Leaving Town
Posted on 22 December 2006 | No responses
We are leaving for Indianpolis to spend Christmas with Mitzie’s sister Shirley. I have a 12 hour drive ahead of me in the morning. Thankfully all four of us can drive. Hopefully we won’t run into too much rain on the way out. We have done this drive many times and we can almost do it without thinking.
Most of the presents have been shipped to Shirley’s house. I just have a few things that I need to buy for Mitz, I think we have one more thing to get for Amanda and we are done shopping for Erika is done. I am looking forward to visiting my in-laws, yeah I know weird, but Jose and Elsie are enjoyable to be around and Mitz’s sister’s house is huge. I think everyone will be down in Indy except for Denny Jr. who is still in Japan. Elsie, Mitz’s oldest sister, might not be there, we found out this evening that she was admitted to the hospital in Logansport with a possible appendicitis. Hopefully she can still travel to Indy to spend Christmas with us.
Well I better get to bed, we are planning to leave around 4 am.
Pretty in Pink
Posted on 14 December 2006 | No responses
I was at Target the other day and was noticing how much dog accessories have grown. I think there was three rows of dog stuff. Well for the dog lover, it’s like dog heaven. We notice all the cute clothing outfits that are available for dogs. We wanted to buy one for Bear but couldn’t find a manly one. We ended up buying this pink shirt that had Angel written on the back. When we got home, we immediately had Bear wear it. He looked so funny in it. With all his hair, he looked like a football player with all the shoulder pads. We laughed so hard. When I get the pictures loaded, I’ll share them.
The Love of God
Posted on 16 November 2006 | No responses
It was a really busy week at work. We have been preparing for our Toys for Tots Kickoff Luncheon and now it’s finally here.
This week, we had a situation that happened where people in my office were misquoted. Those quotes were passed along to the press and, of course, the situation became very controversial.
I just wanted to say how disappointed I was with the so-called Christians (or at least those that claim they are Christians but are truly not) on how they handled this situation. They are the ones that give Christians a bad rep, and you know exactly the ones I’m talking about. My view of a true Christian is one who is soft-spoken, is not easy to anger, keeps their emotions in check, does not swear, is forgiving, and shows a Christ-like, loving attitude to those around them. What I found out this week is that there are a lot of fake Christians out there; at least the ones that called the office this week. I cannot tell you the anger, the swearing, and the unforgiveness attitude that came across over the phone and through emails.
The Bible teaches us the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It’s hard for someone to believe that you are a Christian when your attitude does not reflect it. The world is out there watching to catch you in your weak moment. Are you going to be caught off-guard or are you going to allow the love of Christ to shine in you. It was truly embarrasing to be associated with those people who act out of control and, at the same time, claim to be Christians.
Marine Toys for Tots
Posted on 11 November 2006 | No responses
The Marine Toys for Tots is an organization worthy of your support. During this Christmas season, we need to think about those that for whatever reasons are not going to be able to celebrate Christmas. The Marine Toys for Tots has made Christmas possible for thousands of people, but they cannot do it alone. It is through your contributions that they make it possible. This Christmas, I urge you to think of someone else and do a kind thing for them–support the Marine Toys for Tots.
Why we are there.
Posted on 10 November 2006 | No responses
On this Veterans Day, my thoughts go to those that are serving in our military. I think of my two nephew’s that are both in the Air Force. My sister-in-law’s son Denny who is serving in Japan, and my brother’s son Travis who is at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs Colorado.
Of course I am concerned about the war in the middle east, but i am more concerned by the actions of those that are now in power in congress who, mistakenly, think that if we get out we will be ok. They forgot what happened in the late 70′s when president Carter thought that Khomeini was a religious man and would be better than the Shah of Iran. From that decision sprang the hostages in Iran and all of the turmoil that we see in the middle east now.
I read an article from who is the managing editor at The Spectrum at the University at Buffalo. It defines why we are there, to help the people of Iraq and Afganistan out of the clutches of people that hate freedom and to give them a chance for a better future.
To those family and friends that are currently in the military and served in the military, I thank you. There are those that will hate you and protest what you have done, but rest assured that they would be the first to run to you for protection when, not if, we are attacked. Your service to our country is valued by myself and my family.
