Chez Kneel

Google Docs app for Android tablet broke. I wonder if Google will fix it.

2011-11-25T19:17:00.003-05:00

The insurance company I work for recently went with Android tablets for our Board of Directors. We looked hard at iPad and Playbook, but we chose Android. Even more salient, we recently settled on Google Docs as the cloud environment that we would use for distributing advance meeting material to the Directors. In addition, we have gone paperless at the meeting; the Board members have their Android tablets with them, and they peruse the material on their tablets with Google's Google Docs app for Android. We name the documents in such a way that they just show up in order on the tablets, and the meetings were going swimmingly.

We also use Google Apps for our calendaring and mail. It's Gmail under the covers, but we get to use our own domain name. We pay a quite reasonable fee for this.

Stellar! Win all around! Laughs and hollers!

Except...

On or about October 6, 2011, Google "upgraded" the Google Docs app for android. You know what they did? Google removed the option to sort the documents by title in the android tablet Google Docs app. I've been sorting documents by title since the 1980's. Taking this option away is not an "upgrade".

Unfortunately, the disappearance of the simple sort-by-title feature has firmly ensconced Google Docs in the role of IMPEDIMENT to user acceptance. My Directors are great, progressive governors, but they can't find the material I've sent them. I look sillier than usual. Google Docs is no longer doing what we need. Google Docs has become the single biggest barrier to my Board's use of the Android tablets.

We are now actively seeking a suitable cloud replacement to Google Docs, one that won't capriciously remove features that we should probably be able to take for granted. We will likely replace Google Docs by the end of 2011.

Anybody have any ideas for replacing Google Docs?

What about you, googlebot.com? You visit here quite frequently. Do you have any ideas on what we could replace Google Docs with? Because Google Docs no longer meets our cloud computing needs on android tablets. Google Docs used to meet our needs, but it no longer does.

Non-stellar. Sad all around. Tears and bared teeth.

Dear Google, please restore the sort-by-title option in Google Docs mobile app for Android tablets.

That is all.

2011-06-27T12:11:00.002-04:00

Franchise Opportunity

2011-05-31T16:08:00.004-04:00

Hoping I can entice the Shays to expand this franchise into the Great White North.

Dizzy Institute

posted by Matt Gumm

It's a trap

2011-03-14T22:02:00.005-04:00

You can find me at irregular intervals here.

Sorry 'bout that.

Salut!

2011-02-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Has this thing seized up yet?

Nope

2010-08-16T19:55:00.001-04:00

The muse remains maleficent. No bloggy. Perhaps we'll try again in another six months.

2007 Fossil: Like calves skipping

2010-08-04T20:46:00.002-04:00

My notion to reenter regular blogging is proceeding as expected: haphazardly content-free. To that end, please now be fooled into embracing this as fresh composition.

“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”

--- Malachi 4:2

Between fifty and seventy thousands. That's my estimate of the number of cows that I milked in my years working on the dairy farm in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The place was about eleven kilometres from home. I rode my bicycle to work for a while before I got temporary possession of my grandfather's battered 1967 Olds Ninety-eight. Yes indeed... four hundred and fifty-five cubic inches and empty country roads... It took a third of my paycheque to keep the tank filled, but life was very good for this teenager.

But back to the cows. My boss believed I was responsible, and I did most of the milking all by my lonesome. It was a smallish operation, with no more than forty cows milking at any one time. There were no robotic milkers in those days. The routine was this... approach the cow from behind and off to the side (always the same side; cattle get unnerved by surprises), wash the udder with a cloth (cleans up any dangly undesirables, and stimulates the “letdown” reflex), give each teat a quick massage and squeeze to make sure there are no encrustations or blockages, and then attach the milking machines. About five percent of the cattle were known kickers, and it was a ritual dance to dodge the hammer strikes while raiding the lactic treasure. A few cows had a crushed teat or were even missing one, having been quickly awoken from sleep when it was stepped on by one of her sisters. Those unfortunate kine required a little special attention to avoid chronic mastitis. Anyways, after several minutes (the actual elapsed time varied from cow to cow, but was consistent for each cow from day to day), I would remove the machine, dip each teat into iodine, pour the milk product into the refrigeration tank, and then move on.

I ran two machines at a time, and it took almost two hours to finish the job. Morning and evening, seven days a week.

During my boss' father's long terminal illness, I was alone in the barn for days at a time, and hardly even saw my boss for a couple months. At the funeral visitation, he mentioned to my father that he did not worry about the cows at all when I was around, and that I was able to get more milk from them than he could. My dad still trots out that proud factoid when introducing me to one of his friends. And I must confess that I am proud of it. In fact, out of all my so-called professional accomplishments in the intervening decades, there are none that I recall more fondly than this one. Alas, I've been unable to figure out a way to include the “better milker than the boss” achievement on my current resume, but it's not for lack of trying.

How can one person get more milk than another? How does that work?

It turns out that cattle are quite tender and emotional creatures. They get to know their humans and they get to know the routines. I apparently had a way with those girls. They were comfortable with me and they trusted me, even more so than they trusted their owner. Cows have feelings.

And calves have a few feelings too.

Just about the favourite day of the year was that time in May when the winter calves would be moved to their summer minibarn and outdoor pasture. These calves had spent their entire lives inside the main barn, in calf pens. When they were first born they would be in stalls that were barely larger than themselves, but as they grew they were moved to larger pens. A vigorous calf could take six or eight steps in these large pens before she ran out of room, and their mommas were in eyesight and earshot. But they were still penned, and a traverse of six or eight steps is not a very large universe.

One bright morning, we would quietly open the gates of the pens, and then leave the outside barn door open on our way out. After a while the first nose would poke through the door. The next twenty minutes were raucous, joyous, and wondrous. As the calves emerged from their little world of the pen into the more expansive and rich cosmos of the barnyard, their minds were rocked. They would moo, but not the rational cowspeak kind of moo. It was sort of a moo-ooo-ooo-ahh-oooo-oo-oo moo moo moo that carried on for dozens of yards as the excited cowling would run – RUN for the first time in its life. It would look heavenward with amazement, throw its head right, and then run left. It would lock its knees and slide to a stop just like Barney Rubble. Then it would oooo-oooo again and whirl dervishly. It would bump into a fellow calf and run towards us. It would turn tail. It would stop and bellow. It would have the best day it had ever had.

