A Classic Guitarist meets a Classic Rock Guitarist

Went to see Joe Satriani play on Sunday (19, Keswick Theatre Glenside, PA US); what an awesome performance. The Man totally rips on guitar! He also had Leslie West of “Mountain” open for him.

I remember seeing Mountain perform at “Max Myers Park - Oakland St & Magee Ave Philadelphia, PA 19149” in the 80’s.
Get Directions The classic rock guitar player astonished me back then; and again tonight. Both guitarists are masters of their own style of rock. Joe ended the night by asking Leslie West to perform the song “Goin Down” with him. Hearing both these guys trading solos just floored me. Satriani is clearly a leader at commanding his guitar to scream, laugh, cry, and through chunks at will. I kept hearing this little voice telling me “Bob, you need to practice”.

Cuba Gooding Jr.

I’m not sure how people are going to take what I am about to say; but in my opinion, Cuba Gooding Jr. does some of his best work in the movie, “Jerry McGuire” (while a bit coarse). Whether from a comedic or serious point of view, his character of “Rod Tidwell” dramatizes his ability to become whatever a movie needs to be great. The acting I loved the most in the movie was performed by him and Renée Zellweger. This is not to take away from the performance that Bonnie Hunt (a classic actress), or Jonathan Lipnicki (as child) delivered. I just personally feel that Cuba Gooding Jr. takes the audience on that bipolar rollercoaster of believable excitement which carries the movie through its scene.

Why am I gaining weight when I exercise?

When a specific volume of fat is weighed against the same volume of muscle, the fat weighs less. This is because the fat has less density than the muscle. For this reason, if we exercise it is feasible to gain weight (due to building muscle), before losing it (by losing more weight in fat).

This shows the importance of a healthy diet (as in, a life of routinely eating right; not a quote, unquote Diet program), and cardiovascular exercise. Cardio exercise focuses on raising the heart rate, which in turn burns fat. This mixed with muscle building exercise can grow calorie burning-muscles that also assist in burning fat.

Yes; this is a balance that I have been struggling with since my heart-attack in June. It is hard for me to keep a healthy diet when having constant gastritis and taking 11 pills every day; five of which are for the chest and stomach pain caused by my inflamed esophagus.

However, maintaining a good balance of exercise, Body Mass Index (BMI), muscle mass, and diet is important for everyone. I have found that joining a Gym and being diligent with scheduling time to go during each week helps. So, when you find yourself gaining a little weight at the beginning of your workout, don’t get discouraged. Press-on and you will begin to see the scale easing its way back down.

Remember, I am not a professional dietitian; so always consult a physician before making changes to your diet and exercise routines.

I've got the piece of paper

You might be wondering why I have been spending more time on my website. It’s because school is out (at least for me). Believe it or not! I graduated from the University of Phoenix with a 3.28 GPA (that’s a “B” average). Now I have a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (a - BSIT). It may have taken me until the ripe old age of 45, but it still feels good.

One Nation under God: Unity in Christ

When I think of the saying, “One Nation under God”, I think of something even more important than the Pledge of Allegiance; rather, the Kingdom of Heaven. In Revelation chapter 21 through 22, the Bible speaks of a new Heaven and a new earth where all nations will come together in unity as the Bride of the Lamb: “…those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life…God’s holy people.” This weighed with Galatians 3:28 (for we are all one in Christ Jesus) and Colossians 3:11 (where everyone is equal in importance when in Christ), it is clear that racial differences are absolutely meaningless. In fact, every form of racism is considered non-Christian. When in Christ, we are new creatures belonging to a new nation and unified under our one true God. More astounding, we are called to love all other believers as the family of Christ, and in so doing, we are witnesses before the world testifying of our authenticity as Christians (a new Nation).

“A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples: if you have love one for another.” - John 13:34-35 KJV

Allow “where we are going” to define who we are (citizens of Heaven); not “where we have been.”

