Yesterday was a bad day all the way around. I didn't feel well when I woke up, and really didn't want to go to work. I went anyway, and when I went to leave work, the shit really hit the fan.
When I went to start the car, it began shaking and rattling, annd made some funny noises. Well, I pulled out of the parking lot, and noticed the service engine light had started flashing. So, I slowly made my way back to my place, and parked it. Now, I'm thinking the problem is due to a lack of oil, and the need for a tune up. But I can't be sure. So I have made an appointment for Thursday morning to have the car serviced.
The servicing of the car is going to cost quite a bit; an astounding $468.85, parts and labor. Man, we're talking serious highway robbery. I'm not looking forward to writing the check for the car, but it's gotta be done.
So, for the time, I am without a car. April was kind enough to bring me to work this morning, and will be picking me up when my shift is over. Thank you hun.
On top of this bullshit, the weatherman is talking snow for the weekend. I have to get this car fixed, so I can go buy a new cost.
Ah geez, it's always something.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Another day, another dollar. I guess.
I'm sitting here in the office, having just finished the daily chore of putting all of the daily news content on the website. Now that I have completed that task, I have been hit with a big wave of exhaustion. My eyes are not wanting to stay open, and that's not a good thing. It's a little warm in here, so it is making sleep even more appealing. I wish the window in front of my desk actually opened. A nice, cool, blast of air would help about now.
Not sure what I'll be doing when I leave work. May actually go home and take a much needed nap. Should work on some personal projects, but don't know if I feel like it. We'll see what happens.
Hope everyone reading this has a wonderful day. Back to work now. Ciao!
Not sure what I'll be doing when I leave work. May actually go home and take a much needed nap. Should work on some personal projects, but don't know if I feel like it. We'll see what happens.
Hope everyone reading this has a wonderful day. Back to work now. Ciao!
Monday, November 27, 2006
BUYING THE WAL-MART JESUS
BUYING THE WAL-MART JESUS
The new Wal-Mart Supercenter just opened up in my town, and man, what a sight! It’s a mammoth structure of utilitarian architecture that houses everything from a grocery to a garden center, along with every dry good you can imagine from fashion wear to office supplies. And people just flock there because it’s one-stop shopping, famous low prices, and a quick “get in and get out” affair. It is an amazing achievement in the history of American consumerism.
Oh, and don’t forget about the official Smiley Face mascot greeting you on every sign. It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside as you spend your money to save money.
The only problem is that the former Wal-Mart building in town is now vacant since the retail giant moved its local operation to the new Supercenter facility. Hard to believe that twenty years ago this smaller Wal-Mart store was the shining Camelot on the hill for local shoppers. Now it’s just a castle ruin, an empty shell of its former glory as the company moves on to bigger and better things. Alas, a sign of the times, I’m afraid.
Prior to the beginning of this Sam Walton invasion, our town had a few Mom-and-Pop retail stores downtown, but they’re gone now, too. The first Wal-Mart that landed here soon priced those little shops right out of the market and made it too easy for the faithful customers of our local enterprises to be slowly seduced by the discount convenience of the new store in town. Hometown loyalty and one-on-one service be damned! Pretty soon, those slow-paced, family-run stores with creaky wood floors and clanging brass cash registers had to close their doors for good. Nobody valued their unassuming brand of commerce anymore.
So why do I bring all this up? Because it seems to me that many Christians today have been infected with the same corrupting consumerism that has given rise to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Their lives are no longer content with the eloquent simplicity of Jesus Christ and His Word, but now clamor for a wide variety of new and improved Christianized products to over-indulge their so-called faith. The congregations have moved out of the austere model of the small-town church, where unadorned worship to God rang forth, and have instead built for themselves Christian Supercenters in which to sell their worldly goods and services in the name of Christ.
You see striking evidence of this Wal-Mart mentality in postmodern Christianity every time you step into your local Christian bookstore and have to walk past shelf after shelf of shiny religious trinkets and trite bestsellers before you get to that little section of plain black Bibles in the far back corner. You see it every time you watch millions of professed Christians assemble in their multi-million dollar sanctuaries to hear feel-good sermons by Smiley Face mascots who offer heaven and happiness at a discount price.