This was Liberation Day and it was emotional for these calves. All they had ever known was suddenly small and enclosing. They had no idea that the real world was so large, that it didn't have an eight foot ceiling, that they could travel so far without stopping, and that there was such a thing to eat as fresh green grass. The calves had no prior desire to be freed from their pens, because they didn't know any better. They had never conceived of such a large and free existence, and when it was finally revealed to them – when they were finally released into it, it changed everything. And we were genuinely happy for them.

Malachi 4:2 presents the fearers of God with a layered metaphor and a simile to describe the results of following their Lord. The metaphor has to do with light and healing and flight, and is for another time. But the simile is speaking almost directly about our calves.

We can take Malachi 4:2 as an eternal promise, a sort of teaser for the afterlife of the children of God. Heaven will be so much more than what we now consider to be reality. We cannot even conceive of the joy and wonder that will awaken us on that day in the very presence of God. C.S. Lewis captured the gist of this in The Last Battle. The only thing we can now say for certain as that we will look back on this life and marvel that we had believed the eight foot ceiling to be all that there was.

We can take Malachi 4:2 as a here and now promise. Sin is a seductive slavemaster, and we can be very happy in our gilded cages. We hear Jesus say things like “Take my yoke upon you,” and we resist and shut our ears, thereby missing the rest of his promise “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” The blessing and joy that comes from serving God with all my heart and mind and strength cannot be envisioned when I am serving with my lips only.

Or we can take Malachi 4:2 in its direct context. The entire book of Malachi is aimed at a jaded and cynical people, those who were so cold and encrusted with disobedience and rebellion that they didn't even twig when their folly was revealed. These titular people of God were pretending they were following the law, but they were in fact stealing from God. They did not offer their best, but kept it for themselves. Their priestly leaders were no better, because they winked at the attempted hoodwinking, and they even encouraged it. In fact they were much worse than the people, because they who were supposed to be leading the people down the right path blazed one instead infested with snakes.

God challenges this lot to serve Him with whole hearts, and not to hold back. The irony of Malachi is strong, and God tells them that they were actually hoodwinking themselves instead of Him. They thought they were augmenting their wealth by holding back the best pieces of their pies, but they were too foolish to see that their sin was making the pies smaller and leaner. God the giver of all that is good didn't need their wealth. But they desperately needed to give God their best and they tragically refused to comprehend that.

Which of the three is the correct way to take the simile of the skipping calves? The answer is yes. They all apply. And they don't just apply to the folks that knew Malachi personally. They apply to us. They apply to me. They apply to you.

They apply to a Christian that fears the name of the Lord.

They apply to a Christian who is holding back, who is not following the most important commandment.

They apply to an unbeliever who does not fear God. Read Malachi 4:2 again, but this time with its matched bookend in verse one...

For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.
--- Malachi 4:1,2

It's a stark contrast. The skipping of the calves will not happen in isolation. It's an “either or” event. Either you fear the name of God and experience healing light and joyful liberation, or you are arrogant in your unbelief and you meet dire deathly consequences. There is no middling place.

You see, not every calf was set free on Liberation Day. They were marked out beforehand. The heifer-calves had a future of comfortable cudchewing and milkmaking, and so they experienced the skipping. But the bull-calves had no future other than the slaughterhouse, and they stayed in their calfpens. Mind you, they weren't displeased with their lot; their pens were quite comfortable, and I daresay they led a happy carefree life. I scratched them behind their ears when I went by. But they didn't realize they were prisoners. And they didn't know their certain doom.

Fear the name of God. Serve Him with every fibre of your will and your heart and your actions.

We eventually gave the '67 Olds to our milkman to run in a demolition derby, but he did not care for it as he ought and certainly not with the affection that I gave my bovines, so the 455 overheated during the match.

It was a good death.

Overly long reading list, the best that adult A.D.D. can muster

2010-08-04T09:04:00.003-04:00

Finished: The Jesus of History (1917) by T.R. Glover. Perseverance to the end results in the discovery that it is an orthodox tome after all, allbeit somewhat couched all along the way in liberal phraseologies.

Reading: An Old Testament Theology by Bruce Waltke.

Nitwit

2010-07-25T21:18:00.002-04:00

Got me self a twitter account. Haven't tweeted anything. Don't anticipate tweeting anything anytime soon. I'm following about 20 interesting people. I guess. My phone is for phoning and email, so won't be hooking twitter up to that. I plan to check twitter once a week or so.

I don't really get it, do I?

I don't like Australians

2010-07-19T14:42:00.002-04:00

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other

2010-02-14T20:59:00.000-05:00

Psalm 85
O LORD, You showed favor to Your land;
You restored the captivity of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of Your people;
You covered all their sin. Selah.
You withdrew all Your fury;
You turned away from Your burning anger.
Restore us, O God of our salvation,
And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.
Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
Will You not Yourself revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?
Show us Your lovingkindness, O LORD,
And grant us Your salvation.
I will hear what God the LORD will say;
For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones;
But let them not turn back to folly.
Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
That glory may dwell in our land.
Lovingkindness and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth springs from the earth,
And righteousness looks down from heaven.
Indeed, the LORD will give what is good,
And our land will yield its produce.
Righteousness will go before Him
And will make His footsteps into a way.

Edelweiss

2009-08-24T14:39:00.002-04:00

Yesterday morning, my wife and daughter sang a song at church, accompanied by #1 son on guitar and #2 son on piano. It was nice. But I knew that it would not, could not, be the end of the story.

The post-song comments... I anticipated, dreaded, prophesied, foreboded, and looked forward to them with mischievous forethought and delight.

