Lester's thoughts.....

#VFTC Dallas

2011-11-16T10:30:00.001-06:00

Looking at the downtown skyline on the left. Southbound on 35 before you
get to the mixmaster.

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#VFTC Tynan, TX

2011-11-16T10:28:00.001-06:00

Coming through Tynan, Texas looking at the grain elevator.

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#VFTC US288-Loop 610 Junction

2011-11-16T10:25:00.001-06:00

US288 NB at Loop 610 with Houston skyline in the background.

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#VFTC Houston skyline from the south, NB on US288

2011-11-16T10:14:00.001-06:00

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This Weeks View From The Cab

2011-02-19T14:46:00.000-06:00

View From The Cab for February 18, 2011

A great post this week from Tachoblog and VFTC. Check it out.

Lester

Finally got me one of them QR codes......

2011-02-19T11:56:00.001-06:00

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Updating my Blog

2011-02-19T09:33:00.000-06:00

This is a post coming from my Ubuntu Desktop in Linux using a little program called Drivel. So far this blog has been mostly used as a collection of photos that eventually ended up on Facebook, Twitter or VFTC blog Tachoblog But I guess it still goes back to what I titled it originally, "Lester's Thoughts". The Lakewood Loon has inspired my interest in blogging about topics and I have been looking at several blogs the past few days in my spare time. So I am thinking about starting another blog with mostly cell phone pictures of things I see in my travels around Texas. The idea would be to have a photo a day (or every few days) with some comments and the ability for others to leave a comment. We shall see how this works out.

VFTC, Ocean Drive Corpus Christi, Texas (click on link to read more)

2011-02-17T04:26:00.001-06:00

This week found me running along Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi again.
After the cold weather of the last several weeks, this week is
beautiful. I think We have have had into the 80's on Monday but now it
is back to somewhere in the 70's in the daytime and just beautiful. Hard
to imagine my friends up north are still looking at snow!

The cluster of tall buildings towards the right of the photograph are
part of the Christus Spohn Corpus Christi Medical complex. This
location is known as Christus Spohn Shoreline. Hard to see but the extreme right of the picture is the Bay Bridge
linking Corpus Christi with Portland and Rockport and all points east on
State Highway 35 (Not Interstate 35). Keep going far enough on this
road and you will end up in Houston.

Amishtrucker

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Photos from our Little Bitty Texas Winter 4 Feb 2011

2011-02-04T10:12:00.001-06:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Looking at the weather map this morning, it is obvious that someone left the barn door open

2011-02-02T08:04:00.001-06:00

That big storm and front in the north has pushed its way down into
Texas, ignoring the left and right parts of the country. But forecasters say our best chance for snow and ice here in south Texas
will be because of an upper level disturbance Thursday and Friday
creating winter storm conditions here. We shall see.

Amishtrucker

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Don't let the grass fool you. There is old pavement under part of the grass.

2011-01-16T13:16:00.001-06:00

I just dropped the wheels off of the edge of the hidden pavement. Now I will need a jerk to get it out. The pastor is bringing his truck and chain over.

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#VFTC beautiful tree lined streets in Sugar Land, TX

2010-12-18T11:36:00.001-06:00

Beautiful neighborhoods in some of our largest cities.

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Our Suburban is back on the road

2010-12-18T11:17:00.001-06:00

We got the Suburban back on the road last weekend. My daughter hit a small wild pig with it the other evening after dark but it did not do any damage that we can tell.

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#VFTC Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi

2010-12-15T05:02:00.001-06:00

I realize I have posted many photos from Ocean Drive in the past. It is one of the most beautiful drives that I do this time of the year.

Look, there is no snow. I don't know I'd it ever snows much here. There is the Christmas Miracle Snow of 2004 when Corpus Christi and South Texas got a very rare snow on Christmas eve. I had to drive my family 30 miles south on Christmas morning to see the snow and let the kids play on it.

This shot of Ocean Drive doesn't show the Bay, but it is right there on the left behind the houses there.

