SharePoint Project Management

Take the SharePoint Project Mangement list, create a few views and linked tables to a MS Access file. From there create a few MS Access Reports to export directly to Excel.
There are more views including a calendar view based on Start and Target dates so you can easily see when a given task pushes the project past deadline.
Now we need to implement some sort of dependency tracking and try to implement those Multiple Choice check box options with Active Directory Group List Lookups.

SharePoint Project Management

"Project Management"
Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Services 2003
Use a List
Here is an interesting scenario.
A client wishes to move their internal development team to an effective project management system\process using SharePoint.

In a space of a few hours we built out a list with a few view; sync'd it with an excel file; developed some required field and process scenarios; and moved to review.

Will we use sub-sites to track project documentation /w versioning or just document libraries?
The clients existing HelpDesk system will be used to track minutia related to work in progress and current assigned developer - the client has tiered out their team DB Ops; DB Dev (procs; triggers;) DB Schema (tables; views; replication;) DB Index; Application Code Logic (UI; Messaging; GUI;); Reporting;

Base Project/Task List spec'd out in a tree format

• Functional Area


• Environment(s) Affected
  
  Multiple Choice check box
  
  Text list
  
  manual maintenance
  


• Project ID


• --> Project\Task Title


• --> HelpDesk System ID


• --> Task ID
  
  Default: Project ID
  
  Iterative - Project ID + .01, .02,
  


• --> Project\Task Status
  
  Multiple Choice check box
  
  Text list
  
  manual maintenance
  


• Project Lead
  
  Multiple Choice check box
  
  Text list - manual maintenance
  
  Ideal - Multiple Choice Active Directory Group List Lookup
  


• --> Project\Task StartDt
  


• --> Project\Task TargetDt
  


• --> Project\Task CopleteDt
  


• --> Project Human Resources
  
  Multiple Choice check box
  
  Text list - manual maintenance
  
  Ideal - Multiple Choice Active Directory Group List Lookup
  


• --> Currently Assigned To
  
  Multiple Choice check box
  
  Text list - manual maintenance
  
  Ideal - Multiple Choice Active Directory Group List Lookup
  

CBT: Reshaping Your Thoughts:

Can I really get enough internal control to develop my inner world to be as well rounded as associates and acquaintances describe my external self?
=====
What about you?
====
“Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.” - Lou Holtz
====
Eliminating negative self-talk will give you a fresh perspective. Once you get comfortable with this technique, it will be easier for you to cope with stress, like when your daily responsibilities make it hard for you to do a good job with your other tasks. Use this activity whenever you find you’re “awfulizing” events or engaging in extreme thinking, with words like should, always, or never.

1. What happened?
Record just the facts.

2. What went though your mind?
What was your inner voice telling you about what happened?

3. What was your emotional response to self-talk?
Label this feeling in one or two words.

4. Challenge you self-talk.
Is there any benefit to feeling this way?

5. What are some other ways to respond to the situation?
Write down all the ways you can cope more effectively.
======
From Relax by Healthmedia and "Thoughts and Feelings"
======

Series: Baptismal Regeneration

BAPTISMAL REGENERATION

by Charles Spurgeon

#573 Delivered on Sunday Morning, June 5th, 1864, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"And he said unto them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned." —Mark 16:15-16.

In the preceding verse our Lord Jesus Christ gives us some little insight into the natural character of the apostles whom he selected to be the first ministers of the Word. They were evidently men of like passions with us, and needed to be rebuked even as we do. On the occasion when our Lord sent forth the eleven to preach the gospel to every creature, he "appeared unto them as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not those who had seen him after he was risen;" from which we may surely gather that to peach the Word, the Lord was pleased to choose imperfect men; men, too, who of themselves were very weak in the grace of faith in which it was most important that they should excel. Faith is the conquering grace, and is of all things the main requisite in the preacher of the Word; and yet the honored men who were chosen to be the leaders of the divine crusade needed a rebuke concerning their unbelief. Why was this? Why, my brethren, because the Lord has ordained evermore that we should have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. If you should find a perfect minister, then might the praise and honor of his usefulness accrue to man; but God is frequently pleased to select for eminent usefulness men evidently honest and sincere, but who have some manifest infirmity by which all the glory is cast off from them and laid upon Himself, and upon Himself alone. Let it never be supposed that we who are God’s ministers either excuse our faults or pretend to perfection. We labor to walk in holiness, but we cannot claim to be all that we wish to be. We do not base the claims of God’s truth upon the spotlessness of our characters, but upon the fact that it comes from him. You have believed in spite of our infirmities, and not because of our virtues; if, indeed, you had believed our word because of our supposed perfection, your faith would stand in the excellency of man and not in the power of God. We come unto you often with much trembling, sorrowing over our follies and weaknesses, but we deliver to you God’s Word as God’s Word, and we beseech you to receive it not as coming from us poor, sinful mortals, but as proceeding from the Eternal and Thrice Holy God; and if you so receive it, and by its own vital force are moved and stirred up towards God and his ways, then is the work of the Word sure work, which it could not and would not be if it rested in any way upon man.

Our Lord having thus given us an insight into the character of the persons whom he has chosen to proclaim his truth, then goes on to deliver to the chosen champions, their commission for the Holy War. I pray you mark the words with solemn care. He sums up in a few words the whole of their work, and at the same time foretells the result of it, telling those who some would doubtless believe and so be saved, and some on the other hand would not believe and would most certainly, therefore, be damned, that is, condemned forever to the penalties of God’s wrath. The lines containing the commission of our ascended Lord are certainly of the utmost importance, and demand devout attention and implicit obedience, not only from all who aspire to the work of the ministry, but also from all who hear the message of mercy. A clear understanding of these words is absolutely necessary to our success in our Master’s work, for if we do not understand the commission it is not at all likely that we shall discharge it aright. To alter these words were more than impertinence, it would involve the crime of treason against the authority of Christ and the best interests of the souls of men. O for grace to be very jealous here.

Wherever the apostles went they met with obstacles to the preaching of the gospel, and the more open and effectual was the door of utterance the more numerous were the adversaries. These brave men who wielded the sword of the Spirit as to put to flight all their foes; and this they did not by craft and deceit, but by making a direct cut at the error which impeded them. Never did they dream for a moment of adapting the gospel to the unhallowed tastes or prejudices of the people, but at once directly and boldly they brought down with both their hands the mighty sword of the Spirit upon the crown of the opposing error. This morning, in the name of the Lord of Hosts, my Helper and Defense, I shall attempt to do the same; and if I should provoke some hostility — if I should through speaking what I believe to be the truth lose the friendship of some and stir up the enmity of more, I cannot help it. The burden of the Lord is upon me, and I must deliver my soul. I have been loath enough to undertake the work, but I am forced to it by an dreadful and overwhelming sense of solemn duty. As I am soon to appear before my Master’s bar, I will this day, if ever in my life, bear my testimony for truth, and run all risks. I am content to be cast out as evil if it must be so, but I cannot, I dare not, hold my peace. The Lord knows I have nothing in my heart but the purest love to the souls of those whom I feel imperatively called to rebuke sternly in the Lord’s name. Among my hearers and readers, a considerable number will censure if not condemn me, but I cannot help it. If I forfeit your love for truth’s sake I am grieved for you, but I cannot, I dare not, do otherwise. It is as much as my soul is worth to hold my peace any longer, and whether you approve or not I must speak out. Did I ever court your approbation? It is sweet to everyone to be applauded; but if for the sake of the comforts of respectability and the smiles of men any Christian minister shall keep back a part of his testimony, his Master at the last shall require it at his hands. This day, standing in the immediate presence of God, I shall speak honestly what I feel, as the Holy Spirit shall enable me; and I shall leave the matter with you to judge concerning it, as you will answer for that judgment at the last great day.

