I was checking the news this morning and learned that there are only six days left in this year, counting today! There isn’t much time left to wrap up anything left over before the New Year. Some things just can’t be done in the time remaining (like losing weight). We’ll be here in Pocatello for the holidays, unlike some trips we’ve made in previous years. In fact, the most important part of the holiday is FOOTBALL! The day will start with the Rose Parade, followed by several football games. These games become more important in the following days as the Bowl Championship Series winds up another year of pratfalls.

The other important thing about a new year, at least for Nina, is that it’s time to make some New Year Resolutions. I can easily forego this masochistic behavior! However, for the past several days, Nina has been reminding me about all the things that will change with the coming of the new year. I like things that stay the same — like oatmeal for breakfast….

Happy New Year!

Heather, Ty, and family left a few minutes ago to drive back to Orem. We’ve had a very lovely Christmas Eve visit with them. Heather and Ty arrived yesterday late afternoon and spent the night. Mom and dad drove over from Soda Springs this afternoon and will stay until tomorrow. We’ve had a very nice Christmas Eve and it isn’t over, yet. Right now we’re watching a previously recorded edition of Music and the Spoken Word. Earlier we had a small Family Home Evening to read the Christmas story and sing some Christmas carols. That was followed by our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Our practice has been to have the big dinner on Christmas Eve and then everyone fends for themselves on Christmas Day so Nina doesn’t have to do any food preparation. I think this is a nice practice.

Jared just called to let us know that he’s arrived safely to Dawnmarie’s house. He’s on a fairly far-ranging road trip and it’s good to know that he’s arrived safely at his next destination.

The world has largely discounted the idea of a Savior, even amongst the Christian world. Each year the idea of religious underpinnings to this holiday is further eroded. Some cities hold Christmas parades, and ban religious floats. The commercialization increases. The movies on TV are centered on Santa Claus with little reference to the real reason for this holiday. The newspaper recently ran a long article on the pagan origins of Christmas and how the Catholic Church incorporated them as a way to appease non-Christians.

There has never been a more urgent need to understand the real reason for celebrating this holiday. The eternal perspective has been lost. The decisions we make in this life have eternal consequences. Values have meaning and importance in our lives (which for some reason was surprising to the political pundits after the last election). But more importantly, we do have a Savior in Jesus Christ. He has prepared the way for us to be together as families and live for eternity. There is a reason for us to be here at this time in the history of the world. I’m very thankful to have this testimony and perspective on life. At this Christmas season, it is my personal prayer that my family will enjoy peace and joy in their lives as they celebrate the birth of the Savior of the World!

Nina has been in Orem since Sunday staying with the grandkids while our daughter and her husband were in England on a quick business trip. She was going to come home last night, but the weather intervened. Yesterday mid-morning it started to snow. Now, the weatherguy on TV was pretty clear yesterday morning that the clouds overhead had little, if any, moisture and there wouldn’t be any snow out of them. As usual, he was wrong. By 3 p.m. we had about three inches on the ground and the roads were pretty bad. According to the newspaper, the Pocatello Police responded to some 44 accidents between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. yesterday! So, Nina decided to spend the night last night in Orem and drive home this morning. She’s arrived home safe and sound! Welcome home!

Last night was the Ward Christmas Party. Since the party featured a free meal, meaning that I wouldn’t have to cook anything, I went down to the building and joined the festivities. The food was good and there was plenty to eat. The Gate City Singers (I think they’re from Pocatello High School) provided the entertainment. They were very good and reminded my of the show choirs in Chardon, Ohio, when the older kids were growing up. The whole event lasted about an hour and a half. It was a nice event and I’m glad I went, even if it was for the free food….