God so loved the World

I had the opportunity to hear Shane Claiborne speak at Bethel Fellowship today; and while I probably wouldn’t hold to all his views, I thought he was a very provocative speaker for Christ. From his message, the most profound image I walked away with was that God loves the world. What I mean is; there are no exceptions to the statement of John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” - John 3:16

Why did God omit the portion of that statement that would be in agreement with our human nature, “except for the bad people” or “except for all evildoers?” It is so easy for us to say, “God loves the world except for… people like”:

Adolf Hitler
Osama bin laden
Muslims
The Unsaved
Abortionists
Homo sexuals
Divorced individuals
People in other churches
Druggies and Alcoholics
People who surf the Internet for porn
People who hate their neighbors
Anyone who has ever stolen
Anyone who has ever lied
A brawler
An argumentative person
A Sinner

Rather, what I find in scripture is:

(1) Christ is a friend of Sinners (meaning brining salvation to all) - Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34

(2) “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we (no exceptions) were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Including you & me)” - Romans 5:8

I know that the point is; all of us deserve condemnation, but God loves us all enough to give us the Lamb (Jesus) as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

(3)Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God.- 1 John 3:4

(4) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:23-3:26

(5) For the wages of sin (all and every sin) is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23

The more amazing thing to see here is that salvation through Jesus is offered to everyone, including you and me. No matter who we are, if we turn to God for forgivness we will not be refused. “…that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” No one is beyond salvation, being saved, or being pleasing before our God. God loves us! God loves you!!!

I survived my first heart attack!

It happened Sunday, June 22nd, and I believe it to be genetic rather than lifestyle in my case. My mother’s uncle, my mother's brother, my father, and younger brother all had heart attacks in their 40s. I am 45.

Stop unwanted folders from popping up when you boot up

Here is a tool I found useful and note worthy yesterday. It’s a small Startup.exe Program/Shell applet created by “Mike Lin at http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml” that fixes “boot/Start-up” issues.

At work we imaged an operating system to speed up laptop rollouts. While most of the images proved successful, about ten of them had an ATI folder open up at startup. Even if we unchecked the application in the “System Configuration Utility” (msconfig.exe) / “Startup” tab; the folder would continue to appear. After installing and running this tool on one of the “C” drives; I unchecked the reference to ATI and the folder miraculously went away. I’m thinking about rolling it out on the other machines as well.

If you find it useful, please support its creator. If you don’t, I am only sharing that it worked for me.

When “Windows Update” fails to install on Win XP Service Pack 2 machines

Most of the PCs I work on are Win XP Service Pack 2 machines. Just the other day I happened to have two laptops that would not install the Window’s updates after downloading them. When (Google) searching for a solution, I came across a link that solved the problem on both machines. Apparently, all I had to do was re-register the dll files associated with the Windows update process. Here are the files, text, and the links.

This may help fix a corrupt installer:

1. Click on Start and Run,
2. Type "REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL" (without quotation marks) and press
Enter.
3. Should get the message "DllRegisterServer in WUAPI.DLL succeeded"
Click OK.
4. Repeat above for each of the following:
REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
5. Reboot
Now try to install your updates.

Above information barrowed from:
http://forums.vnunet.com/message.jspa?messageID=870658
And:
http://sp2updatefix.notlong.com

A matter of a child’s heart

The other day, as we sat down to dinner my seven year old (soon to be eight in a month) desired to pray. It went something like this:

“Dear Jesus; thank you for this day and thank you for our family. I pray my daddy doesn’t have another heart-attack, I pray my Mom doesn’t have a heart-attack. I pray that Samara and I don’t have any heart-attacks. And I pray that I die first, before my Dad, because I would miss him too much.”

I had to share. I am blessed above many other men, for I am loved with such love as this child’s heart.

Moral Consideration

This is a question posed by my Environmental Ethics teacher:

Characteristics for Moral Consideration Discussion

What do you feel should be required for an item of nature (humans included) to deserve moral consideration? Post your criteria as a response to this message. Also, take some time to read and respond to the ideas posted by your classmates.

Well, knowing that each of us has such varying positions on this subject, I can feel comfortable expressing my opinion too. I have a Judeo-Christian framework from which I build my beliefs, ideas, and opinions. I also recognize that just because others may have the same framework, that does not grantee that they will agree with my views. With that said, I respect each person’s opinion because two people cannot stand in the same shoes at the same time (each person has the right to believe what they wish).