The first one was delivered no more than three seconds after the final chord. A nice women two seats over leaned forward and said, “Hey, why weren't you up there?”. A nice women only one seat over concurred. I smiled demurely.

After the sermon, three more like-minded sentiments were lofted from surrounding pews. I mumbled something about being tone-deaf.

On the way out to the foyer, a couple more encouragements were offered. I told them my triangle was out of tune.

The drummer in my son's band pronounced that I should have stood up there with a single drumstick and whacked something at irregular intervals. I made an ugly face.

Out in the foyer, no fewer than seven admonishments were delivered, and those with authority and moderate disapproval. I should have made it a family affair. I apologized for losing my kazoo.

On our way home, my family talked. We do that a little bit. They had all had similar experiences. Apparently there is a general desire in our congregation to hear me sing. Or grunt. Or something.

Before church last night, a friend with some knowledge of my sordid past wanted to know when I would be accompanying my trophy family on the bagpipes. I responded that sadly my lip muscles had atrophied and I was no longer able to play the pipes that well. That's actually true. You need strong, toned lips for the things.

None of these responses were satisfying. Not a single prober was pleased with my deflections. None of my answers had gobsmacked the questioner. Bitter disappointment! But inspiration now filled me. I waited impatiently for the next questioner. As a gentleman approached, the mirth in his eyes telegraphed his intentions. When he delivered the reproach for my unmusical stance, I deadpanned that my interpretive dance wasn't quite ready, but that I would be up there for sure the next time. It seems my delivery was stellar. My antagonist's jaw dropped.

Victory.

R.R.F.2009 - Gretna P.O.E.

2009-06-17T12:26:00.004-04:00

R.R.F.2009 - Emerson POE

2009-04-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. β - shower stall includes convenient access to electricity and toilet paper

2009-04-26T07:00:00.002-04:00

R.R.F.2009 - Emerson & Pembina April 17

2009-04-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. α - conduit shortage, junction box surplus

2009-04-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

R.R.F.2009 - Approaching St. Jean from the north

2009-04-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. z - burner

2009-04-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

Red River Flood 2009: Approaching Morris from the North

2009-04-23T21:28:00.003-04:00

h.i. y - direct power

2009-04-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. x - junction box

2009-04-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. w - chew can

2009-04-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. v - yes, let's introduce dryer lint into the hot water flue

2009-04-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. u - cold fusion

2009-04-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. t - Just Do It. (tm)

2009-04-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. s - tools, grits, acetone and electricity

2009-04-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. r - it's not important, just cut it

2009-04-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. q - frankenheater

2009-04-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. p - instead of flashing the penetrations, install buckets with pipes under the leaks

2009-04-14T07:00:00.001-04:00

h.i. o - ceiling fan in master bath

2009-04-13T07:00:00.001-04:00

h.i. n - upside down flue cover

2009-04-12T07:00:00.001-04:00

h.i. l - one more bathroom vent

2009-04-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

h.i. m - cigar box

2009-04-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

Behold, The Lamb That Was Slain

2009-04-10T08:00:00.004-04:00

by Gummby

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ...Now every priest stands day after day ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. (Heb. 10:3-4, 11-14)

Today is Good Friday. Last year at this time, Todd Bolen from the BiblePlaces.com blog wrote a post about a video of any animal sacrifice in Jerusalem. He also posted a link to it. It is graphic - the real deal. But the reasoning behind posting it was good.

We read about sacrifice in the Bible but we don't really understand what that means. We read passages that talk about the "life being in the blood," but those are just words that we don't really consider. We "know" that the wages of sin are high, but we don't get the life lesson that the ancient Israelites received every year.

The point of sacrifice was simply this: you deserve to die because of your sin. This animal is dying in your place. Watching the priest slice his throat and watching the blood drain out drove the point home much better than reading a chapter of Leviticus.

Today New Testament believers know that the blood of bulls and goats is not enough to take away sin. But I think that we can often just take for granted Jesus' death in our place. We don't think about his innocent blood draining away because we can't conceptualize it. We don't always appropriate the idea of substitute because we've never seen a living object die in our place. But our loss can be this: sin is easy because forgiveness (we think) is cheap.

Christ's blood, not the blood of bulls and goats, took away our sin. Perhaps this little reminder will help all of us, myself included, count the cost...of discipleship, and of sin.

Todd's final warning is a good one: Don't watch this video while eating, and if you're thinking about showing your children, watch it yourself first.

Update: I wasn't the only one who thought of linking to the video today. Justin Taylor linked to it, and Dan Phillips from Pyromaniacs links to Justin and makes some observations of his own.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

h.i. k - three baths

2009-04-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. j - bathroom vent piggybacked into plumbing vent

2009-04-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. i - attic fan

2009-04-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. h - quality is job #1

2009-04-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. g - water pressure problems

2009-04-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. f - you said to plug it

2009-04-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. e - what?

2009-04-03T07:00:00.002-04:00

h.i. d - attic ventilation

2009-04-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. c - high efficiency heating

2009-04-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

h.i. b - copper is expensive

2009-03-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

Home inspection a

2009-03-30T11:45:00.000-04:00

coming soon in the front yard

2009-02-16T15:45:00.003-05:00

Dirty Snow Season

2009-02-14T12:45:00.002-05:00

Yard

2009-02-08T22:23:00.000-05:00

Roof

2009-02-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Piles

2009-02-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Garaged

2009-02-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Happy

2009-02-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Quebeckers

2009-02-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

Aviation

2009-02-02T17:08:00.003-05:00

A major water catastrophe at my house was averted this past weekend. Instead, we have only a minor water catastrophe. We had ice damming on a high portion of our roof. The water found its way into the attic, down the second storey wall and through the kitchen ceiling, which we are going to have to replace. It would have been terribly worse, but I borrowed my friend's extra high extension ladder (18 feet before extending), elongated it by five rungs, and spent all of Saturday and part of Sunday afternoon clearing snow off the roof and chiseling away the ice dams. I had to clamber up on the roof twice on Saturday (plus an exploratory sortie on the lower portion on Friday afternoon). But hey I'm not stupid. I tethered myself. But the icing was treacherous and I feared the maneouvre back onto the ladder. On Friday in fact, I was very close to an uncontrolled descent. I was slipping and it was all I could do to stay on the roof. My boys were alarmed, but #1 son and I simultaneously hit upon my salvation. The snowbank behind him was about a metre high. It would have to do. I carefully worked my way to a jump off point, closed my eyes, visualized my daddy's two greenish purple broken heels from a 2003 fall off his own roof, opened the eyes and lept. The snowbank did its job, but I felt a little jarred. The boys cheered and giggled enviously. Wife was looking out the window drop-jawed. After Saturday's roof forays I was still afraid of the ice, but had fresh minty confidence in my jumping abilities. #2 son built up the snowbank for me and I dismounted the roof twice more. No problem! Instant deceleration is so fun, and I highly recommend it.

