Wholely Gruacamole! Your brother's truck gives a whole new meaning to the term Pinball Wizard. LOL If you're going to move arcade machines around for a living, it's reasonable to do things that will make the job easier. It seems as if your entire family is quite inventive.
Now that I think back on the fuel oil problem I believe insulation was added to the tank and the fuel line as a permanent fix. We had a coal room too in that house but for some reason they chose to put the fuel oil outside instead of indoors. My dad made a workshop out of the coal room after the heating conversion. It wasn't a very large room because you don't need a lot of space to store a couple tons of coal. However he loved it and spent a lot of time in there tinkering around with stuff. I think he was really hiding from my mom. He was not a fan of those soap operas she like to listen to on the radio. LOL
Personal Safety From Google
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Re: Personal Safety From Google
Yeppers, but after growing super large for so many years, getting mainly into stuffed animals and other trinkets for Crane Machines. As the pinball and video game business slowed down, he also closed down all of his vending routes, and was only handling plush. Then that humongous building he bought, he decided to downsize and start leasing smaller and smaller places. Most recently he bought a service garage so he could rebuild transmissions for boats. He lives on his yacht so know a lot of people which helped him get started. He learned most of it from working on his own boat. But doing the transmission repair for boats has really taken off. He just turned 69 yesterday, and handling those 150 pound boat transmissions I'm sure will take its toll on him fairly soon. But then he's doing well enough he is hiring helpers once again.
A replacement transmission of the type he works on costs 6,000 bucks. He rebuilds them and sells them for 1,500 bucks. His nearest competitor is priced at 2,200 dollars, so he has sales all over the country now. At first he was repairing transmission and sending them back to the owner. He still does that, but it is easier on him to just buy a bunch of them and work on them to have them ready when someone needs a replacement. Besides, most people are in a hurry to get their boat back in the water, so he gets them to take one he already rebuilt and exchange the broken one.
Sounds like my uncle, he turned his coal room into a pool table room, but had to use short cues, hi hi.
I had a custom built pool table when I lived in Des Peres. Golden west billiards built if for me using the exotic woods I sent to them. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, I had to sell it when I moved out of that house. However, I did sell it to someone who would sell it back to me later. That seemed like a good deal, but he ended up selling his house and the pool table with it.
A replacement transmission of the type he works on costs 6,000 bucks. He rebuilds them and sells them for 1,500 bucks. His nearest competitor is priced at 2,200 dollars, so he has sales all over the country now. At first he was repairing transmission and sending them back to the owner. He still does that, but it is easier on him to just buy a bunch of them and work on them to have them ready when someone needs a replacement. Besides, most people are in a hurry to get their boat back in the water, so he gets them to take one he already rebuilt and exchange the broken one.
Sounds like my uncle, he turned his coal room into a pool table room, but had to use short cues, hi hi.
I had a custom built pool table when I lived in Des Peres. Golden west billiards built if for me using the exotic woods I sent to them. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, I had to sell it when I moved out of that house. However, I did sell it to someone who would sell it back to me later. That seemed like a good deal, but he ended up selling his house and the pool table with it.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I don't know what it is about pool, but it is a fascinating game for me. I think it has to do with my admiration for the geometry underlying the game, not to mention a certain amount of strategy being required. A friend of mine had a table when I was single and we played quite often. My thoughts have been to get my own table, preferably custom made, one day but I never had the space or cash to make that dream come true. It's ironic that I now have the space and the resources but can't justify the expense. I don't have any buddies anymore who would be interested in playing. I guess you can play solo, but it's not the same as having competition. I have a simulation pool game on Windows 7 and I play it every day while having my first cup of coffee. I think that's as close as I'll ever get to having my own table.
Who would have thought you can make a living rebuilding boat transmissions? Not this land lubber. LOL I think lifting those heavy weights is probably keeping him in shape physically and mentally. 69 would be a good age at which to retire, but it seems like he is the kind of guy that would die from the boredom of it all.
Who would have thought you can make a living rebuilding boat transmissions? Not this land lubber. LOL I think lifting those heavy weights is probably keeping him in shape physically and mentally. 69 would be a good age at which to retire, but it seems like he is the kind of guy that would die from the boredom of it all.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
Your going to laugh at this one:
My first wife said, now that we are in this big house, we need a table in the dining room.
She didn't say what kind of table, so I ordered a Pool Table, and eight tall swivel stools with backs on them.
The table came with both a plush velour cover, and a folding ping-pong top that fit completely over the top of the pool table. I bought a plastic backed with felt beautiful dining room tablecloth that looked like a lace weave but was fairly dense. And with the tall stools we could use it to dine on, play poker, or Monopoly, hi hi.
She thought I was going to put the pool table in the den, however, since that room was all glass windows I thought best not to do that. And the double french doors I had to cover with Plexiglass to protect the glass in them.
With my astigmatism I wasn't the best at playing pool, but I did finally manage to beat my dad several times, and he was a pool shark in his younger days. I remember as as tyke watching him run the pool table up at Grupp's Tavern many times, and collect his winnings, hi hi.
Since I lived next door to where we all worked. Dad would often come over after work before heading home to play a game or two of pool with me. He taught me many ways to shoot to get the ball to do what I wanted. Only my accuracy was no where as good as his.
Well, my brother has had to rebuild his own transmissions a few times.
There are no sensors on them to tell you it lost its fluid or that it is overheating.