Of course, it didn’t use to be like this. There was a time, believe it or not, when we survived just fine without the trappings of modern consumerism in our life. Long before the first Wal-Mart was built in my mostly-rural area, the presence of any kind of retail store was a rarity. All people really had back then was the Sears catalog. It sat there, prized like the family Bible, on the kitchen counter. Every member of the family had gone through that tome over and over again, memorizing the products that they dreamed of having one day. Yet they had no money for such luxuries and if they did, it was only due to careful hoarding of every stray penny they could scrape up. Sometimes they had to wait three years before saving enough money to buy that fancy hand-cranked clothes wringer so Mom didn’t have to wear out her arms twisting the clothes dry, unaided by modern technology.
Of course, when times got really bad, even the Sears catalog brought no comfort, except to supply a need for toilet paper in the outhouse.
Back then, we had a Great Depression caused by the blind self-indulgence of the Jazz age; and rural people in this area (through no fault of their own) were especially hit hard by it. These poor country folks didn’t have convenience stores, they only had each other. Families made just about everything they owned, and if they couldn’t make it, they had a good neighbor who could. It was a time when farming was so bad that it was more profitable to use their corn crop to burn in their stove for heat than to sell it for a lousy few cents per bushel. So the local families knitted themselves together and looked out for one another. It was a hard time, sometimes a desperate time. But with lots of faith, love, and patience, they got through it together as a community. There was no such thing as fast food outlets, shopping malls, or Wal-Mart Supercenters to bring swift temporal relief to their plight. It was a bare-boned existence that divided the wheat from the chaff, and forced humble folks to focus on the simple things in life that really mattered and to rejoice in them.
So you see, there was a time when Christians in this country were content with being lowly, meek, and poor in spirit. They served humbly in small congregations, read their Bibles faithfully, and prayerfully focused on the glory of Christ alone as they witnessed and brought aid to others. Over time, however, we became more prosperous and self-satisfied, and just like the Jazz Age, we began to borrow on a spiritual capital that we no longer possessed in order to gratify our ever-increasing desire for the things of this world. Soon, many churches became bastions of consumerism and began emulating themselves after the business world, until they finally transformed themselves into a kind of Wal-Mart Christianity.
The problem is, this over-indulgence in the churches will one day takes its toll and collapse like the stock market in 1929 because it is built on a foundation other than Christ alone. And when that inevitable day arrives in which we are stripped of our fleshy provisions and thrust into a great spiritual Depression, how will this rabid Christian consumerism provide for our needs and how much of it will quickly be engulfed by the fires of God’s testing?
In the end, it’s hay and stubble, my friends. All this Wal-Mart Christianity is just hay and stubble.
The new Wal-Mart Supercenter just opened up in my town, and man, what a sight! It’s a mammoth structure of utilitarian architecture that houses everything from a grocery to a garden center, along with every dry good you can imagine from fashion wear to office supplies. And people just flock there because it’s one-stop shopping, famous low prices, and a quick “get in and get out” affair. It is an amazing achievement in the history of American consumerism.
Oh, and don’t forget about the official Smiley Face mascot greeting you on every sign. It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside as you spend your money to save money.
The only problem is that the former Wal-Mart building in town is now vacant since the retail giant moved its local operation to the new Supercenter facility. Hard to believe that twenty years ago this smaller Wal-Mart store was the shining Camelot on the hill for local shoppers. Now it’s just a castle ruin, an empty shell of its former glory as the company moves on to bigger and better things. Alas, a sign of the times, I’m afraid.
Prior to the beginning of this Sam Walton invasion, our town had a few Mom-and-Pop retail stores downtown, but they’re gone now, too. The first Wal-Mart that landed here soon priced those little shops right out of the market and made it too easy for the faithful customers of our local enterprises to be slowly seduced by the discount convenience of the new store in town. Hometown loyalty and one-on-one service be damned! Pretty soon, those slow-paced, family-run stores with creaky wood floors and clanging brass cash registers had to close their doors for good. Nobody valued their unassuming brand of commerce anymore.
