7 July 2011. Words that Have helped my journey (A Rerun from my old Facebook Notes)

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.


Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr
http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/serenity.html

*******************************
I knew the first verse to this prayer from being around my dad and A.A. in my youth. At one point in time I carried a laminated card around in my wallet but removed it when I went into the Air Force in 1984
During the Gulf War (1990 and 91) I recited the serenity prayer from memory before getting out of the rack/cot/bunk/bed (call it what you will) in the morning.  It kept me moving when I was halfway around the world and away from my family. What do I think I got out of this prayer?  The ability to know when to pick my battles and the clearness of mind to know when I couldn't change my situation no matter what I did or didn't do.  Trust me on this, when the Military stuffs a set of orders in your hands and tells you to GO...there isn't much you can do about it. You GO.

The Airman's Creed
I am an American Airman.
I am a Warrior.
I have answered my nation's call.
I am an American Airman.
My mission is to fly, fight, and win.
I am faithful to a proud heritage,a tradition of honor,and a legacy of valor.
I am an American Airman,Guardian of freedom and justice,
My nation's sword and shield,Its sentry and avenger.
I defend my country with my life.
I am an American Airman:
Wingman, Leader, Warrior.
I will never leave an Airman behind.
I will never falter,and I will not fail.

The current version of the Airman's Creed came out after I left the Air Force but you get the idea.

That is a pretty big thing to uphold on a daily basis.  What did that 15 years and 9 months and 1 week of Military service from 24 May 1984 till 1 Feb 2000 leave me with? A case of nerves so bad that I have IBS something awful. A mind that is in a high, hyper state of awareness some days and no ability to slow it down (that part has slowed up a bit in the years ). Believe me when I say I'm not griping at all. This is the hand I was dealt. This is the wall I must sometimes climb and this is the private battle I fight that no one goes along with me. (Randi might have a better idea than most but the storms between my ears are truly my own) It also left me with the knowledge that given the chance, I have the ability to reach inside my mental self very deeply, tamp down everything else and pull up vast sums of calm if the need arises and the ability to make a decision from my own mind with little help from anyone else.... and you wouldn't think a computer network tech would need that kind of ability but when you see a computer on a remote network that could damage the WHOLE computer network you keep running from day to day, the ability to TURN OFF THAT branch of the network to save the rest  of the network isn't easy to do but, as Spock said "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" (I have always said while working on computer and networks that our REAL job is to keep the phone from ringing and believe me when you shut off a branch of a network without their knowledge, the phone RINGS like crazy!)

We can all reach inside ourselves. We might not think we can but we all have this ability

David Allen Coe has a song called "If that ain't country" and the lyrics can be a bit "colorful" (offensive) but one verse sums it up for me.

HE WAS VETERAN-PROUD, TRIED AND TRUE
HE'D FOUGHT TILL HIS HEART WAS BLACK AND BLUE
DIDN'T KNOW HOW HE'D MADE IT THROUGH
THE HARD TIMES
HE BOUGHT OUR HOUSE ON THE G.I. BILL
BUT IT WASN'T WORTH ALL HE HAD TO KILL
TO GIT IT

Was it worth all I, and others, had to give?  I would have to say YES. (Thankfully I didn't have to kill anyone along the way!)

Both my Grandfather's were in the Army and my Dad and all but one of his brothers were in the Army or the Air Force. (one of my uncles was told he was 4F during WWII and he told me the story of coming out of the Military induction center in Knoxville, years ago and someone on the steps called him a "4F son of a bitch"...and my uncle proceeded to whip him right there!  Diabetes made him 4F and it wasn't due to lack of want that he didn't go)

The serenity prayer still wonders around in the back of my mind and quietly reminds me of the wisdom to know the difference between what I can and can't control or change...

J.

A restored photo of my Dad! Restored by my friend, Gail Buckner Strong, who graduated from Holston High School in 1967.

One of the "not so fun days" during the gulf war, late 1990 or early 1991

Christopher and I in uniform, This photo was taken in the early 1990's

One tired dog....

Dogs sacking out on the bed 10/30/2010

Sophie playing Queen of the mountain at the top of the bonus room steps

The Princess

Things you shouldn't do with a computer.

I wrote this as a Facebook note in Feb 2011 and lots of it is still true.  It deserves a reprint and a few updates.

*****************************************************

ACK! I work with computer all day long and I see people doing A LOT of things with their computer that they wouldn't do in person with ANYONE.