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Chilly but beautiful morning

2010-11-27T08:46:00.001-06:00

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You can feel sorry for us now. It's COLD in Texas this morning.

2010-11-27T08:17:00.001-06:00

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Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T19:55:00.001-06:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Laredo weather right now

2010-11-23T11:51:00.001-06:00

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Our weather in Texas this morning

2010-11-21T09:21:00.001-06:00

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#VFTC late afternoon along TX44 near Alice, TX

2010-11-09T19:41:00.001-06:00

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Beautiful day in Laredo today

2010-11-08T09:51:00.001-06:00

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Since when can DOT use a safety rest area to pull trucks in to inspect?

2010-11-05T11:51:00.001-05:00

This is the safety rest area at MP 18 on IH35 just north of Laredo.

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#VFTC heres the missing picture

2010-11-05T11:45:00.001-05:00

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#VFTC. Downtown Catarina, Texas on US 83 SB. Beautiful morning on south Texas not all that far from the border.

2010-11-05T11:40:00.001-05:00

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Kids just bought me a recliner, sort of for my birthday. Is this a hint? Do i need to stay home and watch more TV?

2010-10-31T20:06:00.001-05:00

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Sprinter in the shop for oil cbange and service

2010-10-31T18:46:00.001-05:00

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I support ranching

2010-10-26T11:46:00.001-05:00

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Son-in-law trimming some trees around here

2010-10-23T19:09:00.001-05:00

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CVS PHARMACY car hits column

2010-10-20T12:33:00.001-05:00

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Oops! Forgot the picture! Here it is! 2004 Sprinter with 84000 miles, electric windows and locks and XM Radio!

2010-08-15T16:44:00.001-05:00

Oh wait, I put the XM radio in myself. But it is a nice ride and I am
looking forward to taking it out on the road tomorrow! Houston, here
we come!

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There is it! My new Sprinter! A really nice vehicle and ready for the road!

2010-08-15T16:38:00.001-05:00

Ever since May 26, 2010 when the other Sprinter I was driving broke down
and my company informed me that they are selling it and that we are not
buying any more Sprinters, I was of course sad and had to deal with the
idea in my life that this era was over. I had seriously considered
quitting if it would ever come to this but when the time came it didn't
seem like the right thing to do. I dealt with this whole business and
decided that I would drive whatever they wanted to put on the road.
Since I have been driving a GMC Savannah 10 foot cube (think Uhaul).
Even though it was a nice little truck and did drive rather nice, it did
not carry the cargo I needed to carry and was really inconvenient to
work out of as compared to my Sprinter. Later I heard rumors that they may buy another Sprinter but every time
they found one, it was sold before they could come back and get it. I
don't know the story about this one but my manager called me about 2
weeks ago and said he was in North Carolina driving a Sprinter back home
and that it was a really, really nice one.

Friday I was able to pick it up and load it with our product ready to
get on the road and start using it tomorrow (Monday). My manager spent
over a week getting it ready to go on the road. He put in wall to
wall-front-to-back carpeting, a nice white insulated ceiling, lights,
wired in an inverter and printer and all the shelves I need to carry our
product. When I took it out on the road Friday night, I was impressed by the way
it drove. I had forgotten how nice these vehicles are! It beats the
little GMC all to shreds. It will make working our stores so much more
pleasant and efficient. This one comes from a distributing company in North Carolina and looks
well taken care of. We are going to get the windows tinted with the
darkest tint we can legally have in Texas. And I really can't say how thankful I am in my heart for this vehicle.
It is making the difference between coming to the place where you really
don't care so much about your job anymore and now being pumped up and
ready to go again. It is the same thing that happened when my previous
boss bought a real nice Peterbilt after having driven an older KW that
was the nicest truck I had driven up to that point. (I still want to
take a Pete, customize the sleeper, and use it on this job!) And to whoever is in charge of vehicles at Choice Books of Northern
Virginia, thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me! And to
my manager, Joe Wagler, Thank You! You have done a great job
customizing it!

