The Wedding of Brother Charles and Emily Ratcliff

Here is a photograph of my nephew and niece, Brother Charles Ratcliff at his wedding to his lovely bride Emily. The new couple has just returned from their honeymoon in Cancun Mexico.

Usually when I don't post for a while it is because 'things' have been going on. This usually translates into me being very busy rather than having nothing to post about. Other than the fact that my nephew Charlie happens to be a member of my lodge, there is nothing particularily 'Freemason' about this post.

Charlie and Emily were married on August 13th. A beautiful ceremony as you will see by the accompanying pictures.

If you wish to view the pictures in 'album mode', use this link to the gallery, but I am also going to embed the whole lot into my Blog anyway because they are lovely and they make me happy when I look at them.

These happy memories are a nice reminder of the good things in life in juxtaposition with the bad. The day before yesterday a well known Shriner here in Saint Louis was killed in a car accident. Noble Lee Widaman was the President of the Yomo club at the Moolah Shrine and also a member of the Gateway 500 club. I didn't really know Lee, though I'm sure I have met him as some events. What makes his death so tragic is that he was acting as a good Samaritan.

While he was driving he saw a van go off of the road and plunge into the ditch right in front of him. He stopped his car and put on his emergency lights so he could help. This particular part of the road has no shoulder so he pulled over as best he could without going into the ditch himself. As he got out of his vehicle to help, another driver completely oblivious to the world (probably talking on a cell phone) smashed into his car and killed him immediately. Can't people watch where they are going!? There is simply no excuse. You should always be aware enough of what is going on the road so that you have the ability to come to a complete stop when traffic is blocked in front of you. It amazes me. Every day I drive to work and see people going 75 to 85 miles an hour with their bumper nearly kissing the car in front of them.

There is going to be a huge Masonic service for Brother Widaman tomorrow.

This kind of shook me up because just a few weeks ago, while driving to work, I saw a huge delivery van go completely out of control, smash through a highway sign, and tumble into the ditch. It was so violent it looked like something out of a Michael Bay film. This happened in the West bound lanes right in front of my eyes, while I was traveling East. I hadn’t gone even a mile past the accident that just happened when I saw a state trooper parked on the other side of the highway. He wouldn’t have known about the wreck because it was over a rise. Thinking I might be able to get the person help, even just a few critical minutes sooner, I pulled over, put on my emergency lights, and tried to get the troopers attention. However, there was only a partial shoulder and I was still in traffic going 70-80 miles an hour. I don’t know what I was thinking, because I wasn’t thinking, I was still shocked at what I had just seen. I drive a convertible so I kind of got up and waved and waved at the officer while, soon enough, cars started screeching their horns as they passed me. It didn’t look like I was getting his attention and I started waving more violently. Finally he pulled out and started to drive towards the accident. I’ve had another incident similar to this about a year ago while trying to help a stranded motorist I saw running across four lanes of freeway traffic. Maybe I should be a bit more careful in the future….

Now, speaking of driving to work, I live 40 miles away from my office. If I leave my front door, and there is absolutely no traffic whatsoever, it takes me 40 minutes to get to work. All summer long, even in rush-hour traffic, it usually only took 45 to 50 minutes. However, now that summer has ended the entire situation has changed over night. On Monday most all of the schools were open again. For whatever reason, the pattern of traffic flow went from 'functioning' to 'complete and utter hell' over night. I suppose everyone is back from vacation and people’s schedules change with children returning to school. My commute on Monday was an hour and fifteen minutes. So, the next day I left for work an hour earlier and my commute was even worse. Even if it is 'only' 30 minutes longer, which actually translates into 45 minutes of hell, where I depress my clutch, brake, come to a complete stop, then drive forward a few feet, then brake again. For 45 minutes solid I may average 20-30mph, but the experience itself is maddening. I probably should get an automatic transmission commuter car just to go to work and back. I'm trashing my BMW as it is.

Today, I had my wife set the alarm for 5am. I jumped out of bed and then rushed to my car. I pulled out of my driveway at 5:05am and pulled into the parking lot at work at 5:45am. Then I got to work in completely blissful peace and quiet for over two hours before the 'loud people' showed up. I also was able to work with the guys from Sweden and Switzerland since I was in the office at the same time as their normal afternoon work day. Additionally, I had to have a 6am phone conference with some guys in China.

I left work today at 3:00pm, thinking I could 'beat the traffic'. I still planned to work some more from home, but I wanted to have a frustrating free commuting day. Of course, as soon as I pulled onto the highway I came to a stop. For the next few miles I could have made better time had I just gotten out of my car and done a light jog. Apparently some idiot had to choose this exact time to have a car wreck about five miles down the road. Which meant that, even at 3pm, everything came to a crashing halt. Once again, it took me over an hour and fifteen minutes to get home.

Meanwhile, the Missouri Department of Transportation plans to effectively shut the highway down entirely for the next three to five years starting in January. I have no idea what I am going to do then. I suppose just telecommute a lot more. Its funny but most of the people I work with are in Zurich or Sweden, so why do I even need to go into the office most of the time anyway; because I’m 40 miles closer to Sweden?

Woops, I don't talk about my job on my blog but here I went ahead and did. Well, it's not my job per se, just my evil commute.

