FLICKR

Approximately one year ago I setup my Flickr account. Flicker allows you to upload as many photo’s as you want. I went one step further and signed up for the professional version of Flickr. For $25 for one year I can create as many sets of photos as I want and I can upload my videos. Flickr allows me to decide who can see what. I can decide if the pictures are public and open to anyone, viewable by friends and family, viewable by family only, or private. I use flickr to populate my slide show at the top right of the blog with different public photos that I have taken. The blog picks up the last 25 or 30 pictures that I have uploaded to Flickr that are marked public. If you are looking for a way to share photos and video with friends and family I highly recommend their service. You will first have to sign up for a free Yahoo account (www.yahoo.com) then you can setup your Flickr account. After this download the upload tool from the Flickr website (http://www.flickr.com)/. Uploading is fast and easy to do. You can also update your Flickr account on the go from your digital phone. A set of special email addresses are setup with your account so that photos and video can be sent directly from the phone to your Flickr account using the email address with the privacy setting that I want (public, family & friends, family, or private).


Here is a link to the last group of photo’s that I uploaded to Flickr with the public setting. Happy viewing! http://www.flickr.com/photos/railfandad/sets/72157622064330705/

The Depression/Recession comes home

Tonight I went to a special union meeting to find out what is going on at work. I left feeling really depressed. I found out that I am guaranteed only four hours per paycheck (every two weeks). Tomorrow may quite possibly be my last day of work for one week. Then I may only get two days work then off who knows how long. This will be a way of life for me for the next while. As I still have a job I most likely can’t claim unemployment. I have two kids to support and how can I possibly do this on eight hours a month. I can’t even pay my bills. The bad news for me is I have no savings. I left my marriage (divorce) of fifteen years two years ago with nothing. Not that I took nothing into the marriage, but the savings I had was squandered during the marriage. Assuming I am off next week I will be Ebaying anything I can put my hands on (if I own it and it isn’t nailed down it will go). I will also be working on disposing of items that I don't think I need and don't think I can sell. I will be cleaning up in preperation to move. I am hoping this is not as bad as it looks, but it looks really bad at this point

Old Habits die-hard

Back on April 3, 2009 I had been to my Aunt’s funeral and thought I should work on changing my life. For a while (about two months) I worked hard on being a better person. That entry for my blog can be viewed here: http://adayandalifeinfortwayne.blogspot.com/2009/04/things-we-discover-and-shame-we-bear.htmle.blogspot.com/2009/04/things-we-discover-and-shame-we-bear.html . Sometimes old habits die-hard so I fell back into doing those things that I knew in my heart were wrong. Now, I haven’t written to my blog much lately. I have been feeling a little down and with the issues surrounding my children I just haven’t felt like posting to my blog. For about two months I did really well at being a better person, then I fell back into my old habits. I guess that too was a little depressing.

On August 3, 2009 I came to a turning point in my life. I am just plan tired of feeling guilty about doing things I know are wrong. I am tired of feeling that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I vowed to do everything in my power to do the right things and not do the things that I knew were wrong. It has been a struggle, but I feel like God knows I am doing my best now and that feeling of being sick in the pit of my stomach is gone. The church I go to believes that you must repent of your sins and begin a-new (be born again). Am I a born again Christian? The answer to that is "NO". I, however; refuse to do the things that I have been doing. It, for me, is a constant struggle on a daily basis and I remind my self-every second of the day of what not to do. Trust me there has been a lot of temptation by Satan.

One of the things I started doing after high school was cussing. Unfortunately, the truth is, at times I could make a sailor blush with shame. There wasn’t any cuss word I wouldn’t say. Today, I am doing really well with this. It had been two and a half weeks since my last occurrence of cussing. The few times it has happened when I am really frustrated and forget my self. Today it happened after I put the kids in the car and closed the doors at the zoo. I was really frustrated and one of the phrases I would say started to come out. I stopped mid-sentence. I know I shouldn’t have said what I did, but I think God knows I am working hard of this. I am hopping eventually this will too be a thing of the past. The other items on my list I think God that I have been able to have not repeated them since August 2, 2009. August 3, 2009 may quite possibly have been a great turning point in my life.

