Developing Useful Software and Everchanging Adoption of Standards

Yes, I realize it has been "four score and seven years ago" since I have added an entry to my blog.  I need to be more astute in getting these comments and such out - especially how I currently feel about software development technology standards, standard committees, and the way these standards are adopted by some of the biggest players in the industry.

I saw the following comments on a blog today:

• Group: TPM / Techpost Media
• Subject: RIP HTML 5 – let’s make sure HTML 6 does it right!

Not a week goes by where my software engineers don’t have to tear their hair out dealing with inconsistencies between the various HTML 5 compatible web browsers out on the market. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer idiosyncrasies often get my colleague’s blood boiling but it is by no means immune from issues. Just this week we found that Chrome was inexplicably throwing an odd header into HTTPS traffic to our web site that we had to compensate for.

The lack of HTML 5 compatibility between the various web browsers almost makes it feel as if things have gotten worse than they were before HTML 5 ever existed. It’s enough to make we wish we could just throw HTML 5 in the legacy bin and start over with HTML 6 (or whatever they end up calling the next version of HTML)!

I realize that the call for a new version of HTML is terribly naive, but dealing with this hellish morass of incompatible browsers is enough to make a person desperate.

Maybe a new version of HTML would be even worse. The same competing business objectives that created ambiguity and inconsistencies amongst HTML 5 implementations won’t just vanish as a new version is created. Worse, any new standard of the importance of HTML could easily take a decade to come to fruition.

My backup hope would be that the market forces hurry up and determine a knock out winner in the browser wars that FINALLY result in only a single survivor. If we can’t have harmony in the standards then a de-facto monopoly might be the next best thing.

How do you think we could improve compatibility amongst web browsers? Am I just blowing these problems into a bigger issue than it really is?

Cheers,
Michael Surkan

TPM Chief Evangelist

So this struck a chord in me that rattled the bones in my body!  I am just coming off a six-month contract with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or The LDS Church, or Mormon Church.  I was working a a unique project to assess the ability of an individual's second language.  For example, if your primary language is Spanish and you claim to be able to speak English as a second language this is great!  However, if you state, on a scale of 1-5, that you speak English at level 3, and then are actually tested on it and come to find out that you barely speak English (at say a level 1) this can be a problem, especially when the church wants to instruct you in that second language.

I worked with a team of software developers that created an online solution to automatically deal with this.  What we did was create a web-based assessment that presents 20 per-recorded prompts in the second language (English) to the one being tested.  They would repeat the prompt and it would be recorded and scored electronically, thereby assuring a consistent and pretty accurate score.

The problems that have been encountered during this development effort will not mean a whole awful lot to the casual reader, but suffice it to say that when you are playing back recorded audio on a website - and - recording audio, problems tend to creep into the picture.

One of many problems is browser incompatibility.  If we chose to use, say, Adobe Flash to record and playback audio, it may work well on Firefox, but have issues on Chrome and Internet Explorer.  We looked at using HTML5, which will give us built in ability to record/playback audio, but discovered what Michael, above, is discussing.  So what do we do?  There are a few options:
1. Focus on one browser only, like, say, Chrome and state that our application is only guaranteed to work on Chrome.
2. Implement HTML5 and hope that future updates of the major browsers will support it sooner rather than later.
3. Use Adobe Flash and make specific changes for the big browsers; Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome.

So which option did we chose?  Which option would you chose?

We chose option 3!  The option that required much more development effort, but would allow the masses to use our website.

So how would standardization and compliance have made this story have a much better ending?  Simple.  If Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla would all implement new standards in a consistent manner (HTML5) then, at least theoretically, applications designed using HTML5 would all work on those browsers.

Till next time,

Bill
 

What If I Liked Everyone I Met?

It has been a while since I have created a post for my blog.  Since my last blog, I was laid off from my job (that is an interesting story and should be the subject for another post) and started a new job.

