The Tomnibus Blog

How bad is my van? Let me count the ways

2016-09-25T11:15:00.003-04:00

I want to start out by saying, this post is not to try to get sympathy or some grand "Go Fund Me" campaign or anything else. I am the type of person who likes to vent and I'd like to vent about this. We have been dealing with this van for over 3 years in its current condition and we expect to do so for several more years.

We have a 12-passenger 2003 GMC Savana (6.0l V8) and it's in sad shape. It has been since we bought it in 2006, pretty much. These are all the current problems with the van:

Stalling problem that we have diagnosed for 3 years now. At random times, the van decides it doesn't want to drive very well so it sputters and stalls if you don't drive two-footed to keep the vehicle alive. You name something to fix it, we have tried it and it didn't work.
passenger front window drive is bad/crooked. It slides down and creates a whistle. We need to stop, get out, and use two hands and a second person to push it back up. a day later is has slid down again.
Driver's front window gets "tired" if we put the window down, we can't put it back up for several minutes because the motor won't "go".
Both visors are broken the passenger visor is not even there.
Front passenger seat belt broken where you have to reach WAY down to get the clip to clip it in.
CD player broken, tape cassette (who uses those?) busted
ABS Break sensor is bad so they kick in every time you break; pulled the fuse
missing all cup-holders in the back of the van
Back seat belts won't "pull" after the car is moving so if the kids "forget" to put their seatbelts on, we have to stop on the side of the road so they can buckle in.
Back panel-left panel on the rear door is completely off and we can't find clips that fit to put it back on.
Rear speaker on back door hanging on by a rivet.
There is this cover across the top rear of the van, it is falling off, it hangs and bounces which causes me to look in my rear view mirror because I think someone is about to hit us. It also squeaks when it bounces.
Passenger swing-out doors: Left one has a broken hinge so it has to be "fit" into place in order for the right door to fully close
Seal broken on the passenger swing-out doors so when we go through a car wash it rains inside.
All back seats stained to the point of always looking nasty
All rear windows are glued shut because all the clips that latch them shut are broken.
When filling up the van, we have to hold the gas pump hose at a certain angle so the fuel will slide down the tube into the tank easily and not back up and shut off the pump. many times we have to do that without locking the pump to fill which makes pumping 30 gallons very tiresome.
When we park on a hill facing down with a full tank we smell gas outside the van as if it's leaking out from the top of the tank.
Myriad of scratches and dents on the outside.
The back-left door latch comes off and causes us not to be able to open it until I set it again.
The hinge is broken on the right passenger swing-out door and so if it opens all the way, the front passenger cannot open their door.

Now for all the things we have done to fix the van:

Replaced all tubes leading from the front to the back so the rear could have air and heat.
replaced Water pump, twice
replaced Both O2 sensors
replaced Spark plugs & Wires (Wires twice)
replaced Two coil packs on the van
replaced Fan clutch
purchased new both driver's side and passenger side handles so we could grip something when opening and closing the doors.
replaced Idle Air Control Valve, twice
replaced Starter
replaced tube leading from gas port to the gas tank due to corruption
replaced fan speed thing that controls the speed of the air/heat.
Replaced the Pitman Arm and some other arm.
Replaced all 8 fuel injectors.
Front Passenger bearing went bad, replaced
Debugging Cylinder 8 misfire, replaced spark plug in there and wire. Probably the injector is the issue.

I am pretty sure that is all. One may say, "Why not get a new van?!" Well, we don't have a car payment right now and we can't afford one, there is no room in the budget. So, we trudge along with our big grey van.

UPDATE: New Items that are going wrong with the van since this was originally posted:

The van now stalls out continuously. Driving two-footed is a regular thing now.
There is a Cylinder 8 misfire that is most-likely the new fuel injector I put in since I have checked all other components of that failure.
We clamped shut the passenger window, we don't use the driver's window at all lest it has to remain open all the time.
The cover across the rear of the van finally fell off. It's in my garage.
The rear door is now doing a similar thing as the side doors. The left side won't close all the way.
We also have bad seals on the side doors and on the driver's door so when we go through a car wash, it rains inside the van.

Fun with Adobe Systems!

2016-06-23T12:17:00.000-04:00

I have had one hell of a week with Adobe and their wonderful Adobe ID system. Now I admit, some of the stuff below is my fault, but not all. Here's how my last 8 days have gone...

I had an old account for many years, we're talking 2004 or so with Adobe. It was under an old e-mail address that I still have access to but I don't use it. From here this is called the Old Account
I wanted to rename my E-mail from the Old to the New e-mail address thus changing my Adobe ID. However, through some mis-clicks on my part, I created a second account instead. This will be called the New Account
I researched how to delete the New Account and it said I needed to get on Chat and request it to be deleted.
I got on chat, and they said that they COULDN'T delete the new account, but what they could do is transfer my old Adobe CS3 purchases from the Old Account to the New Account. The delete the Old Account. I told them go ahead. They confirmed the old account was deleted.
The next day, Friday, my browser was still logged into the Old Account when I purchased the Photography Creative Cloud Suite. I pre-paid for the entire year ($128).
I immediately realized my mistake that it was under the wrong account that I thought was deleted. So, I got on the chat support with Adobe.
I asked if the purchase could be transferred from my Old Account to the New Account. They told me that subscriptions can't be but they can cancel the purchase and I can re-order it. It would take 3-5 days to cancel and 5-7 to receive my refund. I gave authorization and then they told me it had to be "escalated" so they would get back to me and then closed the chat.
Within 10 minutes I was a little confused by what happened as to whether or not it was being escalated so I called on the phone.
After explaining to the guy everything on the phone he said to me: "Why not delete the New Account and simply rename your Old Account?" WOW! What a novel idea! That's what I wanted to do in the first place!
I asked him what would happen to my purchase, is it still being canceled because in this case it shouldn't be canceled. He confirmed with me that my subscription was NOT in the process of being canceled, that I would be fine.

Side Note here: I have a big website project I'm working on here and I need these programs to do them. I deleted all my versions of Photoshop CS3 so I can't use those anymore. This is important that I have this subscription working.