The main problem with them is, the rubber seals go bad and they lose their fluid.
Most of the transmissions are a 30 year old design that was never changed.
You are supposed to replace those seals at least once every couple of years while your boat is in dry-dock, but very few people do it, or even pull those big boats out very often. They may raise them to clean the hull, but that's not exactly like doing a dry-dock.
Once that seal goes, and they lose their fluid, the bands burn out and sometimes warp the parts the bands slide against.
In any case, my brother said it is not all that hard to repair a transmission. I replaces the bad parts, installs all new better grade seals, and ships them back with a couple of bottles of transmission fluid for the owner to put into the tranny after it is reinstalled in the boat.
Takes about 2 hours to clean and rebuild, and often takes about 400 to 600 bucks worth of parts.
He said it is easier for him to just charge a flat 1,500 hundred buck for all of them, rather than keep track of what he had to do to each one. When they leave his shop, they always look like brand new! And work like brand new too.
My first wife said, now that we are in this big house, we need a table in the dining room.
She didn't say what kind of table, so I ordered a Pool Table, and eight tall swivel stools with backs on them.
The table came with both a plush velour cover, and a folding ping-pong top that fit completely over the top of the pool table. I bought a plastic backed with felt beautiful dining room tablecloth that looked like a lace weave but was fairly dense. And with the tall stools we could use it to dine on, play poker, or Monopoly, hi hi.
She thought I was going to put the pool table in the den, however, since that room was all glass windows I thought best not to do that. And the double french doors I had to cover with Plexiglass to protect the glass in them.
With my astigmatism I wasn't the best at playing pool, but I did finally manage to beat my dad several times, and he was a pool shark in his younger days. I remember as as tyke watching him run the pool table up at Grupp's Tavern many times, and collect his winnings, hi hi.
Since I lived next door to where we all worked. Dad would often come over after work before heading home to play a game or two of pool with me. He taught me many ways to shoot to get the ball to do what I wanted. Only my accuracy was no where as good as his.
Well, my brother has had to rebuild his own transmissions a few times.
There are no sensors on them to tell you it lost its fluid or that it is overheating.
The main problem with them is, the rubber seals go bad and they lose their fluid.
Most of the transmissions are a 30 year old design that was never changed.
You are supposed to replace those seals at least once every couple of years while your boat is in dry-dock, but very few people do it, or even pull those big boats out very often. They may raise them to clean the hull, but that's not exactly like doing a dry-dock.
Once that seal goes, and they lose their fluid, the bands burn out and sometimes warp the parts the bands slide against.
In any case, my brother said it is not all that hard to repair a transmission. I replaces the bad parts, installs all new better grade seals, and ships them back with a couple of bottles of transmission fluid for the owner to put into the tranny after it is reinstalled in the boat.
Takes about 2 hours to clean and rebuild, and often takes about 400 to 600 bucks worth of parts.
He said it is easier for him to just charge a flat 1,500 hundred buck for all of them, rather than keep track of what he had to do to each one. When they leave his shop, they always look like brand new! And work like brand new too.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I believe automobile repair shops work at a flat rate too. A few mechanics I've talked to say they get paid a fixed amount for a given task. If they can finish the job sooner they get paid the same as if it takes them longer. The really good mechanics always beat the shop rate and in that way earn extra cash because they can complete more jobs than the average Joe. Boat transmissions apparently are not as complex as automobile transmissions so that a flat rate would be easier to come up with. I think many automobile transmission shops do something similar. They swap out a bad transmission for a fixed price. Don't know that for sure because I never had to replace one.
I did laugh at your pool table story. You did a very risky thing there because there is nothing comparable to a dissatisfied wife that has to live with your bad judgment for any number of years. Most men learn how to anticipate what a woman "really" means when she says something and thus avoid a lot of future troubles. LOL Anyway, ball control in the game of pool is the secret to success. I never got good at it, but then I never played that much.
I did laugh at your pool table story. You did a very risky thing there because there is nothing comparable to a dissatisfied wife that has to live with your bad judgment for any number of years. Most men learn how to anticipate what a woman "really" means when she says something and thus avoid a lot of future troubles. LOL Anyway, ball control in the game of pool is the secret to success. I never got good at it, but then I never played that much.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I knew quite a few mechanics in years past, some of them were paid by the hour, and some by the job.
Seems like there was something similar to tenure before they got paid by the job.
It also depended on where they worked also.
I've had a few transmissions replaced or rebuilt also. Had the tranny in the wife's car rebuilt, which cost more than taking a pre-rebuilt unit. And then a year later we sold the car and got her another one.
Actually, my first wife was a runaround Sue. She was rarely home as it was. We did end up getting a divorce but it was her idea since I didn't like her lifestyle. She did cause me many headaches over the years since then too!
Seems like there was something similar to tenure before they got paid by the job.
It also depended on where they worked also.
I've had a few transmissions replaced or rebuilt also. Had the tranny in the wife's car rebuilt, which cost more than taking a pre-rebuilt unit. And then a year later we sold the car and got her another one.
Actually, my first wife was a runaround Sue. She was rarely home as it was. We did end up getting a divorce but it was her idea since I didn't like her lifestyle. She did cause me many headaches over the years since then too!
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I think you are right about mechanics' pay depending on the shop they work for and the union they belong to. Those I've talked to were long time mechanics, so that might have made a difference. All I know is that I have to pay the same price regardless of who works on my car.