Except today I realize I have grade one whiplash. The neck don't turn. Don't tell wife.

Obstacle

2009-02-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Canada Post

2009-02-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sidewalk

2009-01-31T07:00:00.001-05:00

Snowmobile

2009-01-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Beach Bunny

2009-01-29T13:54:00.001-05:00

Handwriting

2009-01-23T16:05:00.004-05:00

Last night

2008-12-10T18:49:00.004-05:00

Last night at WOL we took the bus to the retirement home fifteen kilometres away and sang some carols and some of the kids gave special presentations. On the way there and back, I had to hold cardboard over the bus door window, due to some nasty vandalism on the weekend.

After we got back, we had a killer snowball fight. The snow was wet and juicy. I hit a 7th grader multiple times, four 8th graders, a wife, an SUV, two 1oth graders, a son, my own vehicle in error, two 12th graders, and I tossed a lobber into the open window of the passing minivan of the spouse of the National Director for Local Church Ministries for WOL Canada. It splattered all over the interior, just so. She richly deserved it, because she was late picking up her kid (the 7th grader).

Canadian Football

2008-11-24T21:16:00.001-05:00

My high school alma mater just won the championship. We never did that when I was on the team. Won, I mean.

puzzling

2008-11-20T22:16:00.006-05:00

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

My Great-great-great-grandfather

2008-11-06T21:54:00.000-05:00

Coming soon

2008-10-17T15:21:00.000-04:00

Communal Banking

2008-09-17T08:01:00.003-04:00

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (representing one half of all the security for mortgages in the U.S.) has been effectively taken over by the U.S. government...

AIG (the largest U.S. insurer) is surrendering 80% of its equity ownership to the U.S. government... Alhough unknown to many on the street, AIG is huge, and touches every aspect of the economy.

Coming up: Washington Mutual, General Motors? With no prospective end in sight to the deficit budgets there really isn't enough money in the treasury for the U.S. to be writing all these cheques.

The financial regulatory structure and the recent long stretch of growth appear to have catered to risk-taking and greed with a "what can go wrong?" attitude. When the inevitable (in hindsight) failures occurred, the strong lever of capitalism, i.e. penalizing shareholders via the bankruptcy of their failed enterprises is proving to be too destructive to the wider economy. The failures would cause too much damage to those that are not shareholders.

As is their wont, the U.S. legislators and regulators chose not to put in a regime with sufficient checks and balances to prevent foolhardy excesses before the fact, perhaps because such regime would reek of government intervention in shareholder affairs, which is anathema.

And as is their wont, when these businesses have reaped the consequences of anemic risk management practices, the U.S. legislators and regulators are refusing to allow them to fail, and are wresting control, and choosing to pump billions of public dollars into the firms after the fact. This does not merely reek of government intervention... it is government intervention. It seems that economic ideological anathema is a flexible pragmatic thing.

The U.S. economy is acquiring characteristics of central planning.

He had a dream

2008-09-14T15:36:00.003-04:00

After church this morning a teenager told me that last night he dreamed he was at a carnival, and that there was a guy selling t-shirts with my picture on them.

I asked if the shirts had sold well. He said they did not.

The Computer

2008-09-02T20:30:00.002-04:00

My employer frequently recovers damaged goods as salvage. One such good was an expensive Acer laptop computer, a very nice and powerful one. In the fall of 2006 the proud owner of this brand new laptop dropped an undisclosed heavy object on the monitor in her college dormitory residence. There was damage. The screen still worked, but the TFT was riddled by cracks and green bleedthroughs. Otherwise the machine was just fine. And the screen was still readable and usable. It was nothing more than an inconvenience. You merely had to use context to interpolate some of the fine points of vocabulary in the document you were reading, because said points were hiding behind screen fractures and hyperactive green pixelations. I think the claimant was just being fussy.

Anyways, we bought her a new Acer laptop, and to the best of our knowledge no falling objects have since befallen it. Then we tried to figure out what to do with our salvage.

Well, I tried to figure it out. Everyone else at work wanted to toss it in the dumpster.

I prodded and cajoled our I.T. person, because the brains of the machine were perfectly fine. We must be able to make some use of it! Logging call displays, running the on-hold message system, something. But alas, I.T. was unwilling, and the feedback to my relentless insistence was a repeated and irritable muttering about not being able to guarantee that it would work. Well duh, the screen was toast... I knew I.T. couldn't guarantee that it would work. I wasn't expecting much. I just wanted to be humoured. I wanted a trophy that demonstrated our efficient and wise use of all the resources available to us, even broken laptop computers.

One stormy day, I.T. showed up at my office door with the ill laptop packed away in its box and said if I thought it was such a good machine then I should take it home and make it work at my own house. I was hurt. But I took it home, and as I left that day I'm sure I heard "good riddance" spoken under someone's breath. I know that that someone was talking about the computer. Because my employees like me. They do so.

I brought the device into my home and powered it up. The initial derisive laughter quickly faded as #1 and #2 son began to consider the possibilities. Like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree or a three-legged dog, Acer soon garnered affection. The boys learned how to tune out the green fractures as just so much visual static, and the machine became the main family computer, thereby justifying my refusal to replace the circa 2000 family computer that was still running Win98.