Now come Monday morning. I login to my Old Account (which is now my New Account) and I have no subscription! What?!
I got on the chat, what happened? Well, it seems my subscription was canceled per my request. I simply had to re-buy it. Oh, and I'll get my money within 5-7 days. But I couldn't re-buy it because I want to purchase a full year in advance and I don't have an extra $128.
So I asked the question: Can I buy one-month and then convert to a year after one month? The answer was "I have escalated this problem and we'll get back to you in 2-5 days." I asked if he could just clarify that and he said the same thing. SHUT DOWN.
So, I googled it and saw a help document on how to convert your account to an annual pay so I went ahead and purchased one-month at $10.
Today, I noticed I couldn't work in Photoshop. I tried logging into my account and I got "Your account has been disabled, contact customer service."
What the heck!!!??
So, on chat this morning here is what I found out. It apparently takes 7-10 days to DELETE AN ACCOUNT. So, my Old Account was deleted as per my request 8 days ago!
Now, I have an ACTIVE Adobe CC subscription with a DEACTIVATED account so I can't use it.
Oh, my problem was escalated and I'll hear back from them in 2-5 days. Meanwhile, I don't get to work on any of my projects that I am needing to work on.

THANKS ADOBE!

My Take on Google Inbox

2014-11-05T09:27:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don't know, Google is coming out with a new E-mail Client for Gmail called "Google Inbox". Their promo video can be seen here. Right now it's invite-only.

I got my acceptance today and started working with it right away. It is certainly new. I am not opposed to new I understand this will take some getting used to.

It is as you would expect. Items are bundled on the screen, you can add new bundles if you like and set reminders to deal with e-mails later. You can pin e-mails as well, so when you're "done" with other e-mails those still show or you can switch to only pinned items.

Then there is this "Done" thing. When you swipe an e-mail to the right it is marked as "done". It isn't deleted, it's simply moved off your inbox. There is a section called Done that you can go to and see all the e-mails you're done with. If you were to browse to your gmail on your computer, those e-mails are still in your inbox taking up space. So, ultimately, this is the end of deleting e-mail. Your inbox will fill up to eternity unless you choose the e-mails, go to a sub-menu and choose to move them to the trash. For me, this is very inconvenient. I use "swipe to delete" all the the time on my mail program. I don't want my inbox or server mailbox to be filled with garbage that isn't needed anymore. This is not yet a deal breaker but I don't look forward to having to visit my gmail and mass-deleting e-mails once a week. Oh, and I looked in the Inbox settings to see if I can swipe to delete and there is no option.

All in all, it's pretty and fairly easy to use. I like the idea of setting a reminder to deal with something later or pinning it until it is dealt with. My method is to leave e-mails "unread" and right now I have 27 unread e-mails many of which I will probably never deal with. Pinning them may force me to do something about them, or setting a reminder will allow me to kick the ball down the road a bit until I'm prepared to deal with it.

I am eager to see how it grows.

So Mad at Time Warner Cable!

2014-06-01T08:56:00.001-04:00

I am writing this post from my phone so bear with me. The reason why is that we have no internet.

I thought I was ahead of the game by scheduling my move for my internet service for the 31st early. I scheduled it around the 22nd of May. Everything was in place and I was even given a great rate change.

Then on the the evening of Memorial Day, our internet shut off; the 26th. I called to ask what was going on and the man said we were moving and it was turned up at the new house. I asked why they would do it 5 days early and he said someone got the days mixed up. I would have to talk to the move dept. who was off since it was memorial day.

Tuesday I called and he said the only way I could get service turned on at my old house was too cancel my appointment for the 31st. I asked him, how hard is it to hook up the equipment. He told me it was very easy all I had to do but plug it in. So I told him go ahead and cancel the appointment turn service back on at my old house and I would do it myself on the 31st.

That is when I got the surprise then I would lose my great rate that I was given before. He put me on hold for a long time and came back with the rate that was 7 dollars more per month and he said "well its almost what you had before." Yeah, thanks.

Now fast forward to yesterday. It was after 10 p.m. When I tried to plug everything in and nothing worked. So I called Time Warner and she said "Oh I will turn up your service now" and when she did still nothing worked. She told me that there had been no service at our house since 2010 and its very possible the lines have been cut. And that I should really have had a service tech come out to do the installation. Of course I was livid because I wanted a service tech to come out but I had to cancel that appointment.

So now, we have a service tech come out end the earliest date is this coming Thursday after I am going to be out of town. So the first possible time we can probably get everything up and running is Sunday when I get back. We are going to miss an entire week without our phone (VoIP) and television which we get online.

I would switch service to a new company but unfortunately Time Warner has the best service and speeds for this area.

I at least I am not paying for this week, so that is good. I wish I could get more credits but I don't think I can.

It's been a while...

2014-05-28T11:22:00.003-04:00

Sorry it's so long since I posted. We've been so busy with so many things. 8 kids can do that to you.

We recently closed on a new house and are moving in at the end of May. That's cool.

I'm considering posting my "book" that I started writing here in blog form since I may never publish it. I'll never have the time to write the rest of it.

Okay then, thanks for looking in.

My Vlog is dying

2013-09-26T17:15:00.002-04:00

So, I started this vlog (Video Blog) a few weeks ago. It was mostly for family but I didn't mind if other people watched it too.

I started out with like 20 viewers on each video but the last few are 10, 9, 6. So, I guess I'm getting pretty boring. I already know my life is uninteresting, is that it? Should I just quit? My mom likes my vlogs! (of course)

If you want to check them out, see it here.

Raining and Pouring

2013-06-04T09:12:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note to enumerate the things we were hit with over the last few days. Funny how things can be going relatively well and then you get decimated.