First, I believe each human (determined by DNA) has God given rights, the same rights that extend to all of humanity. Being moral agents by nature (as designed), and being fearfully and wonderfully made, every individual is owed respect regardless of global origin, skin tone, language, size, sex, abilities, financial status, or any levels of perfection (because no one is perfect). Furthermore, just because a person may not hold to this view that does not give me the right to exclude them from the rights owed them. This is why moral consideration should be extended to only one race; the human race.

Now, humans as stewards. Because all things have been given to us, we all have the important task of caring for our entire environment with respect (as we would a gift, or something on lone). The world is not ours to trash at will.

Concerning animals; commonsense tells us that torturing or mutilating other life forms is wrong. Therefore, killing or destroying just for the sake of pleasure must be discouraged. However, as animals are on the food chain of other animals (and predators do not consider their prey in any moral sense), I do not find any wrong doing with proper farming, hunting and eating of animals.

Concerning animal habitats (deforesting); we need to find balance with:

• Caring for every species (for they are a work of the Master craftsmen) with preserving environmental balance (this means balance in keeping disease and parasitical element at bay when they pose a threat to human and environmental preservation).
• Harvesting resources and replenishing those resources (tree farming).
• Managing these resources with economic trends.
• Minimizing pollution.
• Preserving resources because it is the most responsible thing to do for generations that follow, and the respectful thing to do for our gift called the environment.

I survived a heart attack!

It happened Sunday - June 22, around 1:00 pm.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

(Ps 34:4 NIV)

Offshore Drilling?

A question posed in my collage class with my answer:

President Bush has recently proposed that we begin to explore for oil off of the U.S. coast. Is this a viable solution? If it is looked at from the perspective of reducing fuel costs, then I would say no. If from the perspective of ensuring long term reserves while we continue to investigate alternative fuel supplies, then I would say yes.

Here is a nice fresh article on the topic; it flows well with your statements: http://offsur-drill.notlong.com. I have to agree with both of your statements. It wouldn’t bring down gas prices any time soon; probably long after it reached $12 a gallon. It wouldn’t be substantial enough to make a difference in price or dependence for a while. Too little too late: http://To-little.notlong.com. We also need to remember that ½ of the price we pay for gas is taxes.

We as a country have allowed our selves to become too dependent on other countries for oil and business. I think the idea behind it all is that it secures us when other countries become dependent on the US influx of money – (break America and you break yourself). However, this action has only painted the US into a corner of dependence on other countries policies, politics, and hidden agendas; none of which is good for our environment.

Here is another political perspective, http://the-Pledge.notlong.com. We are caught between a rock and a hard place: “Protect US interests” or “Protect US coasts”. I just feel the longer we drag out alternative energy interests, the bigger the ditch we dig no matter what we do concerning drilling.

America’s dependency on foreign oil?

A question posed in my collage class with my answer:

To decrease dependence on foreign oil, should the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be open to exploration as an interim solution?

Absolutely and unequivocally not. I believe it would be a step in the continually (same old, same old) wrong direction. Here is an analogy:

An American parent as been feeding their family hamburgers everyday for 25 years at a restaurant over the Mexican border. In the last 5 years, a doctor has discovered that the whole family will only live another 8 years if they continue to be fed in that way. The parent is now given the choice: (a) Farm vegetables out of there own garden which would mean a change in lifestyle and adding 30 more years of life to the family. Or: (b) Spend valuable time looking for a restaurant locally to buy more hamburgers, before getting serious planting the garden.

Question: Do we really think the parent will start the garden in a timely fashion (if start at all), once they find a restaurant to supply all the family’s burger needs? More likely, the parent and family will not change their lifestyle out of convenience and financial stability; and, will die in 8 years.

If America does not make a lifestyle change by harvesting healthier, renewable energy resources within her own borders, she will waste her time, life, and money looking to consume herself out of existence within her own nationhood.

God is the definer of all things...

