RipplecutBuddha
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Posts posted by RipplecutBuddha
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I was only home from the San Diego mission five years when this was posted. I coulda given him some good info, too....
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The Stradivarius violin is one of the most valuable and collectible musical instruments in history. To find an original in playable condition is a rare find. Many examples are insured for several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Not long ago, someone began attempting to create forgeries of the magnificent violin. Multiple dozens of examples made it into circulation with no one the wiser. However there was something wrong with the forgeries that revealed their nature.
The end of the violin's neck is capped with a single wooden piece that is called the scroll. It holds the tuning pegs in place and works with the neck to keep the strings taught and playable. The scrolls of the Stradivarius were thought to be no more special than any other, as very few if anyone thought they contributed to the sound of the instrument overall.
The truth of their importance came out hand in hand with the discovery of the forgeries. Whenever a C note was played on a true Stradivarius, it rang strong and pure as any other note on the instrument. However when a C was played on a forgery, the note had a lifeless, almost dull tone that was clearly uncharacteristic of the legendary instrument's reputation.
The cause of this fault was very painfully examined and researched for months until the cause was identified. There was something wrong with the scroll that caused the sour note.
Sure enough, all the forgeries were identified by testing them with the single note weakness that the true instrument would never have.
In the end, several people were out hundreds of thousands of dollars, multiple investigations were launched, but nobody could determine who had made the forgeries. To this day, the entire episode is known as The Mystery of the Dead C Scrolls.
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"I am disinclined to aquiese to your request.... Means 'no'."
My favorite line from the pirate trilogy.
Here's my view. Both Edgar Allen Poe and William Shakespeare had voluminous vocabularies, as well as solid command of multiple other languages beyond english. Neither one of them was afraid to display their respective prowess. The result is that both happen to be legendary literary giants.
Here's the odd part. I love E.A. Poe, but I cannot bear to read Shakespeare. I have tried repeatedly, but to no avail.
There's nothing wrong with encouraging the elevation of one's reading and writing skill level. After all, there are degree-bearing college graduates that have an abhorrent lack of spelling and grammar ability, much less reading level.
I think using the word 'ban' when one merely means 'to avoid when possible' is a trendy word in itself that ought to be avoided. Much along the lines of using the word 'hack' in place of the word 'tip'. Another one I dislike is the phrase 'you're doing it wrong' when all the presenter is sharing is a different way to accomplish something which may, or may not, be better or more effective.
Either way, moderation in all things with an eye to constant and consistent improvement is the best method.
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I have a brother in town who has, along with his family, been eagerly supportive of me. Add to that the local members of my ward, and along with everyone here, I'm confident I'll make it through intact.
One thing that will help is my life-long habit of forgiving others quickly. I just can't care about things long enough to hold a grudge. I've ended up friends with every girlfriend I had before I got married, and I talk with two of them on facebook fairly regularly. They both have wonderful families of their own, and I find myself genuinely happy for them in every way with no reservations. What had happened between us so many years back is just part of life to me now. If anything I simply have regrets from not having treated them better, as each of them deserved.
I am quite certain I will get to the same place with this matter after the healing process is done. It's just right now there are moments that bring it all into the forefront of my mind. Having to explain to people at work what happened is tough. Leigh (My new ex) worked at the same hotel I did for a while, and everyone liked her quite a bit. I can tell nobody wants to get too involved in it, and I can't blame them. It's not their burden, and not their problem to worry about. On that front everyone has been fantastic.
For now it seems everything is going as well as could be hoped, so God has been blessing her and I both in spite of what is happening. I cannot fathom what His thoughts are on the matter, given what he knows of us both, but to know he still intends to give us as much happiness as he can at all times is a great boost to my faith and determination to see it through.
- classylady, NeuroTypical and Backroads
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thank you all for support and prayers. Things have levelled off as far as the emotional impact. One of the difficulties is that most of her belongings are still here, even though she's found a new place to live. Having the reminders of her makes it, well, difficult. She is in process of moving it all to her new place, so it's moving along, I suppose.