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Hmmm, I thought you drive on the road....

2010-07-09T05:33:00.001-05:00

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My Grandkids playing on their new playset

2010-06-27T21:07:00.001-05:00

Well maybe it is not exactly new but a neighbor gave them the playset as
he no longer needed it for his kids/grandkids so these little guys have
been making good use of it. How much do you remember of the things you played with and the things
you did when you were a kid? I think I remember quite a bit but then
when I start to reminisce I realize that there is a lot I have
forgotten.

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Doing the right thing in Philly

2010-06-16T14:48:00.001-05:00

What is that you ask? Eat a Philly Cheese steak sandwich, I think. We got into Philly about 30 minutes ago so now we are waiting on a
sandwich.

We flew in on American today. They have nice planes and both of the
planes we were on had wifi onboard. That is nice. Except the only way
I can use it is with my laptop as I still live in the stone age and have
a cell phone that only makes calls (and takes pictures!). And me and 17
inch laptops and airplane seating don't get along very well at all.
About time to get a Droid!

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Dallas

2010-06-16T10:13:00.001-05:00

We are at the terminal in Dallas and have about an hour left. Coming in
we had to wait for about 20 minutes as another airplane was parked at
our gate but it had mechanical problems and they couldn't move it. So
they finally found us another gate and here we are, waiting to board for
Philly.

Weather is nice here in Dallas, sunny and 88 degrees.

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Photo: waiting at the Gate in San Antonio

2010-06-16T07:38:00.001-05:00

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We are waiting at the gate in San Antonio

2010-06-16T07:33:00.001-05:00

Rebecca and I are waiting at the gate in San Antonio on our annual trek
to Maryland for the annual Staff Conference of Choice Books. The
conference is outside of a small town in north eastern Maryland called
North East, Maryland on the shores of Chesapeake Bay. Has to be almost
the northern end of the bay but it is a beautiful setting. Will post more pictures in the next few days.

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What is it with these GMC dash configurations?

2010-06-06T17:58:00.001-05:00

Look at this dash in the 2004 GMC Savannah I am driving right now. The
oil pressure gauge on the left top normally moves in a clockwise
rotation. Right below it the water temperature gauge normally moves in a
counterclockwise rotation. On the right hand side top the fuel gauge
normally moves in a counterclockwise rotation (and once almost stranded
me in the middle of nowhere because I assumed empty was on the left and
full on the right). Below it the amp gauge normally moves in a clockwise
rotation. Am I crazy or wouldn't it be much better if the gauges all
moved in the same synchronization? I think this is weird.

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#VFTC Almost Full grown corn near Wharton Texas

2010-06-06T17:23:00.001-05:00

I know it is June already and it is ready for corn to be almost full
grown, but it seems like the year is going so fast. Hard to believe the
harvest is just around the corner. I have been watching this field as I come by about every 2 weeks, and
here it is, as tall as it will get and tasseling out.

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#VFTC oversize hauler near Corpus Christi, Texas

2010-06-06T16:51:00.001-05:00

I passed this truck the other day near Corpus Christi, Texas. I don't
know what this type of rig is designed to haul, but there is a lot of
heavy haul and oversize load hauling for the oilfields here in Texas.

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Timothy riding out of the gate

2010-06-06T16:11:00.001-05:00

My grandson Timothy riding out of the gate in the mutton bustin contest
at the Yoakum Rodeo held during the Tom Tom festival. He came out flying
high with his hand in the air but then the sheep took a sharp left turn
and he lost his balance. He didn't have the highest score of the evening
but he did great for his 2nd ride of his career.

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Back to Work

2010-06-01T07:05:00.001-05:00

It's back to work with this little GMC this morning that carries about
half of what the Sprinter will carry. It also has no cruise (I gotta
watch that speed!) but it is a nice 'little' truck. In the context of
what I have been posting about lately, this 'tool' given to me by my
company looks nice on the outside but it is 'too small' to do the job
effectively that I have been given. I need my Sprinter back!

