Finding Myself Online

So, based on a tip about spokeo.com that shows public information about you, I searched for myself. Now there is a lot of concern about this site because it lists all public information about you. I'm not as concerned about it because everything on the site is able to be found by anyone doing a public records search. I have a very unique name and as far as I know, I'm the only Thomas Deliduka in the world.

What I find interesting is there is another Thomas Deliduka listed on that site! One in Libertyville, IL. I looked a that record, the first concern was that I had my identity stolen! Then I looked closer. The address is for the Marian shrine Marytown! Huh?! I used to do web design but that was a long time ago and I don't remember doing any work for Marytown.

That made me think some more. I went over to switchboard.com and searched through the entire US for "Thomas Deliduka" and found myself in Irving, TX! What?! I searched on that address and found it was the address for the Catholic Marketing Network. Now, I did do some work for them over 10 years ago but that was a long time ago.

How did my name get associated with all these places? That's so weird!

My Experience as a Cable Cutter

I cut the cable for financial reasons right around August. We had HD Service with a DVR with Time Warner and say what you want about their service, I thought it was GREAT.

After we cut, we had to start watching TV by appointment and that was difficult. I have 7 children and sometimes getting them to bed at 8pm means sitting down to watch TV at 8:20, so we’re already missing a great deal of the show. I turned to hulu.com and cbs.com for TV. I filled up my subscriptions on Hulu with every show we love and it started getting filled up with shows we wanted to see or missed the night before.

Our setup is this:

• One old Mac Mini for our family computer, no TV connection; sits in the corner.
• 2006 macbook Pro that I use the DVI-out connection to the TV so we can watch on the big flat panel.
• In both situations with hulu we have the Hulu Desktop app that is great and works with the apple remote.

The drawback of this situation is I can’t work on my computer in the evening because we’re watching TV with it. So, a lot of what I want to do at night doesn't get done. There is the option to hook up the old Mac mini but any video played on that stutters due to lack of cpu power and/or video processing power.

I have been wanting to get a set top box for viewing video content and was excited about google TV until reports of video getting blocked. Then I saw the “orb” for $99 which looks like a good option and may allow me to use my computer on my laptop while we play video on my TV.

Other Problems with our online video watching:

• At one point “the Middle” on Hulu was listed as “episodes are no longer available online.” Wha?! For what? No explanation! I went to a pirate video site to watch shows.
• Scifi (Syfy) started having all their shows delayed by 30 days. AARRRGGG. It’s nice to get Scifi because we don’t have cable but man, 30 days?! Now I think that may be lifted for some.
• CBS shows on the big screen is the worst. We bring up CBS on the browser on the large TV. Hit play, then press “full screen” Well, almost every commercial is some sort of “interactive” commercial or something so it exits full screen! So, we have to get up from the couch to go up to the computer and choose full screen again. We have decided that if we’re tired, we simply don’t watch CBS shows; nobody wants to get up from the couch. I don’t have the money to get a wireless keyboard/mouse to fix that right now.

For now, we’re sticking with it. I still want a solution to have a set-top box to get content without having to pay for hulu-plus, etc. Perhaps I’m asking too much. I simply don’t understand the mentality that the TV is somehow a “bigger screen” and so you can’t have the content whereas the computer is (normally) smaller so you can.

Our Christmas

Many people have asked me and wondered how our Christmas is with 7 boys. Well, here is a small glimpse into our world.

Our Christmas Eve started with Mass at 4pm (Well, cleaning the house before that...). We had a lovely picture in front of the tree and then headed off to St. Patrick Church. Mass was very pleasant as the Children's Choir sang.

We had our evening meal; our traditional Steak and Shrimp with my wife's family. Most of the boys don't like steak or shrimp so they had other boring food. And then hung out with the kids until we sent them to bed at 8pm. Everyone was very excited so it was tough to get them motivated to sleep. Joseph, despite not having had a nap, stayed up until after 10pm! It was like pulling teeth to get him to sleep. He must have been so excited!

