Almost done

One more day and I guess I can say as many before have said:  read the whole Bible in one year.

Revised English Bible.

I chose that Bible because I thought it was most beautifully written in the Queen's English.

However, after completing it, I would say "it's okay".

This check list was a sample that came in some "junk mail" to the KH which I retrieved (most mail sent to any KH is junk mail as all the important correspondence used to be sent directly to the Coordinator, though now it's all via website and e-mail).

I think I'll use it over again (green highlighting) for the new 2013 NWT we received.

No, Sir, I have to do that for you

Weird law in California.

At self-checkouts you can't buy your own alcoholic beverages.

Up until recently yeah sure you swipe that bottle of cheap wine and you'll get an APPROVAL NEEDED notification and the store person comes over and either checks your ID or in my case sees my face and grey hair and then types in their ID-checked-OK approval code.

No more.

They have to take the bottle out your hands and scan it themselves.  Then they take the cash out of your hands and stick it in the machine.  Unless you're using a card then they let you swipe it all by yourself.

I have seen this happen at Fresh and Easy (of course, they're all self-check) and also at Ralph's in the self-check aisle.

Musta been some kids gettin away with somethin?

Ferrer

Our group hosted the public speaker today.

It was good!

Phil's BBQ in Santee.  One of the sisters had a years-old gift card worth $70 which we utilized.

Bro. Ferrer told an experience (not necessarily him that this happened to) about his favorite scripture which is Malachi 3:10.  That's the one where Jehovah invited the Israelites to bring in the 10th and see if he wouldn't pour out a blessing upon them until there was no more want.

A brother with a baby had only $5.

He figured he could go put $5 in the gas tank and go in field service.  Or go buy infant formula for his baby.

Although he loved his baby, he also knew Jehovah's personality and said "Jehovah will provide".

He put the $5 in the gas tank and went in the ministry.

One of the householders after a conversation said to him,

"Oh, by the way, do you have anyone in your church with babies?"

Our brother said "yes..."

"I have a couple boxes of infant formula which my daughter doesn't need any more, her baby is too old now.  Can you take them and give them to someone who can use them?"

He gratefully accepted the boxes.

Bless You Joel

For months now I've awakened each and every morning with my left ear completely deaf.

If my right ear is deep down in the pillow then I don't hear even the loudest of alarms or music.

So Wendy has had to jab me to get me to react.

Then usually after a few minutes, whatever congestion in my ear (wax?) will "drain" (?) and then I can hear again more or less in that ear.

This has gone on for months!  On days when it doesn't clear that well and I'm aware of hearing loss throughout the day I started to get more worried.

Should I go to the doctor?  The doctor will prescribe anti-biotics.  Is that a good thing? If it saves my ear from deafness it is.

Then Joel's father died.  He wasn't in the ministry that morning.  We heard his wife was having a garage sale.  So after our morning we stopped by at the sale.

This very active spiritual couple were grieving in their own way.  They couldn't really be around people right now.  The two that give so much and so thoroughly just needed to be left alone.

Kelley let us know that Joel was over at the gym they are starting up in Lemon Grove.  She said he'd appreciate it we stopped by, just the two of us.  She text' him that we were coming.

We drove over.

He showed us the Cross-Fit style gym.  We tossed a medicine ball.  (I thought medicine balls only existed in the cartoons like the Flintstones!)  He demonstrated an assisted squat using a large rubber band that you sort of "sit into".

Then we went to Sahara to get some food.

We talked about his departed Dad, the upcoming funeral, the old church Joel left, and family.

Toward the end of the meal I realized that this was my opportunity.

"Hey Joel, since I got you, I need some free health advice..."

After my explanation, he said his advice:

"Super Echinacea by Herb Pharm.  Rub it up in your gums on that side of your mouth.  It will go up into the ear area.  Man, it will numb you pretty good!"

He didn't tell me where to go find it, but we later went to his store Windmill Farms anyway.

Right he was... it was pretty tingly and numbing on the gums.

Well, about a week later...

This morning...

I woke up with a clear ear!  For the first time in months.

Bless you Joel!

And may Jehovah our God be blessed for the gift of stereophonic hearing.  That is taken for granted so much.  However, this morning I tossed another old cassette in the tape player as part of my project to archive old sounds and songs and voices to MP3.

For a moment I tested my ears by pulling the monitoring headphones away from one and then another.

How amazing that with one ear phone pressed against your head the sound is at the side.  But with both... the sound is in your head.

Trippy, man !!!!

Undercover Brother

Kind of a weird thing yesterday:

Almost home, I sat in my truck in the turn lane on Jamacha Road, waiting to turn left onto Fury Lane.