Marriages, and relationships in general, are complex matters. You can enter into one thinking that you know all you need to know, and then things change. I'd have to say, after being married 50+ years, the secret to success is a willingness and an ability to be flexible. Adapting to the many changes life randomly imposes upon you helps one endure. Some people are better at it than others. There is also this concept that marriages are a forever thing. I certainly entered into mine with that idea. However, it's a social construct and not a requirement for a successful partnership. It's just as satisfying experiencing several shorter term relationships as it is a single long and eternal one.
Marriages, and relationships in general, are complex matters. You can enter into one thinking that you know all you need to know, and then things change. I'd have to say, after being married 50+ years, the secret to success is a willingness and an ability to be flexible. Adapting to the many changes life randomly imposes upon you helps one endure. Some people are better at it than others. There is also this concept that marriages are a forever thing. I certainly entered into mine with that idea. However, it's a social construct and not a requirement for a successful partnership. It's just as satisfying experiencing several shorter term relationships as it is a single long and eternal one.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I guess I was lucky on all the rest. The first was more like a gold digger. I was dating someone else for a long time and everyone expected us to get married some day. A week or so after graduation, she took off leaving only a note with her dad. When I stopped by after work to pick her up like I usually on Friday nights, her mom and dad came running out to the car, both madder than wet hornets. They thought she went with me to elope or something. After a talk, I still went by every weekend to take her younger sister to her skating practice.
Since my first wife and her went to the same school, and many of them congregated at the skating rink on weekends, Marsha decided to get her hooks in me. Feigning being sad Linda took off, since it was already all over their group.
We dated for two years and did get along great that whole time. The for four years after we were married, never a problem. After we lost our first baby she began to change, and by the time the second came along, and although he was alright, she kept going downhill. Then her sister moved back into town, and they started going out several times a week, sometimes not coming home until the wee hours of the morning. After her sister moved back to Texas, Marsha started taking my Aunt Billie out after her husband died. But it was only an excuse to get out of the house after she had our third child. This was OK for a few months, and then I learned she was taking Aunt Billie home around 8 pm and staying out until often after 1 am. Over the next few years, I caught her in several different affairs, and even though she would leave, sometimes for months on end, I still took her back. Did that 4 times, and the last time she left was on Christmas Eve, saying she wouldn't be back and handed me some divorce papers, which she never followed through with. We were married 13 years when our divorce was finally finalized.
I joined Parents Without Partners after being prodded by an older workmate to do so, because they had lots of things to do with the kids. It wasn't too long before I got railroaded into becoming President, and ended up getting reelected to a second term. Met an older gal there that I began dating, and we were going to get married, but when her blood test came back, they told her to go see a regular doctor. It didn't stop us from getting our marriage license though. However, she had breast cancer, so wanted to hold off on getting married. She had a radical mastectomy and after recovery we got our second marriage license, and even had a date set to get married. Then out of the blue she got really sick again, and it took months for the doctors to figure out what was wrong. They thought they had it licked and we got our third marriage license. She had three children all double the age of my children, one finishing grade school, one in high school and one graduating and considering going into the service. After she was wheelchair bound, I moved into her house partially, still had my house, to help take care of her, because the son joined the military, the next girl down went away to college, and the youngest was in high school now, she's the one who liked me the best. Her older sister who I paid for most of her college and getting her stuff too and from college gave me the hardest time of all.
Before Barbara passed away, she made arrangements for me to become the Foster Parent for her three children.
During my second year as President of PWP, I got to admiring a couple of the children there. Much more refined and well behaved than all the rest of the children, including mine. Turns out there was a gal who had her eye on me. We met the first time formally as I had her join a committee. So we talked often. Then she had to drop her committee activities due to work and kids and you know the spiel. Later we were at a picnic and I was watching those two kids again. She came up behind me and asked what I was watching so intently. I said you see those two kids over there. She said yes. I said, I've never seen such well mannered kids in my life. She just beamed and exclaimed those are my kids. Then later on that day when we sat down to eat, she made sure and had a seat next to me with her kids directly across from me.
That was all she wrote, we were never apart after that, and a couple of weeks after my term ended we got married.
Now if you recall, I had two kids of my own living with me, she had her two kids, and I also had the three foster kids who would be home during spring break, the one who liked me, the one who hated me, and the son would getting home from the service. With all of this on the table we chose the only logical day to get married TWICE. Yes I said twice, we had two wedding ceremonies. The official one for the state and her family was in a Synagog with a Rabbi officiating. And the one to appease my family was at a Baptist church that Ruth belonged to.
During my fourth year of marriage to Ruth, and I won't get into that LONG Story here. I was legally married to Barbara in order to become her kids Step-Parent, so I could handle some of the paperwork that needed to be handled for them. The judge found a way to do it legally. Basically I was married retroactively to Barbara before she died, so that my marriage to Ruth would still be legal just the way it was. In other words, everything was backdated to the date on our third marriage license.
Ruth and I were married about 15 years before she ended up wheelchair bound after a major heart attack and five bypass surgery of which she never recovered.
Ruth and I raised my two kids, her two kids, and I got the youngest of Barbs kids married off, the older sister got married while away at college, and I bought the boy a house, which turned out to be his grandmothers house, and I didn't know it at the time I bought it for him. When he went to see the house I bought for him, he kept driving back and forth past it, until he realized that was the house, and he always loved that house, so I had made a friend, for a short time anyhow.
