The Steamer ISAAC SCOTT

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The Steamer ISAAC SCOTT

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NOTE: I have included this information regarding the steamboat, Isaac Scott, because Capt. J. G. Bagley who brought the steamer J. C. Stewart down from Wilmington, NC mentioned that he had been the engineer on the Isaac Scott back in 1852. When Capt. Bagley arrived in Hawkinsville, GA in December of 1886, I suppose that he would have passed the twenty-five year old wreckage of the Isaac Scott.

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Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army by United States. Army. Corps of Engineers

for the year, 1896 – Part I

During the year, the wreck of the steamer Isaac Scott was removed from the Ocmulgee River.

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http://books.google.com/books?id=a8JMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1269&lpg=PA1269&dq=steamboat+%22Isaac+Scott%22+on+Ocmulgee&source=bl&ots=K2W8EfSSxx&sig=kAYNU14LcDF0N0g1RT-qLBTjHic&hl=en&ei=NrmkTKHnL4Odlgf6ppmwDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=steamboat%20%22Isaac%20Scott%22%20on%20Ocmulgee&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=a8JMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1269&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1FLcOTIXHFKjL3rPzo-kNsokXF9A&ci=107%2C676%2C819%2C326&edge=0

 

What I believe…

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Having only read a couple of hundred verses of the Quran, which is a very small portion of it, my belief in Jesus as Messiah, Saviour, seems even more wonderful. On one hand they seem to agree that He is Messiah, but they take a different journey to missing the point, that He had to die upon the Cross to be the Messiah is so offensive that they offer the explanation of a “substitute” upon the Cross who died. What is odious to them, is a sweet smell to us, and that is because we see His sacrifice as the necessary completion of why He was sent to Earth.

They understand Abraham. They would surely understand animal sacrifice. And, you don’t take a blemished or sick animal to sacrifice, but one that is unblemished and pure. Wouldn’t someone question how killing an animal satisfies God for the sins we men have committed? But, if you believe that an unblemished animal sacrifice can cleanse us from our sins, and this sacrifice must necessarily be repeated again and again, then what is more perfect than the sacrifice of a sinless man? And here is one stumbling block, someone will say, “But there is no one that is sinless, but God.” But, Christians believe that God gave Jesus the power and direction to lead a sinless life… up to the Cross.

What of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son, Isaac? That God knew He would provide Abraham with a sacrificial lamb, caught in the branches of a bush, isn’t the focal point of the story. What is important is that Abraham, in his old age, having at that time an only son, loved and trusted God enough to take the one thing he loved greatly, his son, and go into the desert to offer God a sacrifice. This journey makes everything crystal to both Abraham and Isaac. No earthly father could set a better example to his son, than what Abraham did here. And, the example isn’t lost on Isaac. I don’t know if he ever gasped air as he came to realize that he was “the sacrifice,” that his father was willing to offer to God. Or maybe Isaac offered a sigh of relief when he heard the bleating of the sheep. For, no one wants to die, although for a higher purpose some will offer themselves.

Didn’t Jesus pray fervently in the Garden that this task be taken from him? And yet, ultimately he said, “not my will, but Thine Oh Lord.” There was no sheep caught in the thicket, to act as a substitute for Jesus. There was no “other person” who took on the form of Jesus so that Jesus wouldn’t have to die. In fact, if someone else had acted as a substitute, Jesus would not have been the Messiah, Saviour.

The perfect, sinless one, was nailed to a cross and became sin for us. One that is nailed to a cross is cursed. If God can be merciful to whom He will, then can He not purify whom He will. Jesus did not remain on the Cross. His side was pierced and blood and water flowed from his wounds, and yet, not a bone was broken. He died, and was taken and buried.

But the wonder of God is that on the third day, the Christ arose to sit at the right-hand of God. And, that all things might be brought in subjection under Him, Christ.

Some falter upon the notion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is One.

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Quran 4:171 Sahih International

O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul [created at a command] from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers. And do not say, “Three”; desist – it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God. Exalted is He above having a son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And sufficient is Allah as Disposer of affairs.

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My experience with the Holy Spirit tells me that there is no jealousy or rivalry between the three, they are One. It’s not an Earthly thought or concept. It is a Heavenly or Divine one. The closest thing I can use as an analogy of the three being one, is that of me, and my hand and my foot. If I do something with my hand, does my hand deserve a separate honor from me? No. If someone kisses my hand to honor me, do I become jealous of my hand in that it received the honor? No. It is one with me. Does my hand hold itself up in a kingly gesture because it was kissed? No. It’s my hand, a part of me. And, what of my foot. Does it become jealous of my hand? No. We are all working together. The parts are not separate. They make up the whole. We are one.