Suddenly I heard a very loud siren sound.  Of course I looked up but I didn't see any obvious police cars.

Then there he was...a plain-looking, sort of light gold colored, normal looking car was turning from Fury Lane onto Jamacha Road head, and he had small flashing lights in his rear window, bright red and blue.  This car may have been like a Dodge Charger station wagon, if they make such a vehicle.

As my light turned green, I saw this vehicle pull off to the side, with another vehicle in front. Quickly the driver of the "undercover vehicle" got out.

This is what was weird:  just like his car, the man (officer?) was pretty casual-looking, wearing just dark pants and a light slate blue polo shirt.  His hair was dark and curly.  As he walked up to the car her'd just pulled over, I was making my turn.

Fascinating!

So I drove up into the parking lot and came to a vantage point where I could watch.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get over quickly enough to get into the lot in a timely manner.  So by the time I got in and drove around to a place right across the street from the scene, the car in front had departed, and the "man" had gotten back into his secret gold flashing-light Charger station-wagon.

A man was already here in the parking lot, standing, watching.  He wore a red shirt.  His wife or girlfriend sat waiting in their vehicle.  I later gathered that like me they'd seen and heard the "pull over" and came in here to watch.

"Wow!" I said.  "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," replied the man, "except that it's illegal."

He proceeded to explain that in the State of California it is against the law for someone to pull you over unless you are in uniform. Which this guy was definitely not.  He went on:

"I could put lights like that in my car.  I could flash a plastic badge.  You don't know who that guy is."

He mentioned how he'd quickly let the guy go.

"Man, I'm sorry I missed it!" I exclaimed.  Clutching my camera I continued "I would have made a movie of it."

"Yeah, and I would give it to the Sheriff's Department," he said.  "That is completely illegal."

Then he turned toward me, and to prove his point, he said,

"Yeah, I mean, you take that jacket off, and I don't know who you are.  Really, you take that jacket off and I'd look at you..."  (He looked at my shirt and trousers)  "...I'd figure you worked for the Forest Service.  But you can't pull someone over like that if you're not in uniform".

Not sure why he used me as an example but it did make me realize that my dark green Dickie trousers do make me look like I work for the Forest Service.  Not that I consider that a bad thing.

"Wow, pretty unusual!" I repeated.

"Yeah... all I know is that it was a black guy" he offered.

Anyway... I departed.  He got in his truck with his wife and departed.

That was it.

Later I thought more about it and based upon three things (1) the LOUD siren, (2) the QUICK pull-over, and (3) the QUICK "letting him go" that this may be what happened:

It was a probably a Federal Marshall who got cut off by someone and lost his temper and decided to flex his muscle so that he could tell the guy off.

I had a friend whose mother was a Federal Marshall.  Not the most normal of childhoods to have a Mom who is a Marshall, but it made for some interesting stories and helped me realize that "they are among us" and they don't advertise themselves.

Obadiah and Edom

Reading the book of Obadiah in the Living Bible including the introduction to the book.

The introduction is really informative:

Also.. I thought the line “…drink and stagger back and disappear from history” is rather chilling.

The imagery of this is good… and the truth of it as well, since the Edomites are long gone.

I always think of Indiana Jones and the Search for the Holy Grail when I think of the Edomites, because the carved stone city of Petra was featured in the movie, and it is in the territory of Edom. Pretty sure that the carved “buildings” in Petra (such as “the bank”) were done much later than the Biblical Edomites, though.

Soap

Soap is an amazing substance.

It can help clean up oily dirt.  For instance, any dirt we get on our hands is oily because of the natural oils from our hands.

So I'm awestruck that soap has a molecule that attracts oil on one end, and attracts water on the other end.  Oil and water don't mix usually, but introduce oil as a mediator, and the two can be bonded.

Bad deal for the oily stuff since it means it's going to be taken away wherever the water goes to.

Now the thing that really amazes me is that soap comes from oil!

I dont' really understand this "saponification" process, but I would like to.  When I have time I will look it up.

Science helps us appreciate the wonders of Jehovah's creation even more fully.

Stonewall Peak in the Cuyamacas

Hike Stonewall Peak in the Cuyamacas today.

There are lots of dead trees there.

There is beauty in death sometimes.

Electronics Review: ProSource tablet

No.

Youtube Transcript

Just noticed a feature on YouTube that I've never seen before:

Youtube Transcript

The original video is here:

John Phillips

Listening to a very old cassette tape play as I record it to an MP3 file.

It's my best friend from Junior High School.

John Phillips and I ended up having each and every class together one of those years.