Finally everyone was asleep, we went to gather the presents. The next hour was spent arranging and such. I unpacked the "Band Hero" I purchased on the door busters after Thanksgiving. I was so excited to play it! I Rock on easy.

Sleep at 12:30am. Holly heard footsteps at 2:30am but didn't wake me to investigate. I woke at 5:10am, shortly after Nicholas (4yo) came in and said, "Santa Really came!" He was so cute! Shortly after, we heard the footsteps of all the children heading up the stairs from their room in the basement. I thought I would head off any early present-opening so I headed downstairs. Stockings were pulled down and candy gotten into. Everyone ran around guessing what they got. Slowly Aunt Amy & Grandpa got up. Eventually Mom and the others woke up.

Then our 13yo Daniel revealed that he had been awake on and off since about 1am. He played with the guitar and drums from Band Hero and tried to peak at presents. He said he was awake almost all night.

Finally, about 6:45am we decided to start the opening of the presents. We generally appoint a Santa to pass out presents. In the beginning when we had less than three children, we would pass out individually and watch others open their presents. You can imagine in a family of our size, that wouldn't work very well. We'd be there opening presents all day. So, our appointed Santa simply passes presents to people and we all open on our own time. The drawback of that is we don't get to see reactions as much and sometimes miss what people open. However, the good thing is it's all done in about 45 minutes.

Here is our annual video from this year:

After all this, we play all day. We try to keep the trash under control but it normally doesn't work. At the end, our garbage container is full and we have 4 kitchen garbage bags full of garbage. This is not including the mountain of cardboard from the boxes the presents came in (and packaging for toys); those will go to the recycle later.

Around 3pm we have Christmas Dinner but we've been eating candy all day so nobody really eats that much, especially the children. More playing until we send them to bed. We then crash with an early night.

Sick of Foreign Tech Support

I don't know if this post will label me a racist or what, but I'm going to risk it and post anyway.

Back-story

The back-story here is this. Back in 2007, I purchased a volume licence count of Adobe CS3 Design Premium for my work. We purchased only the Mac version. When I logged into the licensing website at Adobe.com I was greeted with 5 license keys for Mac and 5 for windows. I called Adobe and asked them about this since I didn't pay for the Windows versions. They told me it didn't matter, they supplied me with windows keys anyway. I asked if I could use those if I purchased the media and they said yes. So, I purchased media.

Fast forward to today.

I'm looking into purchasing the upgrade to Creative Suite to CS5. I called their licensing company and I get a woman who obviously doesn't speak English on a regular basis. I told her exactly what I said above and asked her if the situation still applies. Can I simply purchase 5 licenses and I get both platforms? Her answer was this:

"Yes, sir, that is a valid upgrade path from Adobe CS3 Design Premium to CS5 Design premium. You can do that."

I said, "But ma’am, if I buy just the Mac versions, will I get license keys for the windows version too that I can use? Does that still work?"

Her answer, "Yes, sir, the product is available in both windows and macintosh versions."

I thanked her for her time and told her I had no further questions.

This happens so often nowadays I'm so sick of it. I call Cisco technical support I'm constantly trying to explain to them what I really need help with. They continually get it wrong and give me the wrong answer. I spent two days with an idiot at Barracuda Networks because he completely misunderstood my question and gave me the run around. No matter how hard I try to explain what I need help with, they never get it.

I'm so over tech support. I don't really care if the person is in India, Mexico, or the US, I just care that they understand the damn English Language!

Being Forced to be Good

I know it's been a while since I posted, forgive me. (Not sure if anyone even reads this thing but anyway....)

For those who don't know, I have seven boys. Ranging every two years from 12 down to 3 months. I realized the other day that my boys are only good when I force them to be good. I wonder if that is the nature of a boy? I don't know. Here is what I mean...

In the morning before school, they are not allowed to watch TV. That has been the rule since my 12-year-old was 5. We have never wavered from that rule. Early on, to "help" the situation. I programmed the cable box to block all shows from 5am until 9am so when they turn the TV on they can't get to anything. Thus, I was forcing them to be good by preventing them from disobeying.