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But who do you say that I am?

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What I believe: That Jesus was the Son of God, born of the virgin, Mary. He was sinless. He was the Messiah, sent by God to die upon the Cross, thereby becoming the perfect sacrifice for all men. And, being obedient to his Father, he was crucified and his blood shed “for me.” He died, was buried and after three days he arose to “sit at the right hand of God.” Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins, and a sinner cannot have fellowship with God.

When I was 22 years old, shortly before my 23rd birthday, I had that life changing experience where the Holy Spirit came into me. The Word of God became alive.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

For most of my life I have not been obedient to God. I have not sought Him out, nor sought to bring others to Him, in Christ. However, I would be a liar to say that Jesus was not the Christ, the Messiah of God, sent to die upon the Cross in order to become the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of all men’s sins.

Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

I begin to understand what the “crazy” pastor in Florida is doing. His intention is to burn the Quran. Some seem to imply that “radical Islam” is all we need to fear. As if “chop your head off” or “blow up your body” stuff is the worst that can be done to a person. Read below, what is being said from the Quran. It says the Messiah wasn’t crucified, nor did he die, but it was a Godly hoax and an impostor was put in Jesus place. It was this impostor that was actually killed. *Do you understand what blasphemy this is to a Christian?

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Quran (This came from the Quran.com web site.)

4:157

Sahih International

And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah .” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.

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NOTE [ 10/10/23 ]: Some time ago, I had a realization regarding the “Anti-Christ.” When I was growing up and I heard the term “anti-Christ,” I immediately thought of the Devil, a single powerful being that was denying that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ. But, then it came to me that anyone that denies that Jesus is Christ is actually being “the anti-Christ.” Chopping someone’s head off is awful, but more awful is first convincing them that there is no Salvation in Jesus Christ. Jews are the “chosen people,” but if a Jew says, “Jesus isn’t the Messiah,” “He isn’t the Christ,” then they are acting as “the anti-Christ.” Against Christ.

A Tomatillo Salsa Variation #1

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  • Couple of small tomatillos (1/2 cup)
  • Vidalia onion (1/4 cup)
  • Lime juice (half of medium lime)
  • Tomato paste (1/2 small can)
  • Capers (15)
  • Agave Nectar (2 table spoons)
  • Fresh basil
  • Fresh Italian parsley (didn’t have cilantro) 
  • Fresh ground cumin
  • Fresh ground coriander
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Salt to taste

Chop to rough puree in blender.  *I have repeated this once and the second batch was as good as the first.  This is a mild, sweet salsa, with light flavor.

My Love of Food & Cooking

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I like watching “Mexico, One Plate at a Time,” hosted by Chef Rick Bayless. He seems to have a wonderful personality and life. I love the interaction between Rick and his daughter, when she is on the show. Through several years of episodes, you have seen a slightly pudgy girl grow into a slimmed down, pleasant young woman. I can only think that the young man who she turns her romantic attentions toward will be blessed. He will have to be a special person also.

Before the show came on this afternoon, it comes on our PBS station – UNC TV on Sundays, I had gotten off the couch to fix lunch. For some reason, I decided to fix some linguine, and mix it with the following, which I prepared on the stove top: a little olive oil, country sausage, onions, garlic, salad tomatoes, basil, Italian parsley, some tomato paste, salt, ground pepper & coriander, anise seed and a little sweetener (brown sugar). It all came together pretty quickly and had good flavor.

I like lime juice and use it quite often in both food and drinks. I had fresh limeade with my meal.  Compare Foods (a Hispanic grocery chain) sometimes sells fresh limes at 10 for $1.00. Even in the off season, Compare normally sells limes below any other local source.

Today Rick Bayless focused upon guacamole and it’s source, the avocado. I love the flavor and texture of avocados, but never had training in how to select them, other than the experience of buying ones that were “hard as rocks,” or “mushy with black flesh.”

As Rick progressed through the show, he repeatedly added fresh lime juice to almost all of the guacamole derivatives he created. He also used tomatillos, which he used both cooked (in the microwave for 3 minutes, and then pureed) and fresh (chopped in a blender) with lime juice in the same recipe.

