Thank you George W. Bush. You make us all proud to be Americans.

Theological Luck? Okay, today's posting is just for believers. Every now and then I do something that I know is theologically weak. I just open my Bible and read some pasage randomly. Ever do that? It is amazing to me how often that passage is just exactly what I need to read! How does He do that?

The cool part of the Internet is the massive participation from the world. I think that this is what makes Blogging so cool. But something that has always made me say "gosh" is what the good folks SETI have put together. They have a great concept wherein (love using that word) they use the combined processing power of users who download their free screensaver. They claim that it doesn't take that much of your processor, but it saves them a ton of money on computing power. They claim that to buy the power that they want would be $110 million for an IBM ASCI White doing 12 TeraFLOPS. The option that they have chosen with the free users is giving them 15 TeraFLOPS at a cost of $500,000. How cool is that? Now I am not a big SETI fan (SETI is the Search for Extra Terrestial Intellignece), but I applaud them for thinking outside the box. Now if someone will pull this together to hunt down terrorists or find missing kids.

What got me thinking abou this was when was looking at Weather Underground, which is a free weather service. But what I didn't know until this morning is that most of the weather information is gleaned from users like you and me that have computerized weather stations. The cost of those stations runs anywhere from $195 to $1075. I think that it would be really cool to participate in something like that. My kids would love it!

Saw the movie "First Daughter" this weekend with my daughter. Neat movie. Of course, seeing a movie like that with my daughter is really cool.

Tori is a hoot. She went to her cousin's house and by the time that we got home she had her own blog. Not sure how much she will keep it up, but with a username of Chattterbox (spelled wrong on purpose) she should do fine.

The Dog Days of Summer. Don't really want to work today, just have to. The weather is perfect this time of year; need a sweater in the morning, a t-shirt in the afternoon. Sitting here listening to some incredible jazz, slamming down coffee, and doing my reports. Walked over to the house last night to get ready for church and there was a large deer nibbling some leaves on the edge of the lawn. Deer season is coming soon! Might make her a part of my freezer this winter.

The road to the house is now vacant as all of the tourists have gone back to their homes. The local restaurants are now being revisited by the locals. Most of the smarter folks still drive the 20 minutes to the Taco Bell in Glasgow because you can get your food there and return home faster than standing in line at the local one. Cracker Barrel is now a joy to visit. I went a couple of weeks ago and there were only three other customers there (all local, I recognized 2 of them). That was 8am on a weekday. Soon they will be throwing logs on the fire. So will I.

Ready to take a test? I'm ready to help prepare you...

You need about a minute or so to complete this, I think that it is worth a minute of your time.

The test starts in 3 minutes. At that time you will lose all power for the next 7 days. The cause of the loss of power is irrelevant (storm, grid failure, EMP, etc.). If you are reading this away from home:

• Do you have what you need to get you home? (you can use your car, but only with the gas you have in the tank).
• Does your family have a plan in your absence?
• What would you do if you were stranded and the car wasn't available?

If you are reading this at home:

• Can you make it for a week?
• How will you cook? What foods are going to spoil?
• What will you do without water (water isn't available because the water pumping station is no longer powered)?
• If you live where there are a lot of people can you defend against possible looters?
• What would you do to heat/cool your home?
• How will you get information on what is happening?

Now, I know that some of you are probably saying "here he goes again!" Tough. I love you and care enough to write this. As a believer in Jesus Christ I can't help but share of my love for Him (and Him for me!). And, as a person who believes in the need to prepare against potential problems, I want the same for you. So plan, prepare, and then share with others when the times get tough. And they will....

Enjoying a couple of days in the office, something that I haven't done in many months. I am going to stay over here and work like crazy to clean the place up tonight. I have the DSL people coming over in a week and I want to make sure that they have access to everything that they could possibly need. Going to be great to get this thing going finally.

Funeral for a Friend. Today I experienced one of the most fantastic experiences of my life; the funeral for my mother-in-law. While jokes may be made in some circles about the previous sentence, for me it was no joke, but it was indeed a time of joy and celebration. The of Frankie Ruth Seybert was expected as she had been struggling physically with cancer for over a year. She was taken off of her feeding tube a few weeks ago as it was no longer able to nurish her (she said that when God wants you there is nothing that can stop it, even the most advanced medicine).

The funeral was incredible in that it was truly an expression of praise and worship to our God. Many people will say with their lips that it is a time of celebration, but the room is filled with mourners. This was the case to the extent that we will miss the opportunities to share future holidays with her, intimate times at the kitchen table, and laughter on the phone. But the overwhelming atmosphere was one of joy as we saw our sister go with our Lord, something that we all desire to do.

We were overwhelmed by the expressions of sympathy from friends and family. It was good to see my baby sister and her wonderful family. We loved the outpouring from our new friends at Coral Hill and the incredible ministry team there (who also assisted in the worship), as well as some dear old friends at Glenview (although one "leader" refused to speak with my family, odd). It was so great for Mary to be surrounded by nearly all of her cousins, aunts and uncles, and for my kids to meet some of their more distant cousins for the first time. Carolina made immediate friends with a beautiful who is either her second cousin once removed or third cousin, never figured which was which. Peyton was joined at the hip with Korey, to the surprise of no one. Tori and Karesse were best pals, and Sinclair just loved hanging with all of the older cousins (especially since he is taller than many of them).

