Pres. Hinckley died this evening...

Here is the link to an article I was able to find: link

 

While I am sad, it certainly is reassuring to have a testimony that all of the keys and powers to make the Church work and function sit with the 12 and not with only one person.

 

Upon further reflection, that is the only sane, logical way to go, especially since this is God’s church. I mean, why put all of the keys in one person’s hands, except by necessity? Joseph Smith didn’t have a choice, since he was the first. But after that, obviously the Twelve are going to be the ones to make decisions, since you need to spread the keys/power around so that they can be utilized to make the work go forward. Also, accidents can happen to anyone, and since we have been told that the truth will not be taken away again, the keys have to reside with the Twelve. Since there is a very small chance of all 12 being taken at one time, someone would always be around to make sure the power/keys were not lost again. And even then, the keys also still reside with the quorums of the 70. So, they could always ordain another Apostle, give him the necessary authority, and then he could ordain other Apostles to repopulate the Quorum. And the work continues.

 

I feel kind of sorry for Sidney Rigdon when he tried to go it alone. He just didn’t have a chance. He didn’t realize that that isn’t God’s way. (Not that I claim to understand the mind of our Heavenly Father...)

Good day, fellowcitizens!

 

Your link for this post is right here.

 

The vegan in me yells “If you people would stop supporting the dairy and/or the meat industries, there would be enough water, and lots more arable land that could be used to grow these crops all over the world. Instead, the water is used and polluted by these machines of slaughter, and the land is used to grow food for the animals instead of the humans.

Brilliant!” Then, people wouldn’t be forced off of land because there would be a LOT MORE SPACE for everybody.

Posting at work has to be...

...the most unhelpful thing in the world.

 

I tried to post my Christmas pictures, but apparently my work computer won’t let the pictures through. So, still no pix.

 

I gave blood today, and it wasn’t bad at all. It hurt a little bit more than last time, but it wasn’t any worse than getting a shot. Someone I know gave blood and almost passed out from it; not because it hurt, but because her body doesn’t react well to being poked.

 

The cookies that I got afterwards were really good. MMMMMmmmmmm. Cookies.

The computer I want...

Motherboard-  Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R

Processor- Intel Core2 Duo E6750, E6850 or QuadCore 6600

RAM – 2Gb DDR2-800 SDRAM

Video card – NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra

Sound card – Creative X-fi XtremeGamer

Hard drives – WD (WesternDigital)  Raptor 1 x 150Gb and 2 x 500Gb WD5000AAKS

DVD drive – 2 x Pioneer DVR-212D

Case – Antec P182

Power Supply – Corsair HX520

Headphones –Sennheiser HMD280-Pro

Monitor: BenQ FP241W 24” LCD                 

WinXP Pro

 

All of this for less than $2k would be great.

Well friends and neighbors...

...I’m off all of next week, until the 31 of December.

Have a merry, safe and happy Christmas, all of you. I hope you have fun and get some of the things you want.

Hasta luego y feliz navidad.

Eggless nog

2 ½ Cups (C) soft tofu – usually 1 store bought vacuum-sealed container is enough

3 C Soy milk (add more or less to suit taste)

1 Tbsp Vanilla extract

¾ - 1 C sugar

2 Tbsp maple syrup

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ - ½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp rum flavor (or real rum if you swing that way...)

 

In blender blend tofu, 1C milk, syrup, sugar, spices and vanilla and rum flavors until smooth. Pour in to pitcher and add the rest of the soy milk. Stir well, chill, and serve. MMMMMM! The yumminess!

Don’t be a sad vegan warrior during the holidays!

By the way...

...doesn’t the name ‘Occupational Homicide’ sound like a great name for a rock band?

Well, I think it does.

Driving pet peeves...

Here is the link for today. I have to agree with some of these, as I even see them now in greatly reduced traffic at 4PM. I think the ones I dislike the most are either the people who don’t use their blinkers (and almost get rear-ended), or the ones who camp out in the left lane while sightseeing at 20 under the limit.

2 Posts in 1!!!!

2 things tonight:

 

            First, I just found out that Eastgate Drug will be closing its doors on Saturday, 1 Dec 07. Here is the link for the Channel 8 story. So, for Ben and I, and Lyman Holyoak and any others who may have been employed by Doug, this is the closing of a chapter in our lives. I remember working for Doug while he was still in the old building, and also helping move all of his stuff out of there in to where they are/were now.

I wonder what Doug is saying right now...

 

            Second, a website that I frequent has a Star Trek questions thread going on. As I have admitted in the past, I am a Trek geek, but not a Trekkie. If you call me a Trekkie, I’m liable to come after you with a power-sander and a bottle of lemon juice. But even I was amazed at the amount of info I have stashed away in my noggin when I was able to answer some of the questions in this thread. Here is the link for it. Read it and see how well you fare.

 

I’m beginning to think that I ought to get Deep Space 9 on DVD before I get a new computer. That would be sweet!

Well, no pictures, unless I can figure out how to make the picture send in the email, and not as an attachment.

Hey, my e-mail test worked.