I had several issues with my ex wife and my daughter, so after a major scuttle, my daughter went to live with her. Ruth and I were married twenty years before she passed away.
Ruths son got a high paying job in Detroit and moved. Her daughter stayed living with me, even after I married Debi, until her relatives forced her to move. She ended up moving to Clayton since she too was making good money. Ruth had one son away in college, and moving on to Law School, another expensive proposition for me to cover. Then someone stole his car and I had to get him another one. Plus a large trailer to move him around from college to college.
Debi is the best of them all so far, as far as wives go, hi hi. And I do hope she outlives me, since I'm displaced living down south here. My son who was living in Florida, moved back to Missouri, a couple of years after Debi and I were married.
One last little tidbit. Ruth gave me a jet black kitten as an engagement gift. I still had that black cat when I married Debi. It lived to be 22 years old!
And that is my old married life in a nutshell!
Since my first wife and her went to the same school, and many of them congregated at the skating rink on weekends, Marsha decided to get her hooks in me. Feigning being sad Linda took off, since it was already all over their group.
We dated for two years and did get along great that whole time. The for four years after we were married, never a problem. After we lost our first baby she began to change, and by the time the second came along, and although he was alright, she kept going downhill. Then her sister moved back into town, and they started going out several times a week, sometimes not coming home until the wee hours of the morning. After her sister moved back to Texas, Marsha started taking my Aunt Billie out after her husband died. But it was only an excuse to get out of the house after she had our third child. This was OK for a few months, and then I learned she was taking Aunt Billie home around 8 pm and staying out until often after 1 am. Over the next few years, I caught her in several different affairs, and even though she would leave, sometimes for months on end, I still took her back. Did that 4 times, and the last time she left was on Christmas Eve, saying she wouldn't be back and handed me some divorce papers, which she never followed through with. We were married 13 years when our divorce was finally finalized.
I joined Parents Without Partners after being prodded by an older workmate to do so, because they had lots of things to do with the kids. It wasn't too long before I got railroaded into becoming President, and ended up getting reelected to a second term. Met an older gal there that I began dating, and we were going to get married, but when her blood test came back, they told her to go see a regular doctor. It didn't stop us from getting our marriage license though. However, she had breast cancer, so wanted to hold off on getting married. She had a radical mastectomy and after recovery we got our second marriage license, and even had a date set to get married. Then out of the blue she got really sick again, and it took months for the doctors to figure out what was wrong. They thought they had it licked and we got our third marriage license. She had three children all double the age of my children, one finishing grade school, one in high school and one graduating and considering going into the service. After she was wheelchair bound, I moved into her house partially, still had my house, to help take care of her, because the son joined the military, the next girl down went away to college, and the youngest was in high school now, she's the one who liked me the best. Her older sister who I paid for most of her college and getting her stuff too and from college gave me the hardest time of all.
Before Barbara passed away, she made arrangements for me to become the Foster Parent for her three children.
During my second year as President of PWP, I got to admiring a couple of the children there. Much more refined and well behaved than all the rest of the children, including mine. Turns out there was a gal who had her eye on me. We met the first time formally as I had her join a committee. So we talked often. Then she had to drop her committee activities due to work and kids and you know the spiel. Later we were at a picnic and I was watching those two kids again. She came up behind me and asked what I was watching so intently. I said you see those two kids over there. She said yes. I said, I've never seen such well mannered kids in my life. She just beamed and exclaimed those are my kids. Then later on that day when we sat down to eat, she made sure and had a seat next to me with her kids directly across from me.
That was all she wrote, we were never apart after that, and a couple of weeks after my term ended we got married.
Now if you recall, I had two kids of my own living with me, she had her two kids, and I also had the three foster kids who would be home during spring break, the one who liked me, the one who hated me, and the son would getting home from the service. With all of this on the table we chose the only logical day to get married TWICE. Yes I said twice, we had two wedding ceremonies. The official one for the state and her family was in a Synagog with a Rabbi officiating. And the one to appease my family was at a Baptist church that Ruth belonged to.
During my fourth year of marriage to Ruth, and I won't get into that LONG Story here. I was legally married to Barbara in order to become her kids Step-Parent, so I could handle some of the paperwork that needed to be handled for them. The judge found a way to do it legally. Basically I was married retroactively to Barbara before she died, so that my marriage to Ruth would still be legal just the way it was. In other words, everything was backdated to the date on our third marriage license.
Ruth and I were married about 15 years before she ended up wheelchair bound after a major heart attack and five bypass surgery of which she never recovered.
Ruth and I raised my two kids, her two kids, and I got the youngest of Barbs kids married off, the older sister got married while away at college, and I bought the boy a house, which turned out to be his grandmothers house, and I didn't know it at the time I bought it for him. When he went to see the house I bought for him, he kept driving back and forth past it, until he realized that was the house, and he always loved that house, so I had made a friend, for a short time anyhow.
I had several issues with my ex wife and my daughter, so after a major scuttle, my daughter went to live with her. Ruth and I were married twenty years before she passed away.
Ruths son got a high paying job in Detroit and moved. Her daughter stayed living with me, even after I married Debi, until her relatives forced her to move. She ended up moving to Clayton since she too was making good money. Ruth had one son away in college, and moving on to Law School, another expensive proposition for me to cover. Then someone stole his car and I had to get him another one. Plus a large trailer to move him around from college to college.