Marine Corp Birthday
Posted on 10 November 2006 | No responses
We celebrated the Marine Corp birthday at the office. This was a first for me. The General had a birthday cake. It is typical for marines to cut the cake with their sword. I also found out that if the marine is disliked, they place the sword back in its holder without cleaning it–a bad clean up mess. Also, after the cake is cut, the oldest and youngest marine get to sample the cake before distributing to all the guest. We saw a DVD of the Marine Corp history and a message from the Base Commandant.
The Marine Corp Museum also opened today. President Bush gave a grand opening speech. The amount of security on base and on the roads was unbelievable. They shut down the HOV lanes to allow buses to transport people. I guess everything went well. Can’t wait to go visit.
Happy Birthday Marine Corp!
Goodbye Arnie
Posted on 26 October 2006 | No responses
I got the news from my Mom that her brother Arnie had passed away from emphysema. He was slowly dying from the disease for a few years. My uncle and aunt lived in Holland Michigan, mom and dad are traveling to Michigan for the funeral. Mom said that he is going to be buried in thier hometown of Escanaba Michigan.
My fondest childhood memories are of the annual Henriksen family reunions. My parents have been driving to the Escanaba area from Des Moines Iowa, my hometown, every year for the past 50+ years. I remember all the fun times that I had with my uncle’s and aunt’s. I remember mom calling my uncle “Horse”, I have no idea where that came from. Arnie is the first of my mom’s brothers or sisters that have passed. Most of mom’s family live within a few hours of where my uncle Arnie and aunt Anne live.
This is going to be hard for mom, since the death of Doug, she has been struggling. She had been attending a support group for those that have had their children die. I wish I could be there for her.
A New Job Change
Posted on 9 October 2006 | No responses
I found a job that I absolutely love. After spending three months with the worst company I have ever worked at, I finally found the job that I know I’m going to absolutely love. I do want to add that it wasn’t the job that I disliked at my prior job, but the environment conditions. I am finishing my degree so that I can do what I love best. I found this job through an ad on the paper. I have been told that jobs listed in the newspapers are the worst jobs and jobs people don’t want to do. I posted my resume on so many places online–monsters.com, government agencies, ihire.com and many others–and had no response from any of them.
I am now working for a non-profit organization, doing what I love to do, and working for a group of people that I would have to say make the working conditions the best place to work at. My three boses, I would have to say are the best boses anyone could ever have. Needless to say, I’m hoping that this is the last job I’ll ever have.
The Worst Job Ever
Posted on 29 September 2006 | No responses
This summer, after coming back from a funeral, I took a job with a construction company, whose name will remain anonymous, in Sterling. I was offered the job before we left for the funeral, but took some time to think about it. Initially, my plan was to reject the offer, and I should have listened to my instincts. I ended up accepting the offer and started immediately after I returned back from my trip. The first week of training went very well, I thought. By mid-week of the second week, I felt that I understood the process and began to work independent. When I got into the bookkeeping part of the job, I realized very quickly that this company was very much in financial trouble. The payables were so overdue. Vendors were calling on a daily basis and at times make threats because they wanted their payments. My boss was very short and rude at times and seemed to so willingly put the blame on me for things that happened before I began my employment with them. I know that I did my best for them and worked diligently, however, you can only take so much of it. After being with them for almost three months, I began to experience things that I didn’t make me feel comfortable. My last Friday on the job, was payday Friday. I was reconciling the bank account and the balance in the checkbook was very negative. I went to cash my check on Saturday, and the bank wouldn’t cash my check. They told me I had to wait until Monday. That weekend, my husband and I decided that it was time for me to give notice. Needless to say, my employment was terminated and things worked out to my favor. All I can say is that it was the worst job ever and I would never recommend anybody to them.
New Hosting Server
Posted on 20 September 2006 | No responses
I moved my web and mail server to a new provider, Jaguar PC. Nothing like building a server from scratch, it can be a real time sink. It took about a week just to get the mail server up. The server itself is using Virtuozzo to setup a virtual server. This is just like running a physical server and once you are on the box you really can’t tell that it is just a small part of a larger server.
The server runs Postfix for mail, Courier-IMAP for imap, MySQL for the database, and Apache for the web server. The biggest problem that I had was with building Courier-IMAP. I took me a long while to find the right rpms for this install. Since I needed mysql support, getting the right authlib files were the biggest problem. Another problem was with the famd support. I had to build that from scratch.
Once I got the mail server done, everything else just fell into place. I hope I don’t have to move this server for a while.