Toward the end of the show, he showed how to select a ripe avocado. Look for the nub on the vine end. Apparently, if it is missing, the flesh around that end will probably be blackened. If pressing on the opposite end of the fruit (?) causes it to compress easily, then it will most likely provide a beautiful green flesh.

For most of my life, I rarely went beyond cooking hamburgers on the stove, boiling eggs for breakfast in a pot, or fixing rice and adding butter or margarine to it. Seasoning was with Morton’s Salt and McCormicks Ground Black Pepper and condiments were the big three: Hunt’s catchup, French’s yellow mustard and Duke’s mayonnaise.

For the last seven years, my culinary tastes have exploded. I have tried more varied types of foods and seasonings, spices and assorted condiments. I have not been consistently cooking my own meals for the last year, but have  run through cycles of having fun with food preparation. I understand how to combine foods and seasonings in my mind. I recognize many more spices, vegetables and fruits and have a taste memory for many of them.

Several years ago, although saffron was an expensive spice, I bought a small bottle at Food Lion. I told myself that if I did not try it now, I might die before I got the chance. I did not realize how little space the spice actually would take up in the vial. A small package was folded up which contained about a thumb joint portion of rust red flower stamens (Are they from the Crocus flower?). I found that you could add just a few of the stamens to steamed white rice to both add flavor and color. The rice became bright yellow, which worked well if you added frozen garden peas (the ones that are bright green). I don’t think I actually tasted the nuance of flavor that the saffron added to the rice, the first time I tried it. Maybe not even the second time, but eventually, I found a very distinctive flavor which was pleasant.

While on my jaunt to Washington, NC and almost to Phelps Lake yesterday, at some point, I began to rehearse the varied foods that I liked to eat. There are very few foods that I do not like the flavor of, cooked in some manner. I like chicken, steak, pork, and lamb. Most seafood and raw or fried oysters or clams. Most fruits, raw, cooked or dried. Nuts, peas, and beans. Vegetables from Asparagus to Zucchini fresh and cooked. I like soups, sauces, gravies and bread. I like most cheeses, except Limburger (It really does smell as if it is spoiled, and though the flavor is okay, it’s not worth suffering the smell.) About the only cheese I ate growing up was either Kraft Extra Sharpe (usually on cheese toast), or American Cheese slices (either on a bologna or ham sandwich, or on toasted white bread).

I like desserts, but prefer most of the other items before I would ever think about dessert. A good coconut cream pie with a hot cup of coffee (with cream & sugar) is pleasing. How about a blueberry pie or apple pie with a cold glass of milk? Or, a toasted English muffin, buttered slightly with Orange Marmalade in the morning?  I like various flavored teas.

One of my favorite foods that I can do well in the slow cooker are blackeyed peas with ham hock. Let these cook down for four hours and get tender. They are better if you refrigerate them for a day and serve them the next day. Reheat them, chop up some Vidalia onion, and I could eat just that, with a glass of sweet tea for the whole meal.

Another item which works well in a slow cooker are “pigs feet”. Put in enough water to completely cover them and then just a slight amount of apple cider vinegar. If you add too much vinegar, it will become bitter as the broth cooks down. There is not much meat to them, but the meat, skin and connective tissue are pleasing.

I once had some green beans and small potatoes seasoned with bacon, that a senior citizen had fixed for a community dinner. I chose to have a second helping instead of dessert.

My mother was not a good cook. The one meal that she did well was Sunday dinner. That’s lunch. She would fry chicken, and I would get the drum sticks. She would fix a sweet, potato salad (with pickle relish and mayo – no mustard) and I don’t recall the other vegetables she might serve, but probably corn, green beans or maybe even lima beans.

My love of good cooking came originally from my Aunt Sis (Carrie Kellum), my mother’s sister. She was a good cook in a country way. There were always two meats on the stove, and about three veggies, when I came in from school. She recycled food well. Left-over meat and veggies might go into a soup, or some other combined form the third day. She seasoned her veggies well with pork products. Long before Emeril Legasse let me know that “Pork fat rules,” my aunt had provided me with years of physical proof. I must have liked her “made from scratch” biscuits, and cornbread.   She made good chicken & pastry, and cornmeal dumplings in green beans.  I seem to recall a “divinity fudge” that was white with gelled fruit bits in it, but she definitely made a chocolate fudge that was almost pure sugar and chocolate.

