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…
Gmail Tip #28: Gmail Notifier released to beta!
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Those crazy yet wonderful Gmail Developers have once again brought us a new toy: Gmail Notifier! Read on to see what it is, what it can do, and how you can get it… The Gmail Notifier is a downloadable Windows application that alerts you when you have new Gmail messages. It displays an icon in…
ReplayTV Tip #7: UPDATE: Belkin F5D7230-4 Router
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I purchased a used HP EN5000 Digital Media Receiver off of eBay. The EN5000 is a "Media Receiver" that lets me play (through my stereo and TV) MP3 files loacated on local network servers. It's not the most feature-rich device, but for a low eBay proce of $27.00…. Anyway, it requires an Ethernet connection, so…
Gmail Tip #27: Adding Hotmail Contacts to Gmail
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Do you have a lot of Hotmail contacts that you would like to add to your Gmail Contacts? “Montevino” submitted this tip on how to do just that. Read on to see how simple it is… By leveraging Gmail’s new “Import Contacts” (see Gmail Tip #24), you can easily generate an importable file from your…
Gmail Tip #26: Creating a Pseudo Address Group!
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Gmail currently does not provide the facility to send emails to a Group or a List or email addresses. But thanks to an excellent tip submitted by “arianj”, we now have a very doable workaround! Read on to see how to set up a pseudo Group Contact… Although Gmail doesn’t currently support Groups in your…
Gmail Tip #25: Find Your Unread Messages
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Want a quick and easy way to view all of your "Unread" messages? Here’s a neat tip submitted by Mark Worsham describing how… If you have assigned Labels and archived unread messages, finding them later can sometines be challenging. Simply create a Gmail Label named "Unread", and you will see all of your unread mail…
Gmail Tip #24: New feature! Import Contacts
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Once again, the hard working Gmail Developers have implemented yet another much-requested feature: Import Contacts! Read on for more details… For the best explanation of just how to Import Contacts, log into your Gmail account, click on Contacts, and click on the new “Import Contacts” link at the top of the Contacts screen. But what…
Gmail Tip #23: Cleaning Your Contacts
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One of Gmail’s “features” can leave you with extra entries in your Contacts list. Read on for more information… Gmail has a (debatably) nice feature that automatically adds to your Contacts list the email addresses of those to whom you send emails. While this can be helpful at times, just remember that EVERY unique email…
Gmail Tip #22: Advanced Search – Multi-Labeled and Un-Labeled Messages
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In an earlier tip, I briefly explained how to perform Advanced Searching using Gmail’s “query words”. Here are two practical examples of how to use the “label:” query word to search for Multi-Labeled messages as well as Un-Labeled messages. Thanks to “rishid” on the GmailForums for submitting this tip… Say you want to find messages…
Gmail Tip #21: Official Features and Bugs Status Page!
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Want to know what features and bugs the Gmail developers are currently working on? Read on to learn how to access Gmail’s new “Features, Fixes, & Feedback” page… First, log into your Gmail account. You must be logged into your account to access the help screens. Next, click on the “Help” link located at the…
Gmail Tip #20: Why some attachments bounce
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Gmail is trying to help combat the spread of viruses by implementing a “feature” that prevents emails containing attachments of certain file types from being delivered to Gmail accounts. With some simple workarounds, you can get your files delivered to Gmail users while still helping prevent the spread of viruses… One way that Gmail is…