So why do I bring all this up? Because it seems to me that many Christians today have been infected with the same corrupting consumerism that has given rise to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Their lives are no longer content with the eloquent simplicity of Jesus Christ and His Word, but now clamor for a wide variety of new and improved Christianized products to over-indulge their so-called faith. The congregations have moved out of the austere model of the small-town church, where unadorned worship to God rang forth, and have instead built for themselves Christian Supercenters in which to sell their worldly goods and services in the name of Christ.
You see striking evidence of this Wal-Mart mentality in postmodern Christianity every time you step into your local Christian bookstore and have to walk past shelf after shelf of shiny religious trinkets and trite bestsellers before you get to that little section of plain black Bibles in the far back corner. You see it every time you watch millions of professed Christians assemble in their multi-million dollar sanctuaries to hear feel-good sermons by Smiley Face mascots who offer heaven and happiness at a discount price.
Of course, it didn’t use to be like this. There was a time, believe it or not, when we survived just fine without the trappings of modern consumerism in our life. Long before the first Wal-Mart was built in my mostly-rural area, the presence of any kind of retail store was a rarity. All people really had back then was the Sears catalog. It sat there, prized like the family Bible, on the kitchen counter. Every member of the family had gone through that tome over and over again, memorizing the products that they dreamed of having one day. Yet they had no money for such luxuries and if they did, it was only due to careful hoarding of every stray penny they could scrape up. Sometimes they had to wait three years before saving enough money to buy that fancy hand-cranked clothes wringer so Mom didn’t have to wear out her arms twisting the clothes dry, unaided by modern technology.
Of course, when times got really bad, even the Sears catalog brought no comfort, except to supply a need for toilet paper in the outhouse.
Back then, we had a Great Depression caused by the blind self-indulgence of the Jazz age; and rural people in this area (through no fault of their own) were especially hit hard by it. These poor country folks didn’t have convenience stores, they only had each other. Families made just about everything they owned, and if they couldn’t make it, they had a good neighbor who could. It was a time when farming was so bad that it was more profitable to use their corn crop to burn in their stove for heat than to sell it for a lousy few cents per bushel. So the local families knitted themselves together and looked out for one another. It was a hard time, sometimes a desperate time. But with lots of faith, love, and patience, they got through it together as a community. There was no such thing as fast food outlets, shopping malls, or Wal-Mart Supercenters to bring swift temporal relief to their plight. It was a bare-boned existence that divided the wheat from the chaff, and forced humble folks to focus on the simple things in life that really mattered and to rejoice in them.
So you see, there was a time when Christians in this country were content with being lowly, meek, and poor in spirit. They served humbly in small congregations, read their Bibles faithfully, and prayerfully focused on the glory of Christ alone as they witnessed and brought aid to others. Over time, however, we became more prosperous and self-satisfied, and just like the Jazz Age, we began to borrow on a spiritual capital that we no longer possessed in order to gratify our ever-increasing desire for the things of this world. Soon, many churches became bastions of consumerism and began emulating themselves after the business world, until they finally transformed themselves into a kind of Wal-Mart Christianity.
The problem is, this over-indulgence in the churches will one day takes its toll and collapse like the stock market in 1929 because it is built on a foundation other than Christ alone. And when that inevitable day arrives in which we are stripped of our fleshy provisions and thrust into a great spiritual Depression, how will this rabid Christian consumerism provide for our needs and how much of it will quickly be engulfed by the fires of God’s testing?
In the end, it’s hay and stubble, my friends. All this Wal-Mart Christianity is just hay and stubble.
Back to work
The Thanksgiving holiday has passed, and the weekend is now over. That can only mean one thing, it's Monday, and time to go back to work.
A long week lies ahead of me, as I must now endeavor to build interfaces for a new database application I am building for work, and then attempt to populate and test the database. Not looking forward to it, but it has to be done.
