I have been dealing with banks all day today and have determined that they are crazy. One bank has my address as General Delivery. I ask them to change it to my PO Box and was told that they would need to know my physical address to change my mailing address from General Delivery to a PO Box. I just don't understand, I have to go the post office to pick up my mail in either case, but I can have a General Delivery Address with no physical address, but a PO Box requires a physical address.
Another bank has been paid the late fees on my payments for several months now, and have not credited any of them to my account. They have $35 worth of late fees marked as unpaid. Instead they have been applying the late fees to my principle. When I ask them why, they said, they cannot mark late fees as paid until the account is current. Which means simply that if I never pay any payments on time I will wind up owing them over $5000 in late fees at the end of loan even though I paid every single one of them.
Like I said banks are crazy.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
My poor Car has seen better days.
I have the latest news from the mechanic now. After spending 3 days diagnosing the issues with the fuel system we came to find out that the real problem was that the timing chain had slipped a link, which is causing the fuel injectors to fire early, or late, I am not sure which. This is causing the car to idle too fast when cold and barely idle when it is hot.
We have to play with timing every time in order to get it to start depending on if the engine is hot of cold. It looks like I will be spending a day or two in the garage replacing a timing chain in hopes that nothing else is wrong once I get that part completed.
Anyone feel like spending a couple days with me under the hood of '84 Vic?
We have to play with timing every time in order to get it to start depending on if the engine is hot of cold. It looks like I will be spending a day or two in the garage replacing a timing chain in hopes that nothing else is wrong once I get that part completed.
Anyone feel like spending a couple days with me under the hood of '84 Vic?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
My car broke down again. It has been giving me trouble off and on for about a month now, but who can blame it. I have over 230,000 miles on it. It runs great when it is running. I have a mechanic friend looking at it this time as the automatic choke is causing fuel system problems and I'm not that good with first generation fuel injector technology.
Hopefully my old beat up Crown Vic will get fixed over the weekend and I'll have a working car again. If not, does anyone know where I can buy another cheap car to get me through another year?
Monday, November 23, 2009
SuperComputing09
I had a really great time at SuperComputing09. I meet a lot of really great people doing the same kind of research that I am interested in. It really made me miss the research aspects of my last job.
I say a miss the research aspects, but I don't miss the tight deadlines, and stress level of the job. I am definitely enjoying the flexibility and low stress of my current position.
Probably the most interesting thing to me about the conference was that having been out of the research angle for two years, it seems that nothing has really changed in the HPC industry. There are a few new products and a few new tools for the programmer, but overall the industry seems at a standstill.
There have been vast improvements in the speed and durability of the hardware, and a few improvements in UI design over the past two years, but as for great changes in technology, there appears to be nothing new on the horizon, which is disappointing at best.
It seems that the computer industry has taken the same bad turn that the auto industry took 60-70 years ago. Just like the suto industry put their focus on the internal combustion engine and hasn't deviated from it, the computer industry is now focused on two main architectures, the Intel or AMD core processors, and the Nvidia or ATI graphics processors. I group them together because thought they are slightly different in design, they follow the same basic principles of design just like the Internal combustion engines, there is not much difference in design any more when it comes to computer hardware.
I hope that some innovative company will try something unique in the years to come like Motorola's distributed clock architecture that vanished as MacOS moved to Intel.
I say a miss the research aspects, but I don't miss the tight deadlines, and stress level of the job. I am definitely enjoying the flexibility and low stress of my current position.
Probably the most interesting thing to me about the conference was that having been out of the research angle for two years, it seems that nothing has really changed in the HPC industry. There are a few new products and a few new tools for the programmer, but overall the industry seems at a standstill.
There have been vast improvements in the speed and durability of the hardware, and a few improvements in UI design over the past two years, but as for great changes in technology, there appears to be nothing new on the horizon, which is disappointing at best.
It seems that the computer industry has taken the same bad turn that the auto industry took 60-70 years ago. Just like the suto industry put their focus on the internal combustion engine and hasn't deviated from it, the computer industry is now focused on two main architectures, the Intel or AMD core processors, and the Nvidia or ATI graphics processors. I group them together because thought they are slightly different in design, they follow the same basic principles of design just like the Internal combustion engines, there is not much difference in design any more when it comes to computer hardware.