My wife falls roller skating on Sunday. She needs an ambulance to get to the ER. Broken Forearm (both bones) and Cracked Tailbone. She has a massive knot on the back of her head but no concussion. Doctors estimate she'll be in a splint all summer. Pain may not go away for years.
Youngest of eight, our little girl, is sick with a fever. It's a bug that has slowly been going around the family. It's been a rough couple days with her.
My thirteen-year-old closed the door on my three-year-old's fingers causing massive deformation and swelling. We thought something was broken; spent another several hours in the ER Monday.
With my wife unable to do basic movements without pain, she is unable to do the things she does all day including taking children to the doctor, etc. (We have some help today for that.)
My 40th birthday is on Saturday, we were supposed to have a party. My wife insists we still will have it but we need to do massive amounts of cleaning before then. It sure looks bleak that we will get that done so that may not happen. Friends want us to postpone but with our busy lives, I don't imagine we could have it another time if we postponed. At least not for several months.
The way our insurance works, we pay out of pocket until we hit our $2,600 deductible. I am estimating that we probably hit that, however, that means I have to take money from our vacation fund to pay for it. We have been planning and saving to go to Washington, DC for three years. I am concerned we either won't make it or it will be severely cut short.

All in all, things could be worse they could always be worse. But living through it along with the lack of sleep of a sick child and wife. It's hard to see the light in this darkness that I'm in. Please pray for me, my wife (especially) and my family we most certainly need it.

Can IP Addresses "Go Bad"?

2013-03-12T14:36:00.000-04:00

This is going to be a very technical post. So, I apologize to all the non-geeks out there. Feel free not to read this.

I'm having this problem at home and at work and it's driving me crazy. I don't know exactly what forums to post to because it affects Windows and Mac machines so it's not anything specific to one platform.

I'm referring to IPs that simply decide that it will no longer work. Here is the scenario...

I have a computer, server, device, whatever. This machine as been running fine for weeks, months, years. Then one day NOTHING, no speako. What am I talking about? Ping is one. Let's say I have three computers:

192.168.1.5
192.168.1.10
192.168.1.20

What will happen is that one day 192.168.1.5 will no longer "talk" to 192.168.1.10 but it will "talk" to .20. 20 can see both 5 and 10. And 10 can talk to 20, but not 5.

It is that strange. I could have 100 computers on the same network, same subnet. And one day computer A will no longer talk to 30 of those computers, but the other 70 will talk just fine.

It's not a firewall issue. If I were to change the IP address of .5 to .6, it will suddenly talk on the network. if I get a fourth computer and change its IP to .5, it won't be able to talk to .10 just like the other computer. It's specifically that IP address, nothing else.

Over time the IP address remains "blacklisted" weeks or months later it still will be unavailable. Restarting networking equipment doesn't fix it. Restarting the computer doesn't fix it. Flushing ARP tables doesn't help.

This is the strangest problem I have encountered ever. I don't know what to do.

My Own Tribute to Paul

2013-01-18T22:17:00.002-05:00

I would like to say a few words about my best friend. Paul Benjamin Anthony Deemer was born on the same day as my son Paul Michael John Paul Deliduka. July 26. But I didn't meet him until about 1999 when Holly and I moved to Columbus, Ohio and started going to mass at St. Patrick Church.

Erin went to Franciscan University like us but we didn't really know her. Holly recognized her so we struck up a conversation with them one day and we all became immediate friends. The Deemers were so inviting and friendly. We had countless afternoons and evenings, Sundays and Holidays together. At the time they had two children just like us. Two girls, we had two boys.

Paul and I would go out for beer and wings every chance we got. Paul set the limit, however, that he would never leave the house before the children were in bed; 8:30pm. Family was always first, #1, and I respected that. It was inspiring to me even then because I would have been like, "Honey, I'm going out, can you put the kids to bed?" But no, he always made sure he prayed with this children, gave them blessings and put them to bed before leaving the house.

Our Jonathan was born in 2001 and we asked the Deemers to be his God parents. Within a few months of that they moved away to Ann Arbor, Michigan but we vowed to keep in touch.

Paul and I both worked online and we chatted often on AOL Instant Messenger. One day he says to me. "Tom, Findlay, Ohio is about 1 1/2 hours from you and the same for me. What if we met there at a place called Fricker's and have beer and wings?" I was all in. Of course, as you can imagine, we could not leave the house until the children were in bed, even then so we would leave and get to Fricker's at 10:00pm. We would stay there and talk, eat, and drink, and then head home about 1am. Sometimes it would be as late as 2 or 2:30am which would put us home about 4am. But it was worth it!

Paul was always a friend to me. He sought me out many times to get together when the time had been too far between visits. We would get on the phone shortly after leaving the house, talk all the way up, talk while we visited, and then talked all the way home.

Things in my life that Paul has inspired in me are so numerous. I would like to list them all but I will no doubt forget them. My online name, "Tomnibus" was his idea. He said that I had so much information in my head that I was like a big Omnibus. So he called me Tomnibus.

Paul was an Actuary and Chief Financial Officer. I would go to him whenever I had financial questions he has talked me into and out of many many things. I am so grateful for his knowledge.

Paul is the reason why I became the Director of IT at the Columbus Museum of Art. I was sitting in a cubical in 2006 as a consultant writing code when he e-mailed me to say he was named Vice-President of his insurance company. I thought to myself, "Wow, this guy is a year younger than me and already this successful, I have to do something with my life!" That very day I had a call from the Art Museum and I jumped all over it.

He helped paint my house for "work equity" so we could buy it. I helped him move a huge pile of dirt to his backyard. The wheel barrow in our garage was his that he left behind for me when they moved to Michigan. Erin and he introduced us to "Fiesta Chicken" that we had on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

We were preparing to get together for a visit in Findlay one October evening when I received a text message from Paul. He was sick, throwing up, back pains. Thought he had a stomach bug. He had to cancel, "Maybe we can look into next week." I was sad but okay, it wasn't be the first time we had to cancel. Over the next few days I didn't hear from him. I e-mailed him and he said he had to talk to me but wanted to call me and he would soon. I patiently waited. A few weeks went by and I tried again. His e-mail back was simply, "Call me....". I called him and he went on to tell me how that night he got so sick, the next day Erin took him to the ER and there was something wrong. By the end of the weekend they had diagnosed him with Esophageal Cancer and not only that, it was in his lymph nodes and his liver; Stage 4.