Things you SHOULDN'T do with a computer:

1. answer, click, reply, read an email from someone you don't know.

     Sometimes SPAM has code in the email that will tell the person that sent the SPAM to KNOW you have opened this SPAM even if you DON"T answer the email in question.

2. Incredimail/Rich Text Email might look nice BUT it is a large source of malware on computers. Email was not designed with pretty pictures in mind.  Plain text email is MUCH SAFER.  A plain text email can't run any underlying code on that email.

3. ANY (read that again) ANY post in facebook from ANYONE that claims to allow you to see who is visiting your profile are all BUNK. These type of post are against the Facebook terms of service. DO NOT CLICK ON THEM.

4. Even if you get an email from a long lost friend or son or daughter that is filled with dozens of misspelled words and/or a link that says something like "you look FUUNNY in this f!lm" and you haven't seen your friend, son or daughter in a very long time and there is NO WAY IN HELL they have a film of you, DON'T CLICK ON IT.  I once got an email like this from my daughter that has a Masters Degree and I KNEW there was no WAY it was really from her. She spells better than that on a bad day!

Do NOT pass on any email about a virus that is SO new that you need to contact all on your contact list.  Those email's just make your Internet Service Provider GO NUTS. Trust me on this...Anti-virus companies NEVER contact users by email and encourage you to contact your friends about this new virus. 

REMEMBER!

If you didn't play the lottery in England etc..., there is no way you can WIN the lottery in England etc.....

Someone in Nigeria didn't just pick your name out of the millions of people on the Internet to share millions of dollars with.

If your grandson calls you and he doesn't sound like himself and he claims to be in Spain and has been in a car wreck, make sure you call his parents to check if it is the truth before sending him one thin dime. A couple in SC got taken for $10K by this scam.....

THINGS TO DO:

1. get some kind of anti-virus on your computer and keep it updated (this is very important). Norton and Mcafee BOTH are quite bloated and will slow your computer WAY DOWN and both of those anti-virus program are targets for viruses that disable anti-virus programs. Norton and Mcafee are on most computers that are purchased new.  There are free Anti-virus that can be downloaded from download.com or cnet.com.  I myself use AVG antivirus free edition and or Microsoft Security Essentials on most all of my computers here at the nuthouse. I do believe I have 8 or 9 different computer running around here right at this moment. (To update this, I now use avast anti-virus.  AVG is still a good choice but they have added items to their program that causes your computer to use more bandwidth [it phones home without you knowing about it] It is better than NO Anti-virus at all..I just think Avast is a better program)

2. Go download FIREFOX web browser and USE IT. Or Google Chrome Browser. Both of these browsers are MILES better and safer than Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE).  Be aware you can't uninstall IE and some websites will only allow you to use IE on them.  Because of the way IE is tied to the Operating system, it is tied to system calls using permissions that other browsers can't use.  Many viruses infect Windows computer through security holes in the browser.

3. Go to http://browsercheck.qualys.com and check your browser plug-ins. Be aware, IE version 8.0 won't check good and there isn't a fix for it yet from Microsoft. Yet another reason to use another browser other than IE.  (IE is now up to version 11 and I still don't trust it or like it but 11 is better than IE 8 is.  I now use Google Chrome because it allows me to have the same bookmarks on my phone and computer.  )

This is by no means an exhaustive list. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm preaching. Forgive me.

ANY COMPUTER CAN BE INFECTED WITH A VIRUS, be it Macintosh, Windows, or Linux. Some might be attacked less but all can be infected

*stepping off my soap box*

J.

A friend who will not leave

John 15:12 -14 NKJV: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down ones life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatsoever I command you.

I read this as part of my daily Bible reading. I've read this verse a bunch over the years but this time I was impressed with Jesus being my friend.  That thought made me think about the Son of God being my friend. On a daily basis, day in and day out..... A deep and interesting thought. 

In church this morning, Rev. Beth McConnell, the new pastor at Kathwood Baptist Church read                  1 Corinthians 1:18-25: 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The verses above were to the members of the church at Corinth.  The author was trying to get the whole church to stand on the cross as the foundation for their faith.  Not to rely on their own smarts or their own ways BUT to stand on the foundation of the cross and no matter how smart you are, the foolishness of God is wiser than any smarts man can come up with and that God's weakness is stronger that our human strength.

Something to ponder going forward.

J.