Needless to say, it kinda worked out for me since my old company so generously gave me a three-week severance, and I started my new job during that third week.  However, as in most jobs, you need to work for a certain amount of time, in my case, 2 weeks, before being paid.  But, hey!, I lucked out there too since my new company realized my pain and gave me a hiring bonus to get by on until my first paycheck.

Sometimes, in order to get a point across to me, you need to whack me on the head with a 2 x 4.  Today at work, a comment was made about a guy who is really sharp.  He has a PHD from Harvard and the whole kitten-kabootle!   Maybe if I had a PHD, I wouldn't need to get hit on the head with a 2 x 4 so much!  At any rate, it has taken me quite a long time to realize that everyone here on this earth

has problems just like me.  I am not the only, single, solitary, person on this earth with problems.  (If I had figured this out many years ago, oh boy, would I be so much further ahead!)

It did dawn on me one simple thing that I could do to help with my problems and that simply put is Like Everyone I Meet.  I could write volumes about doing the very opposite.  Thinking back on these situations causes more pain and suffering for me, so it is not accomplishing anything positive for me.

I have to retrogress and give a few examples of my stupidness in interacting with people the wrong way.  A year after I was married my wife and I were cleaning up after Christmas.  The phone rang and a kind voice asked to speak with my wife.  As I handed her the phone, I oh so kindly said, "honey, its the wreath stealer!"  What you need to understand was that a year ago my wife had lended this lady some Christmas wreaths.  They had yet to be returned.  Need I say more about what happened next.

A second situation happened just last night.  For many years I have been a stickler for a nice looking yard and a fantastic vegetable garden.  I would ask kids to not ride on my grass, etc.  I was quite grumpy when my neighbor's construction project wrecked my sprinkler system,   So last night three neighbor kids asked if they could setup a bike jump and jump onto my lawn.  Realizing that I had been inspired about the pain stuff (see above), I said that they could jump onto my lawn.  I sat out there in my front yard disassembling a piece of patio furniture watching these kids jump from the road onto my lawn.  When it started to get dark, they broke out some lights and kept jumping.

Thinking, actually I was hoping that one of the kids would biff it hard on the grass, naw.  Luckily nobody was injured in this story and I felt good for letting them use my lawn as a landing pad.

Alright, so what if I were to do something that would be extremely hard for me?  Something so hard that it would require changing my life for it?  That would be, simply put, like everyone I meet and be genuine enough with that so that the people I meet would feel the truth in my like.

As I recall in the Bible, Jesus Christ is quoted as saying, "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself."  So the secret to a lot of life's problems was written in the Bible thousands of years ago.  Hmmm!  I have officially started my new life last evening.  Now I need to keep doing it.  I know it will make me feel better in the long run.  Having friends is a lot better than enemies.

Till next time,

Bill

Mobile Management Software: When You Need It and When You Don't

I realize that most of you who read my blog have some sort of smart mobile device.  Whether it be an iPhone or iPad or both.  Or maybe you are more for the Android world and have an Android phone and/or tablet.  Most of you don't think much about the security of your device.  You just use it and that is that.  Let me relate three stories that may change the way that you look at smart mobile devices.

A good friend of mine uses a company-owned iPad.  He has had it for a few years and keeps all things pertaining to his job on it.  Recently he flew to Florida for a big business conference.  While at the conference, one of the times he went to restroom he left his iPad in the stall.  (How many of you are guilty of using a mobile device in the restroom?)  So after finishing his business, he went back to the conference.  A little while later he wants to take some notes, but where is his iPad?!?.  The iPad has all his confidential business information on it.  Of course he ran back to the restroom, to the stall, and no iPad - Stolen!

A second story occurred to a good friends daughter at soccer practice.  She put her iPhone inside her backpack, zipped up the backpack and practiced.  When the practice was over, she retrieved her backpack, unzipped it, and no iPhone!  It was Stolen!

