Monday, May 30, 2005

The rains came down...

Bought a shop vac today. 6.5 hp, 18 gallon capacity. It really sucks!

This morning we awoke to rain, thunder and lightning. It continued for hours. I thanked the Lord for the marvelous experience as I shoveled hail and bailed gallons of water away from the house. It was cold, cleaning out the gutters.

I exulted, shouting, "Let 'er rip!"

The Lord has used water to cleanse the earth before. The final cleansing won't be by flood this time, but it appears that it will be a precurser to the final cleansing.

I'm thrilled that the cleansing will actually start soon.

"Upon my house will it begin."

I wait with anticipation for the long foreseen events to unfold.

Meanwhile, I'm vacuuming up the water from the carpets in two basement rooms. We'll pull up the carpet when my son gets here. The pattern was set in Nauvoo: live as if you'll be here forever, up to the day you leave. Plant the flowers, clean the messes, cut and trim the grass. Paint the walls. Leave your house in order. Continue your life as if things will continue this way forever, being prepared at all times to answer the call to flee to the wilderness.

We ran a preparatory test last weekend. Other than some more medical supplies and camping utensils, we're ready to go. Not as ready as some, but as prepared as we've been prompted to become.

There are wonderful events soon to come.

A steady rain continues.

Bring it on!

Reference:

(Doctrine and Covenants Section 112:23 - 26)

23 Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.
24 Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.
25 And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;
26 First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

My Personality

According to the test she invited me to take:

20 Questions to a Better Personality

Wackiness: 56/100
Rationality: 68/100
Constructiveness: 72/100
Leadership: 48/100



You are a WRCF--Wacky Rational Constructive Follower. This makes you a Paul Begala.

You are unflappable and largely unconcerned with others' reactions to you. You were not particularly interested in the results of this test, and probably took it only as a result of someone else asking you to.

You have a biting wit and intense powers of observation. No detail is lost on you, and your friends know it--relying on you to have the facts when others express only opinions. You are even-tempered, friendly, and educated. Foolish strangers may mistake your mildness for weakness--they will be surprised.

You entire approach to life is enviable. You will raise good kids.

Of the 124616 people who have taken this quiz since tracking began (8/17/2004), 4.7 % are this type.


Here's the link, if you want to give it a try:

http://hokev.brinkster.net/quiz/default.asp?quiz=Better+Personality&page=1

She didn't like her profile, but I thought it caught a good partial view of her complex makeup [Wacky Rational Destructive Follower - a hacker type, only 2.7% of those tested had this mix].

The internet is an odd place.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Memory

Yesterday I went in for a "procedure". Strictly diagnostic, and, happy to say, yielded a clean slate. No worries.

The odd part of the experience came a little later. My wife told me that after the nurse had walked me out to the waiting area, she joined me and we went into an office where the doctor gave me a clean bill of health.

Well, I remember falling asleep, waking in the recovery room, following the nurse's suggestions, having my IV removed and being told I could put my clothes on. The next thing I remember is walking out of the building with my wife.

No walk with the nurse. No visit to a doctor's office. Certainly no discussion of fudge, though she says he mentioned fudge twice in the 5 minute conversation I don't remember.

Eerie.

I don't like holes in my memories. I spent time last night trying to recapture the lost moments. I almost remember putting on my clothes. I do remember asking her when we were driving if I had put on my under shirt. Putting on clothes is an important activity. I wasn't in a hospital gown when we got to the truck, so I guess I had successfully performed that task.

It would be disquieting to have holes in my memories regularly. Since that is one of the reported effects of adult beverage consumption, I'll continue to consume childish beverages.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Storage

The past couple years have seen a transformation in electronic data storage practices.

For over a decade I carried my data around on diskettes. Then I got zip disks and eventually a CD burner.

Recently I heard a missionary in the Library talking about his thumb drive. Missionaries are somehow always at the front edge of technological change. Figure that out.

Anyway, the portable USB drives arrived. I bought my first 128 mb drive, then upgraded to 256 mb.

As time has passed, I've been interested in the various names the new storage media have been given. I'm compiling a list:
  • Thumb Drive
  • Flash Drive
  • Quick Key
  • Key Drive
  • Jump Drive
  • USB Key
  • Memory Stick

Any others?

Meanwhile, I've found out how durable this new media is.

When she was gone to visit her sister, I did the laundry. (No, I do the laudry regularly, her visit is only a reminder of when the incident happened...) Anyway, I was loading the wet clothes into the dryer when I noticed it, there on the bottom of the wash drum. My thumb drive.

My newly washed and sparkling clean thumb drive.

Oh, my data.

How much had I lost?

Careful examination showed that the inner workings looked . . . clean. No intimation that damage might have occurred. I said a silent prayer.

When I went to bed, I put the drive on my nightstand, hoping against hope that a thorough air-drying might prevent anymore damage. I mean, it had gone through each wash, rinse and spin cycle. Zoiks!

As I got ready for the day, I put the thumb drive in my pocket.

At work I hesitated before plugging the drive in to my computer. Before my fears could completely articulate themselves, I jammed the drive in and tried to access it.

Can you say, stunned?

No. Stupefied.

No. Thrilled.

It was all there: my documents, pictures and master data base! No losses at all. I am still awed by the fact that my thumb drive went through a complete wash cycle and came out no worse for wear.

Those guys at Lexar Media know their stuff. I'm not much at product promotion, but if they ever need a testimonial, they can use this post.

Jitters

I had a great idea.

Last year I bought a refurbished laptop. Sometime (I'd have to consult my journal) in the intervening time, my Dad gave me his old desktop machine. Since the desktop had a larger hard drive, I began using that one at home.

Meanwhile, I had my 256 mb thumb drive to keep my current documents and I was given a 40 gig pocket drive to use at work. The pocket drive has everything on it: data, music, documents. My whole library.

Long story short: I began leaving my laptop at home.

Oh, the guilt.

Last month the thought occurred to me: maybe the refurbishers would do a two-for-one trade, my desktop and laptop for a better laptop.

I let the idea roll around in my head for a while. Eventually I began to think of it as a good idea and mentioned it to her. Even she thought it might work.

Two weeks ago I called the computer shop. I made my pitch. Vic thought he could do it. He even mentioned a 17 inch screen on my upgrade. Ooooh, baby.

Two Saturdays ago we took the machines in to the shop. I had to remind Vic of our conversation. He still thought it'll go. Said he'd probably have something for me by Tuesday. Last Tuesday.

Well, I was out of town 'til Thursday night, last week. I called Friday. Vic hadn't been able to find a suitable upgrade for me. Call again Monday. I did.

Monday he said he'd found a couple of good possibilities. I asked him to order one for me. I've been without a computer at home for over a week. I'm going into withdrawal.

Thank heavens my folks and my sister had given me a tough puzzle to put together, "Picky, Picky": 1000 pieces, close-up of a mound of multi-colored toothpicks. I've been able to work on that instead of computering. I put in the final 20 pieces of the puzzle last night.

Monday evening I even told my dad what I'd done with his computer.

I'm waiting for a call from the shop.