I started to cry, he would have none of that. Over the next 16 months we talked, e-mailed, it became less over time. We did get to meet one time during his treatments. It was a good evening. After a bit it seemed he was in the clear. But then things got worse. I got an e-mail from him saying it was coming back faster. He said he wanted to see me but he would contact me.

A couple months went by, I asked him how he was doing, the e-mail back was: "Not good, we should talk." We never got to talk. Just before Christmas Holly had this feeling that things were going very badly. We contacted Erin, asked if we should be dropping everything to come up. She said, "Well, you shouldn't drop everything but we should plan a visit."

We set a date for December 29. When the time came, Holly was sick. We thought it best not to bring it to Paul. We set it for the next weekend, January 5. Holly was still sick. So we postponed another week to January 12. Late on the 10th Erin wrote me saying, "I think you should consider coming Friday. He is not doing well." So, we made arrangements with our family and drove up the next morning.

It was a perfect day for me. I got to talk to my best friend. I asked him if he was ready. He said, "yes". We shared a beer. It was wonderful and I thank God for that gift of just two hours with him. We drove home and I learned the next day he had gotten worse, unable to speak or stay awake for very long. Sunday the Lord took him to Himself. At the time of his death, I was having beer and wings celebrating my son's 3rd birthday. How amazing is that?

Paul taught me the value of family and family life. Sadly, I don't know if I followed his example over the last few years but I am turning over a new leaf. Holly and I were inspired by his love for his family that we're going to strive to make major changes in our family. Spend more time with the children, put them first. We're going to need some help, Paul, I'll be asking for your intercession.

I haven't read this whole thing over again so I apologize for any dis-jointed or rambling that I did. I feel that I wasn't able to explain everything this man has been do me. I don't think anyone will ever know. Paul is the kind of friend you find once in a lifetime. I am blessed to have had the time with him that I did.

Paul Benjamin Anthony Deemer ~Requiescat in Pace~

2013-01-18T15:48:00.000-05:00

The following is Erin Deemer's public statement for her husband Paul...

In a recent homily our dear Fr. Bill was commenting on the parable Jesus told about His coming like a thief in the night. We will "know not the day nor the hour." However, he said, if we are faithful in prayer and trying to follow God in our lives, He will send us the help that we need.

A little over a year before Paul's cancer diagnosis he had the same dream three times, in which he felt himself looking down on a scene where myself and our children were visiting the site of his death- it was clear that we were going on without him. A great sorrow from those dreams kept coming back to him, and he grappled with what that might mean. It led him to take care of some practical things, just in case his family should be left without him someday.

Paul never spoke of those dreams to me, until he was admitted to the hospital on October 22, 2011. From that moment he had a sense that this was the event that God had given him gentle warning of. Although filled with great sorrow, he prayed with Christ in His Passion, "My heart is ready, O God; My heart is ready." Paul never stopped praying, along with all of us, for his recovery. He never stopped going through any treatment the doctors thought might help. In fact, the Wednesday before his death he could hardly walk, but he courageously made the heroic effort to get to the Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit, in the hope that he might still qualify for the clinical trial they were setting him up for. When they had to turn him down, he very quickly began to deteriorate. He was very concerned that we know he was not giving up, just letting go. It was time- this was God's will. When we spoke of Venerable Fulton Sheen's prayers for him he simply said, "I think he wants to talk to me face to face."

We are so grateful for the prayers of so many people, and we are certain that those prayers granted us our first miracle, his initial amazing recovery- a whole year of wonderful time to spend with Paul- a last vacation and camping trip, last Birthdays, Anniversaries, Feast Days, baseball games, walks in the woods, bike rides...

Our second miracle is happening right now: the holiest and most blessed passing from this life that anyone could ask for. How many people are given the opportunity to do so much good through their suffering? How many people have so many people praying and offering the Holy Mass for them, literally all over the world, throughout their preparation for, and at the time of their death? How many people are able to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the sick that many times in their whole life?…I think I'm counting about twelve! Divine Mercy prayers and prayers for the dying with his family a whole week before his death…a good confession, Holy Viaticum...every blessing one could wish for in parting from this world. And that is the very goal of our lives, right? For "here we have no lasting city".

On Sunday, January 13, 2013 Paul received Holy Communion and the Anointing of the Sick from Fr. Bill Ashbaugh. Shortly after Paul's family arrived his breathing became labored and we tried all we could to make him comfortable and at peace. At 3 pm, even though he could barely speak, he called for me. When I let him know I was there he made the sign of the cross to the best of his ability and folded his hands. So I gathered the children in and we began the Divine Mercy prayers and prayers for those in their agony. Shortly thereafter Fr. Gerald Gawronski arrived and anointed him again, as his condition had worsened. He prayed for Paul and read aloud some of Paul's favorite Psalms. As he took his final breath I told him that I loved him; that Rose and Catherine and Anne loved him; that John Paul and Benedict and Fulton loved him; that baby Teresa loved him; that his parents and brothers and Grandmother loved him. Then he gave one final deep breath, and gave up his spirit to God. Moments later, Fr. Bill began the 6 pm Sunday Mass at St. Thomas, offered for Paul.

How Good God is. He has not missed one blessing for Paul and for us. I am sure He has not abandoned us now, but has great good for us. After all, He is Our Father.
God is Love.

Paul's Final Message

Shortly after his death, we found this in Paul's notebook...

"As we have come to the sunset of my earthly life, we gather for my Funeral Mass. I want to take a few moments to briefly reflect on the last 18 months of my life. As Shakespeare said, "When sorrow comes, it doesn't come in the form of one or two spies, but it comes as a whole battalion." This was definitely true for me. But as St. Paul said, in times such as these grace abounds all the more. I would like to thank the countless Catholic families who brought us meals over the past year. I would also like to thank the countless people who prayed for me, organized novenas, and had dozens of Masses said for me. I am truly humbled by the immediate and sustained outpouring of support from our local Catholic community.