I hope that some innovative company will try something unique in the years to come like Motorola's distributed clock architecture that vanished as MacOS moved to Intel.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
New Kids Church Directors
Ange and I just became the new directors of the Kidz4Christ ministry at Licking Pentecostal Holiness Church. It has been a fascinating adventure over the last couple of months. We have seen the ministry grow from seven children in attendance to over thirty. This required a big change in how we operated our Wednesday night kids program.
Two weeks ago we changed from having everyone in the same room doing craft, snacks, teaching, and worship to splitting into three groups. We began to open with worship and announcements, and then split into small groups for teaching, snacks, and crafts. This has made things so much easier for our group of leaders.
For one thing we are working with less than 10 students in a group in stead of having 30 students in a classroom all talking at once. It has allowed us to get to know the kids better, and created a much better environment for learning.
I am excited to see where God takes this as we move forward. I have to admit that this particular area of ministry is not where I saw myself. Especially since I am the one in charge of the worship service. I haven't played an instrument in 15 years, and the last instrument I played was tuba. I have never been a singer at all, and clearly have no real gifting for music. But in spite of it all God is doing a great work as I have seen the kids grow in their desire to worship.
Keep us in your prayers as we keep moving forward in the ministry God has placed us.
Scott
Two weeks ago we changed from having everyone in the same room doing craft, snacks, teaching, and worship to splitting into three groups. We began to open with worship and announcements, and then split into small groups for teaching, snacks, and crafts. This has made things so much easier for our group of leaders.
For one thing we are working with less than 10 students in a group in stead of having 30 students in a classroom all talking at once. It has allowed us to get to know the kids better, and created a much better environment for learning.
I am excited to see where God takes this as we move forward. I have to admit that this particular area of ministry is not where I saw myself. Especially since I am the one in charge of the worship service. I haven't played an instrument in 15 years, and the last instrument I played was tuba. I have never been a singer at all, and clearly have no real gifting for music. But in spite of it all God is doing a great work as I have seen the kids grow in their desire to worship.
Keep us in your prayers as we keep moving forward in the ministry God has placed us.
Scott
Monday, June 29, 2009
Hay is Finally In.
We finally got all the square bales into the barn loft. We have quite a few more round bales to cut, rake, bale, and move to the barn lot, but all that is tractor work. Tractor work is still a hot job, but it takes a lot less muscle to operate a tractor than to carry hay bales.
I really enjoy working on the farm a lot, but I am glad I am not counting on it for my primary source of income. You don't realize how much mark-up there is on beef until you start working with cattle ranchers. They get around $1.00-$1.50 a pound live weight for the beef. All said and done around $1100 for the average beef cow. By the time this amount of beef reaches the store shelves it average $3.50 a pound. Of course you have to figure in that a few hundred pounds are waste products and there is cost involved in the butchering, but all in all the wholesalers and retailers make more off the beef than the original farmer.
I would have to sell 50 head of beef to make my salary not counting the cost of grain, hay, and equipment maintenance. Mom's little farm sells way less than that. Probably the reason she has yet to see a profit from it in 10 years.
Well that's enough ranting about the poor farmers who struggle to make the bills each year, yet are so necessary for our nations survival.
I really enjoy working on the farm a lot, but I am glad I am not counting on it for my primary source of income. You don't realize how much mark-up there is on beef until you start working with cattle ranchers. They get around $1.00-$1.50 a pound live weight for the beef. All said and done around $1100 for the average beef cow. By the time this amount of beef reaches the store shelves it average $3.50 a pound. Of course you have to figure in that a few hundred pounds are waste products and there is cost involved in the butchering, but all in all the wholesalers and retailers make more off the beef than the original farmer.
I would have to sell 50 head of beef to make my salary not counting the cost of grain, hay, and equipment maintenance. Mom's little farm sells way less than that. Probably the reason she has yet to see a profit from it in 10 years.
Well that's enough ranting about the poor farmers who struggle to make the bills each year, yet are so necessary for our nations survival.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Farm Life for a City Boy
I have spent the last two evenings bucking hay. I will be doing it for the rest of this week and into the weekend.
For those other City Folks out there reading my blog, bucking hay is picking up 50lb hay bales from the hay field, stacking them on a flatbed trailer in a manner that they will not fall off when you hit holes in the field, and taking them to the barn.
Once you are at the barn you have to unload them from the trailer and put them in the barn loft. A barn loft is like an attic in a house, except there is not usually anything but a ladder to get into the barn loft and it has two doors, one on each end of the barn about 10 feet off the ground.
