Tickle Me Elmo TMX

for auction on e-bay

http://myworld.ebay.com/vanblog

Wednesday - I am anxiously awaiting 130 final assignments in my Information Systems classes. For this assignment the students have to evaluate Internet access and hardware necessary to create a home wireless network. They have to evaluate cable, DSL, and satellite Internet connections; two wireless routers; two laptops and two desktop computers; two wireless printers; and two 500 gigabyte network disk drives capable of being accessed by all users on the wireless network.... and then select their system and justify it... All assignments are to be turned in either in class at 9:45AM or 12:45PM or left for me in something called the digital drop box by 1:00 pm for the 50 on-line students............... I also have two final papers for my two graduate strategic experience teams and I am on a dissertation committee for a student in the Education Leadership and Policy Analysis Department of the College of Education and I am reading her dissertation. Her final defense of her dissertation is on the 19th. Starting tomorrow at 1:40 PM my students, all of them, will be taking their final exam on-line through our on-line course system called Blackboard.....they have to take the two hour exam sometime in the week starting this Thursday and ending next Thursday... It all seems like a lot of work.....but it is the end of the semester after all.... I am anxious to see if my students can create a reasonable paper evaluating that wireless stuff and make reasonable assumptions when selecting their system......predictably, some will and some will not....

As Kurt Vonnegut would say, HIHO....... He also said that mirrors were leaks into the universe .... and he used the * as a symbol for ass hole......I like to have an * or two in my passwords...... I probably should not have told the world that but I did and that is that..

By comparison, Matt will start chemotherapy tomorrow... I think I have the better deal right now........ please continue to pray for him and his family.

Remember, take good care of yourself so you can take good care of someone else... love, john

I am home for a few hours this morning getting a package ready to send to one of your student workers in my department, the Management and Marketing Department. Matt Fay has cancer. It is a fast growing kind that they will be treating with chemotherapy drugs starting on Thursday. Today he is getting a chest catheter for doing blood tests and taking the chemo drugs. He and his family, mom and dad, need your prayers. They live in Clinton, Tennessee.

Twenty years ago, I had a fast growing cancer in my lung. I had a chest catheter and was treated with chemotherapy drugs.... Because of God's good grace and my doctors and nurses, I survived... I had people all over the country of every faith imaginable praying for me.

Please, have everyone that you know pray for Matt - God listens.......

Thank you, John

THANK YOU GOD!

REST IN PEACE

JACK

Last evening, about 9:30 PM, we received a telephone call from a lady who identified herself as D. J. She told me that on the night of November 11 she and her husband found Jack in the middle of Greenwood having been hit by a car. They put him in their car and drove him the the pet emergency care facility near the Tri-Cities Airport. By the time they got there Jack had died. They left him there, as they should have.

While this is not the news we had been hoping for, it is good to have that closure and not continue to wait for him to come prancing down the street..... I think that if he were going to die, it is wonderful that he did not have to die alone by the side of the road. God bless those people for having the courage to pick up a stray dog in the middle of the night and try to rescue him. So to D.J. and her husband I say, thank you and God bless you.

While I do not know what happens to animals after they die, I do know that they are created by God and that God has a plan for all of his creatures. If there is a heaven for dogs, then Jack is there....my guess is, his spirit is roaming the universe right this very minute in search of the mystery on the other side of the next galaxy.

Yesterday and the day before as I pulled into the driveway in the late morning, there was a deer eating from our garden. The deer did not immediately run off but paused and looked at me on Saturday and us on Sunday. I said at the time that it was Jack stopping by to say "good bye." I suppose that is silly, but from a creator who made heaven and earth and the universe, who's to say?

I have spent today calling around to the people who have helped, or sending e-mails where I could, thanking them for there thoughts and prayers. Frankly, I cannot stop crying and Jill is sad too. I know that Sandy is sad too, but she is holding herself together better than I am. We, Jill and I, are pretty much hanging out together today.

