RickSpace

Someone who commented on my last post stated that it would be interesting indeed to hear the story of my becoming a Christian from the background of a liberal.  Before we go ANY further, let me state 100% clearly that I in no way think being a liberal and being a Christian are mutually exclusive.  There are beliefs and practices that some liberals as well as some conservatives embrace that are against the Christian message, but Christianity is not about beliefs, practices or merely a message.

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What to post about now and going forward?

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So I’m going to be trying a couple different new tools out.  This is being posted from one of them.  I’m not overly-impressed YET, but I’m hoping to find this more full-featured than what I see so far.

I also started using del.icio.us a little more now… I’ve not been using it but when I opened up my old account I found a couple old articles that I really am glad I found again…. So, I’m going to start bookmarking into that more frequently, and hopefully from there, populating some stuff on RP.net.

Oh, and also I’ve been working on developing a different theme/different frontpage for RP.net, so we’ll see if/when that ever comes in… just decided that I really wanted to use one that I developed rather than one I borrowed from somewhere else.

Expect an explosion of posts/links probably today, and maybe in the next days but then for it to die off and me to once again completely forsake this blog sadly.

Okay, most importantly, I am not this guy:

Scientology Rick

Not that anyone who knows me would mistake that, but just wanted to clear that up, since he shows up on a Google search for Rick Petersen along with a host of other non-significant results… but there’s MORE!

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So, you want to learn how to program in the .NET languages of VB.NET and C#? Or maybe you already know how to program in those languages but you don’t have the scrill to go out and buy the newest version of Visual Studio.NET because you’re in college, or you are for some other reason financially strained (I know this situation all too well). Well, fear not friendly-friend; Just over the last little bit today, I’ve evaluated a couple pieces of software that should make life more enjoyable (affordable) and have one on the burner that I will evaluate which could bring this whole thing together.

First off, despite the title and the first paragraph, as far as I can tell you WILL need to have a Windows Operating system on a machine, and be running Microsoft’s .NET Framework Version 2.0 or greater (I think that’s the greatest atm).

Now that we’re past that, let’s look at a couple tools that may be old news to many, but perhaps you aren’t aware of them.
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I don’t post all that often, and when I do, it’s a rare post that ends up in politics… but there’s been a lot of stuff going on in the world lately, and then there has occurred an event to renew my interest in peoples’ feelings regarding entitlement (hence the title of the post).
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So, I’ve gone from a job where I did almost exclusively PHP development with a MySQL backend to a job where I do almost exclusively ASP.NET/VB.NET/C#.NET with a SQL Server backend… and I could not possibly be happier with the transition.
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So… you have 2 cars, one of which you don’t trust (brakes are going out/gone, etc). You take the one you don’t trust to work, so your wife and child can drive the safe one. Your wife and you have been discussing just getting the brakes fixed and taking this car to the funeral because it IS much more comfortable. You listen to the brakes just GRINDING metal on metal for the whole trip to work. Because your relative has died, it’s finally time to buy a black suit… on your lunchbreak, you drive to the Goodwill because obviously you’re not buying a suit anywhere else. In front of the Goodwill, your car sits in the sun while you’re inside and when you come back out, it won’t start.

So, now you have a car that won’t start AND won’t stop, sitting in front of Poor People R Us (self-inclusive) in 110 degree (heat index) weather… in long sleeves and dresspants (first day in the past week or two you’ve worn long sleeves btw)… thinking about finances and realizing that if you tow the vehicle and get it worked on at all, you’ll not have enough money to go see your grandfather buried. If you leave the vehicle there, you may get it towed FOR you in which case you’re going to be paying an impound fee which you don’t want. You resign yourself to paying the impound fee when you get back, because you can better afford that after the next paycheck than you can ANYTHING right now. At this point is when the situation becomes religious (hence the demarcation of the post as religious)… you get down on your proverbial knees and pray to God for help… anything. You promise him that if you’re not supposed to take the car to Michigan (everything you had done and talked about all morning was in regards to getting the car ready to go on the trip) you won’t… you will do whatever He wants of you… anything… Dejectedly, you turn the key again just to wallow in the crank-crank-crank-die of your motor’s pathetic attempts at ignition… but the engine starts. Huh? Seriously?

Yeah… I don’t know if it was the prayer for help, the fact that the block somehow cooled down even though it was in that heat, mere coincidence, the promise not to take it on the trip, or what… but I guarantee I’ll not be taking the car on the trip, and I’ll be saying extra prayers of thanks.

I really think God knows when we simply cannot handle anything else… nothing more. One more straw and this camel will be a cripple… and at that point he either removes some burden, or he picks you up and supports you through. I was sitting in the parking lot thinking I didn’t deserve to have all this bad stuff happening to me all at the same time… truth be told, I don’t deserve the support and salvation that God gave me to help me when I was in a pinch. I am humbled.

My grandfather, my father’s dad, Robert Petersen, passed away Sunday (July 16th, 2006) morning. I have not heard when the exact time was nor what the actual cause was (not like any of that truly matters). He had been diagnosed with cancer in several parts of his body (skin cancer on his neck, bone cancer in his shoulder, etc) and was in an extreme amount of pain lately. They had him sedated to the point of unconciousness beacuse any time he came to, he was in pain. He slipped away while already unconcious and not really feeling pain and that was probably best. He was an incredibly strong, stubborn, caring and admirable man and he will be missed greatly by both his friends and family.

RIP Robert Petersen, Veteran of the USMC. Your family loves you and appreciates that you were… semper fidelis (always faithful).

Faith is not saying ‘I know God will deliver me soon’ when facing struggles. Faith is saying ‘I know God is providing this very moment’ and trusting that your struggle is part of your deliverance.