I was raised in a Christian home and became a new creation in Christ at around age 12. If you asked me I would have told you then, as I’d tell you now, that it is by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of myself, it is the gift of God lest any man should boast.

Although I had these words in my mind, I didn’t really understand them. I spent many years thinking that somehow the way I was acting at a given point in time affected my relationship with God. If I was “misbehaving” He was upset with me and withheld His blessings, but if I could only purify myself by holding my behavior to a very high standard He would once again make His face to shine upon me and give me peace.

This was a sad roller-coaster of a way to live. Sometimes I was doing well and God was pleased with me, and other times–most times–I was messing up and He was upset and had to punish me. I spent most of my time feeling inadequate, frustrated, unloved, and unloving.

For the life of me I could not grasp how the writers of books and hymns could have actually experienced all the freedom, peace, and joy their writings claimed. I felt none of the peace that passes understanding that Christ had promised, nor did I experience the joy of the Lord being my strength.

Back in 2000, Father mercifully began to open the eyes of my understanding.  He began to illuminate the Gospel and slowly I began to have ears to hear Him.  He revealed the Good News and the mystery that had been hidden but is now made visible in Christ.  Grace is the Good News! Grace is the secret that God had kept hidden for ages and generations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Now that I have been living in the light of this revelation for a number of years I want to write about Grace and what it means in practical terms. I’ll be making some statements that will shock some good God-fearing Christian people, and I hope the shock causes them, like the Bereans so many centuries before them, to search the Scriptures to see if what I say is taught there or not. I’ll be making a lot of statements that will seem risky or scary too. Some will be deeply concerned that people will take advantage of what I write and use it as license to live in the flesh, to sin.

This will be challenging for many, refreshing for others, perhaps even eye opening for those interested and willing to hear what the Word of God actually says.

I was a very early adopter of LinkedIn back when it was still fairly exclusive. These days I find it less appealing. Probably that has to do with my lack of interest in finding a new job, or maybe just cynicism; I don’t know.

Then there is Facebook, the 800-pound gorilla of social media. I got on Facebook after there were about a billion others there already. Since practically everyone I knew was on it I felt somewhat compelled to find out what I was missing. For me, the movies did Facebook no favors. They portrayed it as more or less a way for college boys to meet girls, sort of an online little black book, and not much more.

Somewhat to my surprise, I have to say that I’ve become a fan of Facebook–though it is truly a love-hate relationship. I love that I have become significantly better connected to members of my extended family who reside in various distant locations. That has been excellent. Having a way to stay in touch with my nascent community of friends and neighbors in West Virginia has also been rewarding; not to mention useful.

The hate part stems from the many who air dirty laundry; rant about the ridiculous; talk nonsense; spew vulgarity; display a total lack of ability to use a spelling checker; or demonstrate that they paid no attention in English class. “Your not gn beleve wht there doin to me at teh clinnik.” As my Mother used to say, “Good night!”

These days I have an account on quite a few social media sites, but there are only a few upon which I concentrate. To find me around the Interwebs, look below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larry.eiss

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/larryeiss

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LCEiss

A couple of weeks ago I began working to lose weight. No one in my family is fat, so I am not genetically predisposed to being large. Instead, I am a sedentary desk jockey–something I never expected I’d be–with a love of fine food and beverages. Consequently, I think the time has come to get back as close to my youthful weight and size as possible.

To help me in my weight-loss effort I have enlisted the LoseIt application. Based on my stated goals LoseIt suggests the number of calories I should be eating each day and provides an easy way to track what I am eating. It’s amazing how much food I’ve been putting into my mouth lately. LoseIt is available online at the link above, but there is an app for both Apple and Android devices. Another cool thing about LoseIt is that you can connect with friends and spur one another on. I’m enjoying that aspect more than I anticipated.

As I type this post, I am using my shiny new Microsoft Surface Pro 3. While I do miss some of the cool apps that were available for my Android tablet, this thing is a real Windows computer in tablet format. I’m still learning about this, but I love it so far. I may write about this more over time and I’m happy to answer any questions you may have if I am able.

Well this is enough for this session. Have a great 2015!