The year is ending and it seems like we just got started with 2004. I’ll be working through tomorrow of this week and then four days next week as I’ve used up all my vacation time taking cruises this year. The office is very quiet with most people using up what’s left of their vacation time over these two weeks. That gives me a lot of time to catch up on all the old e-mail and paperwork that needs to get done. It actually gives me a break as well. Mom and dad are coming over for Christmas Eve. Heather and Ty and the kids are coming up from Orem, but will drive back that evening. So we’ll do a Christmas Eve dinner in the afternoon before they drive back south. Heather and Ty should still be quite jetlagged on Friday! Meanwhile, Jared has driven out to the midwest and arrived yesterday at Jim’s house. He’ll spend Christmas with Dawnmarie and family and then drive back to Denver. It’s a lot of driving this time of the year, but he’s made half the trip with no problems! It kind of reminds me of the joke where the fellow says, “I plan to live forever. So far so good!”

We’ve also had a tragedy in our neighborhood with the suicide death of a neighbor. He had serious back problems coupled with severe pain causing a dramatic degrading of his quality of life. It’s a very difficult thing for his family, but at least for him, the pain is gone forever. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this Christmas season.

Yesterday was Third Advent, something that most Mormons don’t understand and perhaps haven’t even heard the term. Advent starts the Christian year and First Advent is the Sunday nearest to November 30th (Saint Andrews Day). Second Advent is a week later, Third Advent is two weeks later, and Fourth Advent is the Sunday before Christmas Day. Each of the Advent Sundays further represents a phase in the Reign of the Savior and is commemorated by the lighting of an Advent Candle on an Advent Wreath. The Wreath generally has five candles. Three are purple signifying the royalty of the Savior as well as our need for penance and also are symbolic of the attributes of hope, peace, and love. One is white and is usually in the center of the wreath signifying Christ. The white candle (if present) is lit on Christmas Day. The remaining candle is rose colored, symbolic of joy, and is lit on Third Advent. This is a long explanation, but interesting for this entry.

Third Advent is a celebration Sunday. Most traditional Christian churches schedule lots of music on this Sunday. For some reason, probably completely unrelated, the LDS Church often schedules choir festivals, carol sing-ins, or Messiah concerts on this same Sunday.

Last night Nina and I attended the twentieth annual Handle’s Messiah sing-in held at the Highland Stake Center on the east side of Pocatello. This beautiful building hosts a pipe organ! That is indeed a very rare feature in a Morman church building. The event featured a small orchestra, very prominent soloists, and the audience as the choir. The Colorado Springs North Stake sponsored a Messiah Sing for a few years, but about four years ago that changed to be a stake choral festival. While the festival was quite nice, I really missed the chance to sing the Messiah choruses. I had an absolutely wonderful time last evening. The program was planned to last about an hour and a half and I could have easily spent another half hour or more to get more of this inspiring piece of music actually sung.

The program started at 7:30. We arrived just before 7 and were able to find seats in the chapel. At the end of the event the chapel and cultural hall were filled with people. This was a well-attended event. I’m sure that consistency makes a significant difference. Twenty years of a tradition is a great beginning. This is an event that will be on our calendars for the future.

Nina got a new church calling yesterday. It’s a new idea being piloted in our area and I’m not even sure what the correct title is! It’s something like "Kitchen Trainer" and there is one person called per building. It’s somehow tied to the Bishop’s Storehouse in downtown Pocatello where a very nice new demonstration kitchen has been built and put into operation. After we sat down in the chapel yesterday evening for the Messiah Sing-in, the lady who sat down next to Nina turned out to be a counselor in our Stake Relief Society Presidency and knew quite a lot about the program. I’ve heard the word "coincidence" defined as "appointments made by God and kept by man." This was certainly true last evening. Nina and her had a great conversation and she’s off and running in her new church calling. Mind you, she didn’t give any church callings up, she just got another one. Life is starting to get busier again.

So, how long should a post be on this weblog? Since I’m primarily writing for me and letting anyone who wishes listen in, I guess it doesn’t make any difference how long the post is. You can simply stop reading whenever you become sufficiently bored!