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Who Should Be Working For Who?

2010-05-30T06:37:00.001-05:00

Are you in business for yourself? Or do you work for someone else? If
you are working for someone else, who are you working for?

I had never thought about this very much until Seth Godin
(http://bit.ly/bKpvLP) wrote about this in his blog. I would have
always said that it is our duty to do a good job for the people we are
working for. That is why we get paid.

But really, your boss should be working for you. He (or she) has given
you a job to do. It is their job to equip you with the tools needed for
you to do your job. If you don't have the tools you need to do your job,
they are slacking in their job.

It's a short post. Please read it. He hits the nail right on the head
and makes a lot of sense.

http://bit.ly/bKpvLP

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Complete Breakdown

2010-05-29T11:52:00.001-05:00

I have been having smaller breakdowns the last two weeks with the
Sprinter such as belts, idlers, alternators and battery that have really
cut into the time that I actually spent servicing a route. Friends have suggested that my company should buy better vehicles as
much as I have to depend on it to get my work done. They apparently
don't know my company who, especially in Texas is not interested in new
or newer vehicles but mostly likes to run high mileage vehicles that do
spend a lot of time in the shops. Wednesday night on the way home, about 2 miles from my house, it shut
down again. We towed it on home with the Suburban and a nylon tow strap.
Worked on it for several days and decided that something went wrong
inside the engine, ie total breakdown. The engine has almost 400,000
miles on it and was never rebuilt although it had an upper done about a
year and a half ago. I found a rebuilt one that can be installed with a 1 year, 20,000 mile
warrenty as less than half the price of a new replacement engine. Fact
is, it is about a third of the new replacement cost. So far the only thing I am getting is no, we are going to junk the thing
and you will have to drive, what essentially is, one of our other pieces
of junk that are still running. But we don't have any extra right now,
everything is in the shop.

Like I posted the other day, I am getting quite frustrated with a
company that wants me to drive about 60,000 miles a year with vehicles
that aren't ready for that kind of mileage.

I will keep you posted.

This photo is when it was towed in for a missing belt last week.

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Using Linux

2010-05-27T11:32:00.000-05:00

I have been using Linux such as in Ubuntu for about a year now. I have always used Windows before because that is what was on the computers when I bought them. When I started looking for programs that would do things that I wanted to do, I soon discovered open source. There are a number of open source, free ware and shareware programs that run on Windows. I have used email programs such at Thunderbird and various other pieces of software over the years. As I became more and more aware of the open-source community, I eventually became interested in using Linux. I first tried it in a virtual window inside Vista, then I tried the cd install and tested it. I wasn't sure it would do everything that I thought I wanted to do. What eventually pushed me over the edge (so to speak!)(it was more like 'coming to see the light of day!) were comments left by Randy Noseworthy on questions I had left on various social networking sites and the podcaster Larry Bushy and his cohost Tom. I first heard Larry on Computer America and then on his own show, "Going Linux".

When I first installed Ubuntu 9.04 on a second partition on my Dell Notebook also running Vista, there were certain things that I decided that I needed to be able to do in order to keep running Ubuntu. I will mention a few in this post.

I had just purchased a USB Mercury Connect, basically a mobile Internet card with A&T& service. In Vista it would install in about 20 minutes and then would work fairly well. Later, sometimes when plugging it back in it would have to reinstall itself all over again. Another 20 minutes gone. When I first plugged it into Ubuntu 9.04, a window popped up asking me about 3 questions. When I answered them it just started working. And it worked very well, especially in 3G areas. Beat Vista and the 20 minute installation all to shards.

Of course all the internet stuff I did before still worked here. Firefox as the default browser wasn't too bad, though I was never a fan of it. Google Chrome installs in Ubuntu and works just fine if you aren't afraid of Google. Konqueror as an alternate open source browser works very well but I have a few issues with it. It doesn't save passwords and open some of my pages automatically like FF and Chrome do. And I still have a problem with, like when clicking links in Facebook or twitter, it will always open a new window in Konqueror instead of a tab even though I had that setting checked in the preferences.