The last story happened to my daughter, who, imagine that, plays soccer too.  She was listening to her iPod Touch en-route to a soccer practice.  When she arrived, she put her iPod Touch inside her backpack and went to practice.  After practice, she, too, retrieved her backpack, unzipped it, and no iPod Touch - Gone - Stolen!

I remember reading somewhere (too lazy to look it up) that stated that Apple products are among the most commonly stolen products in the world.  I am sure that applies to mobile devices, laptops, and electronics in general.

Enter Mobile Management.  There are several companies that off great solutions to secure your mobile devices.  Most of the big companies are involved such as IBM, Microsoft, Apple, and Novell.  Lots of other smaller companies also have offerings.

So, what does a mobile management solution buy you?  I will list several features, but one big one is the wiping of sensitive data from your device when it has been stolen.  So here is a list of features that most mobile management solution providers offer:

• Software Distribution - The ability to manage application on mobile devices by deploying, installing, updating, deleting, or blocking access to a particular application.
• Security Management - The ability to allow or prevent a user from doing particular things on their mobile device.  One example would be using YouTube.
• Inventory Management - Provides a great way to track who has mobile devices in your company and where those mobile devices are at any given time.
• Policy Management - The ability to create policies that can apply to everyone or just a small group of people at your company.  For example you may want different restrictions for company-owned devices as compared to personally owned devices.
• File Distribution - The ability to distribute files to your employees securely.

 This is just a quick glazing over of features that mobile management software provides.  When you install the application portion of a mobile management solution on your device, you will typically see a copyright page, a page for pushing applications to the device, a page for file management, and that is about it.  Almost 90% of the functionality of a mobile management product is behind the scenes; you will never see it operating, but you will see the end result on your device.

So lets look at the three situations I described earlier and see if a mobile management solution could or did help the situation. 

The first, my friend who left his iPad in the bathroom.  When he realized it was stolen, he immediately called companies help desk or IS&T department and reported the theft.  Since the company was using a mobile management solution, they immediately issued a wipe device command.  This cannot be halted by a user, returning the device back to the state it was in when it was originally purchased.  This unfortunately doesn't get the device back, but does destroy any company confidential information on the device/

The second situation with by friends daughter, they used Apple's locate device service.  They were able to find exactly where the iPhone was.  They called up the local police and with the offer in tow, went to the house where the location service indicated.  Turned out to be one of my friend's daughter's teammates.  When confronted with whether she had the phone, she went and got the phone and gave some silly story about it falling into her backpack.  iPhone recovered!

The third situation with my daughter didn't turn out so well.  Since he has an iPod Touch stolen, there is no GPS functionality in it that would allow it to be tracked like an iPhone.  However, had she installed a mobile management solution, when the device was next attached to a wireless network, the wipe device command would have been able to execute.  As it stands, my daughter has had to change her password on her email and a variety of other Internet-based services.  I feel bad for her.

In summary, if your company doesn't have a mobile management solution, highly encourage them to get one.!

Til next time,

Bill Freeton

Is the Internet Safe, or How Do I Know My Purchases are Safe?!?

When I think of whether the Internet is safe or not, I always look at it from two points of view: 1. Content and 2. Technology.  The first, of course, is what I can view or interact with on the Internet.  There have been a few times when I have entered the wrong address in my web browser and ended up having very surprising or better yet shocking result.  Several years ago I was sitting in my office with a co-worker talking about how neat it was to have visited the White House that previous summer.  I typed whitehouse.com into my browser instead of whitehouse.gov.  What came up on my screen didn't look anything like the White House!  It also surprised my worker so much that he started laughing at me.  I was so embarrassed that I pulled out the cord to my monitor to get the picture off of my screen!  I am glad to know that today whitehouse.com is not what it used to be, but apparently is owned by the government to prevent this kind of problem.