Heather called last night to see if Nina can go down to Orem and watch the grandkids for a couple of days. This is something that we’re always ready to do. Thanks, Heather, for asking. It’s a good thing as Nina really enjoys spending time with the grandkids and she doesn’t have a lot of opportunity.

Jim now has a new web log running on my server. You can find it at james.rnsmith.com. I’m looking forward to reading his postings. Nina has also said she’d like to try out this process as well. When that gets going, I’ll include that link. I’ve also found a plugin that allows people to subscribe to these posts and get notified when something hs been added. I’ll be testing out that capability and it’ll be implemented as soon as that testing is completed. Of course, in order to test, I have to build up a development server. I also need to move my desk in the office about a foot closer to the door and that needs to happen before I build up the development server. So, any testing on additional capability will probably not happen before the end of the week. I’m still enjoying the remnants of a lovely Sunday evening singing The Messiah!

Bradica (the dog) has developed a new habit that had to be changed. She absolutely hates getting her feet wet. She decidedly doesn’t like snow. She also doesn’t really like walking on grass! Last week we received some very wet snow. It wasn’t a lot, perhaps four inches. During the storm she discovered that there wasn’t any snow under the deck! So when we’d let her out to do her “business”, she promptly headed under the deck and made her deposits. “Do something about it” was my instruction from Nina. So, off to Home Depot I went to see about fixing the problem.

My first thought was to buy some lattice and nail it up to the right and left of the stairs. However, there was no lattice to be found at Home Depot. That’s obviously a summer item and we are no longer enjoying summer. Finally I settled on putting up some wire fencing which I could attach underneath the deck and it wouldn’t be all that noticeable. Then, of course, I needed staples to attach the wire mesh. I know I’ve got a staple gun somewhere, but I could spend a couple of days looking and still not find it. The solution was a new tool: an electric staple gun! So I came out of Home Depot with about $80 worth of stuff to block off the way under the deck to the right and left of the stairs. Bradica dislikes the snow enough that she won’t go any further than that, so I don’t need to block off the long part of the deck. What’s a Saturday without a trip to Home Depot, anyway?

I made up a shopping list before leaving. The list had several items on it:

• Shoe polish for my cordovan shoes
• Lattice
• Stuff to attach the lattice
• Snow shovel (for the back deck because the other shovel is always in the garage)
• Gas for the Toyota
• Music for The Messiah
• Windshield washer fluid with de-icer
• Windshield ice scraper

I made it back home with everything except the snow shovel. Even with a list I still forgot something! Tomorrow night is the annual Messiah sing-in at the Pocatello East Stake Center. I knew where my score was, but Nina wasn’t about ready to plow through boxes in the basement to find her score. She suggested that I stop at the used book store downtown and see if they had any music. I would never have thought of checking here, and viola, they did indeed have a copy. This book store is quite amazing and very eclectic. Books are piled everywhere, but the proprietor knows where everything is! There isn’t much rhyme or reason to how things are organized in the store making browsing in the store a lot of fun. So, we now have three scores to Handel’s Messiah but only one snow shovel. I’m sure that’ll require another trip to Home Depot.

Bradica (the dog) loves to stand under things that rub on her back. One of the Christmas trees is set up in the great room and Bradica will often stand under the tree. I’ve been trying to capture that picture and so far this is one of the better images. I’ve no idea why she does this. She’ll stand under bed covers that are hanging down, any plants that have low-hanging branches, and under table cloths that reach down to the floor. Everyone needs to have a pet with a little strangeness!

We’ve had a couple of minor snowstorms during the past week with abundant COLD temperatures. The new snowblower got a workout a couple of nights ago when I finally got rid of the snow. The machine worked very well, but I learned the machine requires a lot of manhandling, particularly getting it to turn corners. My upper body was pretty sore after the work was finished. So, obviously this was good for me! The forecast says we’re to get more snow on Sunday and Tuesday. That would be very good. We can use the moisture. I’m sure glad we got the outside lights up before the weather turned cold and the area got blanketed with snow. The house actually looks somewhat festive — particularly since it’s the only house in the neighborhood with any Christmas lights set up outside. Christmas is fast approaching and according to Nina, this is the earliest she’s ever been finished decorating the house. However, perhaps we aren’t quite finished!