I just have to sit down and remind msyelf that when I asked her dirctly if she wanted the marriage to work out, whatever it took, she gave a simple 'no'. The fond memories I hope to have for the rest of my life, but for now, I can't let them overshadow the reality that she decided she was done with our marraige long before I knew it was even in that much jeapordy.
I'll keep coming here as long as I can. You've no idea how much you all do for me, just by giving me something to read and ponder from the forums. May God be with us all, to the end of our days in this life, and may those days be many.
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I just finished watching Dream Theater's latest concert DVD Breaking the Fourth Wall.
The band got their start at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. This concert, they go back and perform with a student coir and student orchestra live. It is one of my favorite concert DVD's of all time.
Plus, the music is very theraputic and healing for me, something for which I am currently very grateful.
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Well, I had hoped to hang on to this until after the holidays, but I need to heal, and hanging on is not aiding me at all.
My amazing wife of 2 years has asked to divorce me.
I won't go into personal details. I'm not like that. My first divorce took me off my feet for a year. This one might be as long or longer. All the feelings associated with failure are back. She was my world. I'd still do whatever I could to mend the damage and try again. But she's resolved. It will take a miracle, and I'm not even certain that such aid would work.
I came back to the site to get things started on the right path with her, but it seems it was too little too late.
I will keep coming here because I need the strength of the Spirit with me as often as I can have it, and everyone here is a tremendous source of strength and support for me in all kinds of situations. Thank you for all you do and who each of you are.
I will get through this, though I may have to walk a mile to do so. I'm very grateful that I have family and friends by my side when that mile seems so, so long.
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Of all my better qualities, it's my humility that I'm most proud of.
My mission president was a surgeon, so occasionally he would use medical examples in his talks and presentations. Speaking directly about humility and pride, he viewed them as diseases, and had this to say about each.
"Humility is an odd disease. Once you know you've got it, it tends to disappear."
"Pride is also an odd disease. The symptoms appear in everyone but the carrier."
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The weakness in all mortal prophets is precicely why we are instructed to seek the truth on our own, from the source himself. Thus, if a prophet doesn't get the message exactly right, the faithful followers can still get the message as it was intended.
The purpose of a prophet isn't, nor has it ever been, to rule over and command the faithful. Rather, it has been to lead the faithful back to the source of the prophet's own wisdomn and inspiration; to make sure everyone is on the same page. It's not necessarily that the prophet is any better than anyone else, it's just that God needs to start the message with somebody, so he chooses the most capable he can find, and begins with them.
- MrShorty and Just_A_Guy
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I wish I had a lifetime credit card with no limit
I wish my body could be changed to Colossus' from the X-men, so I could enforce fire lane parking rules whenever I go shopping
I wish deliberate idiocy and dishonesty were immediately and acutely painful.
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So I've been gone for quite a while, but recent events have driven home how much strength I have gained from being here. Strength that I have noticed missing in recent days, for various reasons. Long story short, I'm anxious to return to the strength of testimony and positive view of life I could have had all this time.
Look forward to dry jokes, bad puns, and generally almost inappropriate humor to come. It's not the same as coming home, but it's the next best thing.
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To finalize what was said above, since I also did years worth of research in this area, 95% (roughly) of all the points of argument used against the church were formulated while Joseph Smith was still alive, and they were easily defended and countered at that time as well. The only 'recent' matter would be the straw-man search for 'Nephite DNA' among the native people of the Americas, and it was just as easily and quickly taken apart and explained as soon as it came out.
Thus the lies have not changed, nor have the answers to them. There are far better ways to build one's testimony and/or serve as a missionary for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As long as one can maintain a civil discussion, I have no problem talking with anti-Mormons about their questions. As soon as the contention begins, I try to graciously thank them for their time, testify, and get out. Anything beyond that destroys any chance of them hearing you out.
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I wonder....
....If the Colorado Avalanche or Rockies will win another title in the future.
....why you drive on a parkway, but then park on your driveway.
