2016 - A year of Challenges and Opportunities

Well here we are in 2016.   What are your hopes for the year?  Do you have any specific goals?

I have some very specific and some not so specific hopes for 2016.  My specific hopes surrond the political situation we find ourselves in as this is an election year.   Are you going to vote?   If you are then that is great and I am proud to be associated with those who choose to be a part of the process regardless of to which party they choose.

However, I am concerned about those who fail to vote and express opinions such as:

• The process and the people are all corrupt!
• It doesn't mater who I vote for the game is fixed!
• Both parties do the same stuff so whats the difference.
• No one has the fortitude to stand up against those who pervert the system.

Have you heard these thoughts expressed?  They have a common cause in that the current culture is in a state of up-upheaval and they don't see any way it will soon stabilize.  And as such the people are feeling powerless to control their own lives.  They don't know and don't have any hope in a positive future for them, their families, and their country.  All they see is anger, hate, and corruption.  People taking advantage of every loop hole they find while no one is helping them reach up to a brighter future.  Is it any wonder they loose hope and tend to adopt a 'I give up' mindset.

The really sad point is that unless they step out and use the very right that was granted them by our Constitution (to be a part of the system and help choose the next leaders of our country) they may never realize any hope, any feeling of being part of something bigger than themselves, and any sense of helping to choose their own future.   They will continue to feel hopelessness and surrender to those thoughts that keep them powerless.

So I ask you to talk to those who you know and let them know why you take part in our system and vote.  Show concern for their feelings and express understanding so they will continue to listen to you.  Let them know that their country needs their participation and how good it will feel when they do decide to take part and vote.  You may not see results this year but your words will be planted in their conscience and will take root and grow into there active thoughts until eventually they will get involved and vote.

I hope you will be a part of our country and help us select the candidate that will take the helm of our ship and guide our voyage into the next decade.  Please join me and pray for our country that it will be what it was meant to be and help stop those who wish to subvert our Constitution. And to bless us with leaders who understand and are devoted to defending our Constitution at all costs to themselves as did the original signors of the Constitution.  They "Put it ALL on the line" when they signed that document.  And now we again need leaders that will again "Put is ALL on the line".  May God Bless America!

Please visit my web site @ http://www.jdevtech.com

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A Yearly Prayer

The week of Christmas 2015 is here.

What are your goals for this time of year?  Mine are simple.  I want to clear up any unfinished tasks that I can and then just shut down until after Christmas.  I want to enjoy the time with my family and more importantly I want them to enjoy their time with me.

It is infinitely more important that the children, at all levels, see me as a wonderful role model and allow some of my values transfer to them albeit sub-conscientiously.  As I get older it has become more important than ever to put forth a genuine effort to show the positive qualities to my grand children.  After all I am their only grand father and if I don't no one will.

I hope you will join me in this goal.  Be the best you can be and show your positive self to those you love.  Reach out to the young ones and realize that they will be young for a very short while.  It is at this precious time that you can touch them and have a chance to mold them to be their absolute best at all things throughout their life.  They will remember your kindness and soft touch.  Please be at your best and calmest - Enjoy your family.

So if I come to mind during your quiet times please utter a small prayer for a grand father that wants to be at his absolute best at this time of year and always when enjoying his grand children.  It is the last chance for him to really make contact with another life that could go on for generations.  Thanks!

 

Visit my site:  http://www.jdevtech.com 

December 7th - Pearl Harbor Day

Today is December 7th - a day we should all remember.

It is the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that sealed our involvement in WWII.  It took us awhile to get back in gear after the attack but once we did enter the war we didn't hold back or worry about what others might think.  In fact we made sure others were convinced that we were the best and the worst in the art of waging war on our enemies.  They were either with us or against us and there was no middle ground.

During the war we lost over 400,000 lives (almost 10 times that of VietNam) of our most courageous men and women in a struggle that would last 5 years.  We as a nation were united in the cause of 'Winning' the war.  It brought us together - all of us in a common cause to 'Win' the war.  We shared a national will and spirit that was awe inspiring and led us to one of our brightest victories. A nation united can not be defeated.

So as we observe this December 7th I ask - Are we united in a common cause or divided into many groups each with its own purpose and cause.  Do our differences divide us or can we overcome them to unite as 'One Nation' and strive together to be great again.  I sincerely hope that we haven't let our differences divide us because a nation divided can not stand.