In addition I would like to thank James Petcoff, owner of Conifer Insurance, for providing such staunch support for me from the moment I called him from my hospital room to let him know I was in deep trouble medically. That support allowed me to go through the past year without worrying about finance or insurance. Thank you Jim, you are a fine person who does the right thing even if not convenient.

I would also like to thank Dr. Philip Stella and the whole oncology group at St. Joseph Mercy who took such good care of me.

I would like to thank Fr. Gerald Gawronski, Fr. Bill Ashbaugh, and Fr. Dennis Brown for all of the spiritual guidance provided over the last year. The countless Masses celebrated in my house when I was ill, the many times of bringing me Holy Communion, and the countless hours spent discussing the spiritual aspects of what was happening to myself and my family all were tremendously helpful for navigating a time of great pain and sorrow.

And lastly, I thank you for coming to my funeral. Hopefully there is plenty of incense. My wish would be for it to look as though the fog had just rolled in. After all, incense symbolizes prayer rising to heaven. Please pray for me."

Born into this world: July 26, 1974

Born again in Baptism: April 2, 1994

Born into eternal life: January 13, 2013

The Manly Life

by Henry Van Dyke

Four things a man must learn to do

If he would make his record true:

To think without confusion clearly;

To love his fellow-men sincerely;

To act from honest motives purely;

To trust in God and Heaven securely.

During his illness Paul had written this poem/prayer by Cardinal Newman in his notebook along with the penitential Psalms,
Scripture passages, and quotes from the Saints. It signified for him the attitude he must have during the time of trial.

Lead Kindly Light

by J. H. Cardinal Newman

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home—
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path; but now,
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

When God takes someone from us, it is always for a good reason.

When the sheep have grazed and thinned the grass in the lower regions, the shepherd will take a little lamb in his arms, carry it up the mountain where the grass is green, lay it down, and soon the other sheep will follow. Every now and then Our Lord takes a lamb from the parched field of a family up to those Heavenly Green pastures, that the rest of the family may keep their eyes on their true home and follow through….

There will be a bright jewel of merit for those who suffer in this world.
Because we live in a world where position is determined economically,

we forget that in God’s world the royalty are those who do His Will…

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

May the Lord Help this Country

2012-11-07T09:24:00.001-05:00

Everyone has already said it all. I have nothing new to add. The American people including 40% of Catholics have voted in the most pro-abortion president that there has ever been.

Lord God, you have given Men the gift of Free Will and it has been exercised to continue to leave your Church and your innocent ones to the wolves. I pray that you give me and my fellow Faithful Catholics to stand up for our rights and convictions during this upcoming term.

One thing I can't take.

2012-10-07T22:45:00.006-04:00

I can handle people who wish to vote for Obama for a second term. I don't understand their thinking but I know that there are many people out there who believe in him and believe he's best for the country or they want his brand of politics to become the norm (socialism, etc). I get all that and I am not going to argue with them or try to stop them from voting the way they feel is right.

However, there is one thing I cannot take. That is those people who consider themselves faithful Catholics. They consider themselves loyal to the Church and to the Pope but still are going to vote for Obama.

As Catholics, the most important issue is that of Life. As John Paul II said so eloquently (and much better than I could ever say.) "Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination" (Christifideles Laici, 1988)

How can you call yourself a Catholic, attend Catholic functions, proclaim to be members of Catholic groups all while voting for the most pro-abortion president this country has ever seen. He is the most biblically-hostile president in history.

Obama has been at war with the Catholic Church since he first started in Chicago and it continues today.

How can these people live with themselves and vote with a clear conscience?! I just can't take it, I have started un-friending Catholics on Facebook who promote themselves as loyal to the Church all while voting for this president. I must have standards and stick with my principles or else I cannot stand for anything.

If you are among this group of Catholics for Obama. Feel free to unfriend me because when I eventually find out your stance, I won't have to do it myself.

Extreme Picky Eater

2012-07-24T10:49:00.001-04:00

I'm sick of these dietitians and their "solutions" for picky eaters. I have a few children who are picky and it is agonizing. They are not just toddlers either, they're 14, 13, and 11. Today, my 11 and 14 year-olds actually PEALED their pancakes because the normal browning on the pancake outside was too much for them and they would eat it. You can imagine what was left of their pancake after peeling both sides.

We had the rule for a while where if you didn't eat what was for dinner, you didn't eat. All you had to do was put it in your mouth and spit it out and that would be acceptable. Well, two of the children didn't eat dinner for two years. A nutritionist told us we couldn't do that anymore.

So. What are some of these solutions that doctors suggest?

Make Food Fun: Make Shapes and such.
Doesn't work! They don't give a crap that it's in another shape! They see right through that. All my children have even when they were 2 or 3.

Let Them Cook
That doesn't work! We even put them in cooking classes at the rec center, still wouldn't eat what they cooked.

Be Sneaky, Hide Good Foods in What They Eat
Tried that, when they found out that something was in there (because they could taste the difference) they stopped eating that food altogether because they didn't trust us anymore. Also, it is hard to hide stuff in hot dogs, chicken nuggets and pizza.

Don't Let Them Eat an Hour Before Dinner
So they come to the table hungry. Well, when you have children to sneak and steal food all day, (snacks/sugar) it's hard to have them be hungry. We don't notice they're going out to the garage to steal food. We haven't yet invested in something to lock up ALL the food in the house. It's not real easy to do that anyway. Who wants to live like that? "Honey, I need the key so I can get the bread out!"

Require one bite or at least put it in their mouth and spit it out.
We tried that with the children. They would sit there and stare at the food for hours. One day my 14yo son, when being forced to try eggs, he sat at the table from 9am to 2pm and when he was told on penalty of grounding he better get it done, he gagged and threw them up.