I'm still feeling the effects of all the driving I did over the holiday weekend. With driving to Louisville, around town, and then back to Fort Wayne, I have been left quite sore and tense. The back, shoulders, and neck are really hurting this morning. Add that to being extremely tired, and it's definitely going to be a long day.
I wasn't able to take many pictures during the holiday, so I won't be posting those as I had originally said that I might. Oh well, better luck next time.
All for now. Time to work. Have a good one. Ciao!
A long week lies ahead of me, as I must now endeavor to build interfaces for a new database application I am building for work, and then attempt to populate and test the database. Not looking forward to it, but it has to be done.
I'm still feeling the effects of all the driving I did over the holiday weekend. With driving to Louisville, around town, and then back to Fort Wayne, I have been left quite sore and tense. The back, shoulders, and neck are really hurting this morning. Add that to being extremely tired, and it's definitely going to be a long day.
I wasn't able to take many pictures during the holiday, so I won't be posting those as I had originally said that I might. Oh well, better luck next time.
All for now. Time to work. Have a good one. Ciao!
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Back in the Fort
Just a brief message to let my readers know that I'm back in Fort Wayne now. April and I left Louisville around 2:00pm this afternoon, and arrived home about an hour ago. While I'm sad that the holiday vacation is ending, it is nice to be back home, and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.
Lots of stories that I could share, but at this point, I'm just too tired to care.
More later.
Ciao!
Lots of stories that I could share, but at this point, I'm just too tired to care.
More later.
Ciao!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this blog.
April and I made it to Louisville last night, safe and sound. I must say, though, that traffic was a nightmare, from Indianapolis to Louisville. Gotta love slow and go traffic; for an impatient person like me, this was a real adventure.
Anyway, we are here until sometime Saturday, and are going to do as little as possible. We are having dinner at granny's house in about an hour, so I better get moving.
More later. Ciao!
April and I made it to Louisville last night, safe and sound. I must say, though, that traffic was a nightmare, from Indianapolis to Louisville. Gotta love slow and go traffic; for an impatient person like me, this was a real adventure.
Anyway, we are here until sometime Saturday, and are going to do as little as possible. We are having dinner at granny's house in about an hour, so I better get moving.
More later. Ciao!
Monday, November 20, 2006
A bedtime prayer
I'm sitting on the edge of my bed now, thinking about everything that has gone on today, and everything that I know I will have to deal with tomorrow. My only prayer at this point, is that my mind settles down, and that I will be able to get a decent nights sleep for the first time in a long time.
Things are looking good with the project I'm working on at work, so I can rest a little easier in that regard. I hope and pray that my day will go well tomorrow. That I will wake refreshed and ready to face the day.
Lord give me the strength and endurance to get through the many things that must be done tomorrow, both for work and in preparation for traveling to louisville on wednesday.
Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And grant me the piece of mind in knowing that all will work out in the situations I'm dealing with.
Good night.
Things are looking good with the project I'm working on at work, so I can rest a little easier in that regard. I hope and pray that my day will go well tomorrow. That I will wake refreshed and ready to face the day.
Lord give me the strength and endurance to get through the many things that must be done tomorrow, both for work and in preparation for traveling to louisville on wednesday.
Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And grant me the piece of mind in knowing that all will work out in the situations I'm dealing with.
Good night.
Thanksgiving week already?
My word, it's Thanksgiving week already. Hard to believe it, but it's just a few days away. And much like millions of other people, I will be traveling to visit family for the holiday.
April and I will be driving to Louisville after I get off of work on Wednesday. We'll be down there until some time on Saturday.
This years holiday festivities will include a big dinner at my grandmotherss house on Thursday. By big, I mean lots of people, and even more food. You name it, we will have it to eat.
As far as people are concerned, the regular bunch will be there, with the addition of some cousins from Indianapolis, and of course, April and myself. I must make that distinction because I'm not always able to be there for the big events that take place. Like this coming Christmas, for instance.
Anyway, I will probably post more on the holiday travel plans at a later time. I am going to try to take a bunch of pictures of the family, and will post some when I get back.
All for now. Ciao!
