Invictus

A movie about a South African Rugby team is in theaters now.  The name of the movie is "Invictus".  A friend shared with me some details about the name:

The word "invictus" is Latin for "invincible." It is also the name of a short poem written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley, a British poet. The poem was written while Henley was in hospital having to have his stricken foot amputated.

Orson F. Whitney (1855-1931) an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints wrote a response to that poem.  I've written the text of both poems below:

Invictus

William Ernest Henley


Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The Soul's Captain

Orson F. Whitney


Art thou in truth? Then what of Him
Who bought thee with His blood?
Who plunged into devouring seas
And snatched thee from the flood,

Who bore for all our fallen race
What none but Him could bear--
That God who died that man might live
And endless glory share.

Of what avail thy vaunted strength
Apart from His vast might?
Pray that His light may pierce the gloom
That thou mayest see aright.

Men are as bubbles on the wave,
As leaves upon the tree,
Thou, captain of thy soul! Forsooth,
Who gave that place to thee?

Free will is thine- free agency,
To wield for right or wrong;
But thou must answer unto Him
To whom all souls belong.

Bend to the dust that "head unbowed,"
Small part of life's great whole,
And see in Him and Him alone,
The captain of thy soul.

Congruencies

For some reason, in my mind, I always look for congruencies in life.  I try to fit things into a puzzle, match pieces together and some times take each piece turn it right to left or left to right, upside down, try to insert it into the puzzle where I think it best fits.  Sometimes I try to pound the piece in with a mallet.  It doesn't always fit but I have a very strong desire to not have too many pieces left out.  There are times as I examine these puzzle pieces and want to interlock them with another piece I find but they are so incongruent that it makes me laugh.

Yesterday while attending the kids basketball games and sitting in the audience I pondered how different observing a sporting event was from attending a symphony concert.  I imagined the audience at a concert during the performance yelling directions at the performers.  "Cellos, legato!  What are you thinking?", chanting can be heard "Harmony! Harmony!", Jeers to the conductor "You call that Allegro?  Speed it up!".

I didn't grow up attending sporting events.  I went to one football game in High School because a girl told me she'd be there...don't even remember if I saw her once I was there.  In college I went to one football game that my wife took me to...I took a magazine.  I think I embarrassed her.  The incongruency of the two types of events forces me to keep the puzzle pieces seperate no matter how much I think the two should be related, at least interlock with each other.  Well, at least it's good for a laugh to imagine hooking them together.

Irony is one type of humor...for me, unrelated items can be just as funny.

Duck Tacos

I went hunting yesterday with Shaun for an hour or so.  We flushed out a hen and drake but hit neither.  Shaun had gotten a drake Mallard the day before and told me I could have it if I wanted.  He showed me again how to breast it out and soon I had a ziploc with duck breast to experiment on.  Having such a strong flavor I decided teaming it with other strong flavors would be wise.  Duck tacos became the menu.  After rinsing and giving it a soak over night, I cubed it up and marinated it in salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, onion and garlic powder.  I heated the skillet and began to sautee the meat until done.

remaining cubes of meat after preparing tacos

 Nick and I grabbed lettuce, cheese, sour cream etc. while the duck cooked in the frying pan.  We through together the ingredients and pretty soon had some tasty duck tacos on our plates.

The flavor of the duck still came through but didn't over power the other flavors of the taco.  Nick enjoyed them as well.  So I feel this was a successful venture into using duck!

Smoking Project Continued

The roast got up to 180 degrees and I brought it inside and put it in a crockpot until it reached 190.  I then took it out and wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil and let it sit until it was cool enough to pull.

When it cooled, it pulled very easily.  There was yummy bark on the outside and a good smoke ring.  It was very tender and should feed 25 people at 1/4 lb per sandwhich...actually, that would be a 6 lb roast and this one was about 9.5.  So there should be plenty.

Next I want to try the challenge of smoked brisket!

Smoking in the Snow


Despite having a head cold and sore throat I undertook smoking a pork butt.  It snowed like crazy today so in between checking the temperature we shoveled the driveway several times.


About my smoking project, I have a small water smoker given to me by my sister DeLicia.  I have a hard time keeping that at the right temperature in the summer which means it would be next to impossible in the winter.  I found many articles on how to smoke in your gas grill.  So after marinating and rubbing the butt, I soaked wood chips and set my grill up for indirect heat.

I laid my pan of soaked wood chips on the down side of my grill (I could see smoke was going toward the right so I put the chips on the left).  I placed the butt in the middle of the grill with those two burners off and fired up the outside burners to control heat.