I find that the great error which we have to contend with throughout England (and it is growing more and more), is one in direct opposition to my text, well known to you as the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. We will confront this dogma with the assertion, that BAPTISM WITHOUT FAITH SAVES NO ONE. The text says, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved;" but whether a man be baptized or no, it asserts that "he that believes not shall be damned:" so that baptism does not save the unbeliever , no, it does not in any degree exempt him from the common doom of all the ungodly. He may have baptism, or he may not have baptism, but if he believes not, he shall be in any case most surely damned. Let him be baptized by immersion or sprinkling, in his infancy, or in his adult age, if he be not led to put his trust in Jesus Christ — if he remains an unbeliever, then this terrible doom is pronounced upon him — "He that believes not shall be damned." I am not aware that any Protestant Church in England teaches the doctrine of baptismal regeneration except one, and that happens to be the corporation which with none too much humility calls itself the Church of England. This very powerful sect does not teach this doctrine merely through a section of its ministers, who might charitably be considered as evil branches of the vine, but it openly, boldly, and plainly declares this doctrine in her own appointed standard, the Book of Common Prayer, and that in words so express, that while language is the channel of conveying intelligible sense, no process short of violent wresting from their plain meaning can ever make them say anything else.

Here are the words: we quote them from the Catechism which is intended for the instruction of youth, and is naturally very plain and simple, since it would be foolish to trouble the young with metaphysical refinements. The child is asked its name, and then questioned, "Who gave you this name?" "My godfathers and godmothers in my baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Is not this definite and plain enough? I prize the words for their candor; they could not speak more plainly. Three times over the thing is put, lest there should be any doubt in it. The word regeneration may, by some sort of juggling, be made to mean something else, but here there can be no misunderstanding. The child is not only made "a member of Christ" — union to Jesus is no mean spiritual gift — but he is made in baptism "the child of God" also; and, since the rule is, "if children then heirs," he is also made "an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Nothing can be more plain. I venture to say that while honesty remains on earth the meaning of these words will not admit of dispute. It is clear as noon day that, as the Rubric has it, "Fathers, mothers, masters, and dames, are to cause their children, servants, and apprentices," no matter how idle, giddy, or wicked they may be, to learn the Catechism, and to say that in baptism they were made members of Christ and children of God. The form for the administration of this baptism is scarcely less plain and outspoken, seeing that thanks are expressly returned unto Almighty God, because the person baptized is regenerate. "Then shall the priest say, ‘Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ’s Church, let us give thanks unto Almighty God for these benefits; and with one accord make our prayers unto him, that this child may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning.’" Nor is this all, for to leave no mistake, we have the words of the thanksgiving prescribed, "Then shall the priest say, ‘We yield you hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it has pleased you to regenerate this infant with your Holy Spirit, to receive him for your own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into your holy Church.’"

This, then, is the clear and unmistakable teaching of a Church calling itself Protestant. I am not now dealing at all with the question of infant baptism: I have nothing to do with that this morning. I am now considering the question of baptismal regeneration, whether in adults or infants, or ascribed to sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. Here is a Church which teaches every Lord’s day in the Sunday-school, and should, according to the Rubric, teach openly in the Church, all children that they were made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven when they were baptized! Here is a professedly Protestant Church, which, every time its minister goes to the font, declares that every person there receiving baptism is there and then "regenerated and grafted into the body of Christ’s Church."

"But," I hear many good people exclaim, "there are many good clergymen in the Church who do not believe in baptismal regeneration." To this my answer is prompt. Why then do they belong to a Church which teaches that doctrine in the plainest terms? I am told that many in the Church of England preach against her own teaching. I know they do, and herein I rejoice in their enlightenment, but I question, gravely question their morality. To take oath that I sincerely assent and consent to a doctrine which I do not believe, would to my conscience appear little short of perjury, if not absolute downright perjury; but those who do so must be judged by their own Lord. For me to take money for defending what I do not believe — for me to take the money of a Church, and then to preach against what are most evidently its doctrines — I say for me to do this (I judge others as I would that they should judge me) for me, or for any other simple, honest man to do so, were an atrocity so great, that if I had perpetrated the deed, I should consider myself out of the pale of truthfulness, honesty, and common morality. Sirs, when I accepted the office of minister of this congregation, I looked to see what were your articles of faith; if I had not believed them I should not have accepted your call, and when I change my opinions, rest assured that as an honest man I shall resign the office, for how could I profess one thing in your declaration of faith, and quite another thing in my own preaching? Would I accept your pay, and then stand up every Sabbath-day and talk against the doctrines of your standards? For clergymen to swear or say that they give their solemn assent and consent to what they do not believe is one of the grossest pieces of immorality perpetrated in England, and is most pestilential in its influence, since it directly teaches men to lie whenever it seems necessary to do so in order to get a living or increase their supposed usefulness: it is in fact an open testimony from priestly lips that at least in ecclesiastical matters falsehood may express truth, and truth itself is a mere unimportant nonentity.

I know of nothing more calculated to debauch the public mind than a lack of straightforwardness in ministers; and when worldly men hear ministers denouncing the very things which their own Prayer Book teaches, they imagine that words have no meaning among ecclesiastics, and that vital differences in religion are merely a matter of tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, and that it does not much matter what a man does believe so long as he is charitable towards other people. If baptism does regenerate people, let the fact be preached with a trumpet tongue, and let no man be ashamed of his belief in it. If this be really their creed, by all means let them have full liberty for its propagation. My brethren, those are honest Churchmen in this matter who, subscribing to the Prayer Book, believe in baptismal regeneration, and preach it plainly. God forbid that we should censure those who believe that baptism saves the soul, because they adhere to a Church which teaches the same doctrine. So far they are honest men; and in England, where else, let them never lack a full toleration. Let us oppose their teaching by all Scriptural and intelligent means, but let us respect their courage in plainly giving us their views. I hate their doctrine, but I love their honesty; and as they speak but what they believe to be true, let them speak it out, and the more clearly the better. Out with it, sirs, be it what it may, but do let us know what you mean.

For my part, I love to stand foot to foot with an honest foeman. To open warfare, bold and true hearts raise no objection but the ground of quarrel; it is covert enmity which we have most cause to fear, and best reason to loathe. That crafty kindness which inveigles me to sacrifice principle is the serpent in the grass — deadly to the incautious wayfarer. Where union and friendship are not cemented by truth, they are an unhallowed confederacy. It is time that there should be an end put to the flirtations of honest men with those who believe one way and swear another. If men believe baptism works regeneration, let them say so; but if they do not so believe it in their hearts , and yet subscribe, and yet more, get their livings by subscribing to words asserting it, let them find congenial associates among men who can equivocate and shuffle, for honest men will neither ask nor accept their friendship.

We ourselves are not dubious on this point, we protest that persons are not saved by being baptized. In such an audience as this, I am almost ashamed to go into the matter, because you surely know better than to be misled. Nevertheless, for the good of others we will drive at it. We hold that persons are not saved by baptism, for we think, first of all that it seems out of character with the spiritual religion which Christ came to teach, that he should make salvation depend upon mere ceremony. Judaism might possibly absorb the ceremony by way of type into her ordinances essential to eternal life; for it was religion of types and shadows. The false religions of the heathen might inculcate salvation by a physical process, but Jesus Christ claims for his faith that it is purely spiritual, and how could he connect regeneration with a peculiar application of aqueous fluid? I cannot see how it would be a spiritual gospel, but I can see how it would be mechanical, if I were sent forth to teach that the mere dropping of so many drops upon the brow, or even the plunging a person in water could save the soul. This seems to me to be the most mechanical religion now existing, and to be on a par with the praying windmills of Thibet, or the climbing up and down of Pilate’s staircase to which Luther subjected himself in the days of his darkness. The operation of water-baptism does not appear even to my faith to touch the point involved in the regeneration of the soul. What is the necessary connection between water and the overcoming of sin?