It had a few unrelated issues along the way, like the need for a total restore to factory install settings after sons #2 & #1 loaded too much adware and malware. We also upgraded its memory once (with free RAM from another salvage computer).

But Acer had been severely wounded that day back in the dorm, and the malignancy was progressive. The green static slowly but steadily worsened. Eventually a good third of the screen space was covered by thick and spidery black and green lines. Even the boys started to give up on interpolating. So they hooked up an external monitor. #1 son used the machine for music recording, and his love of music production had its genesis on the day he hooked up the Yamaha keyboard (itself a salvage item from a flood), his guitar amp, and the Acer.

The gangrenous poison reached its extent during a pillow fight between #1 and #2. #1 missed his target and hit the monitor of the Acer. This second blow proved fatal. No more blackish green lines. No more anything in fact. The screen was dead, and no longer useable at all. It was just dead weight. But the computer still worked.

Months went on and the Acer continued to live productively in our house, with its external monitor prosthesis allowing it to work and play almost like all the other laptops.

But I used to work for IBM, and I know a thing or two. I decided that the flappy dead monitor was a waste and a bother, and the machine would be better off without it. That would allow us to save a little space at the computer station as well. That was the mission I set myself, and though it was not a terribly necessary use of my time, I used it thusly nonetheless.

So I removed Acer's monitor. It took 30-45 minutes. It was particular work, but fun. The key is to gently and systematically sever all hard and soft connections so that Acer does not get upset when it tries to say hello to onboard monitor and receives back nothing but void. All was well, and it fires up just fine now.

But I forgot one relevant datum. We have wireless ethernet at our house, and there is no hardwired connection between Acer and our router. It all flies through the air. But only after dead monitor had been removed and dismantled did I remember that Acer's wireless antenna was integrated into the metal superstructure of the monitor, the monitor that it no longer possessed. I had rendered Acer deaf and dumb. It's fancy-dancy integrated antenna had been reduced to two six-inch strips of dangling wire. It could no longer receive a signal from the wireless router. The first element of the IBM Systems Integration oath was "first, do no harm". But I had harmed. What to do?

Well of course there were options. There are almost always options, it's just a question of palatability. I could hardwire, but that would be inconvenient. It would also be stark admission that I had irrevocably fouled the mission. There was only one acceptable alternative. There is another wireless router in the house, property of the phone company and it's kind of wonky, so we had never really used it. That router is in the same room as the Acer, so maybe a supercharged antenna would not be required.

I juiced up the antenna by hooking the wires to what was left of the hinges and then pressed Acer's power button.

Sure enough, Acer showed two bars for the wonky router. Good to go, almost. I merely had to code in the WEP encryption key. WEP key's are important to keep secret, otherwise your neighbour can steal your bandwidth. Last spring I stowed the WEP key away in a secret place so that it would not become public knowledge. That place is very secret. The best secrets are ones that you no longer know yourself, and this secret is one of that type.

So I had to change the WEP key in the router before Acer could speak to it.

In order to reset the WEP key, you need to log in to the router as an administrator. The adminstrator id and password are also stored in a very secret place.

Three hours later I had successfully reset the wonk to factory defaults, discovered that those defaults were not in fact factory defaults but were phone company firmware defaults, discovered the admin id and password that the phone company liked, reprogrammed the wonk to reestablish our basic DSL access, reset the WEP key, and synchronized Acer with same.

Now Acer is back up and running great, with long life ahead of it. I'm thinking of putting ubuntu on it. It will be a dark day when we finally have to put Acer down.

Book reports

2008-08-25T10:05:00.003-04:00

Finished Ivanhoe. Interesting, entertaining, heartstringpulling. Refreshingly pro-Semitic. Anachronistic... Coeur de Lion did not actually speak any flavour of Saxon. Those Templars sure were corrupt. They weren't pauvre either. The twelfth century notion of Chivalry was stupid. Rebecca's balm would be good stuff to keep in the medicine cabinet. Friar Tuck was a lush. Brian de Bois-Guilbert was ahead of his time in his ability to rationalize the entire moral structure of the universe for his own benefit. Brian would have made a good Oprah guest. Isaac was tough. de Bracy was a wimp. Ivanhoe certainly was brave.

Reading A Case for Amillennialism by Riddlebarger. About halfway through. It is uncompelling thus far.

I'm missing winter

2008-08-19T17:05:00.000-04:00

for Freddie

2008-08-12T21:16:00.000-04:00

This is me at Camp of the Woods in 2007, before I sawed my leg. I am clearly able to clear your acre.

Ivanhoe

2008-08-11T22:31:00.001-04:00

I'm reading a new book.

Mission Prose: August 2008

2008-08-10T21:29:00.005-04:00

We have just returned from half a fortnight's jaunt to Camp of the Woods, where I worked physically harder than at any time since I stuked hay as a teenager. We were loading, unloading and stacking four foot birch logs for the outdoor wood furnaces in preparation for the northwest Ontario winter.

Birch is heavy. My arms hurt real bad.

There was a little bit of pine, but 90% was birch. I hate birch.

One morning the chainsaw got away from me whilst I was clearing a trail. My pants need patching and my calf could have used a stitch, but that would have involved a several hour round trip to Dryden hospital. I am a danger to myself and others when chainsawing, but I refuse to stop.

There was a pulp lumber cut not far away, and the loggers had left behind a lot of good cut pine. It was on Crown land, and they were not coming back for it. It was just going to rot. We therefore resolved to glean pine. Using two pickups, we gleaned twenty-one loads of furnace wood, about fifteen cords, saving the camp $1,000 or so. The logging trail was six kilomotres long over the Canadian Shield, and it was... interesting. I drove as fast as I could, but there was no way I could keep up with my partner. He was a maniac. I got him back though. He had an infected bug bite on his ankle and I told him horror stories about my three days in the hospital on intravenous antibiotics battling a knee infection. He made a several hour round trip to Dryden hospital to get cloxicillin.

