible. The program was titled “Proving God.” I watched a few minutes of it and found it to be pretty much the same rhetoric as most apologetic processes about the validity of the Bible. Somehow a lot of people who won’t give up their literalist views of the Bible can feel better if scientific research and processes claim to provide substantiation for events described in the Bible. Like if the scientist can prove it was possible then it might have, or surely did happen.

But the serious error in all that is trying to get the Bible to be a scientific or historical document. It is neither. The Bible is a book about a spiritual relationship between creatures and the creator. To make it anything else is blasphemous. It was not inspired or written to record historical events and sequences. Nor was it meant to be guidelines for science. Scientific research and thought did not appear until a book written in 1021 AD by a Muslim named Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham.

http://www.firstscientist.net/ has this to say about him: “A devout Muslim, Ibn al-Haitham believed that human beings are flawed and only God is perfect. To discover the truth about nature, Ibn a-Haitham reasoned, one had to eliminate human opinion and allow the universe to speak for itself through physical experiments. "The seeker after truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them," the first scientist wrote, "but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration."

I watched the program a few minutes and switched to a senatorial caucus on child abuse. More interesting, and in my thinking, more important in today’s world than proving creation. Proving creation is superfluous at any rate. We are here, and our getting here isn’t nearly as important as what we are going to do while we are here.

On a more personal note our kitchen is nearly done. I believe I purchased the very last piece of hardware today which I will install sometime after taking a nap of hopefully about 8 hours. If I can be up in 8 hours it will only be 9:45 am and I may be able to accomplish something. We are expecting the final piece of our counter top tomorrow. We had all of it together and the sink in place when we discovered the stove would not go back into the gap. Then we found our counter top provider had cut the return on the top one half inch longer than we had asked for it to be. We simply could not squeeze the range into the gap, so our provider is re-cutting it. I am presuming it will be free. I will certainly ask for it to be if it isn’t.

This project turned out to be not too expensive or time consuming, but by being out of work and income for 5 months it stretched the project by at least that long. It looks wonderful and the chief, make that the only, cook is very pleased with it. And that is what really counts.

If my perusing and out loud thinking cause you consternation please don’t fret. I am sure there are more noble and erudite things to read.

Blessings.

My mind is evolving. Why isn't yours?

I have not blogged in a very long time. A long time being totally relative of course. I just looked and March 28, 2011 was my last blog. That was just over 8 months ago, but in dog years that’s 4.5 years. I know dog years of 7 to 1 human years is old school and has many variables. But in technology 8 months is eons. More advancement has been made in the last 8 months in technology than in the first couple or three millions of years of man’s existence.

Just after that blog I parted ways with Lowe’s. I really didn’t want to part on the terms I did, and I didn’t have the courage to leave on my own and try to find a job in technology after letting many years pass without keeping up at all. But it was just the kick in the rear I needed.

I was without a job for 5 months and was beginning to believe I might not find a job in technology again. But a company took a chance on me and I went back to full time work on September 26. I am doing telephone tech support for a phone, Internet and CATV provider. The company provides cell coverage as well but my group doesn’t do any support of cell phones.

During my time off I studied for and obtained my A+ certification and retested for my Amateur Radio Tech license. I immediately sat for the next level, General and got that back. I submitted a request for my old call sign of N4RVG and got it back.

In the time since my last blog I have morphed a lot in my thinking and in my position on a number of theological issues and concepts. While I was off the work on our kitchen pretty much came to a standstill. I spent most of my days doing 3 things. I slept a lot. I looked for work a LOT. And I read a lot.

I discovered and did a pretty thorough investigation of the Preterist group of Christians. I was surprised at first there are many variations of Preterists. It makes perfect sense when one thinks of all of the different groups that claim to be in any other religion. How many flavors of Baptists and Methodists and Catholics do we have after all. And just in the last few days I have come to know that even Islam has a variety of different groups who hold to different issues while rejecting others.

I spent considerable time at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC in the latest exhibit named The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. My first visit I walked the exhibit very slowly trying to absorb as much as I could, twice. In later trips I watched others as they walked the exhibit. As I watched, I wondered how many of the visitors from literally all parts of the earth really understood the colossal research and discoveries that were being given exposure in that exhibit. As I watched, and listened, I knew there were people who understood some of the amazing information that had been pried out of the earth in the tens of thousands bits of bone, stone and fossils. I sat down a couple of times to gather my thoughts and analyze some of the information that was even then filling in gaps and holes in my understanding of our world and the creatures that have and do inhabit it.

Since that first visit and the opening lecture I attended I have continued to read and research topics of interest of mine within that genre of science. There is such a vast array of elements to the study of the earth and the evolutionary process I think it has grown much too broad for anyone to fully keep themselves appraised of all the research and enlightenment going on under so many different aspects. With the human genome being unraveled and sequenced an entirely new way to look at evolution is now at our fingertips. Many publications have already been printed and distributed that proves the genetic processes that brought about what we see around us in living things must have had billions of years to develop. New discoveries. new abilities, tools and processes have come into the research arena in such large numbers and so quickly demonstrating the validity of a very old earth and an evolutionary process that the old ideas are no longer supportable.

So if you ask me my opinion or position on many things I once believed please understand when I sidestep the question or gently change the subject. I have come to the realization that I am no longer interested in debating or discussing a young earth and or the typical Christian’s understanding of the Biblical account of Creation.

I know this position will be unpopular to many of my friends and family and those with whom I worship. But if you find something that supersedes something you once held you are dishonest if you reject that which supersedes.

I have many things I need to blog about for my own purpose of putting things into a form that allows me to critique it outside of my own brain space. And it is made public for others to comment. But know, I won’t discuss or respond to anything that hasn’t been well researched and backed by solid scientific possessive thinking.

Bruce 12/12/11 0039.