Contact Information: SteveAndPeggyB@gmail.com

Friday, March 29, 2013

Computer Crash...

Something you never want to happen but is inevitable... The proverbial computer crash.  It makes me sad. So, I'm spending on trying to revive it the morning...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Emotional Pain

I find it amazing but a blessing that God has built us in such a way that the perceived pain of a loved one can cause us to feel our own pain and react in weird ways.  Recently, I got three little stitches that needs to come out and instead of going clear out to the doctor's office, I asked Peggy to simply remove them.  For whatever reason, Peggy is having a psycho-physical reaction to taking them out.  In her mind, she feels as though she is (or will be) hurting me.  The reality is, the spot where the stitches are has lost all feeling and cannot hurt.  It was the same way for me when she had surgery recently so, I do not understand but get it...

I also know that when you are in a situation where a demand for action is called for, this reaction goes away.  Perhaps this reaction is specific to our loved ones only.  I remember a time when my son cut his hand and needed stitches, I was perfectly fine when I know he needed to be taken to the hospital.  While we were sitting in the examination room, the doctor shot Chris up with Novocaine and began to stitch him up.  I suggested to Chris that he should look away but, he was all about watching the doctor stick that needle in his hand stitch after stitch. It was not until I know he was in good hands (no pun intended) and the stitches was going in that all of a sudden, I began to pass out!  I immediately had to sit down and look away. When everything was over, the doctor said Chris did very well and asked him if he wanted a Popsicle.  Chris replied, "Sure but, can you give my dad one too?"

Monday, March 25, 2013

Snow...NOooooo...

Well, we got the snow last night.  It was reported that we would get a half a foot overnight. I looked out this morning and sure enough, snow...  However, I do not think it was anywhere near six inches and the road are reported as just being wet.

I was expecting to work from home today and as much as I enjoy that, I believe in Divine intervention and with conditions as they are, I accept my unexpected situation and will make the best of it.  Just like my post on "Did you loose your Horse today", All I know is that my horse is gone; the rest I do not know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can’t say.”

Friday, March 22, 2013

Quick Post

I am now beginning (well, last night) to design a television. Yes, that is correct. It is a prop for the Easter play and includes a special feature that you will just have to come and see. So, I am going to spend the majority of my time this morning working on the design.

As with this television, not everything we see is what it seem. I had a class once that suggested we, as Christians, feel it is okay to be "less honest" at times and that is okay. Last night at play practice, we were graced by our pastor's visit. This is a big deal because of some medical issues he has just been going through. However, to look at him, you would think he was perfectly fine "from the outside". I will not say he was being dishonest at all. What I will say was that he was being perceived as one with absolutely nothing wrong.

As Christ-Like people, we need to represent Christ as closely as we can.  I submit that Christ never mislead anyone by putting on a mask. However, these carnal vessels will try to justify our actions and behaviors by saying, "we need to present ourselves as witnesses of Christ". Whenever we become disingenuousness , we are wearing a mask and I would suggest "less honest".

Thursday, March 21, 2013

God's Hall of Fame



Last night’s church service was most excellent as usual. I am still (temporarily) teaching the 3, 4, and 5 year old children. It is amazing how much energy children have but when they become interested in something, it is crazy how their demeanor changes; although for a very short time. I understand that children can be a challenge but it takes a special person with a passion to teach this demographic. With that said, we have some amazing people that truly have that passion for children and a vision to see them go to Heaven.

I know that people have a tendency to celebrate others in their own industry. We have awards programs such as the Oscars, the Emmy’s as well as a plethora of other recognition programs to others in their individual fields. This is also needed in the church.  I know the teachers for Sunday School and Worship on Wednesday as well as other children’s Ministers are doing with they do because of their love for the children. They do not do what they do for recognition although I cannot imagine the size of their crowns later on. Hebrews 11:38 tells us that this world is not worthy of these individuals. Of course, this world will get what it deserves as God’s wrath is poured out.

However, this is not to recognize this wicked world but the teachers at my church and good Christian churches across the world. They deserve full recognition and to be nominated into God’s Hall of Fame. I recognize their labors and sacrifices and wish the whole church could truly understand even a small portion of their sacrifices. Janet, Chris, Shannon, Cindy, Jenny, Gayle, Connie, April, Eugenia, Lisa and Travis may not be in this world's hall of fame but God’s Hall of Fame through our Lord Jesus Christ's personal submission.



