Reading Robert Jordan’s “The Gathering Storm”
I can clearly remember standing in line at Waldon Books, some time in 1990, waiting to pay for a purchase. Right next to the register was a pile of thin books with a big star-shaped "Free" sticker on them. I remember looking around to get some sense of whether it was really alright to take one of the books, which nobody else seemed to have noticed. A free book! Nine at the time, I was an avid reader. I had already drunk deeply from Hemmingway and Steinbeck, had conquered Tolkien and Donaldson, and was quickly burning my way through the science fiction/fantasy section at our tiny local library. A new book, especially a free book, was exactly what I needed. I had found an advance sample copy of the Eye of the World, by someone name Robert Jordan. Thus began my journey through life with the Wheel of Time.
I have always said that there are some books that change your life. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson were like that for me. If I hadn't read those books, there is no way that I would be the same person today. There have been hundreds of books like that in my life. The Wheel of Time books were different, though. Robert Jordan's books didn't change the course of my life. They were the course of my life. I grew up with the Wheel of Time books, greedily finishing a new book in a single evening, and then having to wait years to find out what happened next. I became a teenager, and then an adult, a husband, and a father, all in the context of the existence of those books.
For obvious reasons, I was as shocked as any of the other millions of Robert Jordan's fans when the great author died. I wonder if perhaps, because of my unique long-term relationship with the series, I was let down just a little bit more than many others were (I mean, really, what other 9 year old started reading the series before the first book was even officially released to stores?). I have heard many complaints about potential commercial motivations behind the direction that has been taken by the publisher and the editor in having the series finished. I have to say that I am deeply grateful that there were sufficient notes to finish the series, that both the publisher, and the author's editor (his widow), were able to agree on the selection of Brandon Sanderson to complete the series. I can't believe complaints I have read that the series is so long or that it will be another three books to finish. If the ending is consistent with Robert Jordan had planned, I have no complaints, and am eager to dive in.
This morning I got an e-mail from the library, telling my that the newest book "The Gathering Storm", the first part in the three-book conclusion being written by Sanderson, was on hold for me. I walked down to the library during lunch and picked it up. Tonight I begin down the last segment of a road that began almost twenty years ago. That began two thirds of my life ago. Tonight, I begin finishing reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
Vegetarian Zombies – Another Cool Thing from DeviantArt
Vegetarian Zombie Design by *kevinbolk on deviantART
I found another cool drawing on DeviantArt. This one particularly amuses me as we are getting ready tomorrow to launch our first ever vegan week. I'll write more later about vegan week, but wanted to share this really cool vegetarian zombie. Graaaaiiiinnnsss. While you are enjoying the undead vegan, check out Zombies! The Living Dead in Literature on iTunesU.
Dawn, with her rose-red fingers
Creative Commons Image, Uploaded on October 24, 2009 by Magnera, http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnera/4039940200/in/photostream/
I have been reading the wonderful Fagles translation of the Odyssey
Shamisen Hero: Probably the coolest thing I’ll see all day
Shamisen Hero FTW by ~RedKARASU on deviantART
I was looking for something completely unrelated on DeviantArt, and found this. I may be one of the few people on the planet that has never played Guitar Hero (being able to play the real thing, I just have never seen the point), but if they made Shamisen Hero, or even better, Sanshin Hero, I'm sure that I'd be hooked.
Making Invitations for Bobi’s Ultraman Birthday Party
Ultraman Invitations In-process
With Bobi's birthday coming up next week, I spent a bunch of hours this evening putting together birthday party invitations. Bobi wants an Ultraman party. Fine with us, although none of his friends are going to have any idea what Ultraman is, and it isn't like we can have the kids watch the show at the party - they wouldn't understand why it is in Japanese, etc. But Ultraman it is, anyway. The kids are going to decorate Ultraman-shaped gingerbread cookies, and will play "pin the tail on the kaiju."
To make the invitations, I printed the Ultraman drawing from my post about stationary, two to a sheet, and printed all of the party information inside. I thought it would be a good idea to color each of the invitations by hand, using colored pencils. Not a good idea. I should have just colored them in PhotoShop and printed them that way. I spent almost 5 hours all together. However, they turned out so nice, that I thought I might make sets of greeting cards or something out of the stationary pages to post here.
The Stinky Stank, A Poem
The stinky, strong stank
That I think that I thank,
When I thought that I sank,
In the toilet;
Smelled of decomposed feet,
And the stuff that you eat,
When it's under the street,
Once you've passed it.
I tried to climb free,
But you didn't see
Me,
When you came in and flushed it.
(by jflatnote)
Grace with the Ugly Face, A Poem
Greasy, grimy Grace
had an ugly face;
And the homely mug she had,
she got from her ugly dad.
(by jflatnote)
Introducing Helen Estella
Baby Helen
Last night the newest addition to the White family arrived. Helen Estella was born just before 11pm. 7lbs 7oz. 20 1/2in. Lots of hair. Looks like an alien (like all newborn babies). Everyone is doing well. The boys and Georgie are being watched by their Nana and Papa. Everyone is excited for the new baby.
Helen is our fourth child, and our second daughter. She is named after an influential ancestor in the White family. However, I can't help but think of Homer's Helen with the lovely braids. More to follow in the coming years, I'm sure.