Debi is the best of them all so far, as far as wives go, hi hi. And I do hope she outlives me, since I'm displaced living down south here. My son who was living in Florida, moved back to Missouri, a couple of years after Debi and I were married.
One last little tidbit. Ruth gave me a jet black kitten as an engagement gift. I still had that black cat when I married Debi. It lived to be 22 years old!
And that is my old married life in a nutshell!
Re: Personal Safety From Google
Wow. I'm not sure what to say after reading all that. If being flexible and willing to make changes is the secret to successful marriages, you are the most successful person I know.
The only side comment I can make would be about marriage ceremonies. Being raised in a Christian environment I got to see a heck of a lot of Church marriage ceremonies. Even thought I was not a believer my wife and I married in a Catholic church mainly to keep the peace with the relatives. My two daughters did likewise. Thus I'm pretty familiar with what goes on at Christian marriage ceremonies. At one time I was invited to the wedding of the son of a good friend of mine who happened to be Jewish. The ceremony was in a synagogue and I recall being amazed by it all, the yarmulke I wore et al. It seemed to be more focused on the idea of being married than what I've seen in Catholic churches where the ceremony is a subset of the Mass said every Sunday. The reception was like none other too, but to be honest I don't recall a lot about that. I do recall they did different things than what I was accustomed to seeing.
The only side comment I can make would be about marriage ceremonies. Being raised in a Christian environment I got to see a heck of a lot of Church marriage ceremonies. Even thought I was not a believer my wife and I married in a Catholic church mainly to keep the peace with the relatives. My two daughters did likewise. Thus I'm pretty familiar with what goes on at Christian marriage ceremonies. At one time I was invited to the wedding of the son of a good friend of mine who happened to be Jewish. The ceremony was in a synagogue and I recall being amazed by it all, the yarmulke I wore et al. It seemed to be more focused on the idea of being married than what I've seen in Catholic churches where the ceremony is a subset of the Mass said every Sunday. The reception was like none other too, but to be honest I don't recall a lot about that. I do recall they did different things than what I was accustomed to seeing.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
Yes a Jewish Wedding is as Major Event which involves all kinds of rituals.
I remember breaking the glass wrapped in a towel, and having to go sit in a room, which is where you supposedly consummate the marriage, only you just sit and have a drink or two for 15 minutes.
The reception is like a Grand Party that lasts well into the night, hi hi.
I was raised Catholic, heck was even an altar boy for around 8 years.
So I was well familiar with their way of doing things.
All very ritualistic as well. A lot of which is prohibited in their own Douay Bible, but they do it anyhow.
Although I never was never confirmed in the Morman church, I was there for about a dozen years, only because my wife liked them better than the Baptist church she took lessons at. And the ward we belonged to stuck only to the KJV bible and rarely if ever used their other documented books, like Doctrine and Covenants in services. For that you had to take all the other classes which we usually skipped. I actually got selected as Executive Secretary for the Bishopric and was there for like four years. Amazing, an unconfirmed member, and a Smoker, on the Bishopric, with my can of Pepsi in hand. I caused a lot of trouble once I had a little bit of power, hi hi. Even shredded edicts coming from Salt Lake because I refused to do them or have them done. In fact, those edicts is what made us leave that religion.
Ironically, all during that time I was still running a Christian home church group of 250 families meeting in 66 different homes. We considered ourselves un-denominational, since non-denominational became a religion of their own now too.
I've also attended several Greek Orthodox services, and Lutheran at least once a year or more often. And of course the Catholic church every time a relative had something that dealt with church, baptisms, first communion, weddings, funerals, etc.
I remember breaking the glass wrapped in a towel, and having to go sit in a room, which is where you supposedly consummate the marriage, only you just sit and have a drink or two for 15 minutes.
The reception is like a Grand Party that lasts well into the night, hi hi.
I was raised Catholic, heck was even an altar boy for around 8 years.
So I was well familiar with their way of doing things.
All very ritualistic as well. A lot of which is prohibited in their own Douay Bible, but they do it anyhow.
Although I never was never confirmed in the Morman church, I was there for about a dozen years, only because my wife liked them better than the Baptist church she took lessons at. And the ward we belonged to stuck only to the KJV bible and rarely if ever used their other documented books, like Doctrine and Covenants in services. For that you had to take all the other classes which we usually skipped. I actually got selected as Executive Secretary for the Bishopric and was there for like four years. Amazing, an unconfirmed member, and a Smoker, on the Bishopric, with my can of Pepsi in hand. I caused a lot of trouble once I had a little bit of power, hi hi. Even shredded edicts coming from Salt Lake because I refused to do them or have them done. In fact, those edicts is what made us leave that religion.
Ironically, all during that time I was still running a Christian home church group of 250 families meeting in 66 different homes. We considered ourselves un-denominational, since non-denominational became a religion of their own now too.
I've also attended several Greek Orthodox services, and Lutheran at least once a year or more often. And of course the Catholic church every time a relative had something that dealt with church, baptisms, first communion, weddings, funerals, etc.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
All religion by definition is a ritual. Rituals per se are not intrinsically good or bad, but I felt constricted by them ever since I learned what they were. For example, it was a requirement to attend Mass every Sunday, a ritual, in order to be considered a good Catholic. Well, I had better things to do on certain Sundays but was no less of a believer for it. I had to decide on those days which was more important. The answer came to me in an unexpected way. The first job I had was in an envelope company with an office full of salesmen - that's right, no sales women. LOL One of them had six kids and counting. We got to talking one day about how hard it was to support the family. So, sarcastically, I asked why he had so many children if it was that difficult to support them. He said he was a Catholic and had no choice. Birth control was not an option, although it was available back then. But, but, but the reality is you are having a hard time, can't you get an exception to the rule? His reply stuck with me and probably was a life changing moment. He said something to the effect that if you are going to be a Catholic you must follow ALL the rules. Well, that clinched it for me. I could not be bound to that kind of ritual all my life; thus at that moment I decided I was no longer a Catholic. Not even in name only.