Your name may not appear down here in this world’s Hall of Fame,
in fact you may be so unknown that no one knows your name.
This hall of fame is only good, as long as time shall be,
but keep in mind “God’s Hall of Fame” is for Eternity.
To have your name inscribed up there, is greater, yes, by far,
than all the halls of fame down here, and every man made star.
The crowds on earth, they soon forget, the heroes of the past,
they cheer like mad until you fall. And that’s how long you last.
But God, He never does forget, and in His “Hall of Fame”
by just believing in his Son, inscribed you’ll find your name.
I tell you friend, I wouldn’t trade my name — however small,
that’s written there, beyond the stars, in that celestial hall –
for every famous name on earth, or glory that they share.
I’d rather be an unknown here, and have my name up there.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Designing Benches

I am now looking at designing a bench that can eventually be put on the deck. I will actually be building two. We are having our Easter play at church and one scene has to do with the Garden of Gethsemane (See Luke 22:39-46). Now, we have our own conceived images of what the Garden might look like and I have my own. I am building these benches to put in the Garden; I will add some vegetation and try to make some big rocks.

Anyway, I am going to build these two benches without the fancy joinery and advanced woodworking tools. I will attempt to make them out of something that will last for a while considering a dozen kids will be jumping on them and eventually they will be on my deck. I am not sure what type of finish yet but once I am done, I will post a picture of the finished product.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Perception of normalcy


The perception of normalcy is beginning to arise around the Blake household.  I say the perception because we need to ask ourselves what is normal.  This is a deep philosophical question like, "what is truth".  Then we need to reflect on, is it good to get back to "normal"; is normalcy even good for us.  We might have grand plans of making a better life for ourselves and would like to make that the norm.  But, making a better life for ourselves is a journey while normalcy is a destination.

It is my opinion that normal is a comfort zone that feels good and is safe.  I would suggest, this is not striving for perfection.  Normal too many people is relaxing and watching video games for twelve hours or sitting in a chair and watching television for sixteen hours straight or working hours that take you away from your loved one.  To others, normal is never leaving your house, going outside, or interacting with others.

I know we go through difficult situations in life.  We see loved one hurting. We see life is not fair.  With that said, we still have loved ones that we just smile everything you see them come through the door or that favorite meal setting in front of you.  We can see God working in the lives of the Christian and sometimes in the lives of the lost as a blessing to the Christian.  

So, normal can be a blessing or a curse.  We need to examine what we perceive as normal and ask ourselves if it is beneficial or detrimental to our longevity or blessing to others.  We need to identify those things that are detrimental and get them out of our “normal” lives.  I will be the first to say, at (over) fifty years old, I need to get some of the detrimental normalcies out and more beneficial normalcy in.

What is normal and should we celebrate when things get back to normal?

Monday, March 18, 2013

Out to the park

I had the opportunity to take the boys out to the park this weekend.  On Saturday, Chris, Cameron and I went to Three Creeks Parks (specifically, Heron Pond) where I was able to take some pictures of wildlife.  Se exhibit one:




Friday, March 15, 2013

What do people care about?


I was thinking... It could happen... what is it that people REALLY care about.  Well, I was listening to a business consultant, author, Christian comedian, and professional speaker, Andy Andrews on YouTube.com.  He presented a strong philosophical truth when it came to anyone outside your personal family.  In your professional life, "people don't care about how you feel, they care about how you act" (Andy Andrews).  I look at my half century on this planet and can see this to be the fact.  
 
We can see that life IS NOT always fair.  We are taught as a child to treat people with fairness and care but when we truly step into this thing we call life, our paradigm shifts to something that in induces stress, anxiety and tension. It is during these times that how we act will reflect our true character.

We can see this goes back to Biblical times when people were not being fair to God when they were selling in God's temple.  Jesus was angered and began turning over the tables.  This life is the battle grounds of the enemy and we will inevitably come across these battles.  How will you act?  Anger but sin not (Ephesians 4:26).  Anger is an emotion and we need to quickly check ourselves and realize we are a witnesses in the enemies playground.  We are to be an example of all those principles we are taught as a child that reflects sound Biblical principals.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Visual Basic Scrpting

Yesterday I was able to build an application with VBscript that automatically created an email and sent it through Lotus Notes.  This is just a building block that I will use to automate email blasts at work.  I know this does not seem interesting to you unless you are a geek.