I cannot see any connection which can exist between sprinkling, or immersion, and regeneration, so that the one shall necessarily be tied to the other in the absence of faith. Used by faith, had God commanded it, miracles might be wrought; but without faith or even consciousness, as in the case of babes, how can spiritual benefits be connected necessarily with the sprinkling of water? If this be your teaching, that regeneration goes with baptism, I say it looks like the teaching of a spurious Church, which has craftily invented a mechanical salvation to deceive ignorant, sensual, and groveling minds, rather than the teaching of the most profoundly spiritual of all teachers, who rebuked Scribes and Pharisees for regarding outward rites as more important than inward grace. But it strikes me that a more forcible argument is that the dogma is not supported by facts. Are all persons who are baptized children of God? Well, let us look at the divine family. Let us mark their resemblance to their glorious Parent! Am I untruthful if I say that thousands of those who were baptized in their infancy are now in our goals? You can ascertain the fact if you please, by application to prison authorities. Do you believe that these men, many of whom have been living by plunder, felony, burglary, or forgery, are regenerate? If so, the Lord deliver us from such regeneration. Are these villains members of Christ? If so, Christ has sadly altered since the day when he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Has he really taken baptized drunkards and harlots to be members of his body? Do you not revolt at the supposition? It is a well-known fact that baptized persons have been hanged. Surely it can hardly be right to hang the inheritors of the kingdom of heaven! Our sheriffs have much to answer for when they officiate at the execution of the children of God, and suspend the members of Christ on the gallows! What a detestable farce is that which is transacted at the open grave, when "a dear brother" who has died drunk is buried in a "sure and certain hope of the resurrection of eternal life," and the prayer that "when we shall depart this life we may rest in Christ, as our hope is that this our brother does." Here is a regenerate brother, who having defiled the village by constant uncleanness and bestial drunkenness, died without a sign of repentance, and yet the professed minister of God solemnly accords him funeral rites which are denied to unbaptized innocents, and puts the reprobate into the earth in "sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life."

If old Rome in her worst days ever perpetrated a grosser piece of imposture than this, I do no read things aright; if it does not require a Luther to cry down this hypocrisy as much as Popery ever did, then I do not even know that twice two make four. Do we find — we who baptize on profession of faith, and baptize by immersion in a way which is confessed to be correct, though not allowed by some to be absolutely necessary to its validity — do we who baptize in the name of the sacred Trinity as others do, do we find that baptism regenerates? We do not. Neither in the righteous nor the wicked do we find regeneration wrought by baptism. We have never met with one believer, however instructed in divine things, who could trace his regeneration to his baptism; and on the other hand, we confess it with sorrow, but still with no surprise, that we have seen those whom we have ourselves baptized, according to apostolic precedent, go back into the world and wander into the foulest sin, and their baptism has scarcely been so much as a restraint to them, because they have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Facts all show that whatever good there may be in baptism, it certainly does not make a man "a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven," or else many thieves, whoremongers, drunkards, fornicators, and murderers, are members of Christ, the children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Facts, brethren, are against this Popish doctrine; and facts are stubborn things. Yet further, I am persuaded that the performance styled baptism by the Prayer Book is not at all likely to regenerate and save. How is the thing done? One is very curious to know when one hears of an operation which makes men member s of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, how the thing is done. It must in itself be a holy thing truthful in all its details, and edifying in every portion. Now, we will suppose we have a company gathered round the water, be it more or less, and the process of regeneration is about to be performed. We will suppose them all to be godly people. The clergyman officiating is a profound believer in the Lord Jesus, and the father and mother are exemplary Christians, and the godfathers and godmothers are all gracious persons. We will suppose this — it is a supposition fraught with charity, but it may be correct.

What are these godly people supposed to say? Let us look to the Prayer Book. The clergyman is suppose to tell these people, "You have heard also that our Lord Jesus Christ has promised in his gospel to grant all these things that you have prayed for: which promise he, for his part, will most surely keep and perform. Wherefore, after this promise made by Christ, this infant must also faithfully, for his part, promise by you that are his sureties (until he come of age to take it upon himself) that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and constantly believe God’s holy Word, and obediently keep his commandments." This small child is to promise to do this, or more truly others are to take upon themselves to promise, and even vow that he shall do so. But we must not break the quotation, and therefore let us return to the Book. "I demand therefore, do you, in the name of this child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that you will not follow, nor be led by them?" Answers "I renounce them all." That is to say, on the name and behalf of this tender infant about to be baptized, these godly people, these enlightened Christian people, these who know better , who are not dupes, who know all the while that they are promising impossibilities — renounce on behalf of this child what they find it very hard to renounce for themselves — "all covetous desires of the world and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that they will not follow nor be led by them." How can they harden their faces to utter such a false promise, such a mockery of renunciation before the presence of the Father Almighty? Might not angels weep as they hear the dreadful promise uttered? Then in the presence of high heaven they profess on behalf of this child that he steadfastly believes the creed, when they know, or might pretty shrewdly judge that the little creature is not yet a steadfast believer in anything, much less in Christ’s going down into hell. Mark, they do not say merely that the babe shall believe the creed, but they affirm that he does, for they answer in the child’s name, "All this I steadfastly believe. Not we steadfastly believe," but I, the little baby there, unconscious of all their professions and confessions of faith. In answer to the question, "Will you be baptized in this faith?" they reply for the infant, "That is my desire." Surely the infant has no desire in the matter, or at the least, no one has been authorized to declare any desires on his behalf. But this is not all, for then these godly, intelligent people next promise on the behalf of the infant, that "he shall obediently keep all God’s holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of his life."

Now, I ask you, dear friends, you who know what true religion means, can you walk in all God’s holy commandments yourselves? Dare you make this day a vow on your own part, that you would renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh? Dare you, before God, make such a promise as that? You desire such holiness, you earnestly strive after it, but you look for it from God’s promise, not from your own. If you dare make such vows I doubt your knowledge of your own hearts and of the spirituality of Gods’ law. But even if you could do this for yourself, would you venture to make such a promise for any other person? For the best-born infant on earth? Come, brethren, what say you? Is not your reply ready and plain? There is not room for two opinions among men determined to observe truth in all their ways and words . I can understand a simple, ignorant rustic, who has never learned to read, doing all this at the command of a priest and under the eye of a squire. I can even understand persons doing this when the Reformation was in its dawn, and men had newly crept out of the darkness of Popery; but I cannot understand gracious, godly people, standing at the font to insult the all-gracious Father with vows and promises framed upon a fiction, and involving practical falsehood. How dare intelligent believer s in Christ to utter words which they know in their conscience to be wickedly aside from truth? When I shall be able to understand the process by which gracious men so accommodate their consciences, even then I shall have a confirmed belief that the God of truth never did and never will confirm a spiritual blessing of the highest order in connection with the utterance of such false promises and untruthful vows. My brethren, does it not strike you that declarations so fictitious are not likely to be connected with a new birth wrought by the Spirit of truth?

I have not done with this point, I must take another case, and suppose the sponsors and others to be ungodly, and that is no hard supposition, for in many cases we know that godfathers and parents have no more thought of religion than that idolatrous hollowed stone around which they gather. When these sinners have taken their places, what are they about to say? Why, they are about to make the solemn vows I have already recounted in your hearing! Totally irreligious they are, but yet they promise for the baby what they never did, and never thought of doing for themselves — they promise on behalf of this child, "that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and constantly believe God’s holy Word, and obediently keep his commandments." My brethren, do not think I speak severely here. Really I think there is something here to make mockery for devils. Let every honest man lament, that ever God’s Church should tolerate such a thing as this, and that there should be found gracious people who will feel grieved because I, in all kindness of heart, rebuke the atrocity. Unregenerate sinners promising for a poor babe that he shall keep all God’s holy commandments which they themselves wantonly break every day! How can anything but the patience of God endure this? What! not speak against it? The very stones in the street might cry out against the infamy of wicked men and women promising t hat another should renounce the devil and all his works, while they themselves serve the devil and do his works with greediness! As a climax to all this, I am asked to believe that God accepts that wicked promise, and as the result of it, regenerates that child. You cannot believe in regeneration by this operation, whether saints or sinners are the performers. Take them to be godly, then they are wrong for doing what their conscience must condemn; view them as ungodly, and they are wrong for promising what they know they cannot perform; and in neither case can God accept such worship, much less infallibly append regeneration to such a baptism as this.