I recall reading a few years back how a holding company for many companies that push pornography to the Internet was buying up popular web addresses as soon as they became available.  The reason they were doing this was to point these addresses to their pornography thus making it easier to end up on one of their sites.  I also recall several law suites from celebrities who had their names used to point to pornography sites.  I also recall that most of them won the law suites.

I am not going to dwell on the content subject matter anymore in favor of 2. Technology.  When you go to Amazon.com and make a purchase, how do you know that the information you send to Amazon will not be stolen by a person who is watching the transaction?  In the early days of the Internet most of the data sent to and from websites was clear text.  That meant that someone with the right equipment could watch what was going over the Internet, which would allow them to collect personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card numbers.

Shortly after the Internet was invented, Internet encryption was invented to prevent unauthorized snooping of information on the Internet.  Hence, for the most part, the Internet is safe when you place online orders or look at confidential information. 

I have been working on a project at my company which relies on ensuring that the data coming to my server and leaving it is safe.  For this reason we have embraced an Internet favorite for securing data called Secure Socket Layer or SSL for short.  Let's take a bit of a dive into this technology and see what makes it tick.

 Before we dive into the details, there are two questions to think about when you are on the Internet; 1. Who are you speaking with?, and 2. Is someone listening to your conversation?

Who Are You Speaking With?
When you whip out your cell phone and call a friend, how can you be certain that the person on the other phone is really your friend?  If you have never spoken to this person before, it might be quite difficult.  I had a situation once where I started getting these text messages from my wife, but they were not formatted as she would do it.  Come to find out that my son had found my wife's phone and decided to text me.  Technically, whenever you call a business or someone you have never talked to before, how can you really know that the person on the other side works for that company?  And with text messages, how do you know if your friend really is on the other end?

Is Someone Listening to Your Conversation?
There is technology out there that will allow someone to tap into a cell phone audio conversation.  Cell phone companies are constantly trying to stay ahead of people who want to compromise their technology.  Fortunately with cellular digital communication and smart phone, this can be minimized through encryption.  The Internet is the same way, luckily for us we have SSL.

SSL Technology Overview
SSL technology takes advantage of some concepts of a science called cryptography.  With almost all concept in cryptography you have two keys; one that you keep secret (private key) and one that you give to all your friends (public key).  The idea is that if your friend wants to send you a secret message, he will encrypt the message with your public key and when your receive the message you can decrypt it with your private key.  What I have just described is called public key cryptography.  Basically you keep your private key private and share you public key with the world.

How Does SSL Work?
For SSL to work in a real world scenario, you need to do two major things; 1. Setup your web server to support SSL, and 2. Your web browser needs to trust the server your are browsing to.

Let's say your company name is ACME. In order to setup SSL on a server, the following steps need to be completed:

1. Using the operating system that the server is running on (Windows, Linux) at ACME, you need to create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR).  During this process a private key is generated.

2. Next you need to access a Certificate Authority (CA).  This can be in house, but more commonly is a third-party company such as Thawte and have them validate ACME.  Thawte will do two important things; 1. Validate that your company has control of the domain you are using (ACME.com), and 2. That your company exists in public government records.

3. When this validation process is complete, Thawte will give you back a new public key (which is also referred to as a certificate) which is encrypted with their private key.

4. Lastly, your ACME takes this new certificate and installs in on its webservers.

What happens when you browse to ACME's webserver from your browser?

1. You (customer) use your web browser to make a connection with ACME.  Typically this will be done on SSL port 443.  More commonly you will see an https in front of your web address.

2. ACME will send back its public key.  Once this is received, the web browser decides if it is OK to proceed:

• The ACME public key cannot be expired.
• The ACME public key must be from ACME only.
• The web browser must have the public key from Thawte installed in its certificate store.  Most web browsers have the public keys from reputable certificate vendors installed already.

3. You will be asked if you want to trust the certificate from ACME.  If you select yes, then your web browser's public key will be sent to ACME.

4. ACME will then create a unique file called a hash and encrypt it with both the customer's web browser's public key and its own private key.  This will then be sent back to the customer.

