The Day That Never Comes Finally Came

 

Yes, I’ve always believed that you should never say never because about the moment you do you’re going to find out that never happens and before you know it you’re eating crow.  Today I picked up our new MacBook Pro.  We had our last laptop fail and had to do something before we headed abroad once again.  We had some money set aside and thought we’d bite the bullet and go ahead and try a Mac.  I guess we’ll see where this thing goes.  I’m familiar with things to a degree because of my i-Touch so it’s not totally new territory…we shall see how this goes!  Now we move on to the Chicago series and still ahead will be the return to Japan!

 

The day we left Chicago there had been a nasty freezing rain that coated our little trailer.  I still am fascinated by this phenomenon because we don’t get that all that often here in Montana.  We decided that on our way home we would stop and see the Mall of America. .  We had a very nice lunch and as usual I thought I’d go somewhere that Lovely and I would have gone to together.  The food was really excellent!  The food wasn’t as good as what we ate in Japan but still I was pleased with it.  Not everyone is fond of Asian food but there was a wide variety so the only challenge was to decide what we wanted to settle for!  Since Lovely and the kids weren’t with me I didn’t visit the same places as I would with them and rather looked for photo opportunities such as this one from a bead store.  If I was still into making my own necklaces I suppose I would have been in seventh heaven!  This place had everything from soup to nuts!  One of our friends is known for his sense of humor…weird as it is…he kept us quite entertained as he willingly tried on various things in the stores we were walking through.  I still smile at that picture!  One section of the mall opened up to a brightly lit area where the roof looked like a giant spider web!  Here’s a closer shot.  Oh how I wish Gabby could have seen this place!  Walking through the amusement park section of the mall brought me to a site that I think under other circumstances would have made me smile but I missed my family so much it made me really sad.  What a lonely sight.  Sponge Bob seemed happy none the less.  I couldn’t help but wish that the kids could come back here with me some day.  The size of the mall really is daunting but there’s maps everywhere.  I think it would have been better to have a couple days to see the sites but for now we were just seeing a slice of it all before heading back to the long road home .  The tables in the cinnamon bun factory made me think of a hypnotist mind trick.  Coming up on this fountain I thought I’d make a wish that someday I’d be here with Lovely and the children.  Someday we may drive this route again…I turned away from the fountainwalked out the doorsand shut the door on this adventure. 

hello again...

As I get older and the abyss looms ever closer, I find myself wondering about a lot of things--then again, I've been wondering about things my whole life...

I wonder what will happen when I draw my last breath; will I be conscious of the end's approach? Will there be anybody waiting in the wings to help me through that doorway, or will I make my departure alone? Will anything I may've accomplished in my lifetime actually count for anything on this plane or the next--if there is one? Will I be held accountable for everything I've done--or not done?

I wonder what purpose my life may have had. I have had dreams--getting published, finding enduring friendships, attaining peace of mind and confidence in myself--yet, if my life's purpose is not to achieve my own dreams but to help others achieve theirs, can I accept that if it's what is required of me? Is there a  possibility I will be expected to abandon my own dreams for another purpose and will anything I do have a meaningful impact upon the world around me?

All my life I've harbored the suspicion that there's more to this gig than existing, enduring, and dying. I know  that there's more to the human experience than our senses and rationality can identify and quantify; science is already investigating phenomena which were considered pretty fringe once upon a time. Quantum physics, for example, suggests that human intention may influence the behavior of subatomic particles, and I wonder what we will do with that knowledge, should it be proven true.

I wonder where events which are unfolding today will lead us tomorrow. Will democracy be proven to be a failure as a form of government? Will individuality be sacrificed in favor of the greater good of some form of society of which we have no conception now? Is humankind so flawed a species that we stand fated to extinction by our emotional natures, recklessness and greed? Dr. Stephen Hawking has declared humanity doomed, anyway, if we do not find a way of moving out into other worlds; millennia hence the sun will go supernova and this solar system will be consumed and all trace of human presence here will be destroyed and forgotten. Will human beings rise above territorial obsessions long enough to work together toward the survival of our species?

But there is one thing about which I wonder most: is this all there is?

Is the human spirit so powerful and enduring that it can transcend one lifetime? Have we lived more lives than we can possibly imagine? Have we all made mistakes again and again, only to return in attempts to do better in subsequent lifetimes? Have we known each other throughout those lives, having accompanied each other throughout this journey, our relationships as enduring as our souls, and why does it seem so inconceivable that reincarnation may be as normal as the processes of birth and death?

I wonder why we, as a species, are so afraid of the unknown; what is it we really fear?