But you will say "Why do you cry out against it?" I cry out against it because I believe that baptism does not save the soul, and that the preaching of it has a wrong and evil influence upon men. We meet with persons who, when we tell those who they must be born again, assure us that they were born again when they were baptized. The number of these persons is increasing, fearfully increasing, until all grades of society are misled by this belief. How can any man stand up in his pulpit and say You must be born again to his congregation, when he ha s already assured them, by his own "sincere assent and consent" to it, that they are themselves, every one of them, born again in baptism. What is he to do with them? Why, my dear friends, the gospel then has no voice; they have rammed this ceremony down its throat and it cannot speak to rebuke sin. The man who has been baptized or sprinkled says, "I am saved, I am a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. Who are you, that you should rebuke me? Call me to repentance? Call me to a new life? What better life can I have? for I am a member of Christ — a part of Christ’s body. What! rebuke me? I am a child of God. Cannot you see it in my face? No matter what my walk and conversation is, I am a child of God. Moreover, I am an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. It is true, I drink and swear, and all that, but you know I am an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, for when I die , though I live in constant sin, you will put me in the grave, and tell everybody that I died ‘in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.’"

Now, what can be the influence of such preaching as this upon our beloved England? Upon my dear and blessed country? What but the worst of ills? If I loved her not, but loved myself most, I might be silent here, but, loving England, I cannot and dare not; and having soon to render an account before my God, whose servant I hope I am, I must free myself from this evil as well as from every other, or else on my head may be the doom of souls.

Here let me bring in another point. It is a most fearful fact, that in no age since the Reformation has Popery made such fearful strides in England as during the last few years. I had comfortably believed that Popery was only feeding itself upon foreign subscriptions, upon a few titled perverts, and imported monks and nuns. I dreamed that its progress was not real. In fact, I have often smiled at the alarm of many of my brethren at the progress of Popery. But, my dear friends, we have been mistaken, grievously mistaken. If you will read a valuable paper in the magazine called "Christian Work," those of you who are not acquainted with it will be perfectly startled at its revelations. This great city is now covered with a network of monks, and priests, and sisters of mercy, and the conversions made are not by ones or twos, but by scores, until England is being regarded as the most hopeful spot for Romish missionary enterprise in the whole world; and at the present moment there is not a mission which is succeeding to anything like the extent which the English mission is. I covet not their money, I despise their sophistries, but I marvel at the way in which they gain their funds for the erection of their ecclesiastical buildings. It really is an alarming matter to see so many of our countrymen going off to that superstition which as a nation we once rejected, and which it was supposed we should never again receive. Popery is making advances such as you would never believe, though a spectator should tell it to you. Close to your very doors, perhaps even in your own houses, you may have evidence before long of what a march Romanism is making. And to what is it to be ascribed? I say, with every ground of probability, that there is no marvel that Popery should increase when you have two things to make it grow: first of all, the falsehood of those who profess a faith which they do not believe, which is quite contrary to the honesty of the Romanist, who does through evil report and good report hold his faith; and then you have, secondly, this form of error known as baptismal regeneration, and commonly called Puseyism, which is not only Puseyism, but Church-of-Englandism, because it is in the Prayer Book, as plainly as words can express it — you have this baptismal regeneration preparing stepping-stones to make it easy for men to go to Rome. I have but to open my eyes a little to foresee Romanism rampant everywhere in the future, since its germs are spreading everywhere in the present. In one of our courts of legislature but last Tuesday, the Lord Chief Justice showed his superstition, by speaking of "the risk of the calamity of children dying unbaptized!"

Among Dissenters you see a veneration for structures, a modified belief in the sacredness of places, which is idolatry; for to believe in the sacredness of anything but of God and of his own Word, is to idolize, whether it is to believe in the sacredness of the men, the priests, or in the sacredness of the bricks and mortar, or of the fine linen, or what not, which you may use in the worship of God. I see this coming up everywhere — a belief in ceremony, a resting in ceremony, a veneration for altars, fonts, and Churches — a veneration so profound that we must not venture upon a remark, or immediately of sinners we are chief. Here is the essence and soul of Popery, peeping up under the garb of a decent respect for sacred things. It is impossible but that the Church of Rome must spread, when we who are the watch-dogs of the fold are silent, and others are gently and smoothly turfing the road, and making it as soft and smooth as possible, that converts may travel down to the nethermost hell of Popery. We want John Knox back again. Do not talk to me of mild and gentle men, of soft manners and squeamish words, we want the fiery Knox, and even though his vehemence should "ding our pulpits into blads," it were well if he did but rouse our hearts to action. We want Luther to tell men the truth unmistakably, in homely phrase. The velvet has got into our ministers’ mouths of late, but we must unrobe ourselves of soft clothing, and truth must be spoken, and nothing but truth; for of all lies which have dragged millions down to hell, I look upon this as being one of the most atrocious — that in a Protestant Church there should be found those who swear that baptism saves the soul. Call a man a Baptist, or a Presbyterian, or a Dissenter, or a Churchman, that is nothing to me — if he says that baptism saves the soul, out upon him, out upon him, he states what God n ever taught, what the Bible never laid down, and what ought never to be maintained by men who profess that the Bible, and the whole Bible, is the religion of Protestants.

I have spoken thus much, and there will be some who will say — spoken thus much bitterly. Very well, be it so. Physic is often bitter, but it shall work well, and the physician is not bitter because his medicine is so; or if he be accounted so, it will matter, so long as the patient is cured; at all events, it is no business of the patient whether the physician is bitter or not, his business is with his own soul’s health. There is the truth, and I have told it to you; and if there should be one among you, or if there should be one among the readers of this sermon when it is printed, who is resting on baptism, or resting upon ceremonies of any sort, I do beseech you, shake off this venomous faith into the fire as Paul did the viper which fastened on his hand. I pray you do not rest on baptism. "No outward forms can make you clean, The leprosy lies deep within." I do beseech you to remember that you must have a new heart and a right spirit, and baptism cannot give you these. You must turn from your sins and follow after Christ; you must have such a faith as shall make your life holy and your speech devout, or else you have not the faith of God’s elect, and into God’s kingdom you shall never come. I pray you never rest upon this wretched and rotten foundation, this deceitful invention of Antichrist. O, may God save you from it, and bring you to seek the true rock of refuge for weary souls.

I come with much brevity, and I hope with much earnestness, in the second place, to say that FAITH IS THE INDISPENSABLE REQUISITE TO SALVATION. "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; he that believes not shall be damned." Faith is the one indispensable requisite for salvation. This faith is the gift of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Some men believe not on Jesus; they believe not because they are not of Christ’s sheep, as he himself said unto them; but his sheep hear his voice: he knows them and they follow him: he gives to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his hand. What is this believing? Believing consists in two things; first there is an accrediting of the testimony of God concerning his Son. God tells you that his Son came into the world and was made flesh, that he lived upon earth for men’s sake, that after having spent his life in holiness he was offered up a propitiation for sin, that upon the cross he there and then made expiation — so made expiation for the sins of the world that Whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If you would be saved, you must accredit this testimony which God gives concerning his own Son. Having received this testimony, the next thing is to confide in it — indeed here lies, I think, the essence of saving faith, to rest yourself for eternal salvation upon the atonement and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, to have done once for all with all reliance upon feelings or upon doings, and to trust in Jesus Christ and in what he did for your salvation.

This is faith, receiving of the truth of Christ: first knowing it to be true, and then acting upon that belief. Such a faith as this — such real faith as this makes the man henceforth hate sin. How can he love the thing which made t he Savior bleed? It makes him live in holiness. How can he but seek to honor that God who has loved him so much as to give his Son to die for him. This faith is spiritual in its nature and effects; it operates upon the entire man; it changes his heart, enlightens his judgment, and subdues his will; it subjects him to God’s supremacy, and makes him receive God’s Word as a little child, willing to receive the truth upon the ipse dixit of the divine One; it sanctifies his intellect, and makes him willing to be taught God’s Word; it cleanses within; it makes clean the inside of the cup and platter, and it beautifies without; it makes clean the exterior conduct and the inner motive, so that the man, if his faith be true and real, becomes henceforth another man to what he ever was before.