April and I will be driving to Louisville after I get off of work on Wednesday. We'll be down there until some time on Saturday.
This years holiday festivities will include a big dinner at my grandmotherss house on Thursday. By big, I mean lots of people, and even more food. You name it, we will have it to eat.
As far as people are concerned, the regular bunch will be there, with the addition of some cousins from Indianapolis, and of course, April and myself. I must make that distinction because I'm not always able to be there for the big events that take place. Like this coming Christmas, for instance.
Anyway, I will probably post more on the holiday travel plans at a later time. I am going to try to take a bunch of pictures of the family, and will post some when I get back.
All for now. Ciao!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Darwin Award Nomination
I hereby nominate the following jackass for a Darwin Award.
Ronald Donah, 43, was killed by one of 6 deer penned up on his property.
Click the following link to read the whole story.
Deer kills man who kept it penned up.
For those who don't know what the Darwin Awards are about, check this out.
www.darwinawards.com
Ronald Donah, 43, was killed by one of 6 deer penned up on his property.
Click the following link to read the whole story.
Deer kills man who kept it penned up.
For those who don't know what the Darwin Awards are about, check this out.
www.darwinawards.com
It's Monday already?
Oh man, is it really Monday already? Good lord the weekend went by way too fast for my likings.
I had the hardest time getting out of bed this morning; if you had to be up at 3:00 A.M. every morning, to be at work at 4:30 A.M. you'd have a hard time too. Getting to sleep last night was not the easiest thing to do either, thanks to a terrible headache that I had been fighting most of the evening. I'm really tired of the headaches I battle with on an almost daily basis.
Not totally sure what all will be going on today, but I do know that once I get off work, I'm going to find food, and then go home and hit the sack for a while.
More later.
I had the hardest time getting out of bed this morning; if you had to be up at 3:00 A.M. every morning, to be at work at 4:30 A.M. you'd have a hard time too. Getting to sleep last night was not the easiest thing to do either, thanks to a terrible headache that I had been fighting most of the evening. I'm really tired of the headaches I battle with on an almost daily basis.
Not totally sure what all will be going on today, but I do know that once I get off work, I'm going to find food, and then go home and hit the sack for a while.
More later.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Thank God it's over
I am eternally thankful that the elections are finally over, and that my work and sleep schedule can finally get back to some degree of normality. What ever normal may be.
I have a whole lot that I want to recap about the elections and the last week as a whole, but at this moment, I just can't put it all in to a perspective that makes sense to me. Maybe in the coming days, I will be able to share the many thoughts that I have about it all, but for now, it will have to wait.
I have a whole lot that I want to recap about the elections and the last week as a whole, but at this moment, I just can't put it all in to a perspective that makes sense to me. Maybe in the coming days, I will be able to share the many thoughts that I have about it all, but for now, it will have to wait.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Just my luck
Well, I had a feeling it would happen. Despite my best efforts of getting out of coming back to work tonight, to deal with the election bullshit, I still have to come back in here, and work all night. Damn it!
I'm rather tired this morning, and lord knows I will be dead after working both this morning and then all night tonight. I really wish I could get out of coming in here, because I'm still not feeling the greatest, and am tired as can be. It is a challenge to type and keep my eyes open as I am sitting here now. I will definitely be going home and taking a nap when I get off work in a few hours.
I still believe that I will simply be in the way, and will be spending most of my time this evening sitting on my duff, staring at the walls, tv, etc...
I really hope that my boss is correct in assuming that I will be in great demand, and that the supply of things to do will be great. I really hate the thought of coming back in here to work all night, with the thought of there being nothing for me to do but sit here and twiddle my thumbs. We shall certainly see what happens.
Anyway, I'm going to stop bitching for right now. I'm sure there will be more posts on this subject later in the day. Bleh :-P
I'm rather tired this morning, and lord knows I will be dead after working both this morning and then all night tonight. I really wish I could get out of coming in here, because I'm still not feeling the greatest, and am tired as can be. It is a challenge to type and keep my eyes open as I am sitting here now. I will definitely be going home and taking a nap when I get off work in a few hours.