When we got a new cable box, I didn't set the ban up and within a day they were down watching TV even though they knew they were not supposed to. I kept the ban off as an experiment and reminded them EVERY MORNING that they were not supposed to have the TV on. I did this for a week. Well the ban got put back on.

This week they had gotten some DVDs from the library. Well, all week I found them watching their DVDs!

This is just one of many things in the house. If I don't put in place forceful methods of making sure the children do the right thing, they won't do the right thing! Even my 12-year-old!

Just once, I would like them to do the right thing without being forced. But simply say to themselves (for instance), the rule is I don't eat outside the kitchen, I'm not going to eat on the couch.

Perhaps I'm asking too much. Who am I kidding, I'm raising boys!

Getting Fit - Plus

We got a Wii Fit Plus for Christmas from my Father. Well, he sent us money and we then purchased it.

So far since the 24th I have gained 2.5lbs! I'm only 5'7" but at 198 I'm considered Obese. So... I'm motivated. I have been working out on the fit almost every day and I have been walking and trying to exercise every other day. I'm still gaining weight, however, since it's Christmas and I'm eating too much!

I got myself a crappy pedometer which counts between 1 and 3 steps for every one I take. It's now sitting on the shelf.

I have never made a new year's resolution but here it is. I have to lose 20lbs. 30 would be better but 20 is what I gotta do. First I have to give up coke. oh man, that's going to be SUPER HARD! I'll do that when I'm done with the 12-pack that I have. Don't want to waste right?

Years ago I purchased ineedexercise.com which is now still owned by me but I have it on a domain selling site because I couldn't think of anything to do with it. If anyone has any ideas I'll revenue share with you. :-)

Amazing Christmas Gift

Tonight we had the boy's Christmas play. I may post some pictures later on facebook. Holly picked the kids up from school and went straight to OSU for an appointment Daniel had. Afterwards, we had to go right to the play, but we needed to eat first.

As we were walking into McDonald's, this man and his wife were in just after us. The man cried out, "Happy meals for everyone!" and I jokingly said, "heh, you're buying?"

We had a chuckle. Then his wife said, "Should we?" he responded, "Why not, it's Christmas."

I responded saying that's fine but it's not necessary, but he insisted. I was like, "ah, I've got 6 children." but he still said it was fine. I couldn't believe it!

The funny thing was we sat there for almost 15 minutes getting the order put together and the woman behind the register got it mixed up and had to add/subtract drinks, etc. finally the woman behind the register asked the couple what they were having. They responded, "Oh, we only need three large iced teas."

Wow! They only had come in there to buy iced tea and left paying almost $30 for another family's meal! Wow, what a blessing. God bless that wonderful couple.

I couldn't let them go away empty-handed. I pulled some free family passes to the Columbus Museum of Art from my jacket and gave them to them.

Lord, thank you for the blessings you give us. Friends have come to our aid this Christmas and strangers, and even anonymous people. We have truly been blessed this year. Thank you Lord, and thank you all for your friendship with us. We appreciate it more than you know.

~The Deliduka's

What does the Eucharist Mean to Me?

Several weeks ago I was inspired to write this post. It has taken until now to actually get it done. At Mass one Sunday Father was giving the homily and was speaking on the Eucharist. He posed the question: What does the Eucharist mean to you?

Of course I immediately thought of the theological aspect of it. "It's the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ." then Father said, "I know you could tell me what the Church teaches what the Eucharist is, but that is not what I want to know. What does the Eucharist really mean to you personally?"

So, here I go.

My most intimate time with Adoration and the Eucharist was in college. I was in Austria at the school's campus there. In Austria, I really dove into my Faith and immersed myself in the Mass and the Eucharist. I would go many nights to adoration in the chapel and I would kneel for 45 minutes to an hour just staring in adoration. The Lord really opened up my mind and my heart at that time. I never felt more close to God than I did that semester. To me, the Eucharist was my solace from the week's studies and travels. The Lord would comfort me there in that chapel. All my cares and concerns melted away while I gazed as His greatness. New things were revealed to me. I didn't see just the wafer in the monstrance, I saw into a world of brightness and beauty that I have never seen since. This is what adoration should be. This is what I felt I should feel every time I received Him in the Mass.

