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 #56: Five New Features Launched!
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Gmail has just rolled out 5 new features to add to Gmail’s arsenal including new Mobile Phone access. -Gmail On Your Mobile Phone -Forward all -Reply on top -Embarrassment-reducing new message notifications -Chat while your friends are offline Read on to see the details of these new features…. Gmail On Your Mobile Phone Point your…
SageTV Tip #3: All About My SageTV HTPC
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I decided to build a Home Theater PC (HTPC), and with SageTV at its core, it is proving to be an excellent choice. Read on to learn why I decided to build a HTPC, what componets I chose, the issues I had, and my plans for the future…. Why did I build an HTPC? I’ve…
SageTV Tip #2: Why did I choose SageTV?
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After reviewing the major Personal Video Recorder (PVR) software offerings, I decided that SageTV was my application of choice. Its feature set and price point made it very attractive, and there were several other "features" that swayed my decision. Read on to see why I chose SageTV over the competition…. There are several excellent PVR…
SageTV Tip #1: What is SageTV?
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SageTV is a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) software application that runs on a Windows or Linux PC. It provides not only excellent PVR function, but also integrates the management and playback of your Music, Photos, DVD’s, and Video files. Read on to see just what SageTV is, and what it can do for you…. But…
Gmail Tip #55: Excluding Chat from Search Results
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Here's a tip inspired by a question from Ethan Lipman, an active Gmail Chat user. He wants to be able to search his Gmail messages for key words, but the Search Results often return hits from his Chat session logs. Read on to find out how to simply exclude Chat session logs from your Search…
Gmail Tip #54: New Feature! Select ALL conversations
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{josquote}New feature!{/josquote}Deleting Spam and emptying Trash in Gmail just got a whole lot easier! Instead of being limited to deleting just a page-at-a-time, Gmail now lets you select all Spam and Trash conversations for deletion in one simple step. Read on to see some screenshots of the new features… One of the great annoyances of…
Google Notebook Tip #10: Printing Individual Notes
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At this time, Google Notebook only lets you print out entire Notebooks, not selected Notes. This can become very frustrating, especially if a Notebook contains a LOT of notes, and you only want to print one of them. So until Google adds a "Print selected notes" function, I have a workaround for this that's a…
Google Notebook Tip #9: “Actions” on Selected Notes
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Once you have learned to select one or more notes, you can perform several actions. Read on to see what special actions Google Notebook provides… Once you have selected one or more notes, click the "Actions…" dropdown on the right side of the Google Notes screen. There are currently two actions you can perform on…
Google Notebook Tip #8: Selecting Notes
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Using standard selection methods, you can select multiple notes to Drag & Drop and to perform other "Actions". Holding down the [Ctrl] key will let you select multiple notes. Holding down the [Shift] key will let you select a range of notes. Read on for some examples… Create Some Test Notes First off, create a…
Google Notebook Tip #7: Moving Notes Around
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OK, so you have captured a number of notes, but you really don't like how they are organized. Google provides a very simple way to move your notes around letting you organize them as you prefer. Read on for details… Google lets you Drag & Drop your notes both within and between notebooks. This gives…