I have come to like Evolution for my email client, along with its address book, calendar and integration into the Ubuntu desktop.

I have tried numerous Twitter clients but the one that I always come back to is Choqok. I even tried Tweetdeck which I used to run in Windows and it runs just fine on Ubuntu, but I still come back to Choqok. Gwibber is nice and has some nice features, including it's integration into the Ubuntu desktop but....

I have been using Open Office in Windows for years already so that was no problem. It runs well in Ubuntu, I think it runs faster in Linux than it did in Windows.

I had been held hostage by Quicken for years as I liked the way it worked. I didn't upgrade every year. But when I had switched from XP to Vista, there was a required upgrade. I tried out different open source options and finally settled on Gnucash which is very Quicken like. Although it could use a few more features, I am happy with it and will never go back to Quicken.

I had a Google Reader account but eventually switched to Akregator for my news reader. I like the way it works although I wish it would rearrange the entries to ABC order.

GIMP beats anything I ever paid money for in Windows. Of course I never had bought Adobe photo software. From what I hear from others, GIMP has to be getting close. A bit of a learning curve there but I do a lot with that program now.

When I learned that you could install the KDE desktop along with Ubuntu and have the ability to log out of one desktop and onto the other, well, now I can run Gnome, KDE or Vista, depends on what I need at the moment. KDE installed some features that are not available in Gnome but now i have the best of both worlds. Nautilus is a very nice file browser and got even better in its current release (2.30.1) with the ability to split the pane. You can't batch rename in Nautilus but you can in Dolphin as well as convert a whole folder of photos to any of the other common formats. I wish I could do the convert thing with audio files in Dolphin, but I haven't quite figured that one out yet. Try any of this with a standard Windows install....

Of course some programs that I thought I couldn't live without I ran in Wine. It wasn't quite the same as running it in Windows (for most things) or by running a similar program that does the same thing in Ubuntu. One example of this is PowerBible. The open source option is Bibletime which runs very well. I found out now that it runs in Windows as well, but I don't need that option anymore. I have used TaxAct for years (download from www.taxact.com) but it wouldn't run quite so well under Wine.

For work I use an Intermec handheld with Windows Mobile and specialized company software. I have to use Vista to connect the handheld to the company server and transfer the data that needs to transfer. I think it can be done in Linux but I haven't put everything together for that yet. I can access the server on Ubuntu using rdesktop. This is almost the only reason I boot into Vista about once a week. Otherwise everything gets done in Ubuntu better, faster and with more satisfaction.

Oh yes, I also use a scanner several times a week with paperwork connected to work or whatever. I plugged my Canoscan scanner into Ubuntu and it just worked. In Windows I would have to find the drivers CD or even with Vista I would have to search the web for the correct driver as there wasn't a driver on the CD for Vista. Now I just plug it in and use Xsane or Simple Scan. Simple Scan is default with 10.04 and I found that it works quite well although Xsane has more options that can be set.

The same was true with printers. I have an HP LaserJet P1005 that came with all kinds of software for installing in Windows. Without all that software, Windows couldn't print to this printer. But in Ubuntu, plug it in, answer a question or two, and you are ready for printing. When I first upgraded to 10.04 earlier this month, it downloaded a plugin that HP is providing for Linux. But it wouldn't print right. I finally uninstalled the plugin and the printer, disconnected myself from the internet, plugged the printer back in and now it works just fine (without the plugin). Why would I ever want to go back to Windows and all the crappy install procedures when all of this stuff just works on Ubuntu?