Aunt Sis’ daughter, Mary Ann (Sharpe) was also a very good cook, but in her own style. I do not recall the difference between their two styles of cooking, but in the many years of enjoying Mary Ann’s cooking I only recall once (there might have been another time that I blocked out;-) that she fixed something that really wasn’t enjoyable. It was just a few years ago, and it was a tasteless clear gravy. She has not repeated that failure since… I am glad.

Cussing the GPS

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On Saturday September 4, 2010, Labor Day Weekend, I had already decided to travel down to “Little Washington” to eat at a restaurant that I had seen on North Carolina Weekend just the night before. Actually, since the TV show ran on Thursday and Friday nights, I watched it both times.

One segment of the show was Bob Garner eating at Marabella Italian Restaurant in Washington, NC. The owners, two brothers, were the latest of several generations of the family (which I do not recall) who had been in the business both as artisan baker and restraunteurs.

The food looked great from the start. You could tell that everything had the attention of the chefs. Garner tried the spinach ravioli, ossobuco (veal shanks), several other dishes and Mama’s Pizza which I believe he said had both smoked and regular provolone.

I knew quickly that I wanted to visit the restaurant sometime, so I googled and found the Marabella Restaurant web site, and another rating site with reviews. Worrisome was the fact that the building was small, the food was good, taking a long time to prepare, and long lines were the usual. There were a few negative reviews of one waitress named Summer.

By Friday, I had decided that I would try and visit the restaurant on Saturday. If I left by 8am, I should be there by 11 am when the business opened, hopefully beating any crowds that might form on a holiday weekend.

Another segment on the North Carolina Weekend show had been about Pettigrew State Park. The second largest natural freshwater lake in the State, Phelps Lake, is the focal point of the Park. Although I haven’t checked yet, I would imagine that Lake Waccamaw is the largest freshwater lake.


Phelps & Pungo LakesI used Google Maps to find Phelps Lake and get an idea of where it was located. My generalization was that it was North East of Washington, NC and North West of Lake Mattamuskeet . What wasn’t obvious by zooming in on the map and touring around the shoreline was the “rustic” nature of the region. Sure, I recall a gentleman who visited the park regularly and made a comment regarding birdwatching being very good. There were the old forest by the shore and the comment regarding some of the vegetation being like those in the Tropics, and a scene of a small Black Bear slowly walking down a dirt road in anticipation of going for a swim.

Having described the park, as above, and viewing it from Google Maps, and now recalling that I saw no residences around the lake, it still did not sink in that this lake is “far from the beaten path.”

I awoke sometime before 7 am on Saturday. By checking Google Maps I knew that the trip between Fayetteville and Washington, NC should take about two and a half hours. The street level view of Marabella Restaurant was great. What did not sink in, was that the building was located on Old Hwy. 17, now Carolina Ave., which ran through town.

Just a block away from the restaurant was the old Trailways Bus Station building. It is now a law office. Many times, growing up, I came through “Little Washington” on the Trailways bus, stopping briefly at the bus station and then travelling up to Williamston, Windsor, Ahoskie, Elizabeth City (not sure of the exact order without looking at a map) on the way to visit my mother in Portsmouth, VA. I still remember the Southern drawl of the bus driver as he called out the stops over the address system.

Hardees Country Ham BiscuitAfter I showered, I headed out the door and down to Hardees to get a Country Ham biscuit and drink. The ham is very good and I’ve found that this simple breakfast is perfect if I plan to have a good meal at lunch time. Currently, you can get a large drink (iced, sweet tea) for $1.00.

By about 8 am, I was leaving Hardees and heading out to, and up, I95. Near Wilson, NC you take NC264 east to Greenville and then continue on it to Washington, NC. If you were planning to visit Phelps Lake, you could even take NC264 to Pantego, a small community, and then turn onto NC99, before making some other twists and turns to the lake.

The morning was sunny and clear. Was it just two days prior that Hurricane Earl had brushed the NC Coast?

I do not recall what started me thinking about golf ball dimples and how that might be applied to the surface of vehicles to reduce wind resistance. It vaguely comes to me that it might have been a truck passing me with a Tonneau type cover over the truck bed. That often triggers a memory of an episode on Mythbusters in which the boys show that putting up the tailgate of a pickup truck will actually increase gas mileage because an “air dam” is created above the bed of the truck and air forms less resistance than the bed of the truck. *That physics probably does not apply in “in town” driving, but on the open highway, I would guess it does.