One thing about myself... I am an analytic... I love crunching numbers... I love automating those processes... anything that would prevent me from doing momentousness work.  I have lived my whole professional life trying to stay away from redundant tasks and tried to figure out how to eliminate as much of that tedious work as possible.

One thing that I learned in life is that labor is the most expensive asset any company will possess.  So, the person that is the most valuable to any company is the one that can get the most work done in the least amount of time... automation. The return on the investment of developing automated processes has a huge returns.

Here is the perceived problem. At what point is automation too much?  My stance is that a company that builds widgets will never be more successful than the one that does not even need to have light turned on or have heating and air conditioning requirements... no people required.  Granted, this scenario will never happen because someone will always need to be present for maintenance and someone to say "go".

Therefore, the life of an automation specialist will always be in demand.  Technical skills will never go out of style but continuous learning is a mandate in order to continue honing your skill and making yourself more valuable by providing less manual labor and thus, higher return on your equity.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Duck Dynasty

I have just been getting into the show Duck Dynasty and finding it quite entertaining.  This is a reality program that is unscripted and shown on A&E network.  It portrays the Robertson family's daily lives as a red neck success story that made their wealth building the Duck Commander duck calls as well as other hunting products.  They are located in West Monroe, Louisiana.

I suppose the one thing that has really grabbed my attention was the willingness to show a good Christian lifestyle and not showing any reservation to the Christian faith.  They do not preach or use bad language but entertains.  They show the Christian live as something fun and not restricting. At the end of every show, they are shown praying for their food and providing some good words of wisdom.

I was impressed with one of the last episodes where the Robertson family required some professional assistance on something and when the company showed up, the trailer they were pulling boldly portrayed Eph 2:10.

One Correction...  I'm not old but play one in real life... Senior moment...  The reference to Eph 2:10 was on the Vanilla Ice Project that is also a cool renivation show...  Thanks for correcting me sweetie...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Latest Project

While Peggy was in class last night, I spent time with a 30 day demo of Adobe After Effects.  I have always been interested in this application but never had a need until now.  We are having a Easter Play with the children and I am going to have a "special effect".  I am not going to say what it is because it integral to the play and do not what to give anything away.

Suffice to say, I do not know this program and was using some tutorials to build this project.  Initially, I see this program as a memory and power monster.  This one project was very small but required all my physical memory (4 Gig) plus virtual memory and 100% of my Intel I5 architecture.  All in all, I would love to get this program but I may have to wait for my next computer.

With that said, I have not gotten back to my JavaScript or VBscript yet and now have an interest in Perl 6.0.  My plate runth over...

Monday, March 11, 2013

Beautiful Weekend

The weekend was wonderful and the company was just a grand.  We had the boys on Saturday night and they are an amazing joy every time I see them.  Cameron is getting back to his normal self.  He is beginning to talk normally.  
On Saturday, I also spent some time at the church working on the computer in the sound room.  It was a new computer from Dell and the optical drive just failed.  They sent me a new part and I was able to install in less than 10 minutes once I discovered I had to remove the front bezel.
On top of all that fun, I got to opportunity to take my sweetheart to Jeffersonville at the Tanger Outlets.  We went to the Coach store and bought a few things such as the purse (just different colors) in the picture. Then I was able to head to a diamond store and Peggy got some long awaited hoop earrings. (could not find a picture...)
It may have been an expensive weekend but it was so worth it to spend all day with my sweetheart.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Drama should only be on TV...

Well, we were met with more drama yesterday and as a result, we had the opportunity to spend excellent time with my favorite two grand kids. (I only have the two).  They came over as soon as I got home from work and it was great to see them after the drama they both went through themselves just days earlier.

Christopher had to get some dental work done at the age of seven.  The first thing he wanted to do when he got there was to show me his silver tooth.  I asked him if he showed everyone at school and, of course, he did.  Cameron (5 yrs old) had an issue when he was sleeping.  He snores... The reality was that his tonsils and adenoids were enlarged and if he would have had any swelling, it had the potential of restricting his airflow.  So, he had them removed.  This poor little boy said his throat wasn't soar until he tried to talk.  Sufficed to say, he was rather quite and surprisingly, that was unsettling.  I felt really bad for him but I know, it was best to go through this pain to provide a healthier life.