How do you get the hay bales ten feet in the air to the door you ask? By bucking them of course. Bucking is what a horse does to rider that he does not want on his back. You take a bale of hay, balance it on one knee kick it up over your head and throw it with all your might using your legs as a boost in power and throw that sucker over your head and into the barn.
Well, I am convinced that hay bales gain weight from riding around on the flat bed trailer, because those first five bales you pick up out of the field in the evening and start the load seem fairly light when you put them on the trailer. Of course as you know they are on the bottom, so they are the last ones off the trailer at the barn, and let me tell you when they come off the trailer they must be heavier, because you are lucky to pick them up much less get them over your head and into the barn.
I have been told by "Mom" that this year they decided to take it easy on the hay, they usually haul it all in on the Saturday in 3-4 trailer loads in one day. Boy am I glad we are taking it easy. One trailer load of 110 bales of hay is plenty to move in one day.
I think her asking us to help this year is a hint that she reeeeaaallly wants a round baler for Christmas. The round bales are all handled by the tractor, no lifting throw, hauling, etc. They are easier during feeding as well. You feed one round bale a day versus 15 square bales a day. You have to load the square bales on the truck, you just pick the round ones up with the tractor and take them to the field.
She may get her nice shiny new round baler yet. Especially if we keep helping with the hay.
Well, its off soon to go buck another 100+ bales of hay. Only a couple hundred to go.
For those other City Folks out there reading my blog, bucking hay is picking up 50lb hay bales from the hay field, stacking them on a flatbed trailer in a manner that they will not fall off when you hit holes in the field, and taking them to the barn.
Once you are at the barn you have to unload them from the trailer and put them in the barn loft. A barn loft is like an attic in a house, except there is not usually anything but a ladder to get into the barn loft and it has two doors, one on each end of the barn about 10 feet off the ground.
How do you get the hay bales ten feet in the air to the door you ask? By bucking them of course. Bucking is what a horse does to rider that he does not want on his back. You take a bale of hay, balance it on one knee kick it up over your head and throw it with all your might using your legs as a boost in power and throw that sucker over your head and into the barn.
Well, I am convinced that hay bales gain weight from riding around on the flat bed trailer, because those first five bales you pick up out of the field in the evening and start the load seem fairly light when you put them on the trailer. Of course as you know they are on the bottom, so they are the last ones off the trailer at the barn, and let me tell you when they come off the trailer they must be heavier, because you are lucky to pick them up much less get them over your head and into the barn.
I have been told by "Mom" that this year they decided to take it easy on the hay, they usually haul it all in on the Saturday in 3-4 trailer loads in one day. Boy am I glad we are taking it easy. One trailer load of 110 bales of hay is plenty to move in one day.
I think her asking us to help this year is a hint that she reeeeaaallly wants a round baler for Christmas. The round bales are all handled by the tractor, no lifting throw, hauling, etc. They are easier during feeding as well. You feed one round bale a day versus 15 square bales a day. You have to load the square bales on the truck, you just pick the round ones up with the tractor and take them to the field.
She may get her nice shiny new round baler yet. Especially if we keep helping with the hay.
Well, its off soon to go buck another 100+ bales of hay. Only a couple hundred to go.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
How Satan Uses Our Past.
I had an interesting thought last night while lying in bed. It was brought on by something my son Elijah said as he was trying to get too sleep. Yesterday was his birthday, and it brought to his mind the thoughts of friends that he left behind when we moved from West Virginia to Missouri.
He was crying because he missed his old friends, and was failing to think of all the new friends he has made since moving here. After reminding him of his new friends, and how much fun he had over the weekend and on his birthday, he was able to get too sleep.
I thought about how often dwelling on the past keeps me up at night, or causes me grief, and realized that this is a tactic that Satan uses to distract us from God's plans, God's provisions, God's love, and God's peace.
I thought about the Israelites as they were leaving Egypt and remember their grumbling and complaining, most of it involved how things were better in Egypt. They of course were not better in Egypt, Satan just like us to think the past was better than the present to trick us into thinking that we made some mistake to anger God and now he has forsaken us, left us to solve our own problems.
When we buy into this lie, we make extra trouble for ourselves as we spend much of our time trying to figure out how to fix the past rather than living in the present.
I am going to try to live more in the present and dwell less on the past.
He was crying because he missed his old friends, and was failing to think of all the new friends he has made since moving here. After reminding him of his new friends, and how much fun he had over the weekend and on his birthday, he was able to get too sleep.
I thought about how often dwelling on the past keeps me up at night, or causes me grief, and realized that this is a tactic that Satan uses to distract us from God's plans, God's provisions, God's love, and God's peace.