I will still post images pertinent to articles here, but they’ll be a lot smaller.  My photography will be showcased exclusively on Flickr.

This blog has been active since 2006 and it has undergone changes over that time.  Once again, I find that my interest and intentions with regard to blogging have morphed.  Consequently once again the flavor of my postings will change.  I hope you will find the content more interesting and helpful.

When I began taking photography seriously I read a lot of articles and books that talked about making photographs instead of merely taking them. For a long time I thought I knew what that meant. I was taking my time with the shots I thought were important. On the other hand I found myself shooting nearly everything I saw. Clearly a lot of these shots were not important. I’d shoot several shots of the same subject in quick procession, sometimes changing the angle or some exposure setting.

My thinking at the time was that I would select the best of them, or that I’d later go back and learn from the various setting adjustments I had made. In truth all I ever got was hundreds, even thousands, of junky snapshots that made post processing mostly pointless and caused many wasted hours of culling bad from worse. After a few years of that I grew so frustrated with photography that I nearly sold my equipment and quit.

In the wake of that crisis I finally decided to shoot just for myself. To shoot what I liked, what I found interesting. Once I began doing this something else happened; I began to care more about how my images looked. This began to bring the discipline that I had been lacking. By taking more care my shots improved as did my satisfaction with them.

These days I find myself thinking a lot more about framing, looking at all the elements in the frame, observing colors and how they interact, finding patterns and lines, and taking control of the image that will result. In short, I am becoming a real photographer. Oh, I still shoot stupid stuff and take shots that are meaningless, but I also take more time and anticipate light I want and how I want my resulting shot to look. I think and plan and chase great light and new perspectives.

Read more here:

http://digital-photography-school.com/make-your-last-shot-your-best-shot

The annual user conference held by my employer took place this year at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Conference Center in Kissimmee Florida. After the hard work required by that event, I always find it helpful to take a few days off to relax and recharge. J (my wife) was able to accompany me this year, and because there was no availability at the conference hotel following our event, she booked us at the elaborate Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando.  (I’d love to have some photos here, but uncharacteristically I failed to bring my camera and there are no images in the Press area of the Ritz-Carlton Web site–and I won’t grab pictures found on the Internet unless I know the copyright specifically allows it.)

The corporate motto at the Ritz-Carlton reads thus: “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen.” According to their Web site, “This motto exemplifies the anticipatory service provided by all staff members.” Based on my experience, I heartily agree.  Our experience at the Ritz was not perfect, to be sure, but it was one of the most memorable and surprising of my life to this point–and given that over the years I have traveled to every continent except Antarctica–that’s saying something.

The experience began before I ever left home. Once the reservations had been made and the day of our departure drew near, I got two or three well-written and sincere emails asking that I please contact guest services if there was anything they could arrange for me prior to my arrival at the hotel. I have called hotels and asked the Concierge for such preparations from time to time in the past, but never before had I been contacted by a hotel asking to assist in this way.

We arrived early in the day, around 12:30 or 1:00 as I recall, and our room was not yet ready.  The lady at the front desk told us that it was nearly done and that she would call my mobile phone as soon as it was ready.

We decided to grab some lunch and wait for our room at the poolside restaurant, Bleu. The server took our orders and brought J a  fancy drink.  Later he returned to ask whether we were enjoying our drinks.  J demurred a bit and he picked right up on that and offered a replacement. She said it was OK and she would drink it–even though she hadn’t liked it as much as she thought she might–and then, our first amazing experience of the unmatched and legendary service provided by the Ritz-Carlton took place. The server said, “You don’t have to settle for anything you don’t like here.” I don’t know about you, but I have been all over the world and I have never heard anyone say that before. The drink was promptly replaced.

After lunch we hung around quite a long time awaiting the promised phone call about our room. When 3:00pm arrived, we decided that maybe it would be a good idea to ask at the desk. It turned out that our room was ready, but no one had called to tell us.  Strike one; and right at the beginning of our stay. It left us feeling a little negative right off the bat. We were tired and really wanted to get into our room to cool off and change clothes, but instead, there was an unnecessary delay. We asked about our luggage, which had been whisked away directly from the car when we arrived, and were told that it should already be in the room. Sadly, this turned out not to be the case. Strike two; and a bad one because it lengthened the time before we could change clothes, relax, and prepare for dinner. After calling about the luggage it did finally arrive and the gentleman who delivered it was courteous, professional, and helpful. The hotel could have done much better here, but this is about the only issue we had the entire time we were there. As you’ll see, it pales in comparison to all the wonderful service we received.