Basket Note Pads quickly took the place of evernote (I don't use it online anyway). Rhythmbox quickly replaced Itunes for me. It is the podcatcher of choice right now although I have used Hpodder quite successfully for a while. Took a little bit longer to discover how to use the builtin webcam in this Dell, but then I found Cheese. And again, it just worked. My wife has a home business and needs a lot of labels printed. PrintShop prints labels and more, but not as fast and easy as Glabels. Another win. I didn't have as much success with the default Brasero disc burner in Ubuntu, but K3b to the rescue. I use DeVeDe for making DVD's with menus. Kino and Avidemux edit most of the videos that I need to edit. Audacity does most of the audio work that I need to do. And the Software Center is always there if I need something to do another job I come up with. Recently I wanted to make a slide show with some features. I tried different open source solutions. I ended up Videoporama which made a nice, highly configurable slide show with music.

Oh and the games. I am not a gamer, but I like to play Freecell and Solitaire. Sometimes I even try Sudoku until I fall asleep. These are all in the default install of Ubuntu. And many more are available in the Software Center. My 5 year old grandson knows this, and he really loves the games I have downloaded and let him play. He told me that as soon as his Mom buys a new computer he is going to bring it to me so that he can have all of those games as well! Not sure what is Mom is going to say about that!

I have rambled on further than I thought I would when I started this post. There are days that I thought I would just go back to the default install of Vista on this machine....but when I started remembering all the things Windows has done to me...I always become very happy with my computing experiences on Linux. This just works, and if for some reason it doesn't, you can try something else until it works.

My advice to others is this: If you like Windows stick with it. Linux is for people who like to think outside of the box, who don't like to be told what to do by companies like Microsoft and Apple, and for people who are willing to try new things on their computer. It is a freeing experience. But if you like to whine about things that you don't understand, by all means stick with Windows. That way you will have something to whine about.

Ramblings

2009-07-25T07:26:00.000-05:00

I usually don't like to get out early on Saturday morning to do much work, but this time of the year when it is so hot here in Texas, it is nice to get up early while it is still cool. I needed to go to the Choice Books warehouse here in Texas which is 70 some miles from the house, so leaving at 4am is not a bad choice. Traffic is still very minimal at that time and I get to the warehouse and get my loading done before heat and other employees may show up. It is just easier that way. I also think the shows on XM at this time in the morning are better than they are later in the day with the exception of Bill Anderson Visits With The Legends (Sirius XM needs to bring him back to do more new shows (you hear that Sirius?) and the Grand Ole Opry encores which are very much some of my favorite listening.

Early in the morning it is a better time to think about the serious things of life. Bible study and prayer is so much easier in the morning, if that is the right word to use here. All of the other things I do on my computer are also much more of a breeze in the morning. I think what happens is that I usually put in long days (anywhere from 10 to 16 hours) and often I hit the sack early in the evening. So I am a morning person. To those of you who think getting up early and leaving the house early for anything is just before 8, well, you have not experienced the peace and quiet and beauty of life outside driving down empty highways and byways at 3 am. You can just have your rush hour traffic.

My wife says that I used to be a night person, and yes, I remember those days. When we first married about.......I forgot how many years ago already, I would do my best work at night and often work late into the night. And she was a morning person and wanted to retire early. I think what changed me is the years of driving over the road where we soon discovered that the best time of the day to be on the road is at night. Also for most of my OTR career, we had loads that we picked up in the evening and were to be at destinations ready for delivery first thing in the morning. “When did we sleep?” you ask. “Sleep. What's that?” Every truck driver knows what I am talking about. So now I come home sleepy after being on the road all day and have to hit the sack early. With my wife's business now, she often works late into the evening to prepare for a show the next day. So effectively I have now become the morning person and she is the night owl.

I am posting a picture from Laredo. As a border town, I suppose it is intriguing to many people who have not yet been there. In many ways it is a place where cultures meet. But on the US side, it has every indication of being a modern US city. This photo shows two of the truck stops at Exit 13 on I35, which is about 13 miles from downtown and the bridge across the river. Or one of the bridges. If you were able to go straight to your right here it would only be a mile or two or so to the river and the border. So you can see the air above Mexico from here. On a side note, You can see a TA and Flying J truck stop here. Across the freeway is a Pilot Truck Stop. From the news I hear the Flying J will soon be a Pilot as well as Pilot apparently purchased the Flying J chain. We shall see how that all works out.