Of my three oldest here is the list of foods each will eat:

Meal	14yo	12yo	11yo
Breakfast	Oatmeal Sugar Cereals Life Cereal Pancakes (peels off brown on sides to get the bits on the inside) Turkey Bacon	Pancakes Some sugar cereals Turkey Bacon Biscuits	Frosted Flakes Fruit Loops Pancakes (peels off brown sides like oldest)
Lunch	Chicken Nuggets if from Fast Food French Fries Peanut Butter Sandwich Ramen Noodles Plain pasta w/butter String Cheese Maybe a Sugardale Hot Dog if forced (no other brand)	Peanut Butter sandwich if forced to. Ravioli Pizza (usually peels off cheese) Pasta with Parmesan Plain Bread	Chicken Patties (Must be Tyson Chicken Patties) Bread Sugardale Hot Dogs (no other brand) Pizza with no cheese. Will take sausage as topping.
Dinner	Rice (sticky rice not minute rice) Rotisserie Chicken (Breast only, must peel off all flavor and only eat INSIDE meat. Taco Shells with cheddar cheese in it (no meat)	Tacos with cheese and hot sauce Mac & cheese	NOTHING unless having a lunch item for dinner.

No Fruits, No Salad (although I don't like salad myself), no vegetables.

I fully admit that I am probably the hereditary owner of their pickiness. I don't like Salad, Mayonnaise-based items, some vegetables. I get that but on those things I have tried them and don't like the taste. With these boys they will not try anything.. But I still eat way way more than these children.

I have heard once of a mother who did something extreme to break her child of pickiness. She served him something for lunch, he wouldn't eat it. Gave the same thing for dinner. He wouldn't eat it, she continued to serve the same meal to him for three days while he only had water to drink when he refused. On the third day, he ate the food out of pure hunger and that "broke" him of the picky behavior. I would think that I would be reported for child abuse if I did that mostly because I know that my children would stretch that out to 7 or 8 days.

I am at a loss. We're looking for counseling help again in the fall. We're going to get to the bottom of the fear these children have. I don't know how long it will take but we gotta persevere.

A Simple Repair

2012-05-14T15:21:00.000-04:00

It was going to be a simple repair. All I had to do was put door of our tall cabinet back on its hinges. See, we have a desk that is in a "U" shape that has a rounded end. Then next is the tall game cabinet. Next to that is our Lateral file.

Well, after laying down our new flooring, we had to put in the trim around the baseboard that caused everything to be in about 3/4 of an inch. So, the three items mentioned above were all put in nice and snug. What I didn't account for was the doors when they swing open extend beyond the edge of the cabinet. So, one day I opened the cabinet and the hinges came right off!

The solution, from what I could see, was to cut off a portion of the desk. So, I got my Japanese style saw and started sawing away, it is a beauty of a thing but it still took some time. I got about four inches in when I decided this was a job for my Circular saw. Before I could do that, however, I removed some cloth that we had stapled to the under side to hide the stuff under the desk. I pulled the cloth out but didn't remove the staples.

As I started with the saw I got sparks! I was hitting the staples. So, I stopped, cleared them out and started again. As I continued it got harder and harder to cut through the desk and the saw overloaded the circuit and popped it; shutting down the computer, printer, and everything else on the desk.

So now I'm on my way down to the basement to see which fuse I blew and didn't see any of them tripped. I thought it was strange but I flipped several just to see if it would bring back power. None of them worked. I finally flipped every one for the house and none of them worked!

I decided it must be the power strip I was in so I unplugged the one from the way, plugged it in elsewhere and my suspicion was confirmed. I had a power strip in a power strip so I had to get my orange extension cord out and plug my other power strip into that and things came online.

I put the saw away and started again with my Japanese style saw. Every four inches I stopped and sucked up the saw dust with my trusty vacuum. I finally made it all the way through to the other side. I re-positioned the cabinet and found that I still needed another inch off the desk!

So, back to sawing I went. 15 minutes later, I sized everything up and I was in good shape. I saw down in front of the tall cabinet and re-attached the door.

Simple, right?!

Its been a long time

2012-03-01T20:43:00.001-05:00

Not sure anyone reads this, just installed the mobile app on my phone. Trying it out for the first time. Hee hee.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-12T13:41:00.000-05:00

I know it's not Christmas yet, but we're getting ready. It was Gaudete (Joy) Sunday this past weekend which, for you Catholics, is the pink (or rose) candle on the Advent Calendar.

We celebrate this day by putting up our Christmas Tree. Every year I do a time-elapsed video of us doing it so I have attached it here.

Also, check out the outtakes. We have a family of 7 boys, can you imagine what it takes to get all of these boys together to sing a song even if it's just one line?

Accomplishments

2011-11-28T13:22:00.001-05:00

An accomplishment can lift you up. There is nothing better than working on a task and finishing it.

Get inspired today, sit down, find something that has been alluding you, some work issue or home issue that just won't go away. Work on it. Finish it.

You'll feel better.

Finding Myself Online

2011-01-27T20:56:00.003-05:00

So, based on a tip about spokeo.com that shows public information about you, I searched for myself. Now there is a lot of concern about this site because it lists all public information about you. I'm not as concerned about it because everything on the site is able to be found by anyone doing a public records search. I have a very unique name and as far as I know, I'm the only Thomas Deliduka in the world.

What I find interesting is there is another Thomas Deliduka listed on that site! One in Libertyville, IL. I looked a that record, the first concern was that I had my identity stolen! Then I looked closer. The address is for the Marian shrine Marytown! Huh?! I used to do web design but that was a long time ago and I don't remember doing any work for Marytown.

That made me think some more. I went over to switchboard.com and searched through the entire US for "Thomas Deliduka" and found myself in Irving, TX! What?! I searched on that address and found it was the address for the Catholic Marketing Network. Now, I did do some work for them over 10 years ago but that was a long time ago.

How did my name get associated with all these places? That's so weird!

My Experience as a Cable Cutter

2011-01-05T13:37:00.003-05:00

I cut the cable for financial reasons right around August. We had HD Service with a DVR with Time Warner and say what you want about their service, I thought it was GREAT.

After we cut, we had to start watching TV by appointment and that was difficult. I have 7 children and sometimes getting them to bed at 8pm means sitting down to watch TV at 8:20, so we’re already missing a great deal of the show. I turned to hulu.com and cbs.com for TV. I filled up my subscriptions on Hulu with every show we love and it started getting filled up with shows we wanted to see or missed the night before.