I still believe that I will simply be in the way, and will be spending most of my time this evening sitting on my duff, staring at the walls, tv, etc...
I really hope that my boss is correct in assuming that I will be in great demand, and that the supply of things to do will be great. I really hate the thought of coming back in here to work all night, with the thought of there being nothing for me to do but sit here and twiddle my thumbs. We shall certainly see what happens.
Anyway, I'm going to stop bitching for right now. I'm sure there will be more posts on this subject later in the day. Bleh :-P
Monday, November 06, 2006
How's it going to work?
A co-worker and I have been talking this morning about how election night should be handled. At this point, we know that this place is going to be packed full of people working on reporting the election results, etc... Well, here in the library, there are only four computers; three computers have all the software needed, and one does not. This creates a problem, in that there will be too many people here, and not enough workstations for all of us.
My co-worker and I have agreed that there is really no need for me to come in tomorrow night, because I will basically be sitting here with nothing to do. Now, I don't mind getting paid for sitting around, doing nothing. But, if there is no place for me to work, why ask me to come in?
So you tell me, how in the hell is this going to work?
My co-worker and I have agreed that there is really no need for me to come in tomorrow night, because I will basically be sitting here with nothing to do. Now, I don't mind getting paid for sitting around, doing nothing. But, if there is no place for me to work, why ask me to come in?
So you tell me, how in the hell is this going to work?
Election Headache
With the elections only a day away, I find myself in a severe state of dread; the thought of having to work my regular shift Tuesday morning, and then return for an all-night shift Tuesday night, is down-right sickening to me.
Since the elections have to be covered and results have to be reported, nearly everyone will be here at work tomorrow night. My fellow webmaster and I will be busting our tails to get all of the election stories and results posted, on top of getting Wednesday mornings's newspaper posted as usual.
I am hoping to get out of here as early as 4:30 - 5:00 am Wednesday morning. We will see what happens. Needless to say, I will be extremely tired and will definitely be rather irritable by the time I get to go home.
More on this later.
Since the elections have to be covered and results have to be reported, nearly everyone will be here at work tomorrow night. My fellow webmaster and I will be busting our tails to get all of the election stories and results posted, on top of getting Wednesday mornings's newspaper posted as usual.
I am hoping to get out of here as early as 4:30 - 5:00 am Wednesday morning. We will see what happens. Needless to say, I will be extremely tired and will definitely be rather irritable by the time I get to go home.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
John Kerry on Imus in the Morning 11/1/06
Thank you Don Imus, for saying what everyone else was thinking. John Kerry's big mouth is going to fuck up the Democrats shot of regaining control.
John, listen to Don Imus, and shut the fuck up.
I'm can be snotty too
This has been another one of those weeks that I could really do without. I've been in a terrible mood, and most of that has to do with the fact that I have a bad cold.
Now, I can be just as snotty as any one else, but this isn't what I had in mind.
I started feeling this cold coming on shortly before I went to Louisville a couple of weeks ago, and since I returned it's gone full blown cold. I've been so congested it's not funny. I have breathing problems anyway, and this really isn't helping. Thankfully, I have been able to get things under some state of control, and have been able to keep working, and doing all the things I have to get done. Thanks to NyQuil, I have been sleeping well.
NyQuil is my friend.
Got a lot of stuff going on this week too. Had meetings with potential clients yesterday, and look forward to hearing back from them as to whether they will be contracting with me to complete their web development projects. More on that later.
Now, I can be just as snotty as any one else, but this isn't what I had in mind.
I started feeling this cold coming on shortly before I went to Louisville a couple of weeks ago, and since I returned it's gone full blown cold. I've been so congested it's not funny. I have breathing problems anyway, and this really isn't helping. Thankfully, I have been able to get things under some state of control, and have been able to keep working, and doing all the things I have to get done. Thanks to NyQuil, I have been sleeping well.
NyQuil is my friend.
Got a lot of stuff going on this week too. Had meetings with potential clients yesterday, and look forward to hearing back from them as to whether they will be contracting with me to complete their web development projects. More on that later.
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