Here are some pictures of Jack (and Jill too) in memory or our time together. Here is their first day here.The early days: Jack has the blue collar.

Eye Surgery:

Later:

Couch potatoes:

And finally, his last picture before the great escape:

Good bye my friend. Come visit me in my thoughts whenever you want. We will always have a favorite place in our memories for you. God Speed. With my love, john

I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about our outing with Dennis and Marie last Saturday. We went to dinner and a play....... Specifically, we went to dinner at the Bistro 105 in Jonesborough and to the Wyrd Sisters at the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre.

It was the day before Marie's birthday so we celebrated her day!! The food at the Bistro 105 was excellent and we saw Kim and Eric from church............ Here is the birthday girl!!!

Here is the birthday girl and Dennis her husband..........

They are happy.......

We had a great dinner........Marie had a dessert with lighted candle....no singing...... and then we were off to the theatre...

We wanted to go to this play, not because it was a blockbuster, but because five people from our church were in the play... Chalmer, Merideth, Gareth, Griffin, and Shelley....plus the director is Steve from Cokesbury...... The play was a lot of fun........... The evening was extraordinary...

Tomorrow we are going to Dennis and Marie's for a birthday dinner for Sandy....here birthday is soon........ I have one of the most exiting presents for her................. you will have to wait, she is.........

There have been no Jack sightings since last Saturday.... I thought is was Sunday, but I was wrong... It was last Saturday............... We found Jill on Sunday..........

Remember, take good care of yourself because there is someone needing your close attention... cheers, John

I am sorry to be one dimensional, but another day is done and no JACK........ I went to vets offices, left a flier at One Stop. Actually, One Stop acted more interested than my vets office... drove around, graded papers, drove around some more.............. needle/haystack......... Met some people who definitely saw them on Saturday. They(the dogs) were running up and down Greenwood about a mile and half west of here..........playing in the street, cars were having to stop......... I have to admit, I sunk deeper into depression upon hearing that news..... However, if I think I am depressed, you should see Jill.......... she just came in and ran to the gate where she and Jack would check for cats.....then she started whining..... Heartbreak Hotel....

Jill says Hi - and remember, take good care of yourself so you can take good care of me!!

PS: Saturday Dennis and Marie and Sandy and I went to dinner and a play... I will blog some pictures soon..................

Sunday past and we did not find Jack. Marie and Dennis helped looked in the morning. My neighbor called with a possible sighting and I drove around looking and looking for him to no avail. We live in the county and there are so many miles and places where he could be roaming it seems like I am looking for a needle in a haystack. I have already notified the animal shelter - they have a picture... today I will call vet offices.... and of course drive around some more. Thanks for all the prayers................ Jill slept all day yesterday and is still sleeping (of course she is, it is 4:50am..)... she seems to be okay, eating, etc. She is getting lots and lots of loving....

Ruth wanted to know what happened so here goes....... This was supposed to be a blog about burning leaves...that is what we can do in Washington County Tennessee.... In Johnson City and Jonesborough, where I have lived in the past, you can pile them up by the street and this humongus vacuum cleaner comes by and sucks up the leaves.... out here we can burn them... what fun burning leaves.... Now you have to get a permit and I did for Friday and Saturday. In fact I did burn some leaves on Friday without loosing any dogs in the process. On Saturday, it was a completely differenty story...

See that gate to the right of the burn piles? That is the gate from which Jack and Jill escaped. I was raking those leaves out of the gate and had been playing with the dogs while raking and turned my back for just a minute to rake some more and they apparently snuck off behind my back and were gone. By the time I realized they were gone it was way too late - for a while I thought Sandy had put them in the house.............. So then I had this dilemma, I am very cautious with fires during the fall. I did not want to leave the burning leaves for long to look for the dogs and so I made short trips up and down our road trying to find them.. but they apparently were having a great time playing in the woods.... at least that is where I found Jill the next morning............. I lost the dogs, it is 100% my fault, and I too pray for Jack's safety and return to home..........

Here he is right before he hit the road.............. is that not a roguish face?