Fast forward 16 years and I'm a father of 6 boys. It's all I can do simply to get through mass being able to hear what is being said and try to focus on what is happening at the altar. I cannot lie, for several years, the Eucharist was an obligation that I knew if I didn't go to Mass and receive then I would have to go to confession. I had lost the intimacy, the love, the amazement that I once had. I never wanted communion to be routine, but there it was, all the same.

I was snapped back to reality that Sunday when Father spoke on the Bread of Life and asked that pointed question. I realized what I had been taking for granted; what I had neglected. The Eucharist is the heart of the Church! The Eucharist should be the focus of my daily life and prayer. I'm not there yet, but I am getting closer. There's been a rekindling of my faith in that homily and I appreciate more the beautiful gift the Lord has left us. No where in the universe exists the Eucharist. This is where the Lord comes down to earth to dwell within us. I have a new-found appreciation for it again. I look forward to mass, I look forward to receiving.

Thirteen Wonderful Years

Please Note: This note was intended for August 17, but due to a really busy day at work, it didn't get written.

Thirteen years ago, I was in Christ the King chapel at Franciscan University praying in the Eucharistic Chapel that the Lord grant me the grace to be a loving husband and father. I was nervous but excited. I was preparing to marry the love of my life. A wonderful woman named Holly Perkins who was from Columbus, Ohio.

My family was in attendance, hers was as well. Everyone was sitting and waiting for things to begin. The usher called me out and the music started. First my groomsmen, My brother Mark, Paul Portenlanger, Brian Loot, and then my best man Blaise Sims. They brought their partners down the aisle and then the doors closed at the back. The wedding march began and here she came, radiant and beautiful.

My thoughts strayed to when we were dating, how when we first met I simply wanted her to remember me so every chance I got I said, "Hi Holly". Then when we had breakfast and talked for the first time I knew I wanted to date this woman.

13 months of engagement living in Washington, DC while she finished up her last year of School was tough, but we got through it. Now the big day had come and it was time to become a man; grow up and take responsibility not only for my own life but the life of another.

We sat while Father read to us the Exhortation before Marriage written by one of the Popes I don't remember who. I was stirred by the words which said:

This union then is most serious, because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and so intimate that it will profoundly influence your whole future. That future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and its failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. You know that these elements are mingled in every life and are to be expected in your own. And so, not knowing what is before you, you take each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death.

Throughout these years, we have seen all of these, richer, poorer, sickness, health, better and worse. And we are so much stronger for all of it. The Lord has blessed me tremendously with the privilege of coming home to this woman. I am forever grateful for His blessings.

To my lovely, Holly Deliduka, on our anniversary. I want to tell you I love you more and more each day; you are my life and my world. I would be lost without you. I love the way you love me, our children, and your work. Thirteen years is only the start. I look forward to the day when we're celebrating our 50th, 60th and beyond.

One Pet Peeve

I have one pet peeve. I mean, I have others but there's one I'm going to write about now... The word "loose" used instead of "lose".

If something is "loose" then it is not tight. See the definition.

Now, if you "lose" something, then it is no where to be found. It is lost.

So, when I read that someone is going to "loose it" I wonder if they're actually going to loosen something or if they have truly lost it.

I am what I am

You made me into this. I was peaceful, I didn't act up. I may have shouted, I may have yelled, but I was peaceful and never used force.

I questioned my government; it's ability to manage such a major thing. I asked my congressman if they had read the bill they're pushing on us. I inquired whether they would agree to use the system they want us to use. No answers were given, no solutions were provided.

I woke in the morning and saw the news. I found I was part of a Mob. I was a GOP thug. I was even surprised to find that I was un-american and an astro-turfer.

Now I find if I stand up, if I speak out and speak my mind, I am labeled, I am stamped. I am made into what I am not. You did this to me. You made me into what I am, congress. Now all the world believes, and there is no cure for this.