I’d like to invite my staff and their spouses over for a Christmas potluck. The company will allow me to spend up to five dollars per staff member on a Holiday Party. If everyone came and brought spouses (or significant others), we would have about 80 people for the event. Realistically we could expect between 40 and 50 people. That’s too many for just the upstairs. We’d have to use the family room downstairs as well for the event. Nina says that means setting up one more Christmas tree and decorating it! Sure, why not? What’s Christmas without all the trimmings??

Everyone has gone home. Jared called a few minutes ago to let us know he’d arrived safely and uneventfully in Denver. The coeds, Ashlyn and Maren (a now correct spelling of her name), are back in Rexburg at BYU-Idaho. They all helped put up a couple of Christmas Trees yesterday and get them decorated. Their good work deserved a picture and immortalization on my blog! It’s now just Nina, Bradica (the dog), and me at home. It is very quiet in the house! Even though none of the kids make very much noise, their presence is missed.

I drove Jared down to Salt Lake to the airport. The roads on the way down were wet with some slick spots in the passing lane. By the time I came back, the roads were mostly dry with just a few wet spots. Moving at the speed limit was not problem. Jared was at the gate in plenty of time, particularly since his flight was delayed by about a half hour. Nina drove the girls the opposite direction to Rexburg. She left about an hour and a half after Jared and I left and we both got back home within a half hour of each other. It sure was nice to have the kids around the house for a few days.

Coming back I listened to a couple of podcasts. The first, titled Core Values from BloggerCon III was interesting for the first 45 minutes before the session lost its focus. Dave Winer, one of the luminaries and responsible for the Scripting News blog, talked for a couple of minutes about web logs and links in these blogs. He was pretty adamant that whenever anything from any other source on the web is referenced, it must be linked. I haven’t been very good about that, so I’ll try to repent and make sure that anyone reading this can go to the source to find out if there is anything else interesting there.

The second podcast was also from itconversations.com and is part of a regular series called The Gillmore Gang. Steve Gillmor gets a group of folks together, either in person or on the phone, and they talk about current information technology topics. This particular podcast focused mainly on Sun, the impending open sourcing of Solaris 10, and Sun’s future direction. It was an interesting discussion and I’ll be watching to see what really happens over the next couple of years. Sun, in my opinion, has been impacted the most severely by the Linux revolution. They definitely have to resurrect themselves Phoenix fashion and become a new company. The discussion featured Jonathan Schwarts from Sun Microsystems who was certainly an able representative of the company. One other regular participant on The Gillmor Gang is Doc Searls, a Senior Editor at Linux Journal (and also runs the IT Garage blog). I’ve been fortunate to have been acquainted with Doc Searls for a couple of years. I met him on a Linux Lunacy cruise put on by Neil Bauman at Geek Cruises and have had a couple of conversations since then with him. He’s definitely worth listening to in the Linux world.

So, the ride home from the airport was time well spent as I caught up on a few interesting things in my work-a-day and play-away world. Besides that, it gives me ample opportunity to put those all-important "links" in my blog!

I’ve started building a new web server that will eventually replace my current web server. That box will become the development server, and I’ll be able to retire two computers from the home network. I’ve decided to build the new server using SuSE Linux. It’s a whole lot more stable than Red Hat’s Fedora distribution and much easier to install and configure. I’m hoping that everything will be ready to migrate into production by the end of the year. It’s time to revamp the whole web server process. This time I’ll put up a couple of virtual web servers so that I can serve up more than one web page and eventually segue into podcasting as well. Updates on the progress to follow. Meanwhile, the evening is about finished and I’ve got a couple of work items to catch up on before heading to bed. It’s back to work tomorrow….