Feeding the Akashic Record

(Two lovely ladies out for a bachelorette party held, in part at least, at the Comedy Forum comedy club. The bridesmaid is on the left and the bride on the right. The bridesmaid on the left denotes beauty and the one on the right signifies 'to establish', alluding collectively to Gods promise to mankind that 'in beauty will I establish thine household forever.')

I don't have anything to post about today, but I am going to anyway. Earlier this morning there was a discussion on a message forum I frequent about something from a few years ago. I came back to my blog to jog my memory about the event but found that I had not made any posts about it. On December 18th 2004 I had a Christmas party. I took no photographs and made no blog posts about it. So, now, I cannot remember who was there, how the party went, or what the theme was. I find this terribly disappointing and I don't want to make that mistake again.

I haven't posted much in over a month yet, as I look back at my calendar, I see that I have done things in the past month. I didn't take a whole lot of photographs since the Halloween party. It's a lot of work, feels intrusive, and seems to get in the way. On the other hand, I generally regret not having taken any. I think I need to get back to taking photographs on a regular basis and posting them here as marker events to aid and assist my limited ability to form long term memories. I'm not as bad as that Momento guy, but it is still pretty bad. I often have my wife, or friends, say things like "remember when we went to that place and...". No....no...I do *not* remember. It could have been a wedding, a sporting event, a dinner, a theatre and I don't remember it. However, if it was an event that I photographed and recorded on this blog my ability to remember it is greatly enhanced. And, even if I can't recall it immediately, it seems these photographs and comments usually help.

Friday, November 3rd, 2006: I held a movie showing of Baraka at my friend Patrick's home for our metaphysical discussion group. The movie showing was amazing. The new home theatre system I had purchased with 1,000 watt Dolby surround sound made the films impact reverberate as powerfully as the images on the screen. Patrick was very appreciative and thanked me many times. He immediately went out and bought his own copy of the DVD and the soundtrack. I brought the remaining cake from the presentation I had done at Naphtali the night before. It was such a relief to have the presentation behind me.

I am finding that I enjoy my discussion group as much, if not more, than any of the other social groups I am involved in. The fellowship is so sincere and heartfelt that I leave with a great sense of comfort each time we meet.

Saturday, November 4th, 2006: I held a movie showing at Troy Lodge for our DeMolay chapter. The film was 'Back to the Future' and was well attended by the Wentzville Rainbow Girls as well as our own members. My Xenon projector started messing up again so I had to show it on my lower powered 16mm projector. The purpose of the showing, other than just to have a 'fun night' was to collect food for the food pantry as part of the chapter's service project.

Sunday, November 5th, 2006: My crazy weekend continued with a full day of activities on Sunday as well. My wife and I prepared three turkeys as well as stuffing for the 'Day of Comfort' celebration for Troy DeMolay. We had many families as well as Masons from the lodge attend this day of thanks. The chapter dressed in their robes and performed the opening and closing ceremony. Oliver was finally awarded his first place trophy for ritual competition at the last State Conclave. I do have a few photographs from this great day of fellowship. This brought the exhausting weekend to a close. I took two days off of work to prepare for my presentation at Napthali, and then did two movie showings back to back on two nights and finally the Thanksgiving dinner. I felt pretty much worn out after all this and was ready to get back to work.

Tuesday, November 7th, 2006: I attended the Lions Club meeting at the community association clubhouse. The meeting was brief so I went up to the bar to have a drink. Sitting next to me was a lady named Beth who I have only seen about a few hundred times since I have lived in Lake Saint Louis. She is very active in all of the social activities and is also out on the Lake all summer. I 'knew' her in the way you 'know' someone you have said hello to for a long time and have yet never said a word besides that. This evening we fell into a very interesting and wide ranging conversation that lasted for over an hour and a half. I really quite enjoyed it, finding her personal experiences and points of view very interesting. I feel now that I made a good friend and wish I had spoken to her years ago.

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006: My lodge in Wentzville conferred two Entered Apprentice degrees and I delivered the charge.