Working Hard, Up Late

I can't seem to sleep nowadays. Just too much going on. I'm busting my butt at the Art Museum. It's really a great job; I LOVE working there. I've been working on the rebuilding of the computer network for when we move into Beaton Hall where our offices are going to go. The renovation is coming along nicely. Most of the equipment is being delivered but it's being sent up to Michigan to have our supplier set it all up for us. I'm no Cisco CCNA and don't pretend to be.

Meanwhile, we're expecting another child and that's very exciting at the same time. This would be 7 children, 7 boys. (We don't actually know the sex of the child but it's a boy until we're told otherwise.) So, my life is full of excitement and busy-ness. I should be tired, but here I am at 1:45am not sleeping. I suppose I should take a crack at it anyway.

One down, Two to go.

Some of you may know, if you are my friend on Facebook or on Twitter, that I went for a throat scope today. My condition is that I have a stricture in my esophagus (crimp, so to speak) that has been bad before, I had two scopes a few years back and has now gotten to the point where it is as small as one of those generic ibuprofen.

So, today I went in for a procedure to stretch it out. Having gone through this before I was extremely nervous because I remembered portions of it each time they did it. And after the second one the doc said he had given me triple the sedation dose to ensure I wouldn't remember, but I did anyway.

I was almost in tears as I was waiting for them to take me in. I told them of my anxiety and they told me they would ramp up the drugs quicker this time to ensure I wouldn't remember it. They rolled me in and put the drugs in my IV. I felt them working right away. What happened next was like a dream but since I know it wasn't, it hits home more.

They stuck three tubes down my throat, two small, then a larger one. I remember the whole thing with the nurse talking in my ear that I need to calm down, swallow, and breathe through my nose. I kept trying to tell her I can't breathe through my nose when there is a tube in my throat preventing my mouth from cutting off air. However, attempting to talk didn't work either and she told me to stop trying to anyway. I remember gagging the entire time, not just once or twice and then relaxing, when I woke up my voice was hoarse which only confirms it.

When the third tube went down, it was considerably bigger so I was guessing it was the camera. Shortly after that one went down I blacked out. I woke up immediately with my wife next to me and I said, "oh, it's done!" then, like in the Matrix or Chuck or something all these memories of what happened flooded my brain.

The interesting thing is that I wasn't traumatized like I was in the past. While what happened was traumatic, I don't feel as though it was unbearable. Perhaps when I have to go in for my second one I won't be so nervous. And that's what's going to happen. The doctor came in, he said it was very closed, he could only stretch it to about 11mm (although the paperwork says 9). He's going to have me back again mid June for my second scope. He probably will have to do it three times.

I'm doing pretty well right now considering I haven't eaten since 11:30pm last night. I would like to have something but I can't have solids until this evening (and I doubt I will then). I have some gatorade next to me to give me "electrolytes" but I'm not really drinking because it hurts too bad to swallow.

They didn't send me home with any medicine even after I asked them several times if they would. They said take liquid Advil if I'm in pain but just swallowing water or gatorade causes me so much pain, something that clings to my throat like liquid advil would hurt worse. So, I'm pushing through the pain. Perhaps this evening I can have some carnation instant breakfast or something. :-)

Thank you all for your prayers, I was very very scared to do this again. I am convinced that your prayers helped me get through it and even though there was trauma, I don't perceive it that way due to the Lord's miraculous help. I expect to be back to work tomorrow. Although probably still eating soft foods.

Learning Disabilities

Not sure what the answer is for this but I'll tell you my experience...

We live in one school district--Southwestern City Schools (SWCS)--and our children go to another school district--Whitehall. However, they go to a private school there. So, they're not specifically in Whitehall School district.

Through talking to the teachers at school and some others who are helping us at Children's Hospital, they are telling us that our two oldest boys need testing for learning disabilities. One even said they desperately need it.

We knew this all year and so we've been trying to get this done. Our first step was to go to SWCS and ask them to test the boys. We asked them first when they were at a Charter school in SWCS district. Well, they delayed and didn't do anything. We moved them to the new school and now they say, "We're sorry, they don't go to school in this district so we don't have to help you."