I spent considerable time helping in the kitchen as well. I was competent. Twenty-one years of happy marriage have firmly convinced my wife that I am useless in the kitchen. I am hopeful that she was not watching me too closely last week, or perchance I may be assigned increased duties at home.

I used the camp dump truck extensively. I remembered to tell everyone to get off almost every time before I dumped the wood.

My wife had grand notions that we would get through the entire audio Bible during the 40 hour round trip in the car. But she is weak. She mutinied after thirty chapters of Ezekiel on the way up, and would not countenance more. She is weak. On the way home we got through Daniel, but only because she was reading along. I tried to put in Hosea but she hit my hand away. She is so weak.

Audio Bible again

2008-07-25T23:07:00.000-04:00

Isaiah is way my favourite OT book. I already knew that, but now I still know it.

To Build a Fire

2008-07-24T17:10:00.004-04:00

This morning on the way to work, my daughter and I were discussing the dimensions of her room in the house she'll be living in when she goes back to school. She has somehow ended up with the smallest room. She's the runt. Sweet memory flooded my consciousness. A few seconds later I regained control of the vehicle, and I told her about a room I occupied during a co-op work term in Ottawa between September and Christmas of 1985. My three housemates captured the upstairs bedrooms in the big old house, and I was left with a room hanging off the back, which could only be reached through the large kitchen. That didn't turn out so bad, because the ceiling in one of the upstairs rooms caved in during a rainstorm. As for my room, it appeared to be some sort of add-on. It was quite a large room actually. What I did not know was that it was a summer room. No insulation. Not in the walls, nor the roof. None. Also, outside air was free to circulate in the two foot crawlspace beneath my room. Well no problem... in September. But the climate-savvy know where this is going. As the autumn progressed, things got a little chilly. In fact, if I had not been such an avid Jack London reader, things would have gone ill for me. On a fine bitter morning early in December, my housemates would have discovered my cold dead corpse, reposing contentedly no doubt in blissful oblivion. But I knew my Jack London. I needed external heat, and I needed it every single night. Here's what I did. I closed all the kitchen doors except for the one leading to my meat freezer. I opened the oven door, cranked the heat to 450, and went to sleep, relying on infrared radiation to keep me melted. It didn't make me toasty, but it kept me alive. But Ottawa is not so easily thwarted. As Christmas approached, my life was still threatened by the nightly approach to kelvin. One by one, I added the electric stovetop elements to the mix. My last week in the accursed place was heated by the burners in the oven, and three stovetop burners. I never did have to turn on the fourth stovetop. It was a warm winter I guess.

My name is Neil, and I sell Fire Insurance.

2008-07-24T08:08:00.002-04:00

I'm going to Stratford today. I've mapped out a route that is mostly gravel road. This has promise to be a good day.

Cause and Effect

2008-07-22T13:15:00.003-04:00

I did this:

ceased to give straight answers to straight questions.
ceased to blog in any regular manner
ceased to resist my inexorable desire to blog nothing but absurdity
ceased to interact with the rest of the "blogosphere" in any meaningful way.

Fred did this:

ceased to refuse to permalink me.

What a different sort of fellow. I like him I think.

2008-07-20T20:33:00.000-04:00

The roof on my house is steep. That's all I have to say about that.

Mission Log: July 2008

2008-07-16T17:14:00.003-04:00

I just returned from a three day business trip to Blue Mountain ski resort, near Collingwood. Collingwood was once the shipbuilding capital of Ontario. Lake freighters were their product. It's a three hour drive when you don't get lost. My 7.5 hour round trip allowed the listening of Psalms 25-150, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. Five miles from home I aborted the start of Isaiah 1, because Song of Solomon was mentally exhausting.

Audio Bible

2008-07-10T16:29:00.002-04:00

I've been listening to an audio version of the Bible during my daily commute. It's ESV, and the narrator is Max McLean. I spend twenty-five minutes commuting every day, plus additional ticks during trips here and there.

Now this is not the first time for me to go through the Bible. Being an adopted child and joint heir with Jesus since 1969, I've had time and occasion to read it through several times.

But, I've never heard it read continuously.

Started at Genesis, and am now at Psalm 3. This is eye-opening (ear-opening?). Listening to the well enunciated Word at a long stretch is like shining new light on old passages. No, there is no new truth, but there is new illumination. Listening is different than reading. Listening reinforces reading. And prior reading enhances listening. I hear familiar phrases spoken, and the mind races to follow the connections to memories of similar themes throughout the Bible.

This audio Bible was the best present I ever got my wife.

2008-07-05T16:13:00.003-04:00

I needed to do some plumbing today, and the task required the application of heat. I fired up the blowtorch. The wife of my youth manifested significant alarm. I don't understand the concern... Do I not come across as a competent home repair guy? I'm good with fire. I really like it. Fire is my friend.

What I'm reading

2008-06-15T16:56:00.003-04:00

The Christian's Great Interest - William Guthrie
The Republic - Plato - Translation by Allan Bloom
Lord of the Rings (again!) - Tolkien
The Exemplary Husband - Stuart Scott
The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene
History of Mathematics - W.W.R. Ball
St. Prix-Alexander v. Home Depot of Canada Inc., Reasons for Judgement - Justice Manton
Addressing the Jury - Roger Oatley
The Road to Reality - Roger Penrose
The Great Exchange - Jerry Bridges
The Cost of Discipleship - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Yes, eleven. Some of these I've been working on for years. I had an attention span, back in the day.

For all His ways are just

2008-06-02T22:54:00.002-04:00

Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
As the droplets on the fresh grass
And as the showers on the herb.
For I proclaim the name of the LORD;
Ascribe greatness to our God!
The Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.

--- Moses

An Excursion Steamer Sunk in the Tay

2008-05-30T18:43:00.000-04:00

'Twas in the year of 1888, and on July the 14th day,
That an alarming accident occurred in the River Tay.
Which resulted in the sinking of the Tay Ferries' Steamer "Dundee,"
Which was a most painful and sickening sight to see.