Now that such a faith as this should save the soul, is, I believe, reasonable; yes, more, it is certain, for we have seen men saved by it in this very house of prayer. We have seen the harlot lifted out of the Stygian ditch of her sin, and made an honest woman; we have seen the thief reclaimed; we have known the drunkard in hundreds of instances to be sobered; we have observed faith to work such a change, that all the neighbors who have seen it have gazed and admired, even though they hated it; we have seen faith deliver men in the hour of temptation, and help them to consecrate themselves and their substance to God; we have seen, and hope still to see yet more widely, deeds of heroic consecration to God and displays of witness-bearing against the common current of the times, which have proved to us that faith does affect the man, does save the soul. My hearers, if you would be saved, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me urge you with all my heart to look nowhere but to Christ crucified for your salvation. Oh! if you rest upon any ceremony, though it be not baptism — if you rest upon any other than Jesus Christ, you must perish, as surely as this Book is true. I pray you believe not every spirit, but though I, or an angel from heaven, preach any other doctrine than this, let him be accursed, for this, and this alone, is the soul-saving truth which shall regenerate the world — "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Away from all the tag-rags, wax candles, and millinery of Puseyism! away from all the gorgeous pomp of Popery! away from the fonts of Church-of-Englandism! we bid you turn your eyes to that naked cross, where hangs as a bleeding man the Son of God. "None but Jesus, none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good."

There is life in a look at the crucified; there is life at this moment for you. Whoever among you can believe in the great love of God towards man in Christ Jesus, you shall be saved. If you can believe that our great Father desires us to come to him — that he pants for us — that he calls us every day with the loud voice of his Son’s wounds; if you can believe now that in Christ there is pardon for transgressions past, and cleansing for years to come; if you can trust him to save you, you have already the marks of regeneration. The work of salvation is commenced in you, so far as the Spirit’s work is concerned: it is finished in you so far as Christ’s work is concerned. O, I would plead with you — lay hold on Jesus Christ. This is the foundation: build on it. This is the rock of refuge: fly to it. I pray you fly to it now. Life is short: time speeds with eagle’s-wing. Swift as the dove pursued by the hawk, fly, fly poor sinner, to God’s dear Son; now touch the hem of his garment; now look into that dear face, once marred with sorrows for you; look into those eyes, once shedding tears for you. Trust him, and if you find him false, then you must perish; but false you never will find him while this word stands true, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned." God give us this vital, essential faith, without which there is no salvation. Baptized, re-baptized, circumcised, confirmed, fed upon sacraments, and buried in consecrated ground — you shall all perish except you believe in him. The word is express and plain — he that believes not may plead his baptism, may plead anything he likes, "But he that believes not shall be damned;" for him there is nothing but the wrath of God, the flames of hell, eternal perdition. So Christ declares, and so must it be.

But now to close, there are some who say, "Ah! but baptism is in the text; where do you put that?" That shall be another point, and then we shall have done.

THE BAPTISM IN THE TEXT IS ONE EVIDENTLY CONNECTED WITH FAITH. "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." It strikes me, there is no supposition here, that anybody would be baptized who did not believe; or, if there be such a supposition, it is very clearly laid down that his baptism will be of no use to him, for he will be damned, baptized or not, unless he believes. The baptism of the text seems to me — my brethren, if you differ from me I am sorry for it, but I must hold my opinion and out with it — it seems to me that baptism is connected with, no, directly follows belief. I would not insist too much upon the order of the words, but for other reasons, I think that baptism should follow believing. At any rate it effectually avoids the error we have been combating. A man who knows that he is saved by believing in Christ does not, when he is baptized, lift his baptism into a saving ordinance. In fact, he is the very best protester against that mistake, because he holds that he has no right to be baptized until he is saved. He b ears a testimony against baptismal regeneration in his being baptized as professedly an already regenerate person. Brethren, the baptism here meant is a baptism connected with faith, and to this baptism I will admit there is very much ascribed in Scripture. Into that question I am not going; but I do find some very remarkable passages in which baptism is spoken of very strongly. I find this — "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." I find as much as this elsewhere; I know that believer’s baptism itself does not wash away sin, yet it is so the outward sign and emblem of it to the believer, that the thing visible may be described as the thing signified. Just as our Savior said — "This is my body," when it was not his body, but bread; yet, inasmuch as it represented his body, it was fair and right according to the usage of language to say, "Take, eat, this is my body." And so, inasmuch as baptism to the believer represents the washing of sin — it may be called the washing of sin — not that it is so, but that it is to saved souls the outward symbol and representation of what is done by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the man who believes in Christ. What connection has this baptism with faith? I think it has just this, baptism is the avowal of faith; the man was Christ’s soldier, but now in baptism he puts on his regimentals. The man believed in Christ, but his faith remained between God an d his own soul. In baptism he says to the baptizer, "I believe in Jesus Christ;" he says to the Church, "I unite with you as a believer in the common truths of Christianity;" he says to the onlooker, "Whatever you may do, as for me, I will serve the Lord." It is the avowal of his faith.

Next, we think baptism is also to the believer a testimony of his faith; he does in baptism tell the world what he believes. "I am about," says he, "to be buried in water. I believe that the Son of God was metaphorically baptized in suffering: I believe he was literally dead and buried." To rise again out of the water sets forth to all men that he believes in the resurrection of Christ. There is a showing forth in the Lord’s Supper of Christ’s death, and there is a showing forth in baptism of Christ’s burial and resurrection. It is a type, a sign, a symbol, a mirror to the world: a looking-glass in which religion is as it were reflected. We say to the onlooker, when he asks what is the meaning of this ordinance, "We mean to set forth our faith that Christ was buried, and that he rose again from the dead, and we avow this death and resurrection to be the ground of our trust."

Again, baptism is also Faith’s taking her proper place. It is, or should be one of her first acts of obedience. Reason looks at baptism, and says, "Perhaps there is nothing in it; it cannot do me any good." "True," says Faith, "and therefore will I observe it. If it did me some good my selfishness would make me do it, but inasmuch as to my sense there is no good in it, since I am bidden by my Lord thus to fulfill all righteousness, it is my first public declaration that a thing which looks to be unreasonable and seems to be unprofitable, being commanded by God, is law, is law to me. If my Master had told me to pick up six stones and lay them in a row I would do it, without demanding of him, ‘What good will it do?’ The very simplicity and apparent uselessness of the ordinance should make the believer say, ‘Therefore I do it because it becomes the better test to me of my obedience to my Master.’" When you tell your servant to do something, and he cannot comprehend it, if he turns round and says, "Please, sir, what for?" you are quite clear that he hardly understands the relation between master and servant. So when God tells me to do a thing, if I say, "What for?" I cannot have taken the place which Faith ought to occupy, which is that of simple obedience to whatever the Lord has said. Baptism is commanded, and Faith obeys because it is commanded, and thus takes her proper place. Once more, baptism is a refreshment to Faith. While we are made up of body and soul as we are, we shall need some means by which the body shall sometimes be stirred up to co-work with the soul. In the Lord’s Supper my faith is assisted by the outward and visible sign. In the bread and in the wine I see no superstitious mystery, I see nothing but bread and wine, but in that bread and wine I do see to my faith an assistant. Through the sign my faith sees the thing signified. So in baptism there is no mysterious efficacy in the baptistry or in the water. We attach no reverence to the one or to the other, but we do see in the water and in the baptism such an assistance as brings home to our faith most manifestly our being buried with Christ, and our rising again in newness of life with him. Explain baptism thus, dear friends, and there is no fear of Popery rising out of it. Explain it thus, and we cannot suppose any soul will be led to trust to it; but it takes it s proper place among the ordinances of God’s house.