So, we went to the Whitehall district. Initially, they said our children go to a private school it's not their problem. When we pushed they found out from the teachers that the children can at least read and mostly spell so they don't need testing. And now they're stone-walling us.

We decided to look into other options. There is a school in the area that will do testing, it's $750 PER CHILD! We don't have $1,500 to test our children for learning disabilities! I could go further into credit card debt to do it but I think that would be a bad idea for our family in the end with all that entails.

We're currently looking to see if we can find a parent advocate. I'm not entirely sure what they can do for us other than force Whitehall to help us. I'm concerned, though, that their testing will be incomplete. Either way, pray for us. Our children are in need of help with their education and nobody in a position to help us is willing to do anything. I thought everything was supposed to be about the children!

It's been a while.

It's been a while since I posted, anyone notice?

Let's see what's happened in the last two weeks... Had a meeting with my son's school that went very well; we've been having some ADHD issues that are really settling down and the boys are doing much better.

We have a new roof now as of yesterday. After two wind storms the roof had had it and insurance paid for (most) of a new one. The men showed up yesterday to do the work. Most of them had broken english, I'm not entirely sure all of them were legal. :-(

I've been working hard at work. With being short one person due to budget cuts. We've been working overtime trying to keep up with the projects we need to do and the evening events we need to support. It's going to be a long year.

I guess that's it. Not much going on in my life right now. Not that any of you were sitting on the edge of your seat to find out what was going on! Well, thanks for listening anyway!

Saturday Work Day

Man, don't you hate Saturday work days? I mean, you want to wake up late and just relax all day, but no, you have to mop the floor, clean the living room, TV room, and all these other things.

I'm looking around the room, shoes are on the floor, toys are everywhere, but I'm sitting on my computer writing this blog because I would much rather be doing this than cleaning.

Well, Lord, give me the strength to work hard today and impress my wife who deserves to be able to come home from the library research to a clean house.

Live Fast, Die Hard - The Movie

My wife was invited to go to the Columbus premiere of a indie movie called "Live Fast Die Young" a dude she went to High School with was staring in the film and he was flying out to promote it.

So, last night we went. With a title like "Live Fast, Die Young" I was thinking it was going to be some rated R movie that has a lot of adult situations in it. I wasn't much looking forward to seeing. Boy was I wrong!

At the start before the credits rolled, the director and two of the actors, including Holly's old friend, got up and started to talk about the film. They were praising God and said that without Him this wouldn't have been possible. I was pleasantly surprised, but then I started thinking, Oh no, a Christian film with bad acting in it. (Have you guessed I'm a bit of a pessimist?)

Well, I was proven right for a portion of the film, but overall, I found the acting to be pretty good and the production value to be not so bad either. The message was good, an actor turned Christian was being ostracized by his fellow actors/directors, etc. They are all at a party and someone dies and they are all forced to speak with one another and hash out issues of life and death. It is a pretty good film for a non-catholic religious angle.

They're trying to get the movie in 22 cities. It's playing in Columbus at the Drexel on Main, otherwise, check out the site and find out how to get it in your area.

A teen before he's a teen

My 9-year-old this morning did the unthinkable in my eyes.

He has always been the one who would do the minimum when he did his chores, he would try to skate by, when asked to do more work, he would complain of a headache or being tired. He avoids prayer with the family and he fights with his brothers.

This morning, however, my wife asked him to get a new paper towel roll from the garage because he was the only one with shoes on. He responded with "Why do I have to do everything!" and she told him to just do it. So, he huffed, put his coat on (which was unnecessary) got the roll, and when he came back he threw it at her and said "Here is your stupid paper towels!"

If I had not had 4 hours of sleep and been in bed at the time, I would have probably held him to the wall three feet off the ground and read him the riot act. Instead, Holly disciplined him, but she admitted she didn't go far enough, she wanted to leave it up to me.

He was in his room all day after school, I got home and laid into him. I think I put enough fear of God and me into him that it will be a while before he tries this again. I felt horrible for having yelled at him but I felt I was defending my wife's honor.