....how long it would take to travel to, and do a session in, every currently open temple on the earth.
....if the sealed portion of the BoM will be revealed at the beginning of the millennium, as new scripture tends to be a key opening moment in each new dispensation.
....what Pres. Monson's favorite kind of music was as he grew up.
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If one's motivation to do good is for the sake of the loving attention they'll receive, then I agree completely. If it really is because one is trying to sincerely be a better person, I don't mind so much because then at least they're trying for the right reasons, and we all have to start somewhere, right?
When Oprah gave everyone in her audience a car on one show, I was immediately sickened. In my view that was for 100% headline-grabbing attention. If she had merely changed it to handing out envelopes with keys and titles to the audience as they left the studio, I'd have given her a little slack. Not much, but a little.
If she had used her resources to find families needing a free car, and handed out the same number to them, one at a time, personally, that would have been even better.
Matthew 6:1-4
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
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I think....
...I can back up the 'feisty redhead' theory, as I am happily married to one.
...you can safely compare raising a puppy to having a toddler, so long as you leave the housetraining part out of it
...all driver's licenses should be verified every five years through re-testing, (both written and driving) and every other year if said individual was the cause of an accident, or obtained more than four tickets of any kind within a one-year span.
...no holiday should receive commercial support or attention further out than three weeks from the day itself. This far into the game, I think we all know when Halloween,Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day and Easter are due to happen.
...it's a sign of true art mastery when a song comes on and you physically stop everything you're doing to hear every last note.
...I could do these all day if I had nothing else to do.
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Let me guess, IT will set the new server up in exactly the same way as the old one, and no lessons will be learnt from this incident. Or the plan will be to modify the setup at some point in the future, which never happens due to lack of budget...
Heh, possibly, however we were already due to get a new server next year before any issues with this one began. The whole system went through two or three variations since I've been hired. We started out with a satellite internet connection, but that equipment was ancient seven years ago when the property was expanded and renovated. Then we went to cable internet briefly with horrible results due to a certain provider here that doesn't know what they're doing.
Currently we're still on that set-up, but with an additional VPN connection for management. Oh, to hear my manager express her joy with that arrangement. Apparently when the corporate I.T. set that all up, they didn't obtain enough certificates for all the properties to be on the system at the same time (something that would only make sense from my eyes) so she has to pick and choose when to get her work done by guessing when another manager or two are done doing theirs first....
The internet cable setup for the main system has stabilized enough for now that we finally don't miss the satellite system at all. For my part, I think we would benefit from a single outside IT support company coming in and spec'ing out a single complete system from scratch. The guest internet is completely separate from all the mess, but it's just getting uglier with band-aids overlapping each other at this point.
Oh, well. Supposedly on Monday we'll be getting the rest of the 'temp' server up. We'll see how solid it is I guess.
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The hotel industry is a penny-pinching one to a rather embarrassing degree. We are, perennially, the #1 hotel in quality and customer satisfaction for our franchise brand nationwide. Having said that, at the first hotel I worked for, I learned night audit from a lady that had held the position for three years before I was hired. That's the property that did everything on Microsoft Excell. When she was trained, all the property's info/paperwork was still being kept and maintained strictly on paper ledger books only!! Let's see, that was 5 1/2 years ago, so that would put her training at around 2004 or 2005!!! And this was a hotel chain with 35 locations nationwide. It's not like a decent I.T. investment would have cost a fortune at that scale. Pricey, yes, but not astronomical.
It's going to get resolved, and yes, other properties have been affected in similar ways. The bad news is, when we get our new server next year, we get to go through this all over again. It would be fantastic if it were set up to link directly to servers at a single location on a remote status, but then, the US corporate model for problem solving is to figure out the right way to solve the problem, and then try everything else possible first.
Mahone:
Where are the failover systems located? Surely such a critical system isn't located on a single physical server in a cupboard? Someone in the IT department needs to be re-thinking this setup.
hah! It is on a server 20"x20"x32" under a table on the floor in the office behind the front desk itself. We have a DROBO file backup as well as regular daily backups on the server itself....apparently not good enough. It only needs to operate five terminals on the property, so there's that. At the same time, it's got to be set up better. I just don't think many companies take I.T. investment seriously enough.