Frankie will be missed, but we will not mourn. The sorrow that we feel is knowing that she is missing the shallow celebrations here with us. But tonight she is with the Lord, something that I will only attempt to dream about.

Life Goes On. Spent the day preparing for the funeral of my mother-in-law. The kids don't have a concept of what is going on and the grieving that their mother is going through. An event in their history: next. For the boys it was a chance to spend the day with their cousins, the s a new dress.

Frankie Ruth Simmons Faull Seybert: January 22, 1933- September 16, 2004. We will miss you.

Follow up fact: 48% of evangelicals are not registered to vote.

Political Rant. Today as I listen to a popular talk show host I am getting upset. Not with what he is saying, but with thoughts that there are so many American's who do not exercise their rights to vote.

If you do not vote, shut up.

I know people, even family members who do not vote, and then get all up in arms about how the President did this or that, or the cost of something due to high taxes, etc. Many that just rips me. Look, I have a clear understanding of some of the things that I have the freedom to do or not do. I have a firearm, it is my right. I don't drink, it is my right but I choose not to. I keep religious books, and often assemble with others who feel the same. It is my right. And by goodness, if the cops where to ever want to take a look at the stuff in my house they better come with a warrant. I have nothing to hide, and don't do anything illegal, but it is my right to require it.

This blog is a right (or a write), the right to freedom of speech, even when others disagree. It has become popular in America to try and suppress some forms of speech because it is considered hate speech. There is a huge difference between hate speech and speech which advocates a different view. But speech is speech and you can't say some speech is hate speech and others is not. Pointing out the facts isn't hate speech, it is telling the truth. Pointing out that all suicide bombings are perpetrated by Muslims isn't hateful, it is factual. If I say that I prefer the way that marriage has been since the dawn of man, that doesn't make me a homophobe, it makes me a man who believes in a standard. Technological progress is good, social progress is always bad. Don't agree - get your own blog.

Confessions of a News Junkie
I can't help it, I love to watch breaking news. This day it is around the hurricane that is spinning towards the states. Love that is looking to miss the bulk of Florida again. Friend (Mike) sent a nice link on preparing for hurricanes, the guy really knows me! My kit is now complete and I will be taking it into a storm later this week (Georgia, Virginia).

Bugging Out (someday)

I wrote previously about my desire to prepare for potential problems and my need to put together a bug out bag. It is finished! This thing is great, and doesn't weigh nearly as much as I thought that would with all of the stuff that I have in it. The list is extensive, and I am currently only missing some dust masks and water bottle filters to have the set complete (as I want it). I have catloged it fairly well on the site, and have a few pictures. I am going to now lay it all out, but don't know if I will be able to be as detailed as I want. There are so many really great things in the bag, some complicated (Leatherman), some simple (10x10 feet of poly sheeting).

Mother-in-law continues to be declining in health, hard for me to see, worse for my beloved. She shall surely be with the Lord in the next day or two.

Hurricane Ivan continues to whip of a lot of activity. As I write it has taken a merciful change to the west and will spare the people of Havana. It looks as though that there is a chance that it will totally spare the bulk of Florida - those people need a break.

Time to install my first wireless network. This should be fun!

So much going on this weekend at the Digital Ranch. My dear mother in law is preparing to eb with the Lord after a long struggle with cancer. While we will miss her terribly we are glad that the pain will soon end. That has turned a well planned weekend into something else, but we don't regret the last moments that we have with her. We did get a lot of needed yard work done, and in only 34 more days it will be exactly where we want it. The new mower (got off eBay last weekend) broke after serving valiantly for a whole week. But that's okay, the weekwacker and chainsaw have also broken so I will just make one big expensive trip to the lawn repair shop tomorrow morning.

Lost a couple of bids for the Buffalo repeater that I want, but there are others and I know that I will get one eventually. The new DSL modem should come tomorrow but the DSL can't be installed for 5 more weeks because of a backlog. If they installed it today we would still be set. The only downside to it being installed in the house is that the office phone is still in the office, but I suspect that I can get that moved over here as well soon.

This week I plan to go to Indy on Wednesday-Thursday and Richmond on Friday. The following week will be wild with lots of travel everywhere, I just don't know where yet.

Looking at the Florida coast I am so glad that I don't live there, happy for those who still think that it is some kind of paradise. What a mess, and Ivan is still building up its energy getting ready to hit next weekend.

Well, my computer appears to be finished with its automatic updates (company thing). Back to work.

~Rick

Tennis shoes should be white and have laces. They should NEVER cost more than $20.

Spent a couple of days in Richmond, VA. What a mess! Got out of Dodge the first chance I got. I am grateful to God that I was spared damage. People died just a couple of blocks from where I spent the night (in a car in a parking garage).

Really made me think of how ill prepared I am to defend my family in case a serious emergency comes up. Today it was a tropical storm, what will it be tomorrow? So, now I have pulled the family together to get ready for an ice storm, tornado, terrorism, etc. Doubt that we will ever be totally prepared, but I can tell you that today I am much more prepared than I was yesterday!