Goodbye has been an issue all my life. Friends have come and gone but I've continued on in hopes of connecting with friends who would not leave me behind. I always thought I'd have the opportunity to say goodbye to my parents before they died--that didn't happen. My hope is not to die alone, that there will be someone there to tell me goodbye; but I realize now that may not be the case.

Is it possible that life is little more than one goodbye after another? How much pleasure can we take each time we say hello, to begin with, knowing that goodbye is inevitable? And each time we say goodbye to life and to each other and go to wherever it is we go, what do we do there until we come back?

Are we forever just waiting to say hello again?

enough winter, already...

'Mornin', Bloggers!

It's Tuesday and we're well into Spring. For over three months of wretched cold, snow, and all the other stuff we associate with winter, I endured and soldiered on, mindful that eventually spring would come, robins would return, and I'd be that much closer to running barefoot through the grass. Well, guess what..



...that's what I see out my office window this morning; what's wrong with this picture???

Jeez...haven't we had enough of that white stuff yet?

Okay...enough of that.

I haven't been around much in recent weeks; I've been visiting my blogging family, but not commenting much, if at all. My mood has been up-and-down for awhile and I didn't want to be a downer for you guys. Didn't want you to think I haven't been out there; just not very participatory.

To Toodie: I'm glad you're keeping busy, your mood is brighter, and one of your chickie girls Finally produced a single beautiful egg. That alone sure made me feel optimistic! Thank you for sharing that news!

To Lisa and Terry: I hope springtime in beautiful Canada brings you sunshine, budding flowers and trees, and the optimism we associate with the season. Yeah, I know--there's still going to be snow as Ma Nature gets rid of the last of her inventory of the stuff (waste not, want not, and all that...).

To Paul: I'll be around within the next day or so to get caught up with your blog; like you, I haven't done much and have a lot to catch up on. You're still my favorite Bahstonian...but you know that already.

To Jenny: I've been thinking about you and hope life brightens up more for you...you're about due for some Springtime sunshine, too. Let's hope it returns soon!

To Kim: I continue to send hugs and my best hopes for a thaw in your life; you've been through so much. Some wonderful things have got to start happening for you again. Soon.

To Hope: I contiue to send lots of hugs and love to you, my sis-by-choice, and hope that life is treating you kindly.

To Neora, I hope all's well in the Realm, and that you have wonderful things awaiting you. (A certain scruffy old bear sends his respects and affection to HRH.)

To Dave. aka, Horace Manure, I'll stop by soon to see if anything new is going on at your little man shack in the woods.  

To David: I miss you. ('Nuff said?)

I have a boatload of work to do today and can't stay online long, dang-it.

I'll make my best effort to get around to visiting in the next day or so; please don't forget me. I haven't forgotten you...

Wow...

the sun is out again...

(that bright spot is an actual patch of sunshine!)



...this could be a good day, after all...



Japan and Libya…What a Week

 

I never thought that we’d be seeing one of the biggest quakes ever and America opening a third front in yet another war all in one week.  We have had some success in getting my mother in law prepared to leave Japan.  The good news is she has her ticket in hand but the bad news is that she has to wait until the 2nd of next month to get out because of the disrupted traffic in Tokyo just now.  I will let everyone know when she finally makes it back to her home in the Philippines.  In the face of all that’s going on right now it can be easy to be overwhelmed and go back to our lives as if nothing is going on but I really am going to hold onto things and remember to pray to the best of my ability.  Being selfish leaves us in a shallow and narrow minded world…difficulty makes us want to pull inward but it’s life to think outward.  Before I continue on with the Chicago pictures I’d like to say that I’m strongly considering reposting the pictures I have of our trips to Japan.  I still find myself being in shock over what’s happened.  Lovely and I are determined to go back someday.  We love that country so much and feel so strongly tied to it.

 

In Ghana you have a name for the day you were born.  I am Kofi there because I’m Friday born…Pastor Leeford is a Kofi as well.  Perhaps this is why we got along so well!  We hope to bring him with us to the Philippines.  We have had to hold on with all we have to Ireland and the coming trip to the Philippines…not easy but the people need to know that we are not surrendering the vision so we’ve tried to keep the theme in the church and held fast to our international vision.  The meetings in Chicago always had God doing great thingsand it was a blessing to be with those that were from other countries here in America praising God!  I love to see God move on people from all over the world and know that in spite of the differences there is still the same God over us all!  We were used to different ways to come before God but together we were able to join in and have a totally unique service.  Pastor Leeford is unusual in that he very much loves praise and worship…which we happen to love very much too!  This is Emmanuel the keyboard player in the music team.  I like to tease pastor Leeford and tell him that his shoes distracted me during the service!  I really love this picture of Pastor Leeford and his wife Joyce!  Sister Joyce was a true blessings and wasn’t just friendly but a very powerful minister in her own right!  This is Tricia who has been with us for many years…she’s about the only one I’d ever say was like a mother to me except my own mom…her she is with Pastor Leeford’s daughter who reminded me so much of my own daughter.  Here is Emmanuel and I posing for a picture.  One more of Emmanuel, his mother and I. 