5. The customer's web browser will then decrypt the hash.  This process validates that ACME sent the hash and only the customer was able to read it.

6. At this point both ACME and the customer's web browser trust each other and exchange information securely.

So there you have it.  How information is securely exchanged on the Internet.  I hope you dell better about placing your credit card number with Amazon now.

Till next time,

Bill

Raising Children Without A Guide

They don't come with instruction manuals.  They just come.  From the day my first child was born, it has been a struggle.  When the baby is so little, it does not have the ability to do much for itself, totally relying on its parents.  However, when that baby starts to grow up, it sucks in information.  It is like a hungry fish trying to gulp down all the food that you feed it, as if there will never be any more food coming.

I have discovered that when I am less than perfect -- well maybe downright rotten, that whatever I may do; swear, use bad language, etc., will com back to haunt me with my youngest boy repeating it, causally.

I refer to my youngest son as "The Karate Kid."  He has been taking Karate for going on four years.  This has been a huge blessing in that it gives him a target to take all of his energy out on.  I was particularly impressed with his last belt promotion.  In addition to passing all the requirements for the belt, he had to go to a boot camp of sorts three Saturdays out of four to get ready -- this in addition to his regular class, masters weapons class, and performing team class.  So now the next step is Black belt, the Holy Grail of Karate.

So, what if children came with an instruction manual?  In the Hospital, when the baby is placed in your arms, they also give you this 15,000 page book entitled, "Little Johnny and how to care for him for his entire life!"  What a deal!  Poopy diaper, turn to page 23 and find out how to change a diaper.  Your son calls you a bad name, turn to page 156 for how to deal with this and so on.

My daughter has hit the age where suddenly she is interested in boys.  My wife and I have placed strict rules on how and where she can interact with boys.  Since she is a teenager, she rides the line constantly and of course pushes back.  One time she arranged to meet at boy (with a very questionable reputation) right after school.  When my daughter didn't arrive home on the bus at the appointed time, we tried to call her up.  She didn't answer her phone.  What to do?  Page 1057 of the instruction manual has the solution.  Read it, implement it, and move on.  If only it was this easy!

I have been retrogressing and watching the hit USA Cable Channel's Monk sitcom recently.  The premise of the show is a detective named Monk who is severely challenged with obsessive-compulsive disorder.   This and other reasons cause him to be meeting with a psychiatrist on a regular basis.  The interaction between Monk and the psychiatrist is one of the more fun moments of the series.  If each one of us could have a personal psychiatrist like Monk, then maybe child rearing would be easier.

There are some good ideas for raising children on the zenhabits website.  In an article written by Sean Platt, he suggests seven secrets to raising a happy child.

The First is, "Let your child know you are excited to see them when they enter the room."  This is the situation when I get home from work each night.  Usually my youngest will be in the kitchen on the computer.  His eyes light up when I enter the room.  I call him by name and then ask him to tell me about his day.  Then we discuss his latest computer game.

The second is, "Teach you child it's okay to be bored."  Kids tend to want to dream and use their imaginations.  My youngest son is totally swept up with computers, iPods, and other electronic devices.  Being with him in a room with no electronic devices will usually cause him to complain bitterly, but after the complaints come songs and questions on various subjects.  I treasure these moments very much.

The third is, "Limit your child's media."  I could easily say, look at the second one above for this.  My oldest son benefited from this one early in his life and along with an investment in piano has made him into a very intelligent and ingenious individual.  Today, he can easily focus on home work.  He doesn't spend much time in front of the TV.  In fact, he and a friend recently won honors at a national high school science fair completion and will travel to Arizona to compete nationally!

The fourth is, "Let your child know they are more important than work."  This is a very difficult one to do since as adults we are usually busy doing something that is usually boring for for our kids at any one time.  When a child calls you, if you respond, give them eye contact, and truly show interest in what they are doing, the end result is priceless.  I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that when kids are young, interacting will them is like putting money in an emotional bank account.  Them when they get older and become teenagers, parents can make withdrawals from the emotional bank account when the child may not want to have anything to do with you.

