Suae quisque fortunae faber est = Every man is the artisan of his own fortune - from Appius Claudius

What will you leave behind you?

Media publishing has become a relatively quick and easy
but not necessarily effortless activity.
It is easy to shoot off some little negative sarcastic quip
but the extraordinary stuff, the inspirational and precious and beautiful
must still be sought for and created with great effort.

We are overdosing on information; the contents of thousands of minds
equal or superior to our own minds.
We are searching for those things that would make us more complete
and yet finding increasing emptiness and lack of individual worth.

Social boundaries still exist, and criminal activities are unbounded
and sin is easier and less recognizable than before.

Where do we want our minds to be really?
Do our minds belong in other peoples' bedrooms,
or in their wallets, or in their weaknesses?
Should we be looking for their faults when
we ourselves are not perfect?

If we cause others to exist in cages
we must accept the possibility
that someday we or our descendants
will also be caged.

What is freedom?
Is it money or lack of it?
Is it worry or lack of worry?
Is it experience or lack of experience?
Is it knowledge or ignorance?

We play out our roles in life, and struggle to
survive with the tools we have been given.
We are limited by our abilities, our skills,
our experience, our attitudes.

Making our way in this world can be so difficult.
We are subject to the whims and comments
and attitudes of others around us.
They can hurt us or they can help us.

Sometimes the greatest gift one person can give
to another person is a smile and a kind word.

Sometimes the human soul is dragged down and worn out.
Some souls thrive under adverse conditions.
They become the raging unstoppable fires that
force cannot subdue.
Others wear down and quickly pass out of existence
like candle flames.

In the end, the one thing that matters most
is the kind and honorable actions of
one human being to another
regardless of the roles they fill in life.

We will all be judged.
We will be judged by our correctness
and propriety or lack of these traits.
Our mediator in this judgment
will be our response or lack of response to
our most honorable feelings.
Integrity, commitment, faith, kindness,
and the willingness to stand for righteousness
even though we know we will lose everything
will be what matters most.
No matter what other voices are
speaking for other causes out there,
virtues and good behavior are never out of style.

In the end what will you be remembered for?
How would you like to be remembered?
What are you most likely to leave behind you when you die?

Try for good memories of you and for you.

Ecclesia Church

Today's experience was tinted by pervasive sadness.
It is one of those days when I have accepted my failure
and can't progress beyond it.

Two of my children chose not to come with me to church.
They were not feeling well.
One went home with Grandpa during Sacrament Meeting
after partaking of the sacrament.

He was not feeling well either.

The theme today was missionary work.

One point mentioned in the course of the speaking
is the necessity for stating our beliefs and our position
in whatever form of communication we choose
and especially in our blogs.

Our publications can be seen worldwide.
We may not be official representatives of our church and our faith,
but we can at least share what we believe in by
announcing those beliefs in our writings.

We may not be able to save the world by ourselves,
or change other people, and what they do.
We can make the world better by offering our beliefs,
our stories, and our reasons for believing as we do.
In this way, we can help others improve their lives
even if we can't currently improve our own.

My daughter is reading my blog and has asked me
to write a little bit about horses.
This is off topic, and off topic things are generally
considered rude, but oh well,
my blog is not going to be perfect anyhow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Horses have two ends just as people do.
Generally, the end people and horses do their thinking with
determines their eventual destination.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I will end with that.
I will have to make my blog into
one that my children
might like to read sometimes.

Snow

veni, vidi, vici = I came, I saw, I conquered

Snow is here, a shocking sight considering everything yesterday was green. 
Yesterday was chilly.  Just a precursor to colder things to come.

I came from a warm place, and the first time I saw snow
I ran out into it with bare feet, not knowing how cold it would be.
I was only in it for a few minutes.
It was long enough to make my feet turn a bluish red color.
When I went indoors my parents put my feet and hands in warm water
to get rid of the bluish red color.
The warm water caused my cold hands and feet to hurt intolerably
as the circulation returned to them.

I wonder if this will be one of those winters with six foot snowdrifts
here in the valley?

I wonder how the pioneers who settled this place tolerated the winters
what they thought about, what they did, and how they prepared?

I used to like making snow angels.
I thought the big snowflakes looked like feathers dropped from
white wings drifting down.
I like the way light filtered through deep snowdrifts or ice
shimmers light blue, crystal blue.

One of my children has crystal blue eyes.

I think snow is beautiful, but I don't like it very much.

On the surface it is a joy to behold, but its substance is
so uncomfortable and unsafe. It can't be trusted.
It is inconsistent and unpredictable.  It comes and goes as it pleases.
It is cold and slippery.  It offers no refuge or comfort, but
offers instead, danger and death to those who are left to its mercy.
Its properties embody many of the qualities I wish never to find in
another person, least of all myself.

