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| My work, my ideas, my faith, my life |
A Shameful DearthBy
September 20th, 2008
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I imagine it is a problem in most parts of the country, but here in Multnomah County, Oregon, where I live and work, it is nearly impossible for a person with a felony on his record to find housing. I’m not talking about myself. My record is clean. I have clients for whom this is not true. (more…)
My FaithBy
July 31st, 2008
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I realized today that in my tag, it says I talk here about my faith, and then reading through my entries, have not really mentioned it in any prominent way. My excuse for that is that I maintain a separate blog for writing about spiritual things. (more…)
My Postscript Mentor Business CardBy
July 19th, 2008
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In addition to software engineering, I mentor developmentally disabled adults in life skills. I teach various sills related to community living and being included in community activities. I developed a business card to give to agencies and clients that outlined some of the things I teach. (more…)
I Solved My Full Disk ProblemsBy
July 16th, 2008
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Every few days, I would get a notice on my desktop that my disk was too full and I had to clean it up. I run Windows XP Professional. I would allow it to use the clean up utility, which would solve it for a little while. The annoying little pop up started happening more and more frequently. (more…)
RadioactivityBy
May 11th, 2008
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When I was about seven years old, my stepbrother would take me around to the neighbors and bet them that I could spell any word they asked me to spell. Fortunately, his friends weren’t scholars by any means, so I never got asked anything I couldn’t handle.
One of them asked me if I could spell “radioactivity”, which I obliged easily. I doubt any of them knew for certain that I was right, but I knew it and I was proud.
Despite my stepbrother using me as a side show, he was not particularly happy that I was so smart. He had trouble in school and somehow I got punished for it.
Me on Oracle StreetBy
May 11th, 2008
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Between the ages of 5 and 9, we lived in Norwalk, California on Oracle Street. It was an interesting place to live. Across the large street was the California State Hospital for mentally ill patients. We would often get late-night visitors at our back door, inmates who had escaped and climbed over our brick fence.
It was both scary and exhilerating. I remember one night, some man was banging on our back door, yelling, “Lucille! I know you’re in there. Come out of there or I’m coming in.” We called the police and it was a patient from the hospital.
We eventually got a German Shepherd, or as we knew it then, a Police Dog. His name was Chief Sacagawea of Echo Valley, but we just called him Chief. He was AKC registered.
We taught him to attack anyone who came over the wall. The nocturnal visits from patients of the hospital ceased after a few butts got bitten. Good times.
Bonneville DamBy
May 10th, 2008
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In March of 2007, I took clients to visit Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River between the states of Oregon and Washington. I took some photographs and videos of the dam, visitors center, power house, and locks. I put them together into this little film. We were fortunate that day that the locks were being closed the next day for repairs. It meant there was a lot of traffic coming down the river trying to get through the lock before it would be closed for two weeks. We happened to catch a barge full of wheat going through the lock. There was just inches between the sides of the barge and the sides of the lock, but the pilot boat inserted the barge into the lock with only one very brief and minor touching of the sides. It was very impressive. The barge also barely fit lengthwise, but the pilot stopped at exactly the right spot for the gates to open and close. (more…)
Sugar-Free ChoicesBy
May 10th, 2008
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I was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. The nutrionist said I could have the occasional sugary soda as long as I count it as a carbohyhdrate exchange and not exceed my carbohydrate allowance. Well, that doesn’t help much if you go to a a fast food place with friends or to a theatre to catch a movie. Your choices are limited to diet cola and water. Do the cola companies, Coke and Pepsi, have some kind of monopoly going here? My problem with this choice is that the colas have caffeine and I don’t want caffeine. (more…)
Weight For MeBy
May 10th, 2008
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It seems to run in my family on my mother’s side that children begin life small and very thin. All of my cousins on that side of my family and all of my aunts–my mother’s sisters–were so thin as children and adolescents that people thought they were undernourished. It is also a trait of these same people, when they reach the age of about nineteen, to balloon into being as overweight as they were underweight. It was exactly the same for me, though not universal among my cousins. Some of them remained very thin. (more…)
Software EngineerBy
April 27th, 2008
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In 1980, I was working at a warehouse job. I went out to the dock to receive a case of cash register tape. I was standing on the dock and a truck driver was handing it up to me from the ground level. I felt a twinge in my back, but continued working the rest of the day. (more…)
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