The fifth is, "Let your child make a few of the rules."  You don't have to make them the boss to let them feel empowered.  However, if you are too lenient, they may overrun you.  I learned this the hard way when my youngest son started calling me names and I didn't adequately provide appropriate discipline for the action.  I have taken a few steps back and tried treating each problem as best I could.  Things are much better now.  By giving your kids some of the control of the situation you are helping them understand your household law.  This will lead directly to a willingness to follow.

The sixth is, "Teach your child - don't assume it's all happening outside the house."  This is one where religion in my life makes a big difference.  The church we attend is big on teaching children how to act and behave in preparation for the rest of their lives.  I could write many blogs on these ideas alone, but will not.  Parents need to teach their kids many things that are not taught in a public school.  A lot of these items can be taught from the parents perspective when they were growing up.  Experience is a great teacher!

The last one is, "Model appropriate behavior."  This is the one I am guilty of not doing.  I have a temper and I tend to emit not so appropriate words when I am angry.  My kids see these temper tantrums and then perform similar actions when they get mad.  It has taken me many years to curtail my anger, but I am pretty good now.  Currently, when I let a bad word slip, my kids will not let me forget when it happened.  It is very true that children do what they see, not as they are told.  If you want a child to obey you, then you need to set the appropriate example.  Remember, there  is no one more influential to your child than you.

These are just a few thoughts that I have on the subject of raising kids.

Till next time,

Bill

Respect: How Would You Define It?

I live in a suburb of a much larger city.  The motto for out city is, "A Little Bit of Country."  I believe I have touched on this in a prior blog, but since I have not posted for almost a year (I can't believe that, but computers don't lie) so I am going to amend my wicked ways and try to do better!

Our city has a monthly news letter called "Character Connection," where good citizens share their thoughts on respectable subjects.  I would like to share this month's subject matter, that of respect since it influenced me especially strong this Easter season.

I just finished watching the epic mini-series, The Bible, which aired this month on The History Channel.  Needless to say, I was impressed.  They timed the concluding part which focused on the Atonement and Resurrection right for Easter Sunday.  The reason I bring this up is that Jesus was a man who by his very nature demands respect.  He definitely received it from his Apostles, and the goodly part of the Israelites.  However, he definitely did not get it from the wicked part of the Israelites, and especially not from the Romans.

Which takes me back to the newsletter.  Laura Bueno has wrapped up the idea of Respect very nicely by sharing the following:

What is Respect?
Respect can mean different things to different people.  But basically, respect means to show regard or consideration for someone or something.  It is critical for our children to understand the importance of respect, so that they can communicate effectively with others throughout their lives.  It is important to distinguish between respect and obedience.  A child may obey you simply because he is afraid of you.  However, when a child understands that your rules and disciplinary actions are ultimately for his own good, he will obey you because he respects you.

Equally importnat, self-respect means to hold proper esteem or regard for the dignity of one's character,  The virtue of self-respect allows children to feel good about themselves and will help them to achieve their goals.

How Respect is Learned.
The best way to teach your child about respect is for you to show respect to yourself, your child, and others.  Kids are greatly influenced throughout their day by adults - whether it be a parent, teacher, or coach.  Observing respectful adult behavior helps your child learn the value of respect and how to use it to his advantage.

Marriage and Family Therapist Robert Navarra, Pys.D., encourages parents to model respectful behavior with children and with each other by avoiding labels, sarcasm, and criticism at home.  "Focus on the behavior and be sure to emphasize what you want the other person to do, not what you don';t want.  Additionally, coach children to verbalize their feelings, and then validate those feelings, emphasizing the importance of respecting each other's perspectives and emotions."