To be really united requires that our leaders stop the stupid bickering and work for the betterment of 'ALL' the people - not just their constituents.  Quite a few have lost site of America and have given their efforts and concentration over to maintaining power regardless of the damage it does to our nation as a whole.  These kind of shortsightedness is not limited to politicians.  It affects just about every organization that 'begs' for Federal funding to sustain there purpose.

Here is a bit of 'Common Sense' - We hear a lot of talk about immigrants these days.  I say we should concentrate on taking care of the homeless here before we give benefits to immigrants.  Then once we solve the homeless problem, we can turn to helping immigrants.  This makes sense to me.

I better stop before I get myself in trouble - you never know who is out there and how they may react to these 'Inflammatory Remarks'.  Pray for America.

Please visit my site @ http://www.jdevtech.com 

As the holidays rush towards us..

It is now November 12, 2015.  The day after Veterans Day.  Vetrans Day for me is a special day when I can say thanks to those you helped make America what it is today.  I pray for all Veterans, those that are with us and those that are no longer, that they and their families are well and that they never loose the hope for a better world and a better America.  If you are a Veteran than I salute you and say thanks.

Daylight Savings time has ended for the year and now I am back on Central Standard Time.  It gets dark at 5PM and it will take a bit to get used to that but I am coping.  The temperatures are turning colder, the leaves are falling and the house is a buzz with preparations for Thanksgiving. 

We are blessed to have a family spanning two nationalities and three colors.  We are all healthy and my wife is expecting her first great grandson in early December.  So we have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to celebrate.  So I invite you to also celebrate your family and be thankful for what you have this holiday season.

As a freelance web site designer I enjoy a great deal of freedom and have a great deal of responsibility to my clients.  I always need to be cogniziant of what is best for the client and make decisions that align with their goals.  Sometimes this is easy and sometimes not so easy.  Sometimes inexpensive and sometimes costly.  But I always want to do what is right for the client and keep the project moving forward not to just a good conclusion but to a great solution.  Having satisfied clients is paramount to my success so I always strive to make sound decisions.

I specialize in working with Joomla as the foundation of my projects.  Joomla is in a period of change and I expect this will accelerate as a new board has been seated to guide the project into the next generation.  As these upgrades occur I feel it is important to keep client sites up to date when ever possible. Sometimes I run across compononets that are not in compliance with the newer versions and upgrading the clients site would break it.  

That is where our site maintenance services become most cost effective because the client can rely on my expertise to keep them out of trouble and to get them upgraded when the tools used in their site are ready.

Thankyou for reading this blog entry and I hope you have a joyus Thanksgiving!

And the seasons continue....

Well, we had to close the trailer as is necessary around the first of October.  If we were able to properly winterize it ourselves we could keep it open till late October but the companies that provide winterizing will not guarantee that they will get it done before the first freeze if you wait past the first weekend of October to have the winterizing done by them.  There are a lot of park models and very few providers of winterizing services.   So our visits there are now done for the year.

I got a 2nd monitor for my desktop at home and had to re-organize the office to accommodate  the expanded desktop space necessary.  After a day and a half the wife and I have finished the movement of furniture and I am working with two 23" monitors.  It is very nice when I can have both the source and the live view up on screens at the same time.  No more switching between browser windows for me.  It is an improvement and I am lucky to find the space necessary.  If you haven't tried to use two monitors I highly recommend that you jump in.  You will never go back. 

It is important to get the monitors together and to verify that they both display colors correctly.  Not all systems are dual monitor capable but a new video card is all that it would take to upgrade your system to allow two monitors.

Are you excited about Halloween?  My bride is going nuts trying to get the front porch ready to excite the kiddies when they come for their treets.  It is really cool what she has been able to create.  It even gets me surprised when I walk up onto the porch.  It will be fun to see the responses on the spooky evening.  We wish you and your family a fun and safe Halloween.

The days are getting colder now and it gets dark so early.  I can hardly wait till the time change when it will get darker even earlier.  My dog is dumb and will go after anything that looks like a cat - especially a skunk.  Skunks come out after dark and I need to walk the dog every evening and now it is dark when we are out for the nightly walk.  I carry a flashlight to see what is in front of us and try to avoid what ever critter may be there.  Once we have freeze the skunks will sleep more and come out less so the risk will be minimized but I will still need to be aware of our surroundings.  It is a major issue to deodorize a dog after an encounter with a skunk and in the winter it is even harder.