Missouri Springtime

2009-04-25T06:25:00.001-05:00

Driving through Southern Missouri along Hwy 67 we spotted some of our favorite springtime views, dogwoods and redbuds.

View Full Album

The Most Beautiful Time of the Year (In Texas)

2009-04-14T05:43:00.001-05:00

The spring wildflower season has to be the most beautiful time of the year here in Texas. Whole fields of bluebonnets, or even whole medians of the beautiful flowers along our interstate highways (and other highways, are breathtaking. Compliments to my daughter Ruth for the above picture which is from somewhere in Central Texas. I never get tired of driving our highways this time of the year and seeing these beautiful flowers everywhere.

Easter 2009

2009-04-11T17:22:00.000-05:00

Easter is a time for families to connect with each other. We lead busy lives these days and we all are rushing around trying to keep up with where we find ourselves. Sometimes it seems that we have become so involved in the life that surrounds us that we are not in control. So this is a time to connect with our families, our roots, slow down a bit and see where we are in life.

This is a recent picture of our family.

One of the most important things that we can do to connect with our roots is to check our spiritual heritage. Amid all the hubbub and busyness going on today, we can look back on one thing that is rock solid and will never change. The churches around us are constantly changing, it seems. And it is not all bad. We live in changing times.

The unchangeable image that we do not want to forget is that of an Empty Tomb that first Easter morning so many years ago. It was the culmination of so many hundreds of years of preparation that God had taken this world through.

People change, traditions change, nations change, churches change, religions change, but God never changes. His truth is to be depended upon and it is always just like He said it would be.

Every religion has a tomb where some leader is now laid. The followers polish the tomb and try to keep the traditions alive.

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we don’t have to polish a tomb. We don’t have to keep the traditions alive. The power that arose Christ from the dead that Easter Morning is the same power that can and will change our lives.

Today trouble seems to be on the earth on every side. People are filled with fears and they wonder about the future. We really have nothing to fear. We know who will reign victorious in the end. In fact He is reigning right now in the hearts and lives of His followers.

And we have an empty tomb to prove that He Lives Forevermore, and is not just a dead figment of our imagination.

Our house on Google Street View

2009-01-04T06:12:00.000-06:00

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Feeding At The Federal Trough

2008-11-18T04:13:00.000-06:00

Thinking about the financial crisis, the recession and now the auto "Big 3" bailout that is being bandied about, one has to wonder what this country is coming to. Government intervention always carries a much bigger price tag than we were originally promised. And sometimes it is a price more than just in dollars.

We have just witnessed how when we bailed out financial institutions, other institutions also come looking for bailout money at the federal trough. Reminds me of back on the farm when I was growing up. Dad always had hogs. Nothing wrong with that. But when you went feeding hogs, you wouldn't just feed one. They would all come rushing in, pushing and shoving each other aside to be able to be at the trough. They didn't care whether or not the others got some or not; they were just concerned about themselves and did what they had to in order to take care of themselves.

There was a time when top management for a company would be people who had come up "through the ranks" and actually knew something about the company and the business they were in. Now you have to have a MBA or some such degree and you are hired from the "outside" to come in and "run" this company the way that you were "trained" in college that such companies should be run following some "model".

Well I don't know about you but it seems to me these people may be the best trained people in the world, but if they lack "real-world" experience (and they do) and if they don't have common sense (many of them don"t), how are they going to successfully manage this institution or company so that this company will perhaps not only post a profit this season, but be here for as long as the goods and services provided by this company are needed?

I remember working for a company who "hired" one of these managers who came in and started to "run" the company. It was instantly obvious to us drivers on the road that this guy with some big management degree had no idea about what life is like on the road. I guess there was no "model" for that. He had never been a driver. He only had a degree. Within 6 months he was gone. And the company was worse off for his being there.

Are these the types of big name managers in the financial institutions and now perhaps auto makers that we are trying to bail out? No wonder we are in trouble.