To lift it up in the other way, and say men are saved by it — ah! my friends, how much of mischief that one falsehood has done and may do, eternity alone will disclose. Would to God another George Fox would spring up in all his quaint simplicity and crude honesty to rebuke the idol-worship of this age; to rail at their holy bricks and mortar, holy lecterns, holy alters, holy surplices, right reverend fathers, and I know not what. These things are not holy. God is holy; his truth is holy; holiness belongs not to the carnal and the material, but to the spiritual. O that a trumpet-tongue would cry out against the superstition of the age. I cannot, as George Fox did, give up baptism an d the Lord’s Supper, but I would infinitely sooner do it, counting it the smaller mistake of the two than perpetrate and assist in perpetrating the uplifting of baptism and the Lord’s Supper out of their proper place. O my beloved friends, the comrades of my struggles and witnessings, cling to the salvation of faith, and abhor the salvation of priests. If I am not mistaken, the day will come when we shall have to fight for a simple spiritual religion far more than we do now. We have been cultivating friendship with those who are either unscriptural in creed or else dishonest, who either believe baptismal regeneration, or profess that they do, and swear before God that they do when they do not. The time is come when there shall be no more truce or parley between God’s servants and the time-servers. The time is come when those who follow God must follow God, and those who try to trim and dress themselves and find out a way which is pleasing to the flesh and gentle to carnal desires, must go their way. A great winnowing time is coming to God’s saints, and we shall be clearer one of these days than we now are from union with those who are upholding Popery, under the pretense of teaching Protestantism. We shall be clear, I say, of those who teach salvation by baptism, instead of salvation by the blood of our blessed Master, Jesus Christ. O may the Lord gird up your loins. Believe me, it is no trifle. It may be that on this ground Armageddon shall be fought. Here shall come the great battle between Christ and his saints on the one hand, and the world, and forms, and ceremonies, on the other. If we are overcome here, there may be years of blood and persecution, and tossing to and fro between darkness and light; but if we are brave and bold, and flinch not here, but stand to God’s truth, the future of England may be bright and glorious.

O for a truly reformed Church in England, and a godly race to maintain it! The world’s future depends on it under God, for in proportion as truth is marred at home, truth is maimed abroad. Out of any system which teaches salvation by baptism must spring infidelity, an infidelity which the false Church already seems willing to nourish and foster beneath her wing. God save this favored land from the brood of her own established religion. Brethren, stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made you free, and be not afraid of any sudden fear nor calamity when it comes, for he who trusts to the Lord, mercy shall compass him about, and he who is faithful to God and Christ shall hear it said at the last, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter you into the joy of the Lord." May the Lord bless this word for Christ’s sake.

Chau Bobe

Guide to Jewish Funeral
My wife's Mother's Mother passed away at 04:00 PM est on Thursday, December 28, 2006. Bobe (Yiddish for grandmother) and her immediate family being Jewish, the Rabbi was contacted, the Funeral arranged, the family called in and the preperations made for a service starting at noon on Friday, December 29, 2006, to be completed before 6:00 PM est, Friday, December 29, 2006 (the start of Shabbat). My wife's two younger sisters (She is the oldest of the three.) were already in towm for the holiday's. I having injured my eye (scratched cornea) stayed at my mother in law's home with my brother in law (wife's youngest sister's husband), my two children (boy 4 y.o, girl 2 y.o.) and my three nephews (middle sister's children). We all did well. We were told the funeral and graveside services where both very well done. We all got together after ward at my wife's uncle's home with all the family and friends and neighbors to cofort one another and pay our respects to Bobe's life by sharing our memories of hew with each other. We all cut out by five so that everyone could get home for Shabbat. We then reconvined at 6:00 Pm est on Saturday, December 30, 2006 (immidieatly after Shabbat for the start of Shivah.
Bobe had given me a yarmulke and Jackie had helped me learn enough transliterated (phonic) hebrew, that I was prepared and able to take part.
My family are faithful AngloSaxon, Ecumenical, Catholic, Pentecostal, Jehova Witness, Aztec, Episcapalian, etc.
It is very odd for me to be in a crowd of individuals who are doing what should be done, because "it should be done" rather then because they believe it to be the right thing to do or the right way to do a thing. It was odd finding myself to be one of the few who could keep up with the ritual.
It was the first time i felt accepted by anyone in the family other then my wife, my father in law and Bobe.
Feeling accepted; being useful;
Study to show thyself approved; a workman worthy of the master's hand.

Personality??? lol

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (33%) moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious. Orderliness (73%) high which suggests you are overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun. Extraversion (80%) high which suggests you are overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense too often of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take a Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Winter Change

Sleepless nights are not common for me anymore, but they still come in late autum and through the winter. It is when the old pass on in mass; when any change is so strongly vivid to me and moves within me; through me. I am more aware during this time of my gains and losses then in any other season. I think it is that nature stills and sleeps; despite my communal serperation from the land and geographical seperation from the signs and cycles I knew best, I can still feel the slow flow of natural reality outside of this human fanticy.
From a culture; upbrining; understanding that all are family; welcome; loved because all exist; all are flawed; all fail; from a point where doing your best is never good enough but always expected; to this community where none embrace you nor alow themselves to be embraced; where you do not fall out of grace or favor, but must earn each foothold one laborous moment after another. I am forever reminded how much I do not belong here; There is nowhere to escape to; the lands are overrun; the people are dead or moved on; This is home now; what home I can make of it.
More family is ill; The Saints on the mantle en la Día de los Muertos is growing ever larger; My children are knowing more people from life story whom they will never be blessed to know in life. Growing up my grand parents and thier friends where all my grand parents; as where many of the elders of The Church Of God Of Prophecy; my mother and many of her friends where my Big Brothers and Sisters (though roudy and unruly ones); the more mature of my mother's social circle where my Aunts and Uncles as where my grand parents' other children. Tio Sonny and Tio Marcus where known to me from life story; though they both lived and I did visit with them from time to time over the years of my youth; I could never bridge the gap between the living person and the life of that person as I understood them through story.
Both versions of the person where wonderful, interesting characters; just, to me, so different.
The same was true of nearly everyone I know or have known. Even my grandmother; my welita Ignacia; who was the main story teller in my life; who shared with me the pictures and stories of herself; She never to me seemed to be the same person in life as in her life stories. Even as I grew to know her through life, she was always a different person; a growing; changing; developing person. I'm not sure death can stop that kind of dynamic. I am sure their is nothing unique in my experience; it doesn't detract form its uniqueness too me as an experience, but it isn't unique to humanity. Now I am an adult stugling to embody what was best in all my elders within the life stories where they where at their best. I am thankful to have so many still with me, but we don't share life stories as much. I think I can fix that though I'm not sure how to deligate the time needed. Perhaps on these sleep deprived nights when past and present life stories mix in my minds eye so vividly with hopes and dreams (good and bad) for future chapeters.
Many are not with me in life now, but I will remember their life stories; the ones I have; and share them with my wife and children. Maybe my family at large too have missed out of a few life stories and have a few to share.
I remember those who are absent from the body, but present with GOD and through him with me and I am blessed;
Welita Ignacia my story teller and family tie. She ... Awe, to begin will take some time.
Great-Grand Mother M.J. (GGMJ) to me throughout my life kept me with story through letter about life, history, and family. We met once when I was only a year old, but I dreamt often of her face; I didn't know it was her so often present in my minds eye until as an adult at her memorial service, my Uncle David presented me with a picture of her.
Tio Victor so tall and his wife Pepe so short; Sister Philomena; Tio Frank;
Brother Bernet; Brian Bernet; Sister VanHorn; Sister Dalke;
I remember those who are embodied souls with GOD and through him with me and I am blessed;
My son Juan David; My daughter; My wife; My brothers; My Tias; My Uncle David ~"I've always been very keen in drama, so ministry just made scence"; My {Aunt}Marcia ~"Dear; I have always enjoyed your letters, but I must tell you; I am no one's Aunt; just Marcia"; My Father-In-Law (O. David); My Mother-In-Law; My mother; My father; Papi (my grand father) Juan Jose; My Tio Juan Jose ~"No one standing over six foot should be so timid"; My current church family of Mt. Zion UCC; My friends from First Unitarian Chuch of Baltimore; Powell The Church Of God Of Prophecy members, pastors, and elders who steps and missteps continue to offer guidance thanks to GOD's glorious humor; My newly met brother in Christ, James, his family, and his church

Well, time to start the day.