I thought about the Israelites as they were leaving Egypt and remember their grumbling and complaining, most of it involved how things were better in Egypt. They of course were not better in Egypt, Satan just like us to think the past was better than the present to trick us into thinking that we made some mistake to anger God and now he has forsaken us, left us to solve our own problems.
When we buy into this lie, we make extra trouble for ourselves as we spend much of our time trying to figure out how to fix the past rather than living in the present.
I am going to try to live more in the present and dwell less on the past.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Its Been Too Long Since I Blogged
Its been a while since I have created a blog entry. We have been very busy between adding onto the house and soccer practices there has not been much time for blogging.
The addition is about 60% complete, it is sealed from the weather aside from a very small leak or two were the siding is not complete on the walls yet. I also need to hang the drywall inside. It is finished enough that we have put things in it.
Elijah's soccer season started off pretty rough with three losses in a tournament that really showed us how much we need to work. We played against two teams on Saturday from St. Louis. The first should have totally stomped us, but we held the score at 2-1 until the last two minutes then it jumped 4-1. The second game was much closer, but we had some bad calls that took the win away. We lost 2-1 after having a goal called back for off-sides, and the other team having a goal count that should not have, but at least it is over.
Our final game we lost 7-0 to a team from Northern Arkansas. They outplayed us like a professional soccer team going against a Jr. High Team it was ugly, and I am real glad that one is over. At least we had fun in Springfield.
Well that's it for now.
Scott
The addition is about 60% complete, it is sealed from the weather aside from a very small leak or two were the siding is not complete on the walls yet. I also need to hang the drywall inside. It is finished enough that we have put things in it.
Elijah's soccer season started off pretty rough with three losses in a tournament that really showed us how much we need to work. We played against two teams on Saturday from St. Louis. The first should have totally stomped us, but we held the score at 2-1 until the last two minutes then it jumped 4-1. The second game was much closer, but we had some bad calls that took the win away. We lost 2-1 after having a goal called back for off-sides, and the other team having a goal count that should not have, but at least it is over.
Our final game we lost 7-0 to a team from Northern Arkansas. They outplayed us like a professional soccer team going against a Jr. High Team it was ugly, and I am real glad that one is over. At least we had fun in Springfield.
Well that's it for now.
Scott
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Just a Quick Update
I thought I would update everyone a little on what life has brought our way. We received unexpected money which is always great, but it usually causes extra work as well. We decided to use the extra money to add on some living space to out little 14x80 trailer. I started the addition last weekend, if only the weather will hold out long enough to get a roof over it we will finally have some space for our hobbies.
I have the frame up on a 12x32 room, but cannot seem to get it complete enough to put the exterior wall and roof in place because it keeps raining in the evenings. Hopefully I'll have it ready for the wall and roof sheeting by Saturday and can borrow a truck to get the rest of the supplies.
I can't wait for Ange to be able to scrap book again, and for me to be able to tinker around with the junk computers and electronics that I have in storage. I hope to be posting some about the fun gadgets I built. I have ideas for a lot of cool toys, but no time to build them, and prior to finishing this addition no space to work on them either.
Have a nice day.
I have the frame up on a 12x32 room, but cannot seem to get it complete enough to put the exterior wall and roof in place because it keeps raining in the evenings. Hopefully I'll have it ready for the wall and roof sheeting by Saturday and can borrow a truck to get the rest of the supplies.
I can't wait for Ange to be able to scrap book again, and for me to be able to tinker around with the junk computers and electronics that I have in storage. I hope to be posting some about the fun gadgets I built. I have ideas for a lot of cool toys, but no time to build them, and prior to finishing this addition no space to work on them either.
Have a nice day.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Information Technology Jobs
Ever wonder what it is like to support computers at a University. Here's my suggestion:
(1) Go by three 1000 piece puzzles, dump them into a single pile and mix them up.
(2) Now randomly pick out 1000 pieces and throw the rest in the trash.
(3) Put together the remaining pieces to create your new puzzle.
That's about what it feels like to support all the various operating systems and tools expected of an information technology specialist.
Enjoy.
(1) Go by three 1000 piece puzzles, dump them into a single pile and mix them up.
(2) Now randomly pick out 1000 pieces and throw the rest in the trash.
(3) Put together the remaining pieces to create your new puzzle.
That's about what it feels like to support all the various operating systems and tools expected of an information technology specialist.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Stretch Hummer Sighting
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