The same could be said for career politicians. I understand that originally it was the intention of the founding fathers to have everyone come up and serve their two to four years in Washington, then return back to their farms and businesses. Can you imagine the level of common sense and wisdom we would have in Washington if that were the case?

Thoughts From Laredo Tonight......

2008-09-16T20:54:00.000-05:00

I am sitting here in Laredo in my motel room going though my emails, podcasts and the various blogs that I try to stay up with.

Hurricane Ike just passed through the country over the past weekend, leaving in its wake destruction and flooding. I have links to a number of videos and articles here. The people who were directly impacted by destruction and loss of their property or even their lives and the lives of lost ones are in our thoughts and prayers. We narrowly escaped being in the path of the hurricane and as it turned out, we rarely had any effects from Ike at all.

Watch this video of pictures of hurricanes from space, courtesy of weather.com

For some time I have been wanting to use some open source music player in place of Itunes. Not that Itunes is bad but I currently run Windows Vista on my Dell machine and tend to use open source software when it works for me. But I have been able to find a music player that organizes my music and podcasts the way that I wanted them to. There is now available a program called Songbird. I installed it yesterday and have been using it today. I was happy enough that I went ahead and completely uninstalled Itunes and all its baggage. It is still in beta but the latest release is quite a bit better than the release I tried several months ago.

Some years ago someone somewhere showed us a video of Charlie "Tremendous" Jones giving one of his presentations. I was impressed with him and more or less followed him occasionally. Today on his blog, Doug Wead wrote about Charlie along with the fact that Charlie may be close to death. While you are on his blog, check out his other posts. He is a presidental historian and has many entries about presidents and those running for president and their families.

Sarah Palin has changed the election landscape tremendously. It is encouraging to see someone like her take the positions she is taking and challenging the status quo. Fox News ran a story today about her husband, the First Dude of Alaska, and how he supports what Sarah is doing.

Read the story here.

Fourth of July

2008-07-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

Our family enjoyed a cookout at my friend John's beautiful spread not very far from the Guadalupe River. It was a great time for all of us (I hope) to meet again and catch up with each other and find some fellowship around the food. John cooked up brisket, chicken and some Italian sausage and it all came out perfect.

You can see more photos on our flickr page.

Rebecca and the Bakery

2008-05-11T17:40:00.001-05:00

Rebecca and the Bakery
Originally uploaded by Amishtrucker

If you look close you can see Rebecca waving at you from the door of her new bakery. This building is almost finished but here are things to do inside yet. We have been working on it for some time already but with all the other things I and Joseph are doing this project came along rather slow. Joseph did quite a bit of the detail work in this project.

2008-05-11T16:25:00.000-05:00

This picture is of the church we attend. Brother Jerry D. Wise is the pastor here. You can get more information about our church at www.mychurch.org/abundantgrace. I also have a profile at Mychurch at www.mychurch.org/lestergraber. You are welcome to visit us here at Abundant Grace anytime. Sunday morning services are at 10:30 am and Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm.

Traveling at night

2008-05-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

Joseph is fixing to leave here about midnight to drive to El Paso, Texas where he will join a missionary team to foray into Mexico next week. He will be the team chalk artist. The ministry in El Paso is called Bearing Precious Seed. The team will be a church group from somewhere "up here" and they will let the team at "Bearing Precious Seed" be their guide for the week as they travel into Mexico and try to meet some of the needs that are there.

His blog is at www.josephjgraber.com

Welcome

2008-05-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

This is the first entry to this blog. I plan to add thoughts as I have them and have time to log on and blog them.

Tonight I have been cleanng up my work vehicle getting ready to get on the road again early Monday morning. It has been in the shop about 3 days this week and I just got it back last night. I did a run today, and it just seems dusty and dirty inside. So I have been trying to dust the cab area and trick myself into thinking that it is cleaner now. Oh really, I think it is cleaner, but because I cleaned it myself I will think it is cleaner than it probably really is. At least it seems clean to me. Isn't that what counts.