Now to get caught up, after the wedding on August 13th I hopped aboard an airplane early in the morning on Monday. Of course I had to deal with something just as frustrating as the commute by having to go through the baggage check-in and then security. This was another lovely hour. Now you have to leave for the airport almost three hours early 'just to be safe' and the same on your return trip. This is an extra six hours tacked onto whatever you flight time is. Of course, add an extra 45 minutes to get through baggage claim and either your rental car or to pick up your own car. We are talking a total of seven to eight hours on top of the flight time! Now, you can rarely find a non-stop flight any more, so a flight that should take 3 or 4 hours, nowadays typically takes 5 or 6. You could easily spend a total 10 hours just to travel the equivalent of what should be a three hour flight.

If I had any place to travel that was less than 600 miles I would just freaking drive. My experience dealing with this hassle is what led me to post the previous satirical news report.

The GameFest conference was fine. I was a speaker, so there were a few perks. The weather was awesome the day I arrived, one of the handful a year like that in Seattle. My talk was scheduled against a major talk that almost anyone going to the conference wouldn't want to miss so I had a pretty small audience. It really made me question if the whole thing was worthwhile.

On Wednesday I worked with my friends at Rad GameTools. Wednesday evening I attended the regular meeting of Saints John Lodge #9. I was treated extremely well and it was an awesome experience. I don't really feel like relating that story now and I also want to respect the privacy of my hosts, so I will wait to comment on the experience.

I can sum it up on one sentence. "It was just like my lodge except there were a couple of extra zeroes after everything."

Thursday I returned and read a new book I purchased called the 'Jesus Papers' by Michael Baigent. Baigent is the least annoying of those Holy Blood Holy Grail guys and I generally enjoyed the book. However, I see a pattern that follows in their other books. You are reading along and they are spinning a tale, they have lots of references, and it makes an interesting (if not convincing) argument. Then, all of the sudden, they vector off onto a wild tangent and you are left sitting there wondering "What happened to my book?"

Baigent is basically spinning the same old Gnostic fairy tale we have heard before. It's a decent read; I mean it won't make you throw up or anything.

On Friday I returned to work and on Friday evening I attended another meeting of my 'Metaphysical Discussion Group'. This time two of the members spent about an hour and a half talking about the 'Urantia Book'. I found a lot of what they had to say interesting but that was mostly about how this particular piece of mythology unfolded as a cultural event. My personal opinion of the Urantia material itself is very low. Make that very, very, very, low. I tried to keep an open mind in deference to the speakers but I just can't accept that content. I even took a copy of the book home and 'tried' to read it, I really, really did. But I just can't take that stuff. It does raise a valid question. If a variety of channeled material probably comes from something other than conscious fraud (meaning it is the product of the subconscious mind or is truly some kind of spirit communication) how come all of it contradicts each other? And, more to the point, why do some people accept some as gospel and other as crap? I am, personally, fond of the Seth material. However, for the same reasons I like it are the reasons given by a Mormon, a Urantia follower, someone following a Course in Miracles, or somebody who likes the Book of Revelations. Of course, I reject all of those spiritual models outright. There must be something said for intuition on this kind of material.

Nevertheless I find it truly odd and interesting how people come to form their belief systems.

Now on to this week. I believe I am suffering from a medical condition known as spastic colon or IBS (irritable bowl syndrome). I won't get into the gory details but it mostly involves a massive amount of cramping and far too many frequent trips to the bathroom. No Doctor has diagnosed it but my own research led me to this conclusions.

I researched it on the Internet and I found out that it has no cure, it is a mind-body problem, and is caused by a variety of things. These things are:

Coffee.
Alcohol.
Eating irregularly or poorly.
Caffeine or soda
Stress

Egads, that is practically a textbook definition of my life!!

Starting on Monday I gave up coffee, soda, alcohol, caffeine in all forms, and began eating well and regularly. The caffeine withdrawal was pretty harsh the first few days but it is getting better now. My 'medical condition' doesn't seem much better yet, but I am hopeful that in time it will improve. One thing I realize after giving up caffeine completely (something I have never done or tried before) is how much it messes with your sleep cycle. See, I used to consume a half a pot of coffee every morning, followed by 4 to 8 diet cokes throughout the day, and then five beers in the evening to 'wind me down'. Oh yeah, and I would skip breakfast, either lunch or dinner, and eat only once a day.

Now without any of the caffeine or alcohol in my system I wake up refreshed and feel sleepy at a proper time. I fall asleep immediately in the evening and I think that is definitely a benefit, though a subtle one at that.

Finally, I close. On Monday my father went into the hospital to have surgery to remove the cancer in his liver. He was very hopeful that this was his best chance for a recovery. However, when the surgeon went in, he found that Dad's stomach was riddled with cancer (which was not there four months ago), and that not only was he inoperable he was clearly terminal. The best he can do is get chemo, be very sick, and extend his life a short while.

Needless to say this is a bummer. Three of my Uncles have colon cancer as well. Somehow, my little problem with a spastic colon is taking on a whole new dimension.

I don't know what there really is to say about this situation with my father. It is going to be a difficult time for the entire family over the next six months to a year. I just wanted to mention it here so that, years from now, I can remember these critical events in my life.

Finally, with this somewhat sad ending, I want to bring things back up again by showing the pictures of Charlie and Emily's lovely wedding.