I’ll have more on our stay at the Ritz soon…

La Terraza has held the top spot in our rankings of restaurants for service for a good many years now.  Indeed this is the restaurant that stole from The Horned Dorset (about which I, here, wrote earlier) the coveted Catbird seat. At this luxurious venue, we found it impossible to want. The staff was nearly clairvoyant in their attention to our needs, often fulfilling them before even we ourselves were aware of our lack. They were out of sight, and yet instantly present–or so it seemed to us. About the meal one thing that has always stood out to me is the Celery sorbet we were served as a sort of intermezzo. I would never have thought of such a thing, but it was refreshing and wonderful enough that all these years later I still wish for more.

We would love the opportunity to return to Madrid, and if we do it is all but certain that we would again select this wonderful restaurant for one of our dinners there.

Trip Advisor has some recent reviews that appear to indicate significant change since our visit, so it might be prudent to read some of these to see if perhaps the restaurant has changed since we were there–and I promise to discuss more recent experiences from here on.  This is the final mini-review as part of setting the background for this category.

As we begin this new category of posts, I thought it would be a good idea to give you some insight into how I have come to this point in my life.

Growing up I lived a very quiet country life. Apart from an annual two-week vacation, spent in a rented cabin at Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario, or tent camping at Golden Beach State Park in the Adirondacks, and the occasional trip to visit relatives, our family didn’t travel. Breakfast was cereal, lunch was usually sandwiches, and Mom cooked supper.  We drank lots of milk, ate lots of corn and potatoes, and had very little meat. It wasn’t until I met TMWWITW that I was first exposed to eating in a restaurant beyond McDonalds® or Pizza Hut®. This mostly came from her Dad taking us out to various meals when we’d go to visit. Going out on our own was delayed until we finally got to a point in our lives where we actually had a few dollars for non-essentials.

The first truly excellent experience we had was at a very interesting little place way out in the sticks in a town called Leonardsville, NY. There is really nothing there except farms and an eclectic and wonderful place called The Horned Dorset Inn. The owners of this inn have just two locations.  One is rural upstate NY, and the other, called The Horned Dorset Primavera, is in Rincón, Puerto Rico. Our dinner at The Horned Dorset set the bar with regard to food quality and level of service for a very long time.  Parenthetically, overnight accommodations at the Inn are also very nice and evoke a rustic country feel of days gone by.

Good food-service is anticipatory. The staff is fully aware of your presence and the current state of your environment at all times. At the same time, they are unobtrusive; usually lingering around the edges of the dining area. Upon noting that you have consumed some of your water, for example, they will quietly replenish your supply; if a fork is dropped, another immediately appears. If you so much as look up with a somewhat quizzical look on your face, they seem intuitively to know that you have a question and make themselves available. Even with all this observing and giving of attention, great servers never appear hurried in the least.  When they are talking with you or providing something to your table, you get the sense that you are the only people in the restaurant. For this, they deserve to be very well compensated, by the way, but the value and proper use of tipping is perhaps a post for another day.

We had visited The Horned Dorset in celebration of our tenth wedding anniversary (as I recall) and the evening was so perfect that for years it held the high-water mark in our minds with regard to food and service. Several years later we visited again, but the saying “you can’t go back” proved true on this occasion. While it was very good, it could not measure up to that one brief shining moment we had experienced on our first visit. No doubt there was a touch of fairy dust associated with our recollections of that first visit, and yet, we still felt that the service had slipped from its former elevated level. The Horned Dorset Inn is very much worth a visit–and do plan to spend the night if you can.

More to come…

There are a lot of food blogs. I think what we write will be very different because it will combine discussions about real food with reviews of restaurants, lodging, and service in general.

Welcome to a whole new part of my life.  I hope you enjoy reading about it.