I assume by next weekend at the latest we'll be good to go, if not by the end of business day on Monday. Last night went much better, even though the main computer system was down for a few hours during the day again. I'm worried that the 'temp' server has its own issues we get to discover in the coming weeks....
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Okay, Fresh off of a bad night at work, I gotta get it out of me, so here it goes.
I actually love my job. Really, I do. My manager is one of the finest I've ever worked for. I can't say I have a problem with any of my fellow employees either, which I have found to be a rare situation. It's even a decent company to work for that owns the hotel franchise where I work.
But....they totally fumbled on the final inches of a touchdown when it comes to I.T. and last night I, and *every other desk clerk that works there* caught it in the teeth at the same time.
We have an old server that was due to be replaced in the first quarter of the coming year. Only problem is that it has either crashed, overheated and shut down, or just decided to restart itself out of the blue at least twice a month since last June. The tech support company, and the hardware support company have both been excellent until yesterday. Corporate's second in command, a really good guy as well, sent us the company "temporary server" to hold us over until our new one comes in next month. He gave us one day's notice...the day before our manager was to head to San Diego and her Father for Christmas for two weeks. (Our issues had apparently moved us to the front of the line)
So, the Front Desk Supervisor was at the property for 13 1/2 hours with Hardware Support trying to get the 'temp' server online as our current server could not stay powered up. Once it was online, he had to change calls to tech support to get all the files, histories, authorizations, and security permissions transferred and/or established on the new machine so we could keep running. We had over 40 rooms check in during the day, all of which had to be done the old fashioned way, by hand, as the computers were flat useless until 10 minutes before I showed up.
At that point, another night auditor had been called in to begin entering all of them into the system. That way at least the computer would accurately show who was in-house for the night.Yay data entry!!! I did the cash count so the swing shift clerk could go home for the night. I began prepping for the regular night audit process, which I wasn't convinced would actually happen at the time. I ended up getting most of it done, but more on that in a bit. Then the swing shift clerk came back in and asked the FD Supervisor to help him as he had locked himself out of his truck. The FD Supervisor was small enough to crawl through the open back window of the truck to open a door from the inside, then get back on the phone with Tech Support.
The Assistant General Manager was there by corporate rule, which sucked for her as both her children are autistic and would not go to bed until she went with them. They all checked into a room at the hotel with the AGM's mother as well...oh, and their little dog too.
The 'temp' server was now online and we could begin the night audit process. Good. Then the FD Supervisor appeared to try and strangle a phantom in front of him as he talked with tech support. For some reason, the software that allows us to charge credit card accounts had not been installed on the 'temp' server. Before I get to that, the other night auditor had finished checking everyone in, but then faced an even worse task. To explain, when you check into a hotel on a credit or debit card, the computer sends an authorization request to your bank to verify that adequate funds are available to cover the expected charges. As soon as it comes back as good to go, the check-in process finishes. Your account isn't actually charged until check-out, or the middle of that night, as with our system.
Well, we didn't have the interface to do the authorizations during check-in, so she had to get on a cordless phone, and manually authorize each and every check in for total expected charges, being room rate, taxes, and related fees, times the number of nights they expected to stay. She needed two hours to do that little task.
But, back to the FD Supervisor on the phone. He had it on speaker in the manager's office.
"Okay, so can't you pull it from our server and install it on the temp?"
"No we cannot. It seems that your version of that software is three updates old. By law we can't install an older version of currently available software, especially when dealing with direct financial access to personal bank and/or credit accounts."
"Okay, so then if you have the new version, can you just download it to the temp?"
"No we cannot. You have to contact the owner of the software and request it from them."
*ends the call with tech support in a friendly and grateful tone of voice and then furiously dials the new number*
"Yes, it seems we need the current version of your software downloaded to our new server here at the hotel."