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers......

And remember, take good care of yourself so you can take good care of someone else, God bless you, john

LOST

JACK (we found JILL )

Jill is on the left……………………………………………………….Jack is on the right.

LAB MIX

BLACK WITH WHITE ON CHEST AND PAWS
CURLLY TAIL

REWARD FOR RETURN
CALL 423-232-1223

PLEASE RETURN, WE MISS HIM!

FUTURES PAST

While in Dillsboro I did some shopping too.... the most precious of the things I purchased was from a pottery shop and it is a...........

Crooked Cross

It is hanging near my desk at home so that I can see it every day. According to the little attachment it is "Inspired by God. Handcrafted and signed by Bruce Carey of Ingram, TX. It is made of Texas Mesquite.

"The Crooked Cross is purposely imperfect; handcrafted without use of measures or patterns to remind us how unique, individual and beautiful we all are. As our creator, God in Heaven made each one of us in His image, we are His children and perfect in His eyes, as He does not make mistakes."

Remember, take good care of the precious person you are; made in God's image and likeness. And love your neighbor as you love yourself and as you love your God. Be thankful daily for being you and share yourself with others freely. God bless you, john

The Great Smokey Mountains Railway Dinner Mystery Theater Train Ride: Another Excellent Adventure by the Marie, Dennis, Sandy and John....

Last Friday, early in the morning, as you know by now, the four of us took of for Dillsboro, N.C. Actually we did not fly, so we did not take off....we drove...actually Sandy drove... We got to Dillsboro and I immediately had to mail something I sold on EBay to someone in London, England...so I went to the post office and the guys hung out...... here they are....We could not check into the room at the Jarrett House until between 2:30 PM and 3:00PM so we parked the car and started walking the town..... of course, shopping was included for the ladies and the gents hung out on the many conveniently located park benches....we parked ourselves.........while sitting on one, we could watch this fountain....

A couple of other sights as we sat and they shopped....













Then we saw a TRAIN......... and stood by it........... very touristy....
don't you think? Well we continued on our way, ate lunch, and shopped, sat, and it became time to check into the Jarrett House, so we did..... After a little while, we went out on the deck and Dennis and I had some beverages (adult type) and the ladies went to the Christmas store....




Here we all are on the deck before the final shopping spree..................After enjoying ourselves hugely on the deck.... we changed cloths and headed to the train station....

Where we sat and had complimentary cheese, crackers, and wine......
And boarded our dining car.............................the Silver Meteor........
Where me met our waiter..........Sean,
ordered our drinks and food and......













Had dinner and a play on the Great Smokey Mountain Railway......

So, remember, take good care of yourself so you can take good care of someone else.... it is great to have friends like Dennis and Marie.... cheers, john

Not all bell towers have to be tall.... you can still get bats in them!! I think??

While in Dillsboro this past Friday Marie, Dennis, Sandy and I happened to see this church bell.... It is from a Methodist Church but currently sits outside of a Baptist Church - truly an ecumenical bell..... Coincidentally we stayed in the Jarrett House overnight....

Here is what I think....we should build our bell a little structure that looks like our bell tower and place our bell in the little structure in front of the church....since the bell is probably got a name attached to it already (and I should probably know, but don't), maybe we could talk someone into wanting to put a name on the little tower....of course, they would have to pay for the tower and the bell installation. In other words, it would be a memorial to someone..... Ok, I could morph a couple of pictures and show you what it would look like, but I don't want to, so you will have to use your own imagination..... It would not look like this........

but then again, we do not live in Dillsboro......

For sure, remember to take good care of yourself so that you can take good care of someone else.......... ding-a-ling, john

Lucky I got this shot before last night's rain..... This is a tree that we are blessed to have in our yard. Every year when fall arrives, we anticipate its bright, vibrant colors. Usually, it is red, I mean bright red..........this year, it is not so bright and not so vibrant....... so it goes.... However, by comparison to some of its neighbors in the picture, it is doing pretty good. I have so much to blog about, I didn't know where to start.......... so I started here.

and then of course there are Jill and Jack..................................