Baltimore Garden

The little garden in Baltimore is going very well.
The two Eggplants in the Southwest corner are about 28 inches high with tons of big purple flowers.
The honey dew has spread out from East to West in the South central section of the plot. Its many yellow flowering bulbs are starting to bulge out. The cantaloupe has followed suit in the North central section of the plot and is already producing small fruit pods everywhere.
The two steak tomatoes have taken over the Southwest corner of the garden and are doing great. We are harvesting softball size green and orange tomatoes that we ripen in the window sill.
The cucumber which started with great gusto is still dominate in the Northwest corner, but is now in competition with a Red Maple that has sprung up in our weeks of absents. I will have to dig that sapling out this week.
The sweat potatoes are doing well; sending vines up and over the fence along the East center and North center sections of the fence in the little box plot.
We only had one head per cabbage this year. I think that was due to how low I cut them when harvesting the first heads.
The bell pepper in the northwest corner is doing well do, but not as well as the rest of the plants.
Finally, in the center along the east gate just south of the garden entrance is the sweat basil which has since early spring been and continues to be a shockingly exuberant growth. The sent is so fulfilling and the production so great, that we are all very proud of this one plant. Pesto and fresh basil vinaigrette and small bags of cleaned leaves for everyone have been the norm this season.

rsRepeatWithNotPeerDataRegion

[rsRepeatWithNotPeerDataRegion]
The textbox ‘gDfA’ has ‘table1’ as the value of its RepeatWith.
A RepeatWith must be a data region within the same containing object as the report item.

The only Data Region on my report is my data table [table1], right? Does each group in a data table become its own Data Region? Not from my understanding of RDL

SSRS RDL Export Error

Having not worked out the "Column should remain visible while scrolling" nor the Excel format issues, I decided to try another approach. In an attempt to get something like freeze column and/or Excel’s “Columns to repeat at left” and “Columns to repeat at top” working on my report viewer and printed versions of a SQL Server Reporting Services RDL report data table, I broke the table up into four copies each with the same structure and a continuation of the original fields (table 1 fields A-O, table 2 fields P-AD, table 3 fields AE-AS, table 4 fields AT-BG). Each table has the same five groupings (gA, gB, gC, gD, Details). The tables and groups are all individually identified by name, and XML Collections and Elements. The XML export renders fine as does the XML Schema. The report renders fine in the Visual Studio.Net 2005 report viewer and on the web (deployed to report manager). It renders well to PDF, and web archive (.mhtml), but when choosing to export to excel, the following error is thrown.
[Export Error;
An error occurred during local report processing;
An error occurred during rendering of the report; An error occurred during rendering of the report;
Item has already been added. Key in dictionary: 'Group B Value' key being added: 'Group B Value']

What? Why?

If I can just find a direct way to “freeze” the Table Columns within a SSRS Table for the reader and excel export, I’d be good to go!

Exercise tiny step

I woke at 5 am Tuesday and go out on my mountain bike by 5:15. I road around the neighborhood for 15 minutes by which time my legs were spongy and my body covered in sweat. The rain and high humidity of the morning were annoying, but I have to start somewhere even if it is with such a tiny step. I am currently weighing in at 260 pounds up 20 from December 2005 when I took this job in Baltimore and increased my commute from York, PA by 20 miles.
If I get much higher, I will start having trouble with the weight induced apnea that spurred my original weight reduction quest in 2002 from over 300 pounds.
My nature one of extreme nostalgia, as such I constantly hear/see in my mind segments from past events, thoughts, dreams, life experiences (real or imagined).
In every case regarding fitness or my lack thereof, I see my high school freshman gym teacher Ms. Voeller saying, “you keep laughing it off, but if you don’t get into shape now your going to be 30 and it will be ten times more difficult to get where you need to be. I did a lot physically, but never pushed myself and was therefore quite overweight and not physically fit.
Funny thing is that I did listen to her and from that point through high school and my failed attempt at a military career (1988-1992) , I managed to go from nearly 300 pounds to 198 pounds; from being able to endure to actually being fit.
I am lacking in good self discipline and in organizational skill even to this day and repeated this cycle being back at 280 pounds by 1994, getting back on the fitness loop in 1999 when my back started bothering me due to a compressed disk earned humping shingles (roofing) as I paid my way through college. Somewhere in 2000, I dropped the proverbial ball again and started the loop again in 2002 due to the apnea issue.
What a mess.

I checked http://www.park1.k12.wy.us/powell_high/faculty.asp Ms. Voeller is reported as still on the faculty, I sure hope whoever the current fat active kid is she’s talking to today, has a stronger resolve then I did.

SSRS Report: "Column should remain visible while scroling"

Okay, I am a database developer sucked into some hundred different tasks due to the nature of my work. One is to build a ton of SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services reports. I have one table based report loved by the parties that be with one request. That the report render in Excel with headers, and left columns mimicing Freeze Pane as well as doing this on the web display. Web display table header was simple enough, "Header should remain visible while scroling" and Report header/footer rows on each page" when a long way, but this doesn't answer the export format nor the left column remain visible requests.
Everything I can find suggests "Repeatwith" property should be set to a data region, but there doesn't seem to be a way of doing this within a single SSRS table.

A new bike!?

Well, I will probably destroy this bike before it is well used. I am six foot two inches tall and weigh in at 245 pounds. I just purchased and put together a $60 26" bike from Wal-Mart with a maximum carrying capacity of 198 pounds ... No, I will return it tomorrow night and find a bike I can ride without blowing the tires! LOL I haven't been on a horse since high school due to my weight, I was at 300# back in 2002/2003. The lightest I've been since 1992 is 190#... There is a place in Baltimore just a few blocks from where I work, I'll check there to see what's available for a little guy like me! LOL Anyway, I had fun this evening reading to the kids while they went nuts in the bath and I made myself an awesome fish soup for dinner... my daughter and I are going in for an allergy work up in the next few weeks... the girl's reacted with anaphylaxis symptoms twice in the past year (eggplant and cranberry juice) .. I've always had allergies, but not to kill me just make life suck for a good portion of the spring, summer and fall. .. LOL ... I didn't really go through much pain growing up in Powell, Wy ... a barren, dry, and cold climate with beautiful evergreens, cactus, sage, thermals, animals and wild life to no end, but here in the seasonal climates of South-Central PA and Baltimore, well ... yuck! ... I love the weather, climate, etc, just not what it does to my body... LOL ... I just saw an article that most people who live in the region also have the same allergy issues ... just further proof that we're all nuts... suffering these symptoms by will is no better then choosing to live on the crest of a volcano, the path of a hurricane, the middle of a flood plane, or voting for Bush, we bring misery on ourselves by our own will and actions ... LOL Anyway, off to bed...

My commute to Baltimore is only 60 minutes at a top speed of 65 miles an hour when I can pull out of the driveway by 5:30 AM. Funny how helpful having a small town/farming childhood can end up helping you in everything in life. My mother(R) and grandmother(I) and step grandfather(P) and grandfather(JJ) all had homes in town, but never stopped finding work that required early mornings. When I and my step grandfather bought a farm just five miles from the city limits it was an extending of the life we had always known due to extra jobs, summer work and P has always worked on farms doing whatever was needed for that season. Now as a techie, I work as he did minus the extreme physical exertion. LOL
I am so lucky to have had these people in my childhood. They left scars (not everything was ideal), but the blessings from my upbringing have I think outweighed the negative events of it. Funny, I never thought I would come to a point in life where I would have rather experienced all that I have then not exist at all. I think for all the blessing my dear wife(JH) has provided me since our meeting, this change in me has come from her most recent and consistent efforts in helping me stay abreast of my son(JD) and daughter(JA)'s growing up. I love being kept abreast of the latest developments as it helps me develop my interaction with them when I and they are available to spend time with each other (M,T,H 6:30pm-8:30pm;S&U 6:30am-8:30pm). Those two are so nifty!

