Wow, What a Wild Ride!
It is now 10 years later, and I sit here typing this very relaxed and unburdened. I just completed a year of serving as the Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of South Carolina, the fourth year as a Grand Officer in the Grand Council. This year caps…
Musical Chairs!
At our December business meeting, we elected and appointed the new officers for 2009, and I was elected into the Junior Warden seat. It is quite an honor, as in doing so, I unexpectedly skipped a couple seats. For 2008, I was appointed as a Steward. The natural progression is to move the Junior Deacon…
Faster, faster, faster!?!
I had the opportunity to attend the Order of the Temple work at another local lodge, and I must say that I was very impressed. There were about 25 people with three candidates, and the work was done very well. One of the older men had been doing his part for many years, and he…
York Rite Degree Work – Some ponderings
The local York Rite membership is a very dedicated group of Masons, but like so many Masonic groups, it tends to be somewhat “older-leaning” in its membership. The group that with which I went through the degree work is a bit younger than most of the membership (though I don’t know if my age of…
Seeking More Light – Part Two
After completing the Royal Arch and Cryptic Masonry degrees, the final steps on the path of the York Rite are the “Chivalric Orders”. These Degrees (called Orders in this group) include the the “Illustrious Order of the Red Cross” which is an Order that emphasizes the lesson of truth; the “Order of Malta” which emphasizes…
Seeking More Light – Part One
Since my journey in Freemasonry began, I have always been interested in Freemasonry’s Appendant Bodies, specifically the York Rite. My father was a Master Mason, went through the Scottish Rite, and eventually became a Shriner. (In his day, it was a requirement that to become a Shriner, you had to go through either the Scottish…
The York Rite Background
The York Rite, like the Scottish, is one of Freemasonry’s Appendant Bodies which is open to a Master Mason to join to further his knowledge of Freemasonry. While Freemasonry officially culminates with the third degree of the Blue Lodge, the nine additional degrees of the the York Rite are considered to expand upon and complete…
Brother, take a seat!
Less than three weeks after being raised to the degree of Master Mason, I was installed as one of the Stewards of our Lodge. The new Junior Warden-Elect appointed me and the other brother who was raised with me as the new Stewards for 2008. I’m honored that the opportunity to begin moving through the…
Raised to Master Mason!
This past Saturday, another Masonic brother and I were raised to the degree of Master Mason, the Third Degree in the Blue Lodge. It was an interesting, informative, and certainly memorable degree. We had our Fellowcraft examination, followed by the Third Degree work. Our Fellowcraft examination went very smoothly despite not having spent any time…
I Think I “Get It”
Obviously I still have a lot to learn about Freemasonry having only recently been passed to the second degree. So until I progress further, I can really only comment on my current knowledge and exposure to Freemasonry as a Fellow Craft. But of what I do understand now, I think I “get it” concerning just…
Laparascopic Nissen Fundoplication – 6 months later
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Here’s a followup article to the one I posted about my Laprascopic Nissen Fundoplication procedure. I am happy to say that things have gone very well for me. Read on to see what has happened over first 6 months after having my operation… In a nutshell, the results of the operation have been wonderful. My…
Gmail Tip #43: Notes in Just Two Clicks!
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“Tjeerd” from the Netherlands submitted a neat Gmail Tip that takes a different yet very simple approach to creating and managing “Notes” in your Gmail account. Notes are simply messages typically sent to yourself to store useful information. Read on for a simple method of creating Notes with just two button clicks… In my Gmail…
Gmail Tip #42: A More Worldly View
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Parlez-vous fran?ais? Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Or if you read any of 11 newly supported languages, you will feel right at home with Gmail. In addition to English, Gmail now supports Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and UK English. (Sorry, no Klingon.) If you want to experience Gmail…
Gmail Tip #41: How Much Space Do I Have?
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Notorious for its April Fools jokes, Google announced on 01-Apr-2005 that it had upped its disk space quota to 2 gigabytes per user, surpassing Yahoo’s recent increase to 1 gigabyte. While that’s good news for Gmail users, the great news is that it’s not an April Fools joke. Having the extra space is great, but…
Gmail Tip #40: New Feature! Rich formatting!
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It’s the nail in the coffin…the icing on the cake…the “You had me at hello” feature! Gmail finally has Rich Text formatting! But it’s not just for making your messages pretty. Read on to see why the addition of this feature propels Gmail way ahead of the competition… In this tip, I will briefly explain…
Gmail Tip #39: New Feature! Gmail From Most Any Browser!
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From the beginning, Gmail has always required a “supported browser” to gain access and work with Gmail. Well, those crazy Gmail developers have done it again! Read on to see a new addition to Gmail that will please many… Gmail now offers a “basic HTML view” that lets you access Gmail from almost any computer…
Moxi Tip #14: Easy Remote Text Entry?
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I have read the manual. I have played with Moxi. I obviously overlooked it, but it just hit me that there’s a very easy way to enter search words in Moxi’s Find screens! Read on to learn how… Moxi’s very powerful and useful "Search by Title" and "Search by Keyword" screens provide an easy to…
Moxi Tip #13: Moxi FAQ Resource!
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OK, this is not so much as tip as a plug. There are several great sites out there with information on the Moxi DVR. Read on for details on several I particularly like… SPL Moxi FAQ The SPL Moxi FAQ is a Web page that simply has it all. It’s a single, very, very long…
Laparascopic Nissen Fundoplication?
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This article is very, very much off topic from my usual tips & tricks, but I thought it would be at least informative and hopefully helpful to some to relay a solution to a health problem I’ve been having. For years, I was suffering from severe GERD and Reflux which led to complications and severe…
Gmail Tip #38: Google Gmail Minibrowser
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“The Google Deskbar includes a minibrowser that you can use to quickly open your Gmail account in convenient window that automatically hides and can be accessed with a keyboard shortcut. Read on for more information about this tool… The Google Deskbar is a little Google search tool for Windows taskbar. It can do most of…