It's not like a person can avoid being ritualistic. In spite of Webster's definition, religions aren't the only context in which rituals occur. Just getting through a normal day can take on ritualistic proportions when you get to be my age. You can get to a point where you believe a certain behavior is required to produce a given result. As it turns out that's false in just about every instance. Recognizing the fallacy is how I come to see rituals as limiting one's potential. You stop looking for creative alternatives when you are stuck in the ritual rut. At the end of the day you do what is comfortable, which is how I ended up marrying my bride during a Catholic ritual. It was the path of least resistance.
My sixth grade teacher, a nun, was the head honcho in charge of altar boys. I don't know why but she made several attempts to get me to join the club. I felt perfectly comfortable being in the audience and never wanted to be part of the show. Maybe that was her way of getting me to show up in church every Sunday. Those nuns were tricky. LOL
It's not like a person can avoid being ritualistic. In spite of Webster's definition, religions aren't the only context in which rituals occur. Just getting through a normal day can take on ritualistic proportions when you get to be my age. You can get to a point where you believe a certain behavior is required to produce a given result. As it turns out that's false in just about every instance. Recognizing the fallacy is how I come to see rituals as limiting one's potential. You stop looking for creative alternatives when you are stuck in the ritual rut. At the end of the day you do what is comfortable, which is how I ended up marrying my bride during a Catholic ritual. It was the path of least resistance.
My sixth grade teacher, a nun, was the head honcho in charge of altar boys. I don't know why but she made several attempts to get me to join the club. I felt perfectly comfortable being in the audience and never wanted to be part of the show. Maybe that was her way of getting me to show up in church every Sunday. Those nuns were tricky. LOL
Last edited by yogi on 31 Aug 2020, 18:28, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I was perfectly fine being a Catholic during my growing up years. They had the best schools, and I didn't mind going to church every day. I still don't mind attending services on Sundays and did most of my life, just not at a Catholic church.
Around the age of 12 going on 13 I joined this Wednesday evening bible study group, and they used the KJV of the bible.
Most of the members were either non-denom or Baptist, I remember one was Protestant, and two were Lutheran. In fact, it was the Lutheran Church basement where the bible study was held.
I had to go to church on Sunday with my parents, there was no way out of that, hi hi. But then by the age 14 I was also going to services, rotating around the Lutherans, Baptists, and the small non-denom church where the host of our bible study group was pastor. I liked that church the best by the way.
My mother, who was raised Baptist, but converted to Catholic before she married dad, which was probably why, finally talked my dad into letting me attend the church I liked, rather than making me go twice a day. He finally agreed that as long as I was going it was OK with him.
What caused me to change so much was I began reading the bible intently. I naturally had my Douay bible, but also had KJV study bibles I bought. The more I studied, the more I saw wrong with not only the Catholic church, but several others as well. In essence, I was actually turned off by the so called religions out there, because that is not what the bible taught at all.
Many years later when we started the home fellowship group, I really think the reason it grew so fast was because many folks felt the same way. After a number of years as a director, we had grown to 250 families meeting in 66 different homes. It became a major job to handle, but thankfully computers came along and I could program the rotation schedules in Basic which saved me many hours of work each week.
To me, rituals are nothing more than a RUT you land in and can't get out very easily.
Just like the word JOB, it really means Just Over Broke, hi hi.
The bible says WE are the Church, not some building somewhere with money grubbing runners of the place.
Around the age of 12 going on 13 I joined this Wednesday evening bible study group, and they used the KJV of the bible.
Most of the members were either non-denom or Baptist, I remember one was Protestant, and two were Lutheran. In fact, it was the Lutheran Church basement where the bible study was held.
I had to go to church on Sunday with my parents, there was no way out of that, hi hi. But then by the age 14 I was also going to services, rotating around the Lutherans, Baptists, and the small non-denom church where the host of our bible study group was pastor. I liked that church the best by the way.
My mother, who was raised Baptist, but converted to Catholic before she married dad, which was probably why, finally talked my dad into letting me attend the church I liked, rather than making me go twice a day. He finally agreed that as long as I was going it was OK with him.
What caused me to change so much was I began reading the bible intently. I naturally had my Douay bible, but also had KJV study bibles I bought. The more I studied, the more I saw wrong with not only the Catholic church, but several others as well. In essence, I was actually turned off by the so called religions out there, because that is not what the bible taught at all.
Many years later when we started the home fellowship group, I really think the reason it grew so fast was because many folks felt the same way. After a number of years as a director, we had grown to 250 families meeting in 66 different homes. It became a major job to handle, but thankfully computers came along and I could program the rotation schedules in Basic which saved me many hours of work each week.
To me, rituals are nothing more than a RUT you land in and can't get out very easily.
Just like the word JOB, it really means Just Over Broke, hi hi.