The Steamer was engaged by the Independent Order of Rechabites,
And all were resolved to see some rural sights;
And the place they selected was the village of Newburgh;
While each heart was happy and free from sorrow.

And the weather was sunny, and really very fine,
And 900 souls had agreed to while away the time;
And they left the Craig Pier at half-past two o'clock,
Never thinking they would meet with an accidental shock.

And after passing underneath the Bridge of Tay,
Then they took the Channel on the south side without dismay;
And Captain Methven stood on the Steamer's bridge, I do declare,
And for the passengers he seemed to have very great care.

And all went well on board for some time,
And the silvery Tay shone beautiful in the sunshine;
And the passengers' hearts felt light and gay,
While they gazed on the bonnie banks of the silvery Tay.

To do justice to the passengers, they were a goodly band,
For their behaviour, 'tis said, was truly grand;
But to the eastward of Newburgh, the Steamer was too close inshore,
And on passing a boatman, he warningly to them did roar,-

Warning them not to come inshore so near,
But his warning voice the helmsman didn't hear;
Neither the Captain or passengers his warning dreads,
Until the Steamer struck a number of boulders, known as The Heads.

And close to the point where the Pow falls into the Tay,
Which the people that escaped drowning will remember for many a day,
Because many of the passengers were thrown off their balance;
But, most fortunately, they were all saved merely by chance.

And owing to the suddenness of the shock, many women fainted away,
Which filled the rest of the passengers' hearts with dismay;
But they soon regained their composure when close to the land,
Especially when they saw that succour was near at hand.

The engines were kept going at full speed,
And God helped His people in time of need;
And in a short time Newburgh was reached,
While many women wept bitterly, and loudly screeched.

Because by this time the forehold was nearly filled with water,
Which caused the passengers' teeth with fear to chatter;
Because the Steamer was settling down forward,
While to land the passengers safe Captain Methven struggled hard.

But before one-half of them had got ashore,
The women and children were in a state of uproar,
Because the forepart of the Steamer was submerged in the Tay,
Which filled the passengers' hearts with dismay.

But, thanks be to God! all the passengers were sent to Dundee
By the Steamers Renown, Forfarshire, Protector, and the Lass o' Gowrie,
Which certainly was a most beautiful sight to see,
When they landed 900 passengers safe on the pier at Dundee.

Then, good people, away to the mountains, glens, and lakes,
And drink of milk and pure water, and eat oaten cakes;
And sit down on the margin of a little burn in the sunshine,
And enjoy yourselves heartily during the holiday time.

--- William Topaz McGonagall

The Death of Lord and Lady Dalhousie

2008-05-23T22:43:00.004-04:00

ALAS! Lord and Lady Dalhousie are dead, and buried at last,
Which causes many people to feel a little downcast;
And both lie side by side in one grave,
But I hope God in His goodness their souls will save.

And may He protect their children that are left behind,
And may they always food and raiment find;
And from the paths of virtue may they ne'er be led,
And may they always find a house wherein to lay their head.

Lord Dalhousie was a man worthy of all praise,
And to his memory I hope a monument the people will raise,
That will stand for many ages to came
To commemorate the good deeds he has done.

He was beloved by men of high and low degree,
Especially in Forfarshire by his tenantry:
And by many of the inhabitants in and around Dundee,
Because he was affab1e in temper. and void of all vanity.

He had great affection for his children, also his wife,
'Tis said he loved her as dear as his life;
And I trust they are now in heaven above,
Where all is joy, peace, and love.

At the age of fourteen he resolved to go to sea,
So he entered the training ship Britannia belonging the navy,
And entered as a midshipman as he considered most fit
Then passed through the course of training with the greatest credit.

In a short time he obtained the rank of lieutenant,
Then to her Majesty's ship Galatea he was sent;
Which was under the command of the Duke of Edinburgh,
And during his service there he felt but little sorrow.

And from that he was promoted to be commander of the Britannia,
And was well liked by the men, for what he said was law;
And by him Prince Albert Victor and Prince George received a naval education,
Which met with the Prince of Wales' most hearty approbation.

'Twas in the year 1877 he married the Lady Ada Louisa Bennett,
And by marrying that noble lady he ne'er did regret;
And he was ever ready to give his service in any way,
Most willingly and cheerfully by night or by day.

'Twas in the year of 1887, and on Thursday the 1st of December,
Which his relatives and friends will long remember
That were present at the funeral in Cockpen, churchyard,
Because they had for the noble Lord a great regard.

About eleven o'clock the remains reached Dalhousie,
And were met by a body of the tenantry.
They conveyed them inside the building all seemingly woe begone
And among those that sent wreaths was Lord Claude Hamilton.

Those that sent wreaths were but very few,
But one in particular was the Duke of Buccleuch;
Besides Dr. Herbert Spencer, and Countess Rosebery, and Lady Bennett,
Which no doubt were sent by them with heartfelt regret.

Besides those that sent wreaths in addition were the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen,
Especially the Prince of Wales' was most lovely to be seen,
And the Earl of Dalkeith's wreath was very pretty too,
With a mixture of green and white flowers, beautiful to view.

Amongst those present at the interment were Mr Marjoribanks, M.P.,
Also ex-Provost Ballingall from Bonnie Dundee;
Besides the Honourable W. G. Colville, representing the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh,
While in every one's face standing at the grave was depicted sorrow.

The funeral service was conducted in the Church of Cockpen
By the Rev. J. Crabb, of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, town of Brechin;
And as the two coffins were lowered into their last resting place,
Then the peop1e retired with sad hearts at a quick pace.

--- William Topaz McGonagall

It's because I didn't attend an American high school

2008-05-17T13:38:00.002-04:00

You paid attention during 97% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

Lines in Praise of Professor Blackie

2008-05-16T15:39:00.002-04:00

Alas! The people's hearts are now full of sorrow,
For the deceased Professor Blackie of Edinboro';
Because he was a Christian man, affable and kind,
And his equal in charitable actions would be hard to find.
Twas in the year of 1895, March the 2nd, he died at 10 o'clock,
Which to his dear wife, and his adopted son, was a great shock;
And before he died he bade farewell to his adopted son and wife,
Which, no doubt, they will remember during life.