Our setup is this:

One old Mac Mini for our family computer, no TV connection; sits in the corner.
2006 macbook Pro that I use the DVI-out connection to the TV so we can watch on the big flat panel.
In both situations with hulu we have the Hulu Desktop app that is great and works with the apple remote.

The drawback of this situation is I can’t work on my computer in the evening because we’re watching TV with it. So, a lot of what I want to do at night doesn't get done. There is the option to hook up the old Mac mini but any video played on that stutters due to lack of cpu power and/or video processing power.

I have been wanting to get a set top box for viewing video content and was excited about google TV until reports of video getting blocked. Then I saw the “orb” for $99 which looks like a good option and may allow me to use my computer on my laptop while we play video on my TV.

Other Problems with our online video watching:

At one point “the Middle” on Hulu was listed as “episodes are no longer available online.” Wha?! For what? No explanation! I went to a pirate video site to watch shows.
Scifi (Syfy) started having all their shows delayed by 30 days. AARRRGGG. It’s nice to get Scifi because we don’t have cable but man, 30 days?! Now I think that may be lifted for some.
CBS shows on the big screen is the worst. We bring up CBS on the browser on the large TV. Hit play, then press “full screen” Well, almost every commercial is some sort of “interactive” commercial or something so it exits full screen! So, we have to get up from the couch to go up to the computer and choose full screen again. We have decided that if we’re tired, we simply don’t watch CBS shows; nobody wants to get up from the couch. I don’t have the money to get a wireless keyboard/mouse to fix that right now.

For now, we’re sticking with it. I still want a solution to have a set-top box to get content without having to pay for hulu-plus, etc. Perhaps I’m asking too much. I simply don’t understand the mentality that the TV is somehow a “bigger screen” and so you can’t have the content whereas the computer is (normally) smaller so you can.

Our Christmas

2010-12-25T06:03:00.009-05:00

Many people have asked me and wondered how our Christmas is with 7 boys. Well, here is a small glimpse into our world.

Our Christmas Eve started with Mass at 4pm (Well, cleaning the house before that...). We had a lovely picture in front of the tree and then headed off to St. Patrick Church. Mass was very pleasant as the Children's Choir sang.

We had our evening meal; our traditional Steak and Shrimp with my wife's family. Most of the boys don't like steak or shrimp so they had other boring food. And then hung out with the kids until we sent them to bed at 8pm. Everyone was very excited so it was tough to get them motivated to sleep. Joseph, despite not having had a nap, stayed up until after 10pm! It was like pulling teeth to get him to sleep. He must have been so excited!

Finally everyone was asleep, we went to gather the presents. The next hour was spent arranging and such. I unpacked the "Band Hero" I purchased on the door busters after Thanksgiving. I was so excited to play it! I Rock on easy.

Sleep at 12:30am. Holly heard footsteps at 2:30am but didn't wake me to investigate. I woke at 5:10am, shortly after Nicholas (4yo) came in and said, "Santa Really came!" He was so cute! Shortly after, we heard the footsteps of all the children heading up the stairs from their room in the basement. I thought I would head off any early present-opening so I headed downstairs. Stockings were pulled down and candy gotten into. Everyone ran around guessing what they got. Slowly Aunt Amy & Grandpa got up. Eventually Mom and the others woke up.

Then our 13yo Daniel revealed that he had been awake on and off since about 1am. He played with the guitar and drums from Band Hero and tried to peak at presents. He said he was awake almost all night.

Finally, about 6:45am we decided to start the opening of the presents. We generally appoint a Santa to pass out presents. In the beginning when we had less than three children, we would pass out individually and watch others open their presents. You can imagine in a family of our size, that wouldn't work very well. We'd be there opening presents all day. So, our appointed Santa simply passes presents to people and we all open on our own time. The drawback of that is we don't get to see reactions as much and sometimes miss what people open. However, the good thing is it's all done in about 45 minutes.

Here is our annual video from this year:

After all this, we play all day. We try to keep the trash under control but it normally doesn't work. At the end, our garbage container is full and we have 4 kitchen garbage bags full of garbage. This is not including the mountain of cardboard from the boxes the presents came in (and packaging for toys); those will go to the recycle later.

Around 3pm we have Christmas Dinner but we've been eating candy all day so nobody really eats that much, especially the children. More playing until we send them to bed. We then crash with an early night.

Sick of Foreign Tech Support

2010-08-25T16:18:00.002-04:00

I don't know if this post will label me a racist or what, but I'm going to risk it and post anyway.

Back-story

The back-story here is this. Back in 2007, I purchased a volume licence count of Adobe CS3 Design Premium for my work. We purchased only the Mac version. When I logged into the licensing website at Adobe.com I was greeted with 5 license keys for Mac and 5 for windows. I called Adobe and asked them about this since I didn't pay for the Windows versions. They told me it didn't matter, they supplied me with windows keys anyway. I asked if I could use those if I purchased the media and they said yes. So, I purchased media.

Fast forward to today.

I'm looking into purchasing the upgrade to Creative Suite to CS5. I called their licensing company and I get a woman who obviously doesn't speak English on a regular basis. I told her exactly what I said above and asked her if the situation still applies. Can I simply purchase 5 licenses and I get both platforms? Her answer was this:

"Yes, sir, that is a valid upgrade path from Adobe CS3 Design Premium to CS5 Design premium. You can do that."

I said, "But ma’am, if I buy just the Mac versions, will I get license keys for the windows version too that I can use? Does that still work?"

Her answer, "Yes, sir, the product is available in both windows and macintosh versions."

I thanked her for her time and told her I had no further questions.

This happens so often nowadays I'm so sick of it. I call Cisco technical support I'm constantly trying to explain to them what I really need help with. They continually get it wrong and give me the wrong answer. I spent two days with an idiot at Barracuda Networks because he completely misunderstood my question and gave me the run around. No matter how hard I try to explain what I need help with, they never get it.