"Certainly, sir. I'll send you an email. Included with that email is a PDF that you need to print, complete and sign by hand, then scan and email, or fax back to us. The email will have all the details for you."
*call ends*
Only when we read the email, did we discover that the form was merely and application for permission to buy the software....oh, and it came with a $300.00 processing fee. Only when they were certain we weren't some shaky fraudsters would they consent to sell us the software (for who knows how much more money) and download it onto our system for tech support to tie into the system.
Now, the reason this is serious is because the software we use for managing the guests in our hotel, from reservations, to past guest stay history, does not actually charge credit cards. That step requires an interface with the software we apparently didn't have. If the system can't process a credit card, and close out a guest's folio to zero due, it won't let us check them out of the room in the database. Even when the guest leaves, the next guest to come into that room can't be checked in, because the computer thinks the former guest is still there.
What this also means is that since the guests that have checked out are still seen as in-house, until we can check them out, their room rate has to be set to 0.00 so as to avoid charging them for another stay. The charges are posted every night automatically.
And finally, once we've booked someone into every 'clean/vacant' room in the hotel in this situation, on the computer we are then sold out. Every clean/vacant room on the property (in the real world) is seen by the computer as occupied by guests that aren't really there because they left but we can't check them out. We can't check them out because the computer can't verify the CC authorization for the charge. It can't verify the charge because we don't have the current version of the software needed for the interface. Without that we can't close out the balances due on the guest's folios. Until we can close them out, we can't open a new folio for the room to check a new guest into a room that is, in reality, ready for occupation.
So, what to do? Well the immediate solution may have to be to revert to completely manual paperwork and just leave the computers out of it until everything is in place to get back on track. Let me tell you how fun that sounds to a night auditor for a 108 room hotel...not very. I had to do it for a 60 room hotel on Microsoft Excell for 5 1/2 years and I'd still almost rather have my teeth pulled out by rabid alligators.
Corporate is in the loop on the whole situation, so I doubt it will be long before the situation is cleared up. If worse case scenario happens, we are 'sold out' and missing nearly half the property in revenue daily until it is corrected. Like I said, I needed to vent.
I have observed that I'm a brooder by nature. I've learned to take comfort in that awareness. I immediately reason out the worst case scenario and then before long I calm down with the assurance that it is most likely going to be much better than what I fear. And believe me, I can come up with some pretty bad scenarios.
Thanks for your time. Carry on
I'm going to bed now. -
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Procrastination
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Just for my part, this poll doesn't introduce any useful dialogue. Yes it's interesting to ask 'what if' questions, however we are discussing the eternal organization of the priesthood of God. We could just as profitably discuss 'what if the Earth suddenly lost its gravitational field' or, more appropriately, 'what if obedience to eternal truths was no longer required to enter the Celestial Kingdom?'.
In these discussions I have seen a small hint, here and there, of people not-so-directly saying that they think it ought to happen, women being given the priesthood. I cannot overstate how dangerous this position is for whomever holds it. If there were a better way for this church to be organized and run with the authority of God, don't you suppose he would have already had it in place by now?
I have a sickening feeling that this issue will lead to many people leaving the church, if not openly attacking it.
If the Lord reveals tomorrow that women are to be given the priesthood, so be it. Until then, it's not even a possibility I feel safe in entertaining. That path leads to questioning whether or not Christ knows what he's doing, let alone the duly appointed leaders of his church. I wish to stay as far away as possible from that cliff.
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When one is excommunicated, all rights, privileges, authority, and blessings associated with church membership have an end. It is true that many of these things are eternal in their very nature, however their association with any one specific individual is not necessarily eternal. All of them come to a person due to the mind and will of God, based upon one's obedience to the principles and doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They can just as easily be withdrawn, stopped, and ended. By the very mind and will of the same God who gave them, due to disobedience and/or rebellion regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Their, They're, there....it's okay folks....
Church responds to Oregon Armed Occupation
in Church News and Events
Posted
*devising another way to declare myself immune from having to pay for things I want*