I took my probe thermometer, suspended it to read temperature inside the grill (the grill thermometer is broken) and began the process.  I tried to keep the grill temperature between 210 and 250.  Using the gas grill has made controlling the temperature much easier. 

.

I started it smoking at 7:30 am...by 1:30 pm, I probed the meat and found internal temperature between 177 and 180...so we are getting close!  I want to hit around 190 because I hear at that point the connective tissues break down. 

My head is pounding, I want to nap! 

I'll let you know how the pulled pork turns out.

Co-ops Home to Urban Coops

Working on potential ammo, I mean resources for the day that may come when Brigham City decides to crystallize it's animal code in relation to keeping pet chickens.  The city code, as currently written, specifies one definition of "pet" as domesticated fowl, it also lists 6 birds may be kept and gives the housing space.  The animal control people will tell  you chickens are not allowed but even the city officials recognize there is a loophole and it is vague.

Cities in Utah that I have so far found which allow backyard chickens are: Salt Lake City, Provo, Orem, Moab, Ogden and Woods Cross.

This is the little hen house and run that my 6 hens live in.  They have a pretty good life and reward us with yummy eggs.

It doesn't take a lot to raise them and I have different varieties of hens so friends and neighbors can see what different chickens look like.  I also get white, brown and green eggs!

HOLY COW...er ...HOLY EDIFICE!  Brigham City gets a temple!

First session of General Conference was about a week and a half ago, it was also opening day for duck and goose hunt. Mike Young, a friend in the ward invited me to hunt with him and I told him I needed to be back by 10 and he said he did too. The hunt was fun but unsuccessful. Thats ok, it was fun to be outdoors, soon it will be too cold and snowy. Anyway I got back right about 10am and conference started, as I changed my clothes and got ready to come watch, president Monson began to speak so Joan paused the TV so I could hear all his talk.
I sat down and began watching and he started talking about temples and how 83% of all church membership live within 200 miles of a temple and how that percentage is growing as they build more temples. He said he was happy to announce 5 new temples to be built. The first one on the list was BRIGHAM CITY, UTAH! I couldn't believe it, we were speechless. Needless to say, I am VERY EXCITED!
 
 

I have played violin with the community symphony for several (5, 6, 8,??) years now. Its pretty much the only chance I take to play my violin. I have also served on the board of the symphonic society as representative to the adult symphony. The Lake Bonneville Symphonic Society manages the Lake Bonneville Community Symphony (adults), Lincoln Youth Chamber Orchestra (string players with 2-5 years experience) and Lincoln Youth Symphony (more advanced youth players). I have been invited to take on the role of Executive Director for this organization. This is kind of a management role and will interface with all orchestras and the board to keep the groups going. There is substantial financial stress as the economy has been stretched and philanthropic foundations have cut back on their grant awards. This will be a challenge but it is a special group to me. Gabby plays in Lincoln Youth Chamber Orchestra and has played with me in the adult symphony as well.

Lake Powell Trip #2

A group of 5 couples from the neighborhood went to Powell the weekend following my last trip.  We spent a whole week down there, just adults no kids.  The weather was great.  We played and played.  We swam, rode jet skis, I fished a lot.  We ate lots of good food.  We went to church in Page, Arizona.  That was fun too.

This was a very relaxing trip.  It was a nice time away and not being 'in charge' like when you take a family vacation.  The kids would have had a lot of fun too, but it was nice for the adults to be silly too.  I have been asked to do a slide show with all the pictures and video that was shot.  I'm putting together a nice DVD for everybody.  It has been fun to go through all the pictures again...I really want to go back.

Last night Nick and I got to go fishing with Brett and Cole.  They took us in there boat out on Willard bay and we were able to fish the wipers when they were biting heavily.  Man, they are fighters.  The largest one I reeled in was around 5 lbs.

I got to take the kids duck hunting a week or so ago.  It was the youth hunt and the kids have licenses because they finished hunters ed.  They had a good time, although no one got hit any.  We'll get to go out again sometime soon.

Lake Powell Trip #1

A couple close friends from work (Shaun & Monte) invited me along on a short fishing trip last week.  We took off to Lake Powell Thursday morning and returned Saturday night.  These guys are die-hard fishers and hunters.  It was a very fun trip.  We rented a trailer to stay the nights in and spent the days out on Monte's pontoon boat.  What a great relaxing trip!  When we weren't fishing we went back to the trailer and would watch hunting shows on TV which would usually end up with everyone falling asleep.  The fishing wasn't great but that really didn't matter.  It was relaxing and we had a lot of fun.

I shined up my bike today, it was nice to ride it around running errands today.  Our days of summer are numbered.  I took the day off to be with the kids today, but I still ended up working a few hours.  I had to meet with some Techs from Qwest and our business partner to discuss changing some phone lines for the county 911 dispatch.  Its amazing how many people have to get involved to make changes.

