gratefulness

My APU Did Its Job!

We live so far out of town that we can’t get DSL or cable Internet.

That doesn’t pertain to this post except to help explain this: We seem to have frequent power outages, interruptions, and/or disruptions — especially in the winter time.

Over the years, that has translated into lots of time lost due to the power failing and the computers going dead. Even when the power merely winks off and on, it means lost work and/or corrupted files. For certain, it means having to reboot and start over.

Well, two or three months ago I decided that was enough of that. So I purchased and installed an APC Battery Backup unit.

Yesterday morning during computing time, the power winked. The printer shut off and restarted. The answering machine went through its routine. My ThinkPad beeped its way from AC to battery to AC.

But our desktop Dell just kept right on as though nothing had happened.

Because my APU did its job — it kept delivering uninterrupted power to the desktop.

Hey! Maybe that’s why they call it a UPS sometimes! (You know, Uninterrupted Power Supply.)

Anyway, that’s the first time the thing earned its purchase price.

That was fun to experience.

And I’m thankful.

(PS: I bought mine from Circuit City’s website. You could buy it from Amazon.)

Two of My Friends

As I mentioned on November 22, two of my friends got married that day in Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico.

(Congratulations, Philip and Perla, and God bless you in unending abundance!)

Our daughter-in-law Shari sent us a picture CD. We got it last night via my folks who just returned from Mexico. Here are extractions from three of those photos:

Philip and Perla Strubhar on their wedding day in Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico

Philip and Perla and their parents

Philip Strubhar and Russell Roth prior to the former's wedding

Sorry, I decided not to post larger versions of these.

Oh, and the young fellow on the right on the last picture is husband of the above-mentioned photographer, our son Russell.

Thanksgiving Day

Yeah, I know — Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow in the United States.

But why can’t it be every day in my part of the world (which is normally in the United States)?!

Huh, now?

So I purpose to generate a Thankfulness Post once a day. Furthermore, I’ve added a Thankful category and a Gratefulness tag.

(I know, I know — this blog is top-heavy with tags. I need to do some drastic housecleaning and see if I can trim the count down from > 600 to < 30.)

So…for what do I want to say thanks right now?

WordPress and plugins and themes — they drive my six blogs.

Six? 😯

Six 😀

Another Reason for a Fence

As someone who grew up in Mexico (I lived there close to 22 years), I don’t understand the logic behind unmarked and/or unfenced boundaries.

Makes no good sense to me at all.

Border patrol agent held at gunpoint

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist.

Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who was not identified.

It was unclear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers.

In a Roth Administration, both US borders would be well-fenced and well-monitored and well-enforced.

In the period up to the completion of a secure physical structure, two spy satellites would be “parked” over each border and fully-authorized-to-detain-or-repel agents would be exclusively assigned to the most troublesome areas. Wherever there is an incursion, drone aircraft would supplement satellite coverage.

It took me less than two minutes to figure that out. 😯

Maybe I have more common sense than’s required to be one of them there run-of-the-mill political types. 🙄 😆

All that aside, how about some good news?

Good news keeps pouring out of the epicenter. Oil prices are falling (20% of record highs earlier this summer). Domestic gas prices are falling. Violence in Iraq continues dropping steadily. Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi Army, is telling his forces to lay down their arms. And the U.S. just convicted one of Osama bin Laden’s closest aides in the first military trial in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Are more tough times ahead? Undoubtedly. But let’s take a moment to say a prayer of thanksgiving.

Thank You!

You’re not entitled, so be thankful!

Who has encouraged you throughout your life?

Be grateful to each and every person who has said things to you that have given you the inner strength to do what you might not have done without that encouragement.

There are projects and courses of action that we might not have followed through on. We might have been ready to give up. We were feeling discouraged. We might have thought that we were wasting our time and effort. We might not have realized that we had the necessary skills, talents and intelligence. Someone believed in our abilities. Someone was willing to tell us that we should continue going further. Be grateful for what those people have done for you.

There’s too much ungratefulness goin’ on out there.

Because there’s too much unthankfulness goin’ on in here.

So develop a thankful heart.

Above all, love God!