We Will Miss Mark

Well, we buried him today.

Let's back up a bit. He was a soldier, a baseball player, and one of my coworkers. And I would call him a friend, although not a close one. We both retired out of the service, him a few years before me. We were about the same age, him a couple years older. He and I worked together daily throughout 2010, and saw each other on the job regularly after that. All and all, he was a good guy, though an ornery one. He would often take up a line of argument with one of the new employees just for the sake of seeing how they defended their positions. But most of us knew he didn't take it seriously, and half an hour later he would be helping them with some job we had to do.

Oddly, most of his family outlived him. His father passed when he was young, but his mother and 3 older sisters were among those at the funeral. He lost his wife and a daughter, each to illness a few years back. I'm not certain he ever got over that. He died suddenly, on the job, about a week ago (27 November). No one guarantees tomorrow.

He and I talked politics and about God for hours. He believed in God, was raised Catholic, but had a falling out with that Church some years back when they indicated they wanted more money out of him. The sad thing is that even though he seemed to understand the Gospel in his head, I didn't really see any indication that he ever accepted it for his own salvation. I hope I am wrong about that.

I don't normally go to funerals. I can count them on my fingers. On one hand. I went to the internment, as the actual funeral was in another town. Catholic. Their ways seem strange to me. But since we worked together for some years, and I knew this is hard on my coworkers, as well as his family, I went to this one. I don't normally go to funerals, because I have been sent to help the living. He is gone, and there is nothing more I can do for him. Maybe others of my coworkers will have questions. No one guarantees tomorrow.

My New (used) Truck

I actually began this subject with my rant against the Consumer Reports 2007 used car buyer's guide. The reviewer of all of the smaller trucks had a bad attitude, as was evidenced by their consistent belittling of small trucks.

I recently bought a Chevy Colorado. The Consumer Reports (this link subject to change) reviewer said the four cylinder engine in the Colorado was "crude and noisy." I do not find that to be true, but I will say the transmission tends to shift into overdrive and engage the lock at too low speed. It also seems to like first gear too much. At 1500 RPM in first, it is traveling about 12 mph, and does not want to shift into second. At 46 mph, it shifts into overdrive (and the lock engages at any speed over 35), which again puts you at 1500 rpm - but with about 6 times the torque output. There is a slight, but noticeable engine vibration. I doubt this is what the reviewer was referring to (really can't figure out what he is complaining about), but a switch to prevent it from going into overdrive, or just adjusting it to shift to overdrive only at higher speed would fix this.

The Consumer Reports reviewer seemed to think that anything with less than rocket like acceleration was underpowered, but this truck has plenty of power for daily use. And that is what it is meant for. There are heavier and more powerful trucks on the market, for jobs that need heavier and more powerful trucks (my job, as an equipment maintenance person requires something heavy duty, but I drive a corporate truck for that). What I need is something that is economical. This truck gets fairly good mileage, but not as good as my 95 Isuzu. And not as good as an economy car. And the tires will be a bit more expensive to maintain. But overall, it isn't too bad.

Anyway, at this point, my biggest complaint (other than it is going to cost more to drive) is that I can't get the dome light to come on without the key in the ignition.

End of July round up

Well, July came and went. In some ways it went by pretty fast, but the five days when my Air Conditioning was out didn't go too fast. (Remember, I live in central Texas)

Late last month, the Supreme Court finally got around to issuing a landmark opinion in a straightforward guns vs gungrabber case. They, in a 5-4 decision decided that the word people means people. Only took them about 99 days.

There was a swift reaction in Georgia and many other places, actually it is obvious they anticipated the ruling in several of those places, and they immediately began allowing people their 2nd amendment rights. Just goes to show that, in addition to having legitimacy, we have to fight to maintain our freedom.

I published two pieces this month, one on Grace vs The Law that I wrote over the past couple months, and one on recent history of the Bible, I wrote a few years ago, but never really published. I got a few lively questions from a friend on Grace vs The Law, and I must remember to thank him for the feedback.

I have begun a series on representative government, by asking if anyone knows which party they would belong to if they really had a choice and who represents them in our government. So far, no one has raised a question or an answer to that.

In my monthly Heroes and Slimeballs section, for the first time, the hero is post humus. For the non military out there, it means he was killed in the process of becoming a hero. I usually point out civilians (non police) who make us safer in our day to day life for this item, so while it does require courage (there must be some risk, and the action must be by choice) to get my attention, the hero doesn't usually pay with his life. But from time to time they do, making them all the more heroic.

My next energy forecast should be out within a couple days, and while the price of gas should drop off another 10 cents or so, I am looking at $5.70, give or take some next spring.

I am thinking of making several of these reoccurring items into regular monthly items, but I don't know if I am up to that. Promising to do something, even monthly is a big thing for me.
Maybe. We shall see.

End of Month Round Up

Well, it was a short month. With some wind and some cold and dry, it has been a constant danger of fires most of the month for most of Texas. Good news is a friend of mine is getting married tomorrow to a long time friend.

I added some new information about dictionaries to the Ephesus Project, and established what may be copied from this blog under the copyright laws.

Gas prices have begun to spike upwards. This is an entirely normal phenom, but in the climate of constant campaigning and constant political posturing nowadays, every penny is a feeding frenzy for the press.

Well, less than 30 hours until March.
Until then...

November Chronicle

I had planned an end of month news round up for yesterday, but then my wife and I decided to take in a homeless dog that had been passed from one friend to another around our town for a while. We are keeping the dog. She wants to call him Baily, which I think sounds too much like a girl, so I will call him Beetle Baily, after the cartoon charactor.

Takers, and Caretakers

The weather is finally drying out. On the 4th of July, we got no more than a light shower here. But 40 miles up a nearby creek, they got one last downpour. There was one last surge of water headed down that creek. Joe headed home at the end of the shift. Maybe he didn't see the dark colored water over the dark colored pavement of the road, or maybe God chose, at that time, to allow his brakes to fail.

They found his body yesterday.

In this world, there are takers, and caretakers.
Joe was a caretaker.
He will be missed by many.

Some wonder: why is it that every time a Baptist preacher gets up to say something at a funeral, he talks about getting people saved. It is always about evangelism.

God doesn't promise us tomorrow. This is not a call to live like there is no tomorrow, that would make you a "taker." The message is Carpe Diem. Often translated "seize the day", but a more accurate translation would be "gather the day," as in gathering fruit or grain.

Of course, we all know this academically. But when someone you worked side by side with for a few years is suddenly gone, it really hits home. The Apostle Paul wrote "redeem the time." And that is what those Baptist Preachers are doing.

Joe - we will miss you.
To the rest of you: Carpe Diem.
TRex

Nov End of month round up

What a month.

[snip]

[snip]

My wife's daughters both took time off from work to visit us, but could not make it both on the same week, so the month was filled with mini-reunions. On a much sadder note, our dog Rufus, got sick (actually he had been sick for many months - and just took a turn for the worse) and about two days ago he died. He was a good friend and companion to my wife and I, and will be sorely missed.

Because of the family reunions, I doubt December can be any better, but here is hoping it will be quieter.

TRex

UPDATE: I have begun removing material from this site that has nothing to do with the central theme and nothing to do with where this site is going, or that just adds nothing to the central theme.