Well I think I have said enough for this post so I will bring it to a close.  I hope all of you have an enjoyable and safe fall and are able to enjoy Halloween.

Till next post - Be well and be safe.

Woodhaven Lakes - part 3

It is now August 24th, 2015 and the cleanup efforts are still underway at Woodhaven Lakes near Sublette, IL.  The EF1 tornado hit on Monday June 22nd and nearly destroyed the south west corner of the recreational facility.   Many families lost their RV's and or campsites and all of there posessions during the event.  It is amazing that it has been two months since the tornado and clean up is still continuing.

We all thank God that it happened on a Monday when there was a much lower level of attendance than is witnessed on the weekend and no lives were lost.   It could have been much worse.

Those who have decided to stay and rebuild their recreational lifestyles are by now well towards the realization of their goals.  But some have not been so fortunate and were wiped out to a point that is not recoverable.  These people may decide to leave Woodhaven Lakes and just let the Association take possession of their lots and the effort to clean them up.  Right now no one knows for sure what efforts will be brought to bear by the Association in this matter but it currently appears that they are not too compassionate towards those who decide to just walk away.

Here are the latest approximated stats:

• 15,000 trees either damaged or destroyed
• 9,500 dump truck loads of debris
• 50,000 + cubic yards of mulch created by shredding (so far more to come)
• 40 Electric pedestals destroyed
• 900 lots damaged to varying degrees (approx 50% of lots)
• 1,400 lots with tree damage
• 281 damaged RV's have been removed from the park

Estimated costs to date:

• $536,000 thru July 31st. 2015
• $473,000 on tree removal only
• $36,000 on garbage removal

The $536,000 reflects a $111,000 savings on the cost of use of barrel shredder by giving the owner the ownership rights to the generated mulch.

It was a major hit to the park the likes of which Woodhaven Lakes has never before seen.  It will take quite a while to fully recover from this event and the recovery efforts will extend into the 2016 season.  Many planned projects were placed on hold and some of those planned resources are being used to fund the recovery efforts. 

View my personal web site:   http://www.jdevtech.com

Woodhaven Lakes Web Site:    http://www.woodhavenlakes.com

Woodhaven Lakes - part 2

We went to Woodhaven Lakes over the 4th of July weekend to check out the property.   While our lot and RV were just fine many others weren't so fortunate.  There were areas of the park where access was still highly restricted.  But after viewing the areas we could it became clear that the damage was simply devastating.  Thank God that no one was seriously hurt.

The park set up a staging area behind Woody's market where a semi-trailer sized shredder was located to shred the debris into a mountain of wood chips.  We sat and watched the short bed dump trucks roll in one after another hauling debris from the south west sections of the park.  We estimate 100 - 150 truck loads a day were being hauled into the shredding area where they were loaded into the shredder and converted into chips.  

The cleanup event was started on or about the 25th of June and we were watching this on the 5th of July.  So it had been going on for 10 days and there are still area's of the park that are closed except to those who have lots in them.  I would be surprised if they finish this debris removal by the end of July.

It is sad that owners are unable to get anyone to start the clean up of their lots because everyone is involved in the clean up process.   We heard that about 40% of the lot owners did not have any insurance and for those that do the insurance companies will cover the RV but not the lot in general.  It is a real mess and we can't help but wonder just how many owners will just choose to walk away rather than face the extreme high cost of clean up and re-establishing their little piece of heaven.

Our prayers are with all the owners of lots at Woodhaven Lakes as we are sure the effects of this storm will last for a few years at a minimum.  Please keep active in your prayers any one going through an event such as this.  A tornado is incredible.   We hope you never have to experience one.

Update -  As of 7/19/2015 the chipping of debris at Woodhaven Lakes has generated over 200,000 cubic yards of mulch chips.  And it is still going.  My original estimate of 150 - 200 truck loads a day was low, the actual count is typically 400 + truck loads per day.  We will be going out on the weekend of August 8 & 9 to enjoy the Mendota Corn Festival and will report back after that relaxing weekend.  Hope it isn't too damn hot!