I'm so over tech support. I don't really care if the person is in India, Mexico, or the US, I just care that they understand the damn English Language!

Being Forced to be Good

2010-04-24T11:16:00.004-04:00

I know it's been a while since I posted, forgive me. (Not sure if anyone even reads this thing but anyway....)

For those who don't know, I have seven boys. Ranging every two years from 12 down to 3 months. I realized the other day that my boys are only good when I force them to be good. I wonder if that is the nature of a boy? I don't know. Here is what I mean...

In the morning before school, they are not allowed to watch TV. That has been the rule since my 12-year-old was 5. We have never wavered from that rule. Early on, to "help" the situation. I programmed the cable box to block all shows from 5am until 9am so when they turn the TV on they can't get to anything. Thus, I was forcing them to be good by preventing them from disobeying.

When we got a new cable box, I didn't set the ban up and within a day they were down watching TV even though they knew they were not supposed to. I kept the ban off as an experiment and reminded them EVERY MORNING that they were not supposed to have the TV on. I did this for a week. Well the ban got put back on.

This week they had gotten some DVDs from the library. Well, all week I found them watching their DVDs!

This is just one of many things in the house. If I don't put in place forceful methods of making sure the children do the right thing, they won't do the right thing! Even my 12-year-old!

Just once, I would like them to do the right thing without being forced. But simply say to themselves (for instance), the rule is I don't eat outside the kitchen, I'm not going to eat on the couch.

Perhaps I'm asking too much. Who am I kidding, I'm raising boys!

Getting Fit - Plus

2009-12-29T11:14:00.003-05:00

We got a Wii Fit Plus for Christmas from my Father. Well, he sent us money and we then purchased it.

So far since the 24th I have gained 2.5lbs! I'm only 5'7" but at 198 I'm considered Obese. So... I'm motivated. I have been working out on the fit almost every day and I have been walking and trying to exercise every other day. I'm still gaining weight, however, since it's Christmas and I'm eating too much!

I got myself a crappy pedometer which counts between 1 and 3 steps for every one I take. It's now sitting on the shelf.

I have never made a new year's resolution but here it is. I have to lose 20lbs. 30 would be better but 20 is what I gotta do. First I have to give up coke. oh man, that's going to be SUPER HARD! I'll do that when I'm done with the 12-pack that I have. Don't want to waste right?

Years ago I purchased ineedexercise.com which is now still owned by me but I have it on a domain selling site because I couldn't think of anything to do with it. If anyone has any ideas I'll revenue share with you. :-)

Amazing Christmas Gift

2009-12-17T21:28:00.004-05:00

Tonight we had the boy's Christmas play. I may post some pictures later on facebook. Holly picked the kids up from school and went straight to OSU for an appointment Daniel had. Afterwards, we had to go right to the play, but we needed to eat first.

As we were walking into McDonald's, this man and his wife were in just after us. The man cried out, "Happy meals for everyone!" and I jokingly said, "heh, you're buying?"

We had a chuckle. Then his wife said, "Should we?" he responded, "Why not, it's Christmas."

I responded saying that's fine but it's not necessary, but he insisted. I was like, "ah, I've got 6 children." but he still said it was fine. I couldn't believe it!

The funny thing was we sat there for almost 15 minutes getting the order put together and the woman behind the register got it mixed up and had to add/subtract drinks, etc. finally the woman behind the register asked the couple what they were having. They responded, "Oh, we only need three large iced teas."

Wow! They only had come in there to buy iced tea and left paying almost $30 for another family's meal! Wow, what a blessing. God bless that wonderful couple.

I couldn't let them go away empty-handed. I pulled some free family passes to the Columbus Museum of Art from my jacket and gave them to them.

Lord, thank you for the blessings you give us. Friends have come to our aid this Christmas and strangers, and even anonymous people. We have truly been blessed this year. Thank you Lord, and thank you all for your friendship with us. We appreciate it more than you know.

~The Deliduka's

What does the Eucharist Mean to Me?

2009-09-19T20:40:00.003-04:00

Several weeks ago I was inspired to write this post. It has taken until now to actually get it done. At Mass one Sunday Father was giving the homily and was speaking on the Eucharist. He posed the question: What does the Eucharist mean to you?

Of course I immediately thought of the theological aspect of it. "It's the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ." then Father said, "I know you could tell me what the Church teaches what the Eucharist is, but that is not what I want to know. What does the Eucharist really mean to you personally?"

So, here I go.

My most intimate time with Adoration and the Eucharist was in college. I was in Austria at the school's campus there. In Austria, I really dove into my Faith and immersed myself in the Mass and the Eucharist. I would go many nights to adoration in the chapel and I would kneel for 45 minutes to an hour just staring in adoration. The Lord really opened up my mind and my heart at that time. I never felt more close to God than I did that semester. To me, the Eucharist was my solace from the week's studies and travels. The Lord would comfort me there in that chapel. All my cares and concerns melted away while I gazed as His greatness. New things were revealed to me. I didn't see just the wafer in the monstrance, I saw into a world of brightness and beauty that I have never seen since. This is what adoration should be. This is what I felt I should feel every time I received Him in the Mass.

Fast forward 16 years and I'm a father of 6 boys. It's all I can do simply to get through mass being able to hear what is being said and try to focus on what is happening at the altar. I cannot lie, for several years, the Eucharist was an obligation that I knew if I didn't go to Mass and receive then I would have to go to confession. I had lost the intimacy, the love, the amazement that I once had. I never wanted communion to be routine, but there it was, all the same.

I was snapped back to reality that Sunday when Father spoke on the Bread of Life and asked that pointed question. I realized what I had been taking for granted; what I had neglected. The Eucharist is the heart of the Church! The Eucharist should be the focus of my daily life and prayer. I'm not there yet, but I am getting closer. There's been a rekindling of my faith in that homily and I appreciate more the beautiful gift the Lord has left us. No where in the universe exists the Eucharist. This is where the Lord comes down to earth to dwell within us. I have a new-found appreciation for it again. I look forward to mass, I look forward to receiving.