Some people have learned to be friends with the snow
I haven't yet. I accept it though.
I know the snow is necessary for certain things I love very much.
Snow is a blanket for the landscape,
and water storage for the plants that burst forth in the spring.
Snow is caused by coldness, and the cold makes apples sweeter.
I appreciate warmth and shelter more and
the people I love.
I like having less flies and mosquitoes around to torment me.
I love and need God more during the snowy season.
Sad but true.  Snow reminds me to pray.

I should only accept its blessings, thank the Lord for it and forget the other part.

Winter is begun and I am lonely for the spring.

Criticism

 

De gustibus non est disputandum
                   =

One ought not argue about tastes

 

Looking at the world through critical eyes is like looking at
the sky through dirty windows. 
Part of your vision is obscured.  Part of the light is blocked
and the dirty spots are difficult to ignore.
If you do ignore the dirty spots though,
you might see something beautiful.  You might see the
answers to your prayers or your sweetest dream
come true.  Dirt is an inevitable fact of life.
Dirt washes off. 

Critical eyes and critical minds
remember the dirt though.
Critical eyes are good for guiding our hands
to make life better. 
Critical minds are good if they use information they gather
to make the world a better place.
When criticism is turned toward human beings it becomes
a terrible unforgiving merciless weapon of destruction.

The somebody I wish I could be is someone who can see past
all the dirt that might obscure my vision and see only the good
in this world.  Critical people are the dirtiest ones of all.  If I could ask
God for any ability, it would be the ability to be truly clean and free
of all critical and inconsiderate thoughts toward others.

Somewhere

rara avis = a rare bird, i.e., an extraordinary person or thing

Somewhere in some other place

behind another someone's face
dwells another human mind
thinking thoughts a lot like mine

Somewhere in somebody's dreams
Someone knows the silent strings
that pull and guide my life and acts
that engineer my truths and facts

It seems the search is never done
to find this other matching one
Who understands before I speak
the words I say and thoughts I think.

I wonder if I'll ever see
the somebody who matches me?

Only God knows.

Excel 2007 learning links

 

Pro forma = for form's sake, or as a matter of form

 

I'm taking a class to learn to operate Office 2007. 

The class consists of a textbook, Internet tutorials and projects,
and occasional labs and lectures.
I take evening classes.  Monday is my exam in Excel 2007. 
I have been working on the tutorials and the
ribbon at the top of the documents takes some getting used to
because I have the old software habit.
I'm not getting any younger, and old habits die hard.

The exam is open book and open notes because a person either
knows how to use software, or they don't.

Software has everything to do with habits.  Excel has some bugs in it. 
People complain about it.

I think though, that it would be so difficult to go back to tracking everything the old way,
with thousands and thousands of receipts and papers and checks and bills.

I'm not the greatest mathematician in the world, but I want a degree in accounting. 
Even if I am never part of a payroll department, or human resources etc. I will use
the skills I learn while acquiring this degree.  Because our system is based on the
exchange of goods and services, and money is the medium of exchange used for those

goods and services, knowing how to manage it is an essential skill that everyone needs to know.

 

Here are the learning links I am using.

Windows XP Keyboard shortcuts

Myitlab

 

Student Data Files

 

Excel 2007 keyboard shortcuts

 

Microsoft Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts

I suppose though, if we went back to tracking things the old way, everyone would be too
busy to complain anymore.

I am gathering links to help me learn it better. 
This weekend will be big for study and worship for me.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Oct 2008

 

We took our Excel exams from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. 
At 8:15 I was still on the third part having given up
in frustration on the second exam.
The exam is a software mockup of Micorosoft's Excel software,
meaning that, if you push a button that would normally
work for you in Excel, you may get an error message instead
in the training program and possibly fail your test.
This is exactly what happened to me and many others in the class.
You have to guess which button the computer wants you to push.
If you don't get it right, or inadvertently push a wrong button
somewhere, you are in a real mess right?

I sure am.

I did get 100% on the first part of the exam. 
Things went downhill from there.
Technology has its good points, but maybe the reason
our fine country is in such a mess
is because someone somewhere inadvertently
pushed a button on some merciless computer
that would not give them another chance.

Listening and reading material

Sounds of Sunday, KSFI

I loved listening to this station on AM 820, but it was taken off 
the radio and is now an Internet radio station. 
There aren't really any other radio stations here now
that play many songs about God, so I don't use the radio much anymore.

Church related links

LDS.org mp3 scripture downloads-These are scripture recordings to download and listen to on mp3 players.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints-The official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Visiting Teaching Message-The Visiting Teaching message from August, 2008
Teachings of Joseph Smith-The teachings of Joseph Smith
Bible/ Old Testament-The Old Testament, online version
Bible/New Testament-The New Testament, online version
Book of Mormon-The Book of Mormon, online version
D&C-The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, online version
Pearl of Great Price-The Pearl of Great Price, online version