William Topaz McGonagall

Happy Victoria Day

2008-05-16T11:09:00.002-04:00

Weer prowd of hour hawkey plairs

2008-05-07T11:54:00.003-04:00

The street name of one of the main drags in my town is "The Queensway."

Wrong magic

2008-05-07T10:49:00.002-04:00

Update on my linux conundrum:

Yesterday I located a linux sorcerer in a nearby town, and our data has now been recovered. This afternoon we're going to start jerry-rigging a replacement server, and should be back in business within 24 hours.

Here's how I found him. I was in the big city yesterday at a meeting I couldn't cancel. While waiting in the lobby in the morning I telephoned our local county fair administrator, told her there was a linux exhibitor I saw at the fair last October, that I couldn't remember his name, but his booth was next to the graphic artist exhibit, and could I trouble her to look up his contact number. Five minutes later she came back on with the number. I phoned his cell, caught him on the way to work, said hi nice to meet you and here's my problem, and he turned his vehicle around and visited our office to work on it in my absence. Reasonable price, too. I love living in a small town.

Now I've got to make sure our backup process gets fixed so that this particular stressor never remanifests.

Thanks sabigail! Thanks celt!

sabigail, am I doomed?

2008-05-05T16:58:00.002-04:00

Galatians 6:1-10

2008-05-04T23:17:00.003-04:00

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load.

The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
--- Galatians 6:1-10

This is what our after-church bible study for teens examined tonight. We meet about once a month. We've been doing this for about a year and a half, and have been working on Galatians for a year. It's grown from the starter kit of five brave kids; we had sixteen teenagers in our house tonight, so it was jumping.

We're almost done Galatians! It's been really good. My wife has done most of the the studies. I've led a couple too, but this year I've mostly been there for cogent responses to questions, and there have been many. Not a good choice of respondent, I know, but we are not polygamous, and thus I am the only husband available for the role. Tonight I stridently pressed home verse 6: "The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him." Next month one of the kids will be cooking hotdogs for us all, and will provide the chives himself.

Next time we meet I'm going to play them some Derek Webb, because he paraphrases and summarizes the message of Galatians very well in this song:

beloved these are dangerous times
because you are weightless like a leaf from the vine
and the wind has blown you all over town
because there is nothing holding you to the ground

so now you would rather be
a slave again than free from the law

chorus
beloved listen to me
don’t believe all that you see
and don’t you ever let anyone tell you
that there’s anything that you need
but me

beloved these are perilous days
when your culture is so set in it’s ways
that you will listen to salesmen and thieves
preaching other than the truth you’ve received

because they are telling lies
for they cannot circumcise your hearts

We are probably going to continue through the summer, and are casting about for a new book to study. Any suggestions?

Columbarium

2008-05-01T17:53:00.001-04:00

That is the word of the day: columbarium. Apparently you can buy a niche in a columbarium, much like a condominium. I did not know that.

In April 1996...

2008-04-22T07:47:00.006-04:00

...I had been married only nine years...I had just moved to Ontario from Saskatchewan...my oldest child was six, and my youngest was one...Star Trek DS:9 was my favourite show...I drove a 1990 Mazda...and I had just been assigned the work email address that I've been using ever since.

But.

Starting at 5:52pm EDT last night, somewhere on the globe, an infected computer started spamming other people, claiming to be Bobby Sue or Harvey Glick or the like, claiming to be selling Rolex or a better life or work-at-home panaceas or the like, and listing my email address as the "reply-to" destination. Perhaps this had to happen someday. I've had that address for a long time, and I don't control the safety of every computer that's ever had an email with my address latched onto it as a co-receiver or whatever.

Oh well, it's not really any skin off my nose. The villain is not a computer in my house, and I'm reasonably sure it's not a computer at my place of employment. So, doesn't affect me, right?

Right.

As I type, angry email processing systems worldwide are replying to these spams, telling the rude sender that no such address exists, that one shouldn't send spam, that one needs to be an approved email correspondent, etc. And they are all replying to me. An average of five replies per minute since seventeen-fifty-two last night.

That's several thousand since yesterday. That's 7,000 per day. My inbox is gummed up. And my employer's email processor is punch-drunk. I've been on vacation and have a lot of work to get caught up on. This predicament will not assist me in my efforts.

It's been a nice twelve years, but it may finally be time to get a new email address.

So did you have a nice weekend?

2008-04-21T21:33:00.001-04:00

To the Moon

2008-04-20T22:16:00.003-04:00

by Sara Groves

It was there in the bulletin
We're leaving soon
After the bake sale to raise funds for fuel
The rocket is ready and we're going to
Take our church to the moon

There'll be no one there to tell us we're odd
No one to change our opinions of God
Just lots of rocks and this dusty sod
Here at our church on the moon

We know our liberties we know our rights
We know how to fight a very good fight
Just get that last bag there and turn out the light
We're taking our church to the moon
We're taking our church to the moon
We'll be leaving soon

Go away. The blog is sleeping.

2008-03-29T16:34:00.000-04:00

Advice: Don't ride in Mr. Hafichuk's automobile

2008-03-28T20:39:00.003-04:00

On Insurance

I do not wish to put my trust in man’s assurance that he, at a price and to his profit, will grudgingly compensate me for losses should calamity strike. Rather, I wish to put my trust in the One Who, for my sake, freely prevents damage.

Should He permit damage to occur for my heart’s sake, I can be assured that He will generously replenish in due time. I also know He will be faithful to provide all my needs in the interim.

If, in His wisdom, He should determine that I should suffer loss, what man or insurance program is there that can prevent Him? On the other hand, if I have no insurance or men appointed to guard me from damage or loss, but God chooses to favor me, will He not keep me? Plainly, this is a matter of faith.

- Victor Hafichuk (2/29/08)

Standing Room Only

2008-03-20T19:46:00.008-04:00