I'm sitting in my back yard right now enjoying watching my chickens run around the grass.  I've gotten to where I can recognize them by their voices and can tell what their clucks mean. 

Its the last week before school starts, Nick met his teacher today and soon we will be back into a more normal routine...I look forward to it.  As much as I hated hearing my mother say the same thing when I was a kid, it will be nice when school starts again.

We went to the temple last night. I was amazed at how different I felt leaving than when I entered. I was able to walk out of there with more comfort, confidence and peace. I stumbled across someone's blog recently. They left the LDS church and converted to Catholocism. The entry I stumbled across was a discussion of how they missed going to the temple and the peace it gave them...interesting.

Work is frustrating. We have some fairly big projects...big enough that we can't do them alone. We are using vendors and business partners to pull them off. Its frustrating because they're looming over but we can't do anything yet. I've been working on capital improvement budget for our phone system. That I can handle. It deals with Technology I'm comfortable with, my strength in Finance. It is fun even though I am pretty sure that the budget request will be denied. Last year we just submitted numbers, this year I think I'm going to submit more of a proposal outlining benefits etc.

 

Sang this in church today. It touched me more than ever.

I know that my Redeemer lives.
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead.
He lives, my ever-living Head.
He lives to bless me with his love.
He lives to plead for me above.
He lives my hungry soul to feed.
He lives to bless in time of need.

He lives to grant me rich supply.
He lives to guide me with his eye.
He lives to comfort me when faint.
He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.
He lives to silence all my fears.
He lives to wipe away my tears.
He lives to calm my troubled heart.
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives, my kind, wise heav’nly Friend.
He lives and loves me to the end.
He lives, and while he lives, I’ll sing.
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.
He lives and grants me daily breath.
He lives, and I shall conquer death.
He lives my mansion to prepare.
He lives to bring me safely there.

He lives! All glory to his name!
He lives, my Savior, still the same.
Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:
“I know that my Redeemer lives!”
He lives! All glory to his name!
He lives, my Savior, still the same.
Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:
“I know that my Redeemer lives!”

Text: Samuel Medley, 1738–1799. Included in the first LDS hymnbook, 1835.

It's been an interesting week. At work I have a lot of tasks going on. Some I'm familiar and comfortable with, some not so much. We're trying to build our new network which includes new Domain Servers, Active Directory, Email Server...we are upgrading from an infrastructure that is several generations back. We have several Windows 2000 servers, we're running exchange 2000. AND we want this new foundation to be as virtualized as it can be. We have a new SAN and have been working with Compellent to manage it and VMware to be the virtualization layer. So as you can see there is alot to learn.

A few weeks ago I took an Exchange 2007 class, big difference than the 2000 version we're running. Most of all I learned that I don't know enough about Server 2008. so now I am reading up and doing online training in that area. Its pretty overwhelming.

I have been updating our helpdesk software...that is something I am fairly comfortable with. We're getting ready to roll it out again...which means notifying all the employees of the benefits of using it. It has a nice portal interface that I think should be fairly friendly.

At home we're getting ready to go camping. I have been exhausted all week and am not looking forward to the packing and setting up. I have to keep reminding myself that last year I noticed how enjoyable it was even for an over-nighter.

Here's some info about my work-life:

Employed for county government doing IT/Telephone support. I support the following technologies:

Windows XP
Windows Server 2000-server 2008
Exchange 2000
Upgrading to Exchange 2007
Avaya Definity PBX
Avaya Audix VM
End user support
Backup/recovery

I also do tech-support for a few businesses in town. I get a lot of satisfaction from helping businesses who don't know where to turn for technology related issues.

Today I downloaded Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 (free) and installed it on my work PC. This allowed me to create multiple virtual computers inside my computer which is nice for testing or learning how to manage. Now I'm installing Windows 7 RC (which is a free pre-release version) on one of the virtual machines I've setup. This can be downloaded until next month and will work until June of 2010. It will be nice for me to be able to open up the new OS in a window (better than the days of dual booting) and get the feel before I have to work on it for real.

Joan said I should convert our home web page to a blog...I'm thinking about it. Right now I'm hosting our web page on a server in our basement. There's something to be said about hosting it yourself...the fact you can do it, control etc. Right now its available here: http://natehammer.homeip.net

This is a place holder for Nate's Blog.

I will post some stuff...someday.

In the mean time, here are some points of interest:

http://www.ogdencoinclub.dyndns.org/

http://www.geocities.com/lakebonnsymph

Nate's Blog Site

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