I've heard in recent days State of the State (MD), State of the City (Baltimore, MD), and State of the Union (USA). I'm not sure what I will do with the information provided therein nor have I heard read of the current state of PA, City of York, PA or County of York, PA, but all of these are also of importance to me.
I'll need to assist dw with laundry duties today if I intend to ever see the floor of my basement workshop - my dear son and daughter have been interchanging shifts of illness to the point that the prewashed vomit soiled textiles are stacking up alarmingly beside those soiled by daily usage. I guess adding high on my list a complete home scrub down is needed.
How can one correctly divide ones time to provide financial success to ones family as well as the time and attention ones family needs and deserves? I am doing far better then my predecessors with regards to the amount of time I am able to spend with my family and the amount of financial stability I am able to provide my wife and children, but I still feel it is grossly inadequate.

What a mix of work I have ... on my job conversion of Cold Fusion and MS Access reporting systems to SQL Server Reporting Services 2005 (SSRS), VS 2005 C# Developer training, SQL Server 2005 Online Training, and assistance/recommendations in application/database environments and product implementation and architecture ... at home insulation of the main floor/basement ceiling, wood splitting for fireplace, research into a fireplace blower, insecticide deployment, participation in lives of wife, son and daughter ... at home office work on websites - First Unitarian {conversion to PHP and new host migration}; MaryPat {menu redevelopment and design flaw corrections}; Mt.Zion {content update, deployment and organizational contacts} -; organizational development in/with PLAGAL; FUCB Interweave; PFLAG of York; Mt.Zion OnA; Mt.Zion Evangelism; as well as home office organization; family genealogy and historic archival; and deployment of one windows and two Linux workstations ... I do wish I could manage these tasks more concisely ... did I mention family financial organization/planning, vacation planning, familial contact (email/letters/phone calls)??? LOL

I will have to get this matrix working. It's fundemental to my publication, but what exactly is going wrong? The view is acurately populating my datagrid. The matrix is properly displaying the detail. Why am i having such difficulty populating an inline summation of the months by row? Sql Server Reporting Services 2000 What have i missed in my processing?

Well, the office move down the road was a success. I've added a couple of links with template change to this blog. The adult Sunday School went well. I've sent an outline to the Reverands of our evangelism committee's first few plans of action. I stopped by the library and picked up more audio books. I've been though the witches of eastwick and I'm now on tick toc.
I've sill have a ton of work here ...

Well, I've already missed three days in my quest of daily journaling.
Sunday 15th

• wrote a letter to dgud (Dear Great Uncle D.);
• attended FUCB (First Unitaraian Church of Baltimore) to which I've been a member since 2002 with dw (dear wife), ds (dear son) and dd (dear daughter);
• attended FUCB lunch and congregational growth discussion
• returned with family to York
• attended Mt.Zion UCC Evangelism Committee meeting

Monday 16th

• Shoe shopping - just a week ago we found for my three year old ds a toddler 12 w-wide (double wide) at the Galleria and found that there is a shoe maker out there who takes my extremely high arched wide as flippers foot into consideration (men 13.5 w-wide) SAS - SanAntonio Shoes - not very inventive name, not very inventive shoes, but they fit me. AS my current shoes where split on the soles of the balls of both feet and the inner lining was completely gone. We decided to look into SAS and try to find a pair under $150.00 (I'm seriously thinking of going back to making my own.) We did find a SAS shop in Lancaster Tanger Outlet mall and I was able to get a pair of the closest thing SAS had to dress shoes for $128.00 about half of what a pair of simmilar quality and style as I've found so far... I wish I could just phase from here to a shoe maker in Hildalgo ... I'd have a shoe made for me perfectly pay the man $45.00 US and know that neither he or i was ripped off, but "transport me to ... scotty" hasn't worked yet.
• ds and I spent the early evening picking up the yard

Tuesday 17th

• Back to work ... a busy day in SQL Server 2000 & Reporting Services ... another emergency grant of permissions to take care of a task that needed "immediate" attention ...
• Dinner with the family then dw and I visited our first PFLAG of York meeting ... gfh sat with the children ...

Wednesday 18th

• Now ptbs are wanting multi-select which means SQL Server 2005 SSRS - cool to me .... new development ran into a snag ... arguing over how to work around SPS 2003 not working with .Net Framework 2.0 ... workaround has been presented ... I hope we get fast and complete buy in to move on ...
• I've EA line training tonight as far as I know ... I also have a growing task list ...

Task List:

• revisit household budget
• projections for the next 1, 3, 5 years
• finish converting firstunitarian.net to the php platform (save $29.00/month; better CMS)
• qa marypat site - missing table tag
• find tux for line
• prep for teaching adult class SS (Sunday School) this week "Hope has a Reason" session 3
• read up "What's so amazing about Grace?" Section 1 for parenting class SS
• continue reading "incubuse dreams"
• continue reading "American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities"
• find some more audio books (hour commute each way)
• finish floor insulation (basement ceiling); includes pulling off old basement ceiling in finshed half of basement
• convert 350+ reports to SSRS

February Lodge stated meeting is on St. Valentine's Day. It is strange that in my lifetime I've actually seen an event where attending Lodge would be a conflict with my health and family ... lol...

I'm going to have to rework my reporting process... using a subset of object specific queryies (stored procedures) takes too long to process ... wonder how the view/filter front end will function? ...

If I understand the concepts correctly, this will be my second post of the day and in my blogging history. dear wife, dear son, dear daughter and I live in York, PA. I work in Baltimore and this weekend we are visiting my dw's immediate family who also live in Baltimore. We were all very tired last night due to my dear daughter choosing to have an hour long emotional melt down at three o'clock Friday morning so when bedtime for the children arrived at eight o'clock we (dw and I) had commiserated to join them in sleep shortly there after. My dear son became adamant that he could not sleep here in "Grandmama's house" because as he put it, "I can't sleep in my airplane bed, its at my house. I can't sleep in this bed, its not my airplane bed. I can't sleep in the guest bed, its mommy and daddy's bed. I can't sleep in Grandmama and Abu's bed. I can't sleep on the floor, its not a bed. I can't sleep downstairs, its too cold. I can't sleep in the crib, its Jillian's bed and its too small." My son is only three years old and he put into this one breath string of arguments an intensity and drama that was worthy of his father (me) and my father (ddr). My line of the family is nothing if not dramatic and given to something of a passion for going off on tangents. At any rate, we were so tired and so amazed at the extreme passion and indeed conviction behind the rant that on its third cycle we all (Grandmama, dw, and I) burst out laughing. We asked ds if he would like to go sit for a minute with Grandmama to which he agreed, but he started the cycle again immediately to her. It reminded me honestly of my childhood visitations to the Church Of God Of Prophecy during a Sunday night revival when a guest preacher was in full swing. There might have been only a bare thread connecting the rant to reality, but no one could question the conviction and passion for which it was presented. Grandmama shus'd him softly then asked if he would like to pick a special stuffed animal from her table to sleep with. Grandmama has nearly all her stuffed animal's piled together on a single table in the room where we topically lay dd and ds when visiting. This complete change of subject and rather over dramatic reference to the toys caught me as strange as my ds's current rants, but it was all that was needed to remedy the situation. A joyous, "yes", from ds and he was up the stairs to pick an old elephant and crawling into bed.
So often I find a part of me that is excited by experience just because it is new; something I've never experienced before. I find that more often then not, my experiences with my children are events my entire self rejoices in not just that one small part of me.