They were enjoying the day yesterday................

Dennis, Marie, Sandy and I went on a train ride Friday night......... It was a dinner, theater, train ride......... That will be the subject of my next blog, which will be coming at you later....

Take good care of yourself, so you can take good care of another....... cheers, john

Hey Bloghalloweenies - We are closing in on spook day!! Remember, it is precedes All
Saints and All Souls Day..........

I haven't blogged or been a blogger lately because I have been busy with cooking and company and e-baying.....more on e-baying later...

For now, we had a great time the girls of the north country..............always fun to be with you guys..........I lost me shirt playing greedy - because I was............

In honor of the season, Sandy had me put up the scare crow:













Sandy and I made this together last year, it is so much fun doing stuff together.................

Ok, I need to remind you to keep looking at my listings on E-Bay.... here is the URL -
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZjvq37659






there are some cool books, one by Max Lucado.... plus some actual art...........





Keep looking, it changes often...........








Today I installed a new router on our home network..........it is supposed to be more powerful, able to send radio signals through thick walls, (the king and I)

I was having so much fun, I forgot to eat lunch...........I never miss a meal unless I am having too much fun..........

But, I always have time for our doggers Jack and Jill:


Remember, take good care of yourself so you can take good care of someone else, love, john

Hi my happy blogging friends.......

I finally figured out why had this sudden urge to sell my stuff on E-Bay. It took Nettie's passing to make me realize that is is more than just the fun of the auction. I did not know Nettie, but I am connected to the Cody's and therefore connected to Nettie. I have begun to realize that two things are happening at this time of my life, I am reaching the end of my very rewarding career and I am closer than ever before to the end of life on this earth. Oh, don't worry, I may be here for another 30 years, but then again, I may not. I will be here as long as God grants me life on this earth, not one minute shorter, not one minute longer....

So, I have accumulated all this stuff, the stuff of life, not anything grand or wonderful, in reality it is just stuff. Some of it, the signs, for instance, have lived there entire life with me in my offices at ETSU.... I have other things that I will day-by-day bring home and sell. If the stuff doesn't sell, I will give it to the Shepherd's Storehouse of toss it in the trash. Another favorite trick of mine is to put stuff out by the road with a sign that says FREE. It always disappears... There is music stuff for sale, I have given my bass to the church, but the other music stuff I will sell. I was a late comer to music and it has always been more of a chore than a pleasure... To those who are musically talented, I admire you, but I cannot live up to your many talents and will no longer try.....

So, whether it is retirement or death, I want to rid myself of these things that I once thought were treasures, but in reality are just the stuff of life........

So, anyway, if you want some of my stuff, keep watching E-Bay http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZjvq37659 and get yourself some good deals........or not.

But for sure, remember, take good care of yourself, love, john

Auction Lovers -

Check out my items for auction at:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZjvq37659

All the signs are up and ready for you....... Great opportunity to start your Christmas shopping...

Remember, take good care of your yourself,

Cheers, john

My newest heros!

Head's up everyone, it is almost DCs birthday............ and its a big one!!!

FAQs:
Q. Is it is first?
A. No

Q. Is it his 13th?
A. No, but my oldest grandson will be 13 tomorrow....

Q. Is it his 21st?
A. No

Q. Is it his 30th?
A. No

Q. Is it his 40th?
A. No

Q. Is it his 50th?
A. No

Q. Is it his 60th?
A. No

Q. Is it his 70th?
A. No

Q. Have we missed the milestone?
A. Yes

Q. Well which is it and when is it?
A. I know, but I am not telling. You will have to ask him yourself...... It is soon!!!!

Take good care of yourself, john

HIHO Bloggers....

Signs for sale on E-Bay - Shop till you drop!!!
Just click on the sign and place your bid.....easy-as-pie!!!!!!










































Remember, take good care of yourself..........cheers, john