Your actions may define who you are before others, but God knows your heart. Therefore, if you truly belong to God (John 3:3); Completeness only comes when your faith is followed by your actions (James 2:24).

Green Chemistry Initiative

A question posed in my collage class with my answer:

Has anyone heard of the Green Chemistry Initiative?

I haven’t heard of it before today; however, I know it is a step in the right direction. So much of our lives involve chemicals, and this is only one aspect of the possible danger we encounter daily. I believe that the years of exposure to numerous elements contribute to health and environmental problems. From petroleum based products, plastics, chemicals, insecticides, including all the natural things we encounter, over time will rob us of life.

Plastics and other petroleum based chemicals are most likely the cause of many reproductive problems in humans and animals; not to mention neurological development.

http://plastic-bottles.notlong.com

http://CleaningSupplies.notlong.com

http://petro-chem.notlong.com

http://HealthHarms.notlong.com

Personally, I don’t feel enough is being said in order to educate the public. Many people feel that environmentalist are radicals (or tree huggers) more concerned for animals than people. Perhaps this is true in some cases, but the fact is that we can only survive in an environment that is well managed. People worldwide should be taught the essentials about our connection to our surroundings (our environment), and not have it sound like some mystical type of religiosity (May the force be with you in our oneness).

Acid Rain

A question posed in my collage class with my answer:

Acid rain is a problem affecting many cities in the United States and other countries. What are the impacts of acid rain and what should we do to minimize its impact if any?

As we continue to spew toxins and chemicals into the air, what goes up eventually comes down. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are pumped into the air by way of fossil fuel emissions (Vehicle=Fuel and smokestack=coal), which travel miles away where precipitation brings it back to earth. Acid is a corrosive breaking down things in its path (metals, rocks, trees, plants, etc… http://epa-acid.notlong.com). It eats away at everything from buildings to life-forms. It breaks down minerals and other food sources which affect those life-forms that depend on them. Everything from birds, fish, insects, animals, and people are all affected by its destruction.

I just thought of something profound about humans that animals are smart enough not to do (in most cases); “Bite the hand that feeds them.” In essence, we are trashing the environment that supports our lives. Not too smart!

Here are things we can do to improve our world:

1. Reduce the amount of pollutants we propel into our air http://acid-rain.notlong.com

2. Create fines that are reasonable and that directly finance environmental restoration

3. Develop alternative, renewable energy sources

4. Develop better ways to trap and dispose of the toxins we generate from burning

Disposal of nuclear waste?

A question posed in my collage class and my answer:

We are just recently realizing the impacts of improper disposal of hazardous waste as well as overuse of certain insecticides on the environment as well as the ecosystem. We are now looking at how and where to begin disposal of nuclear waste. What should be considered when identifying disposal methods and/or disposal sites?

After reading chapter 12, the sound of the statement, “We are now looking at how and where to begin disposal of nuclear waste.” causes me total disgust. It is so hard to comprehend that the disposal of waste with the most toxic proportions was not set in stone before building the first nuclear power plant. This is clear insanity! Moreover, some of what the chapter expresses is that we have come a long way in precautionary measures since “Three Mile Island” http://T-M-I.notlong.com and “Chernobyl” http://cbc-nws.notlong.com; however, how can this be justified with the evidence in the Environews clip stating what Russia is continuing to do? I just have to rant and say it is appalling.

Obviously, when considering methods of disposal, the least destructive to the environment needs to be the answer (no matter what the cost). It sure would be nice to blast it off into the sun or some foreign star but that would be near imposable and too dangerous. So, apart from that idea; deep underground disposal seems the most promising (on the path to decommissioning/dismantling every plant that exists – my comment). However, it must be contained in the best possible way, to reduce radiation leakage and contamination of the environment.

One thing to consider here class is the log-term accumulation of long-term (half-life) radiant nuclear waste. The more we create, the more we have to manage over long periods of time. Are the generations that follow us (thousands of years down the road) going to be able to handle the mess we are creating for them? Do we even care? Sometimes I really don’t believe we are smarter than the animals. No animal alive or dead has left our human generation with the type of problems we are creating for the life-forms that come after us.