On August 10, 2009 my two kids and I went to the Anchor Room book store. The local Christian book store. Unfortunately these tired old eyes of mine needed a little bigger print than the bible I had would afford me to read. I did purchase a giant print bible to remove the eyestrain from the picture. I have placed my sister’s bible that she gave me on the bookshelf in my room. It is there if some night I want to read and don’t want to go out to the living room for the bible I bought it is there for me to read. I have read the first book of the bible (Genesis) and I am three forths of the way through the second (Exodus). My goal is to read the whole thing.

My son was there and wanted a bible of his own. Now, he is only eight years old and was willing to buy this with his own money. He had thirty dollars and the bible was thirty dollars plus tax. I told him he didn’t have to buy this with his money that I would buy it for him. I bought him the version of the bible my church believes in (King James). I thought he might just look at it and put it aside, but he has actually been reading it. He took it out and started reading it that day.

I know that for me the struggles will get more difficult not to pick up the old habits. I vow not to ever do those things again. And I hope that at some point the issue that I have with cussing when frustrated I am at least able to stop before the words get out of my mouth. One thing I have found interesting is that some of the TV shows I really liked before don’t seem to appeal to me now. My sister loaned me some old TV shows on DVD from the 70’s and 80’s, which seems to agree with me more. I am hoping in this case that old habits don’t die hard they just fade away.

A day out with Dakota

You have heard about "A day out with Thomas", well I had a day out with my son Dakota. On July 23, 2009 I did my annual one-on-one (special time) with my son. Every year I take one personal day and spend it with each of my children. This year we resumed an annual event that he enjoys and looks forward to very much. Last year we didn’t get to go. He wanted to Deshler Ohio the crossroads of the B&O railroad. It is CSX railroad today, but in the old days the Baltimore and Ohio railroad went through these parts. It was a fun time that we both enjoyed. The picture at the top of this blog was taken on that day out. Below are some of the photographs I took on that day so enjoy.

Happy 47th Anniversary Mom & Dad

I want to wish my Mom and Dad a happy 47th wedding anniversary. May they have many more!

Equal rights

A man’s wife takes his children on a walk on a rainy day in 39-degree weather for seven hours. By the time she gets back their fingers are blue, their lips are blue, their ears are blue. She and the children are soaked from head to toe. They argued about this for an hour then they got the kids into the bathtub to warm them up. She goes to the kitchen and starts chopping up vegetables for dinner using a seven-inch kitchen knife. The wife then tries to stab her husband with the knife. He tries to block it, but the knife goes through his collar and slices his neck. She tries to stab him again and this time he tries to block it but he pops her in the mouth. She drops the knife and calls 911 telling the dispatcher that she is being hit and her husband is trying to kill her. He doesn’t allow her to hide the knife, but when the police arrive they don’t want to listen to him. Before they hand cuff him they even go as far as to draw their weapons on him.

They cuffed him and a female deputy takes the kids to the bedroom as they continue to discuss what happened. About fifteen minutes later the female deputy comes back and tells them he is telling the truth. The two daughters verified that their mom tried to kill him instead. They took the cuffs off and said "Your wife obviously needs help". The deputy added that she had coverage for mental health issues. Now, get this: What he did was a felony, what she did she wasn’t even arrested for it. When he called for help he was referred to a line for the perpetrators of violence. If you are interested in reading this full story read "NO ONE BELIEVED ME".


I have read about the equal rights amendment which would be the 28th amendment to the constitution of the United States of America. Based on the above story who is it that needs equal rights? Seems to me that men may need to fight for equal rights. The laws that we currently have are geared toward protecting women. But, yes Virgina there are those women who do bad things too. It isn’t a men’s only club. Do men have equal rights? This is just my opinion.