He was one of the other JWs there at Strobridge (Tom Pearson was the other one).

This tape I'm listening to is funny.  It was a tape letter he made for me.  Humor and gags.  His sister Kim plays quite a part in it to.  He has also called out the names Matthew and Bethany, two more siblings.

I've been meaning to try and track John down.  See how he's doing.  See if he's still alive.  I hope so.  He was an amazing guy who survived so many things.  Such as nearly being killed in a hot water scalding that put him in the hospital with major life threatening burns.

John if you're reading this... get in touch with me.

Steve (you would know me as Mark, however) 619-663-9285

“Good aftermidnight, Sir!”

That’s a typical greeting in Transylvania, where the townsfolk usually rise after sunset and spend their nights in their usual activities, such as shopping, working, playing, etc.

They sleep during the daylight hours.

Captain Jack and his Sparrow

A co-worker's dog.

She sent me a color photograph and I cropped it, sepia-toned it, and then pasted the "sparrow" (parrot) back in again.

This was done using the tools of Microsoft Paint (to crop and cut and paste) and Microsoft Word (to convert to Sepia)

Tinted Mirror

It’s like my mirror is tinted.

It’s so dark that the details cannot be seen.

Glancing at myself in the mirror, I am blind to the ugliness.  The dirty face.  The unhealthy condition.

So off I waltz, whistling a tune, obliviously stepping on snails and daisies and seashells and porcelain figurines.

Geologists!

Bullseye Dawdle is a colorful figure, an eccentric geologist working primary in the American Southwest.

Some time ago he observed that one of his favorite rivers was drying up.  To this day it remains but a trickle.

Privately he voiced his theory that the source of the river remained as dynamic and snowpacked (icy fire as he referred to it) and thus it must still be producing flow, though obviously in a different, hidden, unknown river.

Two days ago Bullseye proudly announced to himself that he had finally found it.  The secret river.

Ecstatic at first, he has now become sullen and fearful of drowning in the very river that he has just discovered.

Geologists… little boys dream of becoming one.  Their lives can be exciting and glamorous, yet at the same time, full of fear and anxiety.

Flywheel

We got a new car (used car, but new to us) and I noticed that it doesn’t want to stop very easily when the gas pedal is lifted.

In other words, instead of immediately slowing like our older car, this car just keeps on going.

This makes me wonder if perhaps it has a flywheel inside the engine somewhere.  

Fly wheel.

What is a fly wheel?  I think I know… or used to know… but I realize I have no idea if such a thing still even exists in a modern automobile.

When I was a boy my Mom told me about a “fly wheel” and I thought it was really really really really interesting…  as if it’s energy stored inside a big heavy wheel.  What’s the word for this energy?  It’s the kind of energy you store when you stretch a rubber band…   ummm…. “kinetic” energy?

Well, time to stop wondering and start learning:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel

Excerpt:

“A flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy. Flywheels have a significant moment of inertia and thus resist changes in rotational speed. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed. Energy is transferred to a flywheel by applying torque to it, thereby increasing its rotational speed, and hence its stored energy. Conversely, a flywheel releases stored energy by applying torque to a mechanical load, thereby decreasing its rotational speed.”

Okay, that makes sense!

Now this one is a bit over my head:

“The phenomenon of precession has to be considered when using flywheels in vehicles. A rotating flywheel responds to any momentum that tends to change the direction of its axis of rotation by a resulting precession rotation. A vehicle with a vertical-axis flywheel would experience a lateral momentum when passing the top of a hill or the bottom of a valley (roll momentum in response to a pitch change). Two counter-rotating flywheels may be needed to eliminate this effect. This effect is leveraged in reaction wheels, a type of flywheel employed in satellites in which the flywheel is used to orient the satellite's instruments without thruster rockets.”

One day I think I’ll need to reserve an hour or two to just peruse this article and try to soak it in.

Trouble

Got in a heap of trouble at work today.  We'll see.

I'm on probation for arriving late.  The deal is if I'm late one more time, I lose my sweet early schedule.

Today I was 10 minutes late.

Hopefully my boss, who was delayed over an hour herself for the same reason, will make an exception.

?

A suicide jumper closed the 163 freeway and the effect dominoed all throughout the San Diego freeways.

$317.00 for a physical

Today I saw the bill for my physical the other day.

$317.00 !!!

That seems so high.  Probably just me living in the past and thinking it should have been $70.00 or so.

Hopefully this sweet insurance we have will pay for all of it.  Before the sweet insurance ends on December 31st.

Actually, if I had to do the terrible things that the Doctor did to me (probing, looking, etc) I would have charged $5000 for that visit.

Bless the doctors.