But interestingly enough, later that night as I helped him with his homework we were reading the Baltimore Catechism he is learning from. The second was on life everlasting and it said that in order to have life everlasting we must "die to self" and the explanation was to do something you don't want to do to please God and others. i.e. A sacrifice.

I found that the Lord really put this teaching here for a reason I was so amazed. I shared with him ways I sacrifice and ways I fail to die to self. We tried to come up with examples in his own life as well.

At bed time he hugged me and told me good night. It was great.

YOU try to install Exchange!

Well, I'm sure many of you could have done this quicker and easier than I did. But I have to outline how my own lack of doing research cost me three days of work.

For those who don't know. Exchange is Microsoft Exchange Server or their mail server product. If you work in a corporate environment or even small business, most-likely they're running Exchange server.

We have an old server that is dying. It is still running but it has a bad fan in a power supply and it will go pretty soon. So, time is of the essence. Our journey to install a new server has been fraught with peril.

The day I learned we needed a new server I got permission from the higher-ups to purchase it. I couldn't do it immediately because my account rep was not back from medical leave. On the day he was back to work, we had a level 2 snow emergency in Columbus and I was at home. So, I ordered the next day. The server, surprisingly was on the Museum Dock the next morning. That was fast!

However, I didn't have an Operating System yet; Microsoft hadn't approved the order. That afternoon I had two frantic phone calls from my account rep saying that Microsoft would no longer give us Charity pricing! They would, however, give us Academic pricing so I had to fax over our 501(c)(3) paperwork and things would be on their way. Well, Finance was preparing for the audit so they couldn't give me the paperwork and it was a Friday. So, Monday they said they would try but it wasn't until Tuesday when I got the paperwork. I immediately faxed it off and that afternoon I had the server software. This is getting long and I haven't even gotten to the installation!

The Museum owns Exchange 2003. We want to upgrade to Exchange 2007 but we can't just yet. Exchange 2007 requires a 64-bit installation of the server operating system. So, we decided to go cutting edge and install Microsoft Windows Server 2008 64-bit. I got it all installed and went to install Exchange but server 2008 was missing a component required to install. I googled to find that Exchange 2003 won't install on Server 2008.

So, I reformatted and re-installed Windows Server 2003 64-bit. I got it all installed with all it's patches and went to install Exchange and it says it won't run! Checking the settings it says that Exchange 2003 will not run on a 64-bit Operating System! So, I had to reformat and reinstall a THIRD TIME to Windows 2003 32-bit. Two days of work just trying to install.

We had to make a decision about whether or not we attempt to upgrade to Exchange 2007 or wait. If we wait then we would have to format and re-install the operating system on the server in order to get Exchange 2007 installed on there since it will only run on a 64-bit OS. By the time we do that, we'll probably just have to purchase another new server. Spending $6,500 more next year to save $2,240 this year. But if you don't have the 2240 to spend this year, you can't do much about it.

Betrayal? I think not

I'm reading this article at EWTN entitled Obama's Abortion Reversal a "Betrayal," Says Catholic University President and I had to laugh. Really? Obama's Abortion "reversal" is a "betrayal?" First of all, Obama didn't reverse anything! He was the most liberal pro-abortion candidate ever to run for the Presidency! He has the furthest left stance you can get when it comes to abortion.

Why would Catholics ever think that he wanted to reduce the "number of abortions"? Oh, he said it once that he was personally opposed and incorrectly accused Bush of having not reduced them himself. But who can believe what he says when his record speaks for itself? He has supported 100% of all abortion promoting bills that have ever come before him. He said himself he would sign FOCA the first chance he got. Why would Catholics ever think he would be any different in the white house.

So now, The president of Catholic University is complaining that when Obama signed the executive order to allow overseas abortions its a reversal and a betrayal. Let's be clear here, this was no reversal and as for betrayal. I don't even see it like that either. He's always been pro-death and has made no bones about it. Anyone who believed otherwise has no common sense.

Catholics who voted for Obama got what they wanted. A pro-death president that has reversed himself on many other things already in office (Washington Insiders, Lobbyists , and more) but he has not reversed himself on abortion. You wanted him and we all got him.