Saturday, November 11th, 2006: My nephew Donny got married in Herman Missouri to his wife Ashley. It was a lovely wedding and reception. The same as last time, Donny’s little brother (and by little brother I mean *little* Brother. Job is about three and Donny is about 23. Since Job’s older brother Donny has a child this means we can call him ‘Uncle Job’ as he runs around the playground.) Job was a whirling dervish hyperkinetic ball of energy. Some of the photographs I took come out in a blur of motion as Job was chasing me, Charlie, or a little girl who seemed to take great pleasure out of being chased.

Sunday, November 12th, 2006: My son’s car blew a head gasket. I used my AAA card to get it towed to Firestone for the diagnosis. To get the vehicle repaired would cost more than it was even worth. My son needs access to a vehicle to go to college each day. However, there are only a few weeks left in the school year and I didn’t feel comfortable buying just another cheap vehicle that would likely get sidelined by expensive repair bills right away. I had been thinking for a while about getting a third vehicle to help out with my commute. With winter coming on I didn’t relish the idea of driving my BMW in bad weather. I did some quick research on the Internet and found a vehicle I liked that was close by I called the guy on the phone and met him that afternoon for a test drive. I made him an offer and the next day purchased it so that my son could use it to go to his classes that very week. The vehicle is a 2000 Infiniti QX4 4 wheel drive SUV with 103,000 miles on it. It had every luxury option possible on it and originally cost $38,000 new. After six years and a 100,000 miles it had apparently depreciated to only $9,500. I am hopeful that it has got an easy 50,000 to 100,000 miles left in it so that it will turn out to be a good purchase.

Monday, November 13th 2006: As I just mentioned I had to buy a vehicle quickly. I took Monday off of work so that I could take care of the transaction. I drove my son to school first and then went to my bank to get the money for the vehicle. This was when I hit my first road bump. I went into my bank where I have been a customer for years. I went up to the teller and said I needed $9,500. She said, no problem sir. Immediately one of her managers interrupted her and said that this was not possible. The bank had a strict policy that they would not release more than $5,000 in cash. I made all of the normal annoyed noises but this was their policy and there was nothing that could be done.

So, I left the bank without any money hoping that I could perhaps convince the sellers bank to accept my cash transfer. The seller was ‘upside down’ on his loan and had to go to his bank to get the entire vehicle paid off. His bank was actually a ‘credit union’ called Vantage. When we went into the bank it had a very friendly feel to it. This may have come from the fact that most of the employees were both female and quite attractive.

While the seller was doing his part I went up to the teller and began to explain my problem. I told her that I needed to do a cash transfer to pay for a car, but my bank would only let me take out $5,000. She seemed confused and asked, “Well, sir, is it that it would put you over your limit?” I explained that I had a $24,000 credit limit and that wasn’t the problem at all. I told her that my bank simply had an arbitrary limit. She could make no sense of that until I mentioned that I bank with US Bank. Her reaction then was a knowing, if not smug look of satisfaction as she quickly got my cash transfer approved in about sixty seconds.

I was quite impressed with how smooth everything went at the Credit Union. On the way out I spoke to the seller some more about his experiences with Vantage Credit Union and I was sold.

Next I had to get my new vehicle inspected, then to emissions testing and, finally, to the DMV to get plates. This went smoothly at all phases and my mechanic assured me that I had purchased a fine vehicle and there was nothing at all wrong with it.

Once I had all this taken care of there was still plenty of time left in the day. So, I went to US Bank and closed my savings account. I would have liked to close my checking account too, but that would have created a lot more hassle for me then for them. I went over to Vantage Credit Union and sat down with yet one more of their attractive personal bankers and opened a new account.

What happened next was not the fault of Vantage Credit Union but instead the fault of the US Government. What has happened to our country these past four years is outrageous. To open a new account I had to be fingerprinted. I was then informed that if I were to do more than ten wire transfer transactions on an account in any month my account would be locked from further wire transfers. I was informed that I could not get more than $10,000 cash out of the bank at any given time. Also, if I ever transacted $10,000 or more it would take longer because it would have to be reported to the US Government.

A little thing called the Patriot Act has put the personal financial transactions of every American under intense scrutiny. On a daily basis super computers are analyzing all financial transactions in the country trying to determine who is, or is not, a drug dealer or terrorist.