The bible says WE are the Church, not some building somewhere with money grubbing runners of the place.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I hesitate to talk Bible with you because I know how insignificant my knowledge of it is. The Catholic school I attended didn't offer Bible study, as odd as that might seem. They did force feed catechism and dogma down our young vulnerable throats in it's place. They also had a good argument for why the Douay version of the Bible was THE version, but I long forgotten what I was told. After many years of consideration I simply rejected all versions of the Bible and put them into the same context as mythology and fairy tales. There are some nice stories in those books, and the people of the day had no better way to communicate. I can see it being the "good" book, but I have also read some content that I could hardly be placed into the "good" column. LOL The Bible is a great reference point for those people who need guidance from outside their own minds. Given the universal popularity of religion I'd say the covers just about all the world's population.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I had a digital copy of the original bible that is now the King James.
When the KJV was rewritten in 1769, it made heavy use of the Newly Invented Letter "J."
But even in the 1611 version, many of the actual names were changed using naming equivalents, and using the letter "I" which is what got changed to the letter "J" in later editions.
But if you go back even further, you can find the real names, and the real names of the books as well.
FWIW: There is no letter "J" in the Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic Languages.
Nor was there the Ja sound, there was a Ya sound, and in many translations, they Ya was translated as Ja.
And this is how so much got changed in modern versions.
Living with a wife and two children who spoke Hebrew, and could talk about how the many phrases could be translated from Hebrew to English and in some ways meaning just the opposite of how they were intended, makes one wonder about the translations we use.
I became more interested in bibles that were translated from complete scrolls instead of those developed from the fragmented scrolls.
At one time, I owned the entire large set of Matthew Henry's Commentary, and those books went into the differences of translations taken from the original scrolls and in what context they derived some of those translations.
Although I'm no scholar of the Scriptures, after attending two seminaries who both taught opposite of each other, I feel I have a fairly rounded look at what each religion out there bases their individual creeds on.
I honestly believe Joseph Smith was correct when he said, "None of them are Right."
Of course that didn't make his version right either, hi hi. Far from it actually.
This is why I do not belong to any organized religion, but still believe in the Holy Trinity and much of what we have learned from the Scriptures, so long as they were interpreted correctly.
And because I know of the many changes in the various versions, I still find the KJV to be the most accurate.
Mainly because of the Harmony throughout the entire book. All the writers from the different ages who's works wound up in the KJV bible, they all agree with each other.
And that's enough about religion for a couple more years, hi hi.
When the KJV was rewritten in 1769, it made heavy use of the Newly Invented Letter "J."
But even in the 1611 version, many of the actual names were changed using naming equivalents, and using the letter "I" which is what got changed to the letter "J" in later editions.
But if you go back even further, you can find the real names, and the real names of the books as well.
FWIW: There is no letter "J" in the Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic Languages.
Nor was there the Ja sound, there was a Ya sound, and in many translations, they Ya was translated as Ja.
And this is how so much got changed in modern versions.
Living with a wife and two children who spoke Hebrew, and could talk about how the many phrases could be translated from Hebrew to English and in some ways meaning just the opposite of how they were intended, makes one wonder about the translations we use.
I became more interested in bibles that were translated from complete scrolls instead of those developed from the fragmented scrolls.
At one time, I owned the entire large set of Matthew Henry's Commentary, and those books went into the differences of translations taken from the original scrolls and in what context they derived some of those translations.
Although I'm no scholar of the Scriptures, after attending two seminaries who both taught opposite of each other, I feel I have a fairly rounded look at what each religion out there bases their individual creeds on.
I honestly believe Joseph Smith was correct when he said, "None of them are Right."
Of course that didn't make his version right either, hi hi. Far from it actually.
This is why I do not belong to any organized religion, but still believe in the Holy Trinity and much of what we have learned from the Scriptures, so long as they were interpreted correctly.
And because I know of the many changes in the various versions, I still find the KJV to be the most accurate.
Mainly because of the Harmony throughout the entire book. All the writers from the different ages who's works wound up in the KJV bible, they all agree with each other.
And that's enough about religion for a couple more years, hi hi.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
It's often difficult to sanely discuss religion and it ranks right up there with politics for topics not to be discussed in polite company. LOL The Bible is a great book because of all the attempts to get it right. I don't know of any other work that has been translated and mistranslated so often and by so many scholars. There is something about The Book that is universally attractive. The flaw in the entire collection is the basic premise that there is indeed a God. I'm not smart enough to be able to disprove the existence of such a being, but I am smart enough to know that I've not heard of or read about conclusive evidence supporting its existence. It's very obvious that in today's world there is great difficulty to accurately report events occurring in real time. How anybody can expect accurate reporting of events hundreds and thousands of years past is beyond me.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
Actually, there are tons of non-religion related historical documents and artifacts that prove most of the claims made in the bibles.
There were always two versions of every story, just like today. Those in favor of an event, and those opposed to an event, those who want to show the even accurately, and those who want to deny an event ever happened.
Sorta like they are trying to do with Holocaust today, many are now saying it never happened.
Trying to remove History or denying it, does not change history, it is what it was!
I think one of the funniest things I've seen recently was an ad for the Flat Earth Society.
They claim to have Chapters all around the globe, hi hi.
There were always two versions of every story, just like today. Those in favor of an event, and those opposed to an event, those who want to show the even accurately, and those who want to deny an event ever happened.
Sorta like they are trying to do with Holocaust today, many are now saying it never happened.