As your child grows older, it is important to maintain and demand an environment of respect.  "As your child enters the teen years, it can be extremely difficult to show repspect and establish boundaries with your child when he or she is being disrespectful to you.  It's important - though challenging - not to stoop to their level.  It takes a lot of strength to walk away and not yell back," says psychiatric social worker Jennifer Segura.

Keep in mind that schools may teach children about respect, but it is you, the parent, that holds the most influence over your children.  If you are caught bad-mouting the opposing team during a soccer game or screaming an obscentiy at the idiot who just cut you off, your child will take this as a cue that it';s okay to be disrepsectful to you your peers.

Most importnat, treat your kids with respect.  Truly listen to them when they have something to say.  Let them know that their words and feelings are important to you.  Help then learn to appreciate and take care of their things by respecting their personal property.  Respect their privacy by knocking before entering their room and ask that they do the same.  Remember, you are their role model and the old adage "Do as I say not as I do" simply doesn't have any merit where matters of respect are concerned.

When Others are Disrespectful
You can't be with your child every minute of the day.  But make sure he knows that it is absolutely not okay for anyone - including an adult - to treat him in a disrepsectful manner (and vice-versa).  For instance, if a teacher makes an inappropriate comment or belittles your child, tell him to immediatly report the incident to the principal, and to tell you as soon as he gets home form school so that you can follow up if wanted.

Bottom line, it is our job as parents to ensure that we raise our kids to become respectful aduilts.  Society - and our children - will thank you for it.

I again thank Laura Bueno for the wise and choice words, above.

As a father, I have (and continue to have) a few problems with both my daughter and one of my sons.  My daughter plays High School basketball.  Last season, she had to miss a couple of practices since she was receiving physical therapy for a leg injury.  She let the coach know when she would be gone.  However, at the practices my daughter missed, she bad-mouted my daughter to the rest of the team.  This offended one girl so deeply that she both let my daughter know and she and her mom went to the principal about it.  Needless to say, the coach was disciplined.

A second situation that I have been dealing with is with one of my sons.  Since I am not the perfect model of a father, I am guilty of occasionally cursing various people. items, and things.  This has had the undesired effect of my son calling me derogatory names.  I have tried letting him know that each time he calls me one of those name he has to call his Mom, School Teacher, and Karate Teacher the same name (I know he wont, especially his Karate teacher because of the end result of that action.)  So, I have tried to watch my mouth, discovered that if I restrict my son's access to the Internet when he calls me a name, I may get the desired result.

I tried this last Sunday (March 24th) when he called me a bad name.  I didn't let him have the Internet back until last Saturday (March 30th).  It about wiped him out.  So far, no bad names.  We'll see what happens, but one thing is for sure, if he does it again, he will lose the Internet for another week!

One last example is about me.  When I turned 16, I started to drive the family cars.  I also acquired a girl friend.  My parents set a strict curfew of midnight for me to come home.  One time I pushed that limit to 2am.  My parents took away my driving privilidges (dp) for a week.  How embarrased I was to have to ride the bus to High School!  So what did I do after I got my dp back?  Stayed out with my girlfriend past curfew again.  Of course my dp was revoked again, this time for two weeks.  That did the trick and I never broke my curfew again.

Lastly, a few thoughts on respect.

"There is a destiny that makes us brothers, No one goes his way alone; All that we send into the lives of others, comes back into our own." - Edwin Markham

"Respect is knowing the difference between what you have a (legal) right to do and what is the right thing to do." - Potter Stewart

"No man is an island; entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." - John Donne

"Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Wise paople appreciate all people for they see the good in each." - Balthazar Gracian

Till next time (and I sure hope it is quicker this time),

Bill Freeton

A Sad Thing Happened in the Mountains Yesterday

I am sure that all of you have seen on the news, in print, or on the Internet that fires have been ravaging several locations in states such as Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and California.  I have been sick about all the people who have lost their homes in Colorado -- something like 30,000 people were warned to leave their homes.