It has now reached the point that you can no longer go to the bank and get enough cash out of your own checking account to buy a car without it sending warning signals out that you might be a fugitive, terrorist, or drug dealer.

When you deposit a check a bank will hold it for two weeks before releasing the funds. At US Bank they wouldn’t release the funds even if they had cleared the next day. At least my new bank Vantage will release the funds as soon as they clear.

I hope repealing the portions of the Patriot act that impinge on basic freedoms of Americans is a high priority for this new congress.

Wednesday and Thursday, November 15th and 16th: I attended my regular lodge meeting at Wentzville where we conferred two second degrees. I enjoyed watching my friend Right Worshipful Brother Chris Neubold deliver the second degree lecture. Just a couple of weeks earlier I had decided to memorize the second degree lecture. This lecture is about 2300 words long and my goal is to have it memorized by the time I become Senior Deacon next September. I did the math and I have to memorize an average of 7.6 words per day. That doesn’t sound like much I suppose, but it will catch up with you. You don’t actually memorize 7.6 words per day. Instead you memorize about 20 and then take a day or two to get it rote perfect. Some days you skip and lose ground. I have now memorized 484 words which works out to 20 words per day. If I can keep this pace up I could have the entire thing memorized sooner. However, I strongly suspect it is going to be more difficult the further I go.

I mostly memorize my ritual while I am commuting to and from work. I am getting very excited about having the entire thing memorized since all 2,300 words will take about 15 to 20 minutes to deliver. It is such an incredible meditation to perform. I get a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. My biggest worry is that I will ‘forget’ stuff the further I go along. However, that has not happened at all to date. Occasionally while I am struggling over a word or two of the ritual I will suddenly start to deliver the first degree charge, or the prayers, or the closing charge. I can always do them word perfect. And, as I move further along in the lecture the stuff I have memorized up to that point stay stable and remembered.

I never would have imagined that I would be capable of doing this at all. Don’t get me wrong, I find the process of actually memorizing incredibly difficult to do. What amazes me is that once I do have something memorized it stays there.

Friday, November 17, 2006: I attended the high school musical at Wentzville Holt High. My daughter was the stage manager and invested an incredible amount of time and energy in all aspects of the production; most especially the set decorations. The school put on ‘Seusical’ the musical. It was very well done and quite entertaining. There was one young man who sang so well I predict he will most definitely be on American Idol in a few years.

I did miss my discussion group meeting because of this. I hope that it doesn’t just fade away entirely as the holidays approach.

Saturday, November 18, 2006: Troy DeMolay chapter performed a flag ceremony for the Troy Eastern Star installation. Afterwards I dropped by the Wentzville Rainbow girls for the end of their constitution ceremony. The Rainbow Girls assembly is now officially chartered in the very short time since they started. I am so incredibly impressed with these young ladies. I really wish more people were aware of what an incredible and fantastic program this is for young women. An organization that teaches young women to dress, speak, and act appropriately may seem just a tad bit old fashioned in today’s culture but, to be frank, I think that is the point. We could use a little bit of ‘old fashioned’ these days. Especially when the average teen age girl in high school dresses like she is auditioning for a hip-hop music video.

On Saturday evening I attended the Moolah Shrine auction with my wife and three other couples. I had never been to the Moolah Shrine auction but I was hopeful that it would be a good introduction to the Shiners’ for my friends. As always it was a classy affair. Open bar with premium drinks. Dinner was absolutely fantastic with a stuffed pork-chop and turtle cheesecake for dessert. Everything that was available for auction was ‘nice’ but nothing that really cried out ‘I’ve got to have it.’ The crowd didn’t seem to get into the oral auction all that much, it seemed like the auctioneer had difficulty getting their attention as they were all involved in their own conversations.

As the auction was going on it suddenly occurred to me that I *did* have something I could auction off. I contacted one of the guys running the auction and presented him my package. They auctioned it off as an added item after all of the posted items had been sold. I think it will do much better next year when it can be promoted ahead of time but it still raised a decent amount of money this year.

