Sunday, November 29, 2009

A Brief Tid Bit

I have begun to post some of my Bible studies on Issuu.com.
This is the quickest and easiest way to allow others to read these studies.

Chris and Sonia in Newark, Ohio, brought this site to my attention.
My thanks to them. (hope to see you again next year!)

To access my studies, go to issuu.com
In the search field enter "OldScribe45"
It should respond with "No results found for "OldScribe45""
Don't panic.

From the blue menu bar, under the search field, select "People"
This will bring up my file.
Select "OldScribe45" or "More info".
That should present my written files. (there are just two now)

If you select one of the files, it will open in a format like a book.
In the upper left corner, next to the "fullscreen" option box is a smaller box with some white squares in it.
Selecting this icon will give you two more options for reading these files on your screen.

I have set up these files so that you can download them if you want.

Check them out.
I welcome your comments and suggestions.

In God we trust.
.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

An open letter to the CEO of Sears.

W. Bruce Johnson,
Interim Chief Executive Officer and President
Sears Holdings Corporation
3333 Beverly Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179


Dear Mr. Johnson,

I have an old Craftsman circular saw that is nearly 40 years old and still going strong, but it will only accept 7-inch blades.
The carbide-tipped blade I currently use has finally become dull and needs to be replaced.
7-inch blades are difficult to find these days, since in the intervening four decades, 7 1/4 has become the standard blade size for these type of tools.
This size blade will not fit in my old saw.
So, in order to use a new blade, I needed to buy a new saw.
Plus, I wanted a new saw.

I made a special trip to your store here in Huntsville, Alabama, to buy a new Craftsman circular saw.
When I arrived in the tool department, there were about ten customers and/or children milling around looking at the displayed inventory.
There were no sales people around.
There was no one at the cash registers/checkout area.
I walked around the tool department looking for someone to assist me.
I found no one.

After about 5 minutes, a young lady came out of the back to get something from her purse under the (still empty) checkout counter.
I assumed she was on her lunch break.
On her way back to where she had come from, she asked me if I needed any help.
I told her I did.
She looked around for a sales person, found him and told him that I needed some help.
He was apparently by himself and was assisting another customer.
The young lady disappeared into the bowels of the store and I waited five more minutes.
More people came into the tool department.
There were about 20 people milling around the department now.

While I waited to be helped, I examined the circular saws on display again and found to my distress that Craftsman circular saws are now made in China.

I wanted to buy a Craftsman saw because I thought they were made in the USA, and because I wanted to support the Sears company policy of holding jobs for its employees who are called to active duty in the military reserves.
Now I had only one philosophical reason to buy a Sears product.

Disappointed, I waited for the lone salesperson.
I began to rethink why I had come all the way to this store to buy a Chinese saw.
I could get a Chinese saw at the Peoples Republic of Walmart for less money.
But I still wanted to support a company that supported our troops.

Five more minutes passed.
The lone salesperson was now helping another customer.
Two more were waiting near him.
I waited a couple more minutes and decided to go a half mile up the street to Walmart and buy my saw.
Total time in your store - about 20-25 minutes.

This was not the first time I have been ignored in this department of this store.
A few years ago, I came to the tool department to buy something (I forget what, now) on a Saturday morning.
I was one of only three customers in the department, I think.

There were at least three young men dressed in white shirt and tie, standing around talking to each other.
Since they did not have Bibles in their hands, I assumed they were Sears employees, not visiting Mormon missionaries.
One of them acknowledged me as I walked past, but he, nor any of the others, broke off their conversations to ask if I need help.
A young man at the checkout counter finally asked if I could use assistance.
I came very close to calling the department manager that morning.

It took me about three minutes to walk from my car to the tool department in Walmart.
I looked at the brands and the prices, and picked up the box of the saw I wanted from the shelf.
It took about five minutes to pay for my purchase (there were two people in line ahead of me).
Total time in the store (which was very busy), about 15 minutes.

I am now the proud owner of a new Skil 7 1/4 circular saw, similar to one you sell in your store.
Made in China.

Do I need to tell you that I am extremely disappointed in your change in tool suppliers, and the customer service in your store here.


Best regards,

Steve Nordstrom
Huntsville, Alabama

Sunday, November 15, 2009

One More Thing...

... I forgot to mention in my latest date of up.
I bought a new mattress for the Royal Bed.

There was nothing really "wrong" with my old mattress.
It was nice and firm (too firm, maybe), but had no sagage or other problems.
But my sister had raved about her new (back then) "memory foam" mattress and it made me curious.

One thing I was sure of - I was NOT going to pay $1,200.00 for a mattress, like some "X-Pedic" Norwegian companies want me to.
Nuw uh.

But I did some shopping on line.
I came across a website for Overnight Mattress.
They were selling foam, twin-sized mattresses made in the USA, for $399.00, with a 15 year warranty.
After mulling over this temptation for several weeks I went for it.

So the Royal Bed is now made of foam. (on the same nice, sturdy wood frame)
And I have changed the Royal sheets to flannel for the coming winter.
And I have a nice, firm, 10 year old coil mattress for sale.
Cheep.

Oh, and how does the new foam bed sleep?
Wonderful.
Every time I sit on it, I want to lay down and go to sleep.

In God we trust.
.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

No I am Not Dead

Sorry to disappoint you. ;)

But I have been suffering from a bit of writers block (or bloggers block).
I have been doing plenty of writing, just not here.

So, what have I been doing?
Well, I have finished the wiring job in my house (just those two plugs).
I have been weight lifting four days each week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday).
I have been doing some Bible studies.
Taking the remaining tax courses for my job with H&R Block.

I finally finished my analysis of D.S. Warner's book Bible Proofs of a Second Work of Grace.
I started it in 2006.
It has turned out to be 175 pages long.
So I guess I write books.

That study gave me an idea for another Bible study on the relationship of holiness, walking in the light, and chastening.
That one turned out to be 17 pages.

Then I got another idea for a study on the attributes of the redeemed.
I wondered what the Bible actually says about who the saved are and what they are like (or not like).
I thought that might have 30 or 40 scriptures.
Wrong.
So far I have listed over 1300 attributes (some of them are duplicates).
Just the list of attributes and the Bible verse that states it has reached over 27 pages.
I am amazed.
Some verses list five or six items and I list each of them separately for better indexing.
And some verses list things that the saved do not do.
I list each of those separately also.

I would like to share/publish these studies but am not sure how/where to do it.
One place to put them is here, but I am not sure that is the best way.
I'm still working on that.

I have become more active on Facebook in the last week or two.
I can see why it is popular, but I cannot spend very much time there, I have more urgent things to do (like bible studies...).

I also installed the latest version (11.2) of openSUSE linux on my computer.
It is working fine.
The install took a couple of hours because it downloaded most of the applications from a website.
That amounted to about 2.5 gigabytes of code.
Everything is working except my media player and I am working on that with the support people.
I have a minor problem with my spreadsheet application in Open Office that I am working with the support folks on, also.

Monday I start more tax training.
That will cut into my free time.
More later.

In God we trust.
.

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