Trying to remove History or denying it, does not change history, it is what it was!
I think one of the funniest things I've seen recently was an ad for the Flat Earth Society.
They claim to have Chapters all around the globe, hi hi.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
I love that citation about the Flat Earth Society. 
I follow some sort of flat earth group on Twitter. It's not the famous society we know about but they do spout out "proofs" from time to time about how it's impossible for the earth to be a globe. You are correct to say no story is single sided, but I'd not stop at there being only two sides. There are the pros, the cons, the middle of the roaders, the undecided, and on, and on, and on. That is one of the attractions of Twitter in my case. I can read all sides of the issue there. I've heard that anti-Holocaust argument when I was in college more than fifty years ago. I suppose you can twist the definition of exactly what a Holocaust is and come to the conclusion it never happened. Be that as it may, there's no denying millions of Jews died at the hands of the Fascists. Explain it any way you want, but it did happen. I can't argue the Bible as well as I can events that happened in my generation. There are some real historical events in the Bible. There might have even been a Jesus (by some other name of course). But the evidence of the existence of a Supreme Being inspiring the writings is lacking.
I follow some sort of flat earth group on Twitter. It's not the famous society we know about but they do spout out "proofs" from time to time about how it's impossible for the earth to be a globe. You are correct to say no story is single sided, but I'd not stop at there being only two sides. There are the pros, the cons, the middle of the roaders, the undecided, and on, and on, and on. That is one of the attractions of Twitter in my case. I can read all sides of the issue there. I've heard that anti-Holocaust argument when I was in college more than fifty years ago. I suppose you can twist the definition of exactly what a Holocaust is and come to the conclusion it never happened. Be that as it may, there's no denying millions of Jews died at the hands of the Fascists. Explain it any way you want, but it did happen. I can't argue the Bible as well as I can events that happened in my generation. There are some real historical events in the Bible. There might have even been a Jesus (by some other name of course). But the evidence of the existence of a Supreme Being inspiring the writings is lacking.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
Evolution cannot even prove the existence of the complex eyeball, much less all the species on planet earth.
There is not one single bit of evidence of one species evolving into another species. It's just not there.
A single species can mutate and develop new features, but they are still the same species.
No links between species have ever been found. Some were claimed to be the process of evolution before we had DNA testing. But it was pretty obvious, if one species did evolve into another species, there would be those in-between still here too. We have Apes and we have People, but we have nothing in-between those two, and no evidence there ever was.
That only leaves one other possibility, a Creator.
Heck, for all we know, our entire known universe might be inside a shoe box sitting on a shelf in some kids closet.
And someday, that shoe box might get tossed out in the trash.
I don't think any member of the Flat Earth Society ever tried building a 1000 foot long water fountain, hi hi.
If you know engineering, then you already know why!
There is not one single bit of evidence of one species evolving into another species. It's just not there.
A single species can mutate and develop new features, but they are still the same species.
No links between species have ever been found. Some were claimed to be the process of evolution before we had DNA testing. But it was pretty obvious, if one species did evolve into another species, there would be those in-between still here too. We have Apes and we have People, but we have nothing in-between those two, and no evidence there ever was.
That only leaves one other possibility, a Creator.
Heck, for all we know, our entire known universe might be inside a shoe box sitting on a shelf in some kids closet.
And someday, that shoe box might get tossed out in the trash.
I don't think any member of the Flat Earth Society ever tried building a 1000 foot long water fountain, hi hi.
If you know engineering, then you already know why!
Re: Personal Safety From Google
Evolution, or the lack of it, is not a proof for the existence of a creator. The common man might see it all starting at one point and every life form derived from that single point. The alternative, and equally credible, is that there were many starting points. Whatever forces and environmental factors existed at the time life emerged from the primordial soup did so in many different ways. I agree that a lot of people can only think in terms of linear progression. Parallel development is the more likely explanation for different species.
Some of those flat earth arguments are obviously stretching the known laws of physics. Others make me scratch my head and wonder. Those that make me wonder are not proofs but instead excellent points of debate for which I do not have all the information.
Some of those flat earth arguments are obviously stretching the known laws of physics. Others make me scratch my head and wonder. Those that make me wonder are not proofs but instead excellent points of debate for which I do not have all the information.
Re: Personal Safety From Google
You have a valid point about there being many starting points.
Nearly all life has eyes, and other than insects, eyes are fairly uniform across most species.
And they are more complex than our most powerful computers.
Don't you find it odd that with many starting points, eyes would be something that just happened the same way everywhere?
Even the dinosaurs had eyes.
Quite puzzling isn't it?
I was talking to a Flat Earther a few years ago, and he used a verse from the Bible showing a good man could be found in all four corners of the earth. Therefore the earth must have four corners, hi hi.
I think there are like 14 verses in the bible that use a phrase similar.
But we know it to mean the four primary directions, North, East, South, and West.
Nearly all life has eyes, and other than insects, eyes are fairly uniform across most species.
And they are more complex than our most powerful computers.
Don't you find it odd that with many starting points, eyes would be something that just happened the same way everywhere?
Even the dinosaurs had eyes.
Quite puzzling isn't it?
I was talking to a Flat Earther a few years ago, and he used a verse from the Bible showing a good man could be found in all four corners of the earth. Therefore the earth must have four corners, hi hi.
I think there are like 14 verses in the bible that use a phrase similar.
But we know it to mean the four primary directions, North, East, South, and West.