Well, when they came over to the house they brought Lego Star Wars for the Xbox (Got to love Jar Jar Binks) and they played all evening long.  I had to make them pause the game while they eat.  Otherwise, I believe they would dwindle away from malnutrition just so they could continue playing that game.  And, not just that game but when they got tiered of that game, they had several others that played but eventually got back.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Trying to break the grand kids from missing the bowl

Well, we gave up and Chris and Cameron can feel free to miss to bowl...
Now if they miss, no big deal... except for the barracudas...

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Time to lighten the mood...


These are a few interesting points to ponder that I found on the internet. Enjoy:
  • Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?
  • If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?
  • Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
  • Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
  • Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
  • If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
  • Money doesn't bring you happiness, but it does enable you to look for it in more places.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Why do we worry?

My youngest grandson will be going in for a routine surgery this morning and although it is going to take fifteen minutes and he will be back home by noon, this is killing me that he has to go through this pain to make things better in the future. This is no different than when we go through thing that we feel us unjust or unfair. As my earlier post demonstrated, we need to say, "We have only a fragment of the whole story".  This is also like my mother-in-law that just went through back surgery and things came out horrible but, We have only a fragment of the whole story.  I don't know why my mother-in-law is going what she is or more grandson is going through this a five years old. but I am not in charge and I don't know the whole plan because I am a simple spectator in life and in our weakness we need to relay in the Lord to take care of what is happening in our lives. 2 Corinthians 12:9 tells us that in in our weakness that we can relay on the Lord to take us through.
In all the truths we can read in God word, sometimes the carnal man pops up and we worry about things.  This is not biblical and we need to recognize, we have only a fragment of the whole story.
As such, sometimes we need to remember that worry is clearly addressed in God's word because it is a hurt that God would choose us to not go through.  However, the carnal man need to hear...

Worrying Accomplishes Absolutely Nothing.

I don't know about you, but I don't have any time to waste these days. And worrying is a waste of very precious time. Worrying won't help you solve a problem or bring about a solution, so why waste your time and energy on it?

Matthew 6:27-29
Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

Worrying is Not Good for You.

Worrying is destructive to us in many ways. It becomes a mental burden that can even cause us to grow physically sick.

Proverbs 12:25

Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

Worrying is the Opposite of Trusting God.

The energy that we spend worrying can be put to much better use in prayer. Here's a little formula to remember: Worry replaced by Prayer equals Trust.

Matthew 6:30

And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

Philippians 4:6-7

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Worrying Puts Your Focus in the Wrong Direction.

When we keep our eyes focused on God, we remember his love for us and we realize we truly have nothing to worry about. God has a wonderful plan for our lives, and part of that plan includes taking care of us. Even in the difficult times, when it seems like God doesn't care, we can put our trust in the Lord and focus on his kingdom. God will take care of our every need.

Matthew 6:25

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life-whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:31-33

So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

1 Peter 5:7

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
Pulled from web article found here.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Did you loose your horse today?


Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, because he owned a beautiful white horse. People offered fabulous prices for the horse, but the old man always refused. “This horse is a friend, not a possession,” he would respond.

One morning the horse was not in the stable. All the villagers said, “You old fool. We told you someone would steal that beautiful horse. You could at least have gotten the money. Now the horse is gone, and you’ve been cursed with misfortune.”

The old man responded, “Perhaps. All I know is that my horse is gone; the rest I do not know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can’t say.”

After fifteen days the horse returned. He hadn’t been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses back with him. Once again the village people gathered around the old man and said, “You were right – what we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us.” The old man responded, “Perhaps. Once again you’ve gone too far. How do you know if this is a blessing or a curse? Unless you can see the whole story, how can you judge?” But the people could only see the obvious. The old man now had twelve additional horses that could be broken and sold for a great deal of money.

The old man had a son, an only son. He began to break the wild horses. Unfortunately, after just a few days, he fell from a horse and broke both his legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and said, “You were right. The wild horses were not a blessing; they were a curse. Your only son has broken his legs and now in your old age you have no one to help you. You are poorer than ever.” But the old man said, “Perhaps. Don’t go so far. Say only that my son broke his legs. We have only a fragment of the whole story.” It so happened that a few weeks later the country went to war with a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he had two broken legs. Once again the people gathered around, crying because there was little chance their sons would return. “You were right, old man. Your son’s accident was a blessing. Our sons are gone forever.”

The old man spoke again. “You people are always quick to jump to conclusions. Only God knows the final story.”