 

Now I just have to figure out how to go back and edit. I probably can’t, not without being at home. That kinda sucks, but at least I can post.

 

Now for a picture test:

This is an e-mail test...

 

ADDICTION IS NOT A DISEASE, YOU MOUTH-BREATHING, SLACK-JAWED IMBECILES!!!!!!11111

 

Addiction comes about because people make consistently poor choices. I know, because I have an addiction of my own. Don’t remove the responsibility from them just because you want to sell your heroin-addiction withdrawal reducer drug.

 

I don’t have a problem with people seeking help for their addictions in whatever way they see fit, but don’t take away their ability to choose by calling it a disease.

Back online...

...at least temporarily, here from home.

I'm working nights now, probably permanently, and the work computer decided to block Blogger. So, if I post, I'm gonna have to do it from home, or e-mail the post to myself here on Blogger.

I'll figure something out...

Bye!!!!

Another one...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY dearest sister of mine!

She's .... 24 I think.

Happy Birthday, Lemur!

Just another sign that civilization as we know it is doomed...

...I peeked in to the break room and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" was on. A ~23 year old woman was asked "How many consonants are in the word vowel?" Her reponse was that the word is spelled "voul", so there are 2. Some of the 5th graders gave her a look like she was out of her mind. The little girl she had helping her got the correct answer, which is 3, and the young woman got nothing except the opportunity to look foolish in front of prime-time America.

If I had an emoticon of a smiley-face shaking his head, I'd put it here. -> <-

The irony of this post would be if I had mispelled something and I didn't catch it.

"Our deepest fear...

...is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Nelson Mandela 1994

This quote gives me chilly-bumps.

This is awesome...

...a shirt that shows the strength of the Wi-Fi signal where ever you are.

For those of you that aren't as tech literate as others, Wi-Fi is another name for wireless internet, usually over a large area (cities and such.)

I'm not geek enough to get one, but it made me laugh.

It's Sunday...

...and it's been too short of a weekend. However, it was interesting.

It started raining Friday night, and by Saturday morning it had turned to snow. It didn't stick, but it was the first snowfall of this season.

We also went to a wedding reception at Wheeler Farm in Murray. But while we were there we met a whole FLOCK OF GEESE AND DUCKS. Like 200 of them. The geese were honking, the ducks quacking, all milling around our feet, waiting for the bread that we didn't have, but they were sure we did. The funniest thing is that it started with 3 ducks and a goose, and the goose must have said something; because then a line of 150+ ducks and geese come waddling our direction, making quite a bit of noise. They were so close we could have touched them. When we went to go in to the receptuion, all of them, all 150+ FREAKIN' GEESE AND DUCKS, turned to follow us as we went away. The geese were honking merrily, and the ducks waddling along, waiting for their bread.

Unfortunately we didn't have the camera. But we plan to go back and get a picture of us in the flock.

Here's how it looks now...

Here are the 2 IBM 2210's. We got rid of the Xerox, got rid of the cubicle wall around the UPS there in the top middle of the picture, and moved the other 2210 away frm the far wall. Now there's lots of room over there.

Here is the data storage unit on top of the 2 servers for Streamserve. That storage thing weighs about 45 pounds, and the servers weigh about 60 pounds apiece and are about 3.5 feet long.

Oh, and do you notice that empty space next to them? Yeah, that's ALL CLEANED OUT NOW! ALL 50 square feet of it!

Well, we're officially on our own...

Everyone who was part of our automated output (Streamserve) development team is now gone, never to return to SLC. They are scheduled to go to Seattle next, then Denver, and then I think they're gonna split up and do more DC's simultaneously.

However, before they left I was able to get pictures, all of which are ( L > R ):


First, the actual code writers for the Stream server: Tien Tien Lai, Phi Nguyen and Sundeep Reddy. The 2nd day they were here, they set up camp in Mark's office (at Mark's insistence). Poor Tien Tien (Tin Tin) was always cold, no matter where she was. She had some pretty funky dress shoes. She's all of 4 foot nuthin'. Phi was the only one with an Asian accent, and he used to work for Earth shoes (a pair of which I have on right now). He's a really nice guy. Sundeep was also super nice. He lived in Boston up until last year when he transferred to Atlanta. He was kind of their supervisor, but worked just as hard as the other 2. The 3 of them wrote the program for Streamserve.

Next, we have John Trippe. He was/is more or less the one overseeing this project for the company. He's a really nice guy with a real Southern-drawl, who doesn't like his picture to be taken, but who relented after I asked him 'please'.

Then there is Mike Governale and Dave Hutchins. We didn't see them much, but I think they were in charge of user names and login ID's.

Finally, there is Trevor McLinn and Tom Rials. I don't know where Trevor is from, but he was the youngest one here from the company. I think he works for John Trippe. Tom was from Mobile, Alabama, and every time he talked it was evident where he was from. He was the implementation person for the company on this project. He used to work the computer room in Birmingham, AL a while ago.

I'm gonna miss all of these people. They have become part of the team, and they're going to other places.

On a final note, I think Mark will be glad to have his office back.