My Dear Friend 野瀬恒文 (Nose Tsunefumi)
I wrote a year ago, about the death of my dear friend Nose Tsunefumi (pronounced No-say). It has been an interesting year. Not many days have gone by without me thinking of my friend who shared my birthday. I miss him. I'm sure that there are many others that miss him too. He was like a brother to everyone he met.
I remember the first time that we met. I was a missionary in Japan, just transferred to serving in the Futsukaichi area, in the Dazaifu branch (which I have heard is now a ward). I was walking from the train station to the church building in Kurume for my first district meeting in the area. We were walking down an alley, and a car pulled up beside us. The man inside rolled down his window and said, "Get in." I am a rather distrusting person, but he eventually convinced to get in (although I don't remember how). It turned out that the driver was Brother Nose, a member of the Church, and on his way to the same meeting we were going to.
From that first meeting, we had lots of adventures; many of them springing out of our shared birthday. He taught me how to make okonomiyaki. I gave him my English scriptures. We made ice cream. I learned from him how to make whipped cream, in the same process that I still use every year when I make Christmas cake. Brother Nose helped us teach Kawakami Jungo, who was later baptized. I know that he was very close to many people, but he was like an older brother to me.
I came home from Japan expecting to continue my relationship with Brother Nose. That has never been my way, though. My entire life I have moved from one stage to the next with clean breaks, never really looking back. I got caught up in school, getting married, having children, paying bills, finding a better job, trying to write a thesis and finish graduate school. I started many hundreds of letters to Brother Nose, but in my usual style, never finished or never sent any of them. Even my command of Japanese started to slip, after I left the Japanese major and, caught up in living my busy life, no longer had anyone to talk to. I tried several times to find a phone number for Brother Nose, but was never able to.
Then, one day in March of last year, I had a sudden desire to relearn Japaneses. I felt that I really, really needed to be able to speak and understand. Right now. So I started in manic, intense, very dense, personal Japanese refresher course. I read Japanese novels, manga, and newspapers. I watched Japanese television. I studied grammer, vocabulary, and kanji. I worked on restoring my once beautiful handwriting. I studied for two solid, crazy weeks, and then I got a call at work from my wife. She said that Brother Nose had just called her at the house, and that he would be calling me at work in just a moment. He called. We talked for several hours. If I had not just had such a deep, intense two-week review, I wouldn't have been able to talk to him. We could have talked in English, I'm sure, but I never, ever spoke to him in English. Brother Nose's English was beautiful. But I refused to talk to him in English. I had no need, and always wanted him to be able to express himself fully. I was inspired to start my Japanese refresher, arriving back at functional fluency just as my long-lost friend and brother called from Japan. A personal miracle.
Then last November I got a voice-mail message saying that Brother Nose died in his sleep. A phone number was left, but no other information was given. I lost that phone number before I was ever able to call it, and never found out more. Since that time, I have hoped so many times that I just imagined the voice-mail, and that each time the phone rang and the caller ID showed "unknown caller," that it was really him, and I was wrong. But I wasn't wrong, and he won't be calling.
Finally, today, on the anniversary of Brother Nose's death, I did a Google search, wondering if I could find anything new. I was able to find a Facebook message written by Matsumoto Mitsuyu, that gave me some information I did not know:
Mitsuyo Matsumoto wrote
at 7:40am on November 20th, 2008Nov 18th, Fukuoka stake Kurume ward no Nose kyodai ga nakunarimashita. shinkinkosoku deshita.
Brother Nose passed away ...... b/c of myocardial infarction.
Good bye, Brother Nose. Until the day when we meet again. I will remember you, on this day, and on our birthday, and every day of my life in the things I learned from you and the adventures we shared.
Brother Nose's Signature and Address
Workgroup Adminstrator Button for Access 2007
Access 2007 Workgroup Administrator Button
As a Data Steward, I spend a lot of time at work with my nose in a database. Today, during our first annual Mass Migration Workshop (data migration, that is), I discovered, and solved an interesting database problem: Microsoft has removed user-level security from the .accdb file format that is used by Access 2007. Even though user-level security still works with Access databases saved in the .mdb format, it is not easy to get to the Workgroup Administrator tool to change to a new workgroup template file. This makes it very difficult to set up an existing database that uses user-level security for a new user with Access 2007. That was the problem that I had today. I had a new user that needs a certain amount of access to maintain tables in our database application, but who uses Access 2007. (I use Access 2007 myself, and had to figure all of this out two years ago. Unfortunate for us, it took me a long time to remember what the solution was.)
I found an article on the Microsoft support site that suggests a couple of methods for getting to the Workgroup Adminstrator. One method includes creating a macro that calls the Workgroup Administrator. The other method is to run the following code in the immediate window of the VB Editor:
DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdWorkgroupAdministrator
The article suggested creating a module with a sub-routine that runs the code. That is exactly what I did. I created a module that includes a sub-routine with the above code, and then made a form with a button that calls the sub-routine, and opens the Workgroup Administrator. Maybe not useful to anyone but me, but here is an Access file with the button and module to open Workgroup Administrator. Please feel free to use it if it will be of any use.
P.S. Also important to know is that the System.mdw has moved to a new location with Access 2007. It is now found at: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Access\System.mdw
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