I was reading about a small Utah town where a citizen was quoted as saying she witnessed as the fire came over the mountain, down into the valley, heading straight for her home, it suddenly split in two and went around the town missing all of the homes in the town.  Granted, fields were burned as were a few storage sheds.  She called it a miracle and said that it was an answer to prayer.

Yesterday, my childhood cabin was destroyed by the Church Camp fire in Utah.  I have fond memories of building this cabin when I was roughly 15 years old.  A miracle occurred during this event, but I will tell you about that in a few minutes.  My family is really good friends with another family.  Together we had discovered that property was being sold in a Utah canyon for a super really good price.  We packed up the families and traveled to this canyon.  Once we arrived at the turnoff from the main highway, we noted that the real estate agent wanted us to get into his four wheel drive Chevy Blazers to go into the canyon.

Now granted the idea that it had been raining all day might have had something to do with this.  I also suspect that a couple of station wagons trying to navigate a very muddy dirt road would have been a recipe for disaster!

Once we headed down the main canyon road, we didn't seem to have any problems.  We forked off the main road up a more private canyon to a gate, which the agent unlocked.  We then proceeded up to the top of the mountain, driving out into one of the most beautiful meadows I have ever seen!  There were wild flowers, grass, even the remnants of an old saw mill.  We fell in love with this place!  Since the lots were in 10 acre sizes, we bought the one that included most of the meadow, envisioning a cabin at the treeline on the south side of the meadow.  (I won't tell you about how the two Blazers got stuck going out and how we had to hike to the main road in the rain and mud to get help.)

It was a few years before the cabin actually took shape.  We built a platform where we setup a tent.  Our friends had a trailer that they pulled in.  The Father of the other family had some industrial knowledge, which worked out to our benefit.  One weekend when both families were at "the property" as we called it, this Father cut a portion of a tree and placed a level on top of it.  Using this technology, he could eye where the supporting columns of our cabin would go.  We marked these locations, as we had been clearing a location for the cabin.

In the following weeks, months, is where I saw the miracle take place.  One trip we crated column forms, dug some holes, placed the column forms in them and poured cement.  The next trip we removed these forms and used railroad ties to create a solid infrastructure for the cabin.  Yet another trip and we built the floor.

My Dad and the other family's Father got together and built the trusses that would become the walls and ceiling.  On our next trip to "the property" we were accompanied by a rather large construction truck with a big crane.  This crane was used to place each of the trusses into place and then we would hammer them into place.  On the truck was also some very large piles of plywood and rolls of tar paper.

Once the trusses were all in place, we nailed plywood to the outside of the trusses and also created an upper floor for bedrooms inside.  In an effort to beat an approaching thunderstorm, we were able to get all of the tar paper on the outside and some of the shingles before it started to rain.  We were able to fill in the front and back walls to enclose the cabin.  We added a front and a back door, which we locked when we left.

Future trips involved constructing inner walls, running plumbing and electrical wires, placing sheet rock.  Also laying carpet and installing a bathroom.  It was going to be good to have a running water bathroom instead of the pit one we had constructed shortly after we bought the property.

The last few touches included installing a custom stove to heat the cabin, building a generator shed for the generator, and crafting a front deck and stairs.  The front deck and big front window looked directly out into the meadow.  Lastly we started bringing up older furniture to decorate it.

So the miracle that I witnessed was the building of this cabin.  This included harnessing a spring to provide water, a way to get rid or waste, and many other things.  All of this was done with my family not knowing a lot about building or construction and with the other family knowing a little more.  I would say faith played a big role in the creation of this cabin.  You really can do great things when many people are involved!

Let me wrap this blog up by saying that even though my family decided to sell our ownership in this cabin to the other family, it still had a soft place in my heart.  Hearing that it burned to the ground this week almost brought tears to my eyes, not to mention the destruction of one of the most beautiful meadows I have ever seen.

Till next time,
Bill