 

Chicago is a city of diversity…sometimes a little too much I think…yikes!  Finally we were about to head home to Montana but before we left we knew we had to have some of Chicago’s famous pizza!  We found a place that was nominated last year for the best pizza in Chicago and we go some…oh my gosh was it the best ever or what!  I had to leave you with your mouth watering!  Good things to come!  I will finish up with Chicago and then return to the pictures from Japan…I’m really looking forward to it!

Roads….

There are many roads to travel, but the best one, is the one leading homewards…..

Alienware M11x R3

The 11.6-inch MacBook Air is the most perfect laptop I’ve ever owned, but that thin, miraculous wedge of glass and aluminum isn’t for everyone. As a writer, it’s the notebook I’ve always dreamed of, the laptop analog to the iPad… but as a gamer, it’s woefully under-specced. I forgive the MacBook Air for this, of course: as long as you aren’t running anything graphically intensive, the Air feels so fast thanks to its SSD that the idea of specs itself seem meaningless.

What if you’re a gamer who wants massive performance in the smallest footprint, though? Enter Alienware with their third foray into the ultraportable market, and if the specs rumored by Dell-Lab is anything to go on, we’re looking at a beast of a machine crammed into a form factor the size of a couple of MacBook Air’s pressed together.

The alleged specs include an 11.6-inch LCD (1366×768, LED-backlit), up to 8GB DDR3 RAM, up to 750GB storage or 256GB SSD, WWAN 3G/LTE/WiMAX 4G, and shipping in either red or black soft touch material. The proposed CPUs are Intel Core i5-2537M, Core i7-2617M and the Core i7-2657M.

Sandy Bridge CPUs! LTE/WiMax 4G options! Up to 8GB of RAM! All in under a foot’s worth of real-estate. In fact, the only thing not listed is the GPU, which we would assume — being an Alienware machine and all — would be similarly beefy to the rest of the specs. It should surpass the Nvidia 335M (1GB) used on the M11x and M11x R2, but the post coyly says there is not even confirmation of a discrete GPU yet. We’re betting Alienware sticks with discrete graphics, otherwise it takes the chance of massively disappointing consider number of M11x fans out there.

With the M11x currently at $599 (and about ready to be phased out) and the M11x R2 at $799, we should see the M11x R3 starting for under $1000 with the same (if not better) battery life. Rumor has it that these will be shipping some time in April.

Read more at Dell-Lab

Welcome Spring © marge griswold-scheiding

welcome spring   you lovely thing

too long you've been away

i've missed you and the warmth you bring

the sunshine of each day

welcome spring i'm glad you're here

the wait at last is through

the sun is bright the sky is clear

and all because of you!

 (all images found online)

Canon: Mirrorless micro four thirds are for loser camera makers

Canon has long been one of the dominant camera makers, and usually at the forefront when it comes to the camera packaging includes new form factors, which makes their complete failure to release the Micro Four Thirds camera even more inexplicable. Ultimately, the Micro Four Thirds is a popular motherboard, which has been around for many years, and is a good measure of economic society, such as Canon, because it promotes the sale of the lens. So what happens? Why not be the Canon Micro Four Thirds on the market?

Well, I do not know if this piece becomes suddenly executive questions about Canon, but it is entertaining. Social Canon Consumer Imaging, Rainer Fuehres amateur photographer said that the company is not looking at the Micro Four Thirds or the like as these form factors have been closed for business the loser could not hack DSLRs. convincing.

That said, Fuehres did not say that Canon will never make the Micro Four Thirds camera. However, if the Canon in the market, they marched to its beat.

"The idea of ​​a compact camera system has nothing to do with whether the camera is a mirror or not, but it is small and portable system," he said. "If the fees do not participate I hope not only to introduce me-too product, but there will be an opportunity to do something different."

We've heard this before from Canon. They said in July last year that they were not interested in the Micro Four Third, but instead thought they could shrink to a digital SLR factor Micro Four Thirds format size. Canon actually had a story in the market for digital SLR not to do incredible things to shrink the camera mirror, so that we would not be surprised if they managed that. But when?