My auction was for a ‘Dive-In Theatre’ experience. Beginning in the early afternoon with a BBQ, swimming in the pool, golf cart rides down to the lake for boating activities, access to a hot-tub and a massage chair. In the evening a classic film presented on 16mm while your guests float gently on the water to enjoy the show. In other words, what I call ‘Saturday night’ in Lake Saint Louis. It was for up to 16 people and the auction closed as $500. I am really looking forward to putting on this event next summer.

I only bid on one thing at the auction for myself. In the silent auction I won, with the minimum bid of $75, five hours of in-home computer service. Contrary to popular belief simply because you are a computer programmer does not make you an network engineer. The complexity of configuring a network these days and troubleshooting Windows XP is beyond my capabilities and knoweldge base. Hell, I still do the vast majority of my work in DOS. The tech support guy, a fellow Shriner and Mason, is coming out this Wednesday to help me get my five computers, Tivo, and Xbox seamlessly integrated on a secure network.

Sunday, November 19th, 2006: We held a brief ritual practice for Troy DeMolay. Next I got my boat buttoned up for the winter and worked on some bills. Now that I had split up my checking and savings account I also decided to get my budget worked out. What kills me when I try to budget is all of the bills I get hit with that do not come on an annual basis. After adding it all up it turns out that I have $8,000 in bills each year that are not paid on a monthly basis. Most of this is real-estate and personal property taxes as well as insurance. What I decided to do was have my wife’s paycheck deposited to the new Vantage account and it would be used exclusively for non-monthly bills and savings.

While budgeting I tried to figure out where all of my money goes, how much money ‘extra’ I have, and how much money I would actually ‘have’ to make to keep my home and the house for my parents. I really hope I sell my Lake of the Ozarks property this year. I am starting to get some traffic from the website I set up and did get one interested party. If I could sell that property I would be so much better off. I don’t know how long I will be with my current employer and if I were to start a job search I would be interested in entertaining the possibility of making less money in exchange for a job that gives me more personal satisfaction and freedom to travel.

For now I am focusing exclusively on the 60 minute lecture I am going to deliver at GDC in March. I am even taking a week off of work around Christmas exclusively to work on this presentation.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006: Some stuff happened at work that I won’t talk about here. I only make this comment so I will remember it at a future point in time. In the evening I attended the Lions Club meeting which was held at a local restaurant I quite like called ‘Rizzo’s’. We had lively table conversation and there was an excellent speaker afterwards. So far the Lions Club has been mostly a social affair but I know the time is coming when we will be asked to work. I look forward to doing that work but I am concerned that since I am not retired like so many of the other members, that I will be quite limited in how much I can contribute. I will certainly do what I can though.

Thursday, November 23, 2006: We had Thanksgiving at with my wife’s family. It was an excellent meal and we watched a lot of football; really, just nothing to complain about.

Friday, November 24, 2006: My, that brings us to today. My intent today was to program the computer all day. When I got down to it, though, I realized that I hadn’t been updating my blog nor had I produced a new DeMolay newsletter. I’ve decided that this is time better spent. I also need to remember to update the Napthali website as well.

I did have the pleasure of an out of town Mason contacting me about seeing the New Masonic Temple while he was visiting. We had a lengthy and quite pleasant conversation about the challenges and opportunities facing Masonry in our respective States. He is a prominent businessman and politician from Austin, Texas and had lots of great ideas to share.

Saturday, November 25, 2006: My wife and I are hosting Thanksgiving for my family in our home. Considering Dad’s illness every one of these family holidays this year holds an extra special importance since they might well be his last.

Finally…I realize that this long and rambling post that does little than recite the comings and goings of my daily life may have been quite boring if you bothered to read any of it at all. But, I know, that years from now I will be very glad that I wrote it. I will close with a selection of the few pictures I did take in the past few weeks.

The future Bride I met when out at the Comedy Club.

My son John (on the right) and his friend Chris on the left the night I took them out to the Comedy Forum.

A pretty futuristic looking airplane that was at the air show.

Troy DeMolay at the Day of Comfort meeting.

Donny standing in the West

Kevin attending at the altar

Oliver proudly holding his first place trophy

Some of the guys before the feast begins

A shot of the many who attended the Day of Comfort celebration

Cleanup