Washington, NC WaterfrontI arrived in Washington, passing under the Hwy. 17 bypass overpass and on into town before 11 am. Since I had a little time, I drove down to the waterfront where there was already much activity with a Farmer’s Market and those walking along the shore.

Eventually, I killed enough time and drove into Marabella’s parking lot right at 11 am. There was one customer, a man, already inside, to the left of the entrance. He had ordered a pizza which he ate partially and then took the rest away in a box. [Flickr Slideshow]

I ordered the Spinach Ravioli with sausage and asked that they also fix a small Meat Lover’s Pizza to go. The sweet tea was okay. It could have been a little more flavorful, but it was sweet. The bread that came with the meal had sauce and spices on top. It was good. The ravioli was good. The sausage wasn’t memorable. The overall experience was good, as was the Spinach Ravoli with Sausagefood, and although several customers came in before 11:30 am, there was no crowd.

I walked out with a boxed pizza and tried one slice once I got in the truck, just to know how it tasted hot. It was pretty good.

I tried to find free WIFI in Washington, looking near several library locations and driving through old downtown. I couldn’t find a connection for the iPad, which would have given me a good map to look at. So, I pulled out the HTC Hero and started the Sprint Navigation app. I entered Phelps Lake (I think.) and after a few moments the GPS was talking to me. I continued on NC264 heading in a NE direction and eventually came to Pantego. It is a small community where NC264 and NC99 branch off. I pulled off near the intersection and tried to check the GPS, but the connection had been lost. I had never been through Pantego and as I continued on NC264 toward Belhaven, I thought that I might never come through this community again.

About this time, I realized that my stomach was upset and that I definitely needed to find a clean bathroom… or in this case, maybe even a bush. I saw a Hardees billboard and knew that this would be where I would try to use the bathroom. As I arrived at the crossroads of NC264 and NC99 (a bridge crosses the river coming from Bath, NC), I River Forest Manor Bed-n-Breakfast & Marina, Belhaven, NCnoticed what appeared to be an old brown Hardees sign, without the actual signage, but there was no building and my thought was that the business might have burned down. I headed on into Belhaven, stopping to turn on my iPad to look for WIFI. I headed along the riverfront street, and past the Hospital… no WIFI.

I finally opened the GPS on my cellphone again and found where the Hardees was located (the new/current one). It was a short distance up NC264 and on the right. I pulled into the busy parking lot and on into the restaurant. First stop was the Men’s bathroom and “Thank God,” the empty stall to the commode. I tried to get a GPS signal, but it was spotty, as it continued to be the rest of my time in the area.

After my bathroom break, I attempted to get in line to order a drink… “tit for tat.” However, there was only one young man and after a while it was obvious that service would be excruciatingly slow, so I left.

I got enough of a GPS signal to find that I should have gotten on NC99 back at Pantego, so I backtracked my route. Hmmm… twice in one day. I never thought I would come through Pantego, NC again. I turned right onto NC99 and continued on country roads, passing open fields and forests. The GPS continued to talk to me, telling me to turn at certain points, or continue at certain points. But, the service was spotty and I could never get a good map showing where I was and the route to Phelps Lake.

Turning on to Pat’s Road I continued. The GPS said to continue on Canal D Road which was a dirt road. At this point, I began to believe that the GPS was taking me through a direct route. Canal D Road was long, straight, and although it showed some signs of having been travelled, was only travelled by me for quite a while. The GPS was counting down to the next turn, and I hoped that at some point it would become paved once again. It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve found myself leaving paved civilization for a gravel or dirt road, only after a while to return to paving before reaching the other end.

Half way down Canal D Road on the way to Phelps Lake.Canal D Road was a long straight dirt road. Sometimes there was grass mixed with the dirt. But, as I arrived at the next turn, onto Repress Road, my dismay bubbled over. Repress Road was another long, straight, dirt road, but with a little more grass. I started a short distance down it and then stopped. I tried to check my GPS, but lost service. I looked down the road and far down it could imagine a small black bear walking down it… perhaps one like that shown on NC Weekend. Eventually, I couldn’t see the real or imagined bear, and I had made my decision. I backed up to turn around and head back down Canal D Road. But, as I backed, I began to cuss. I was cussing the damned (and that would have been tame) GPS for not having enough sense to not be sending me down dirt roads “to nowhere.”

Or, perhaps, I had typed in Phelps Lake when that might have been the wrong name. Bumping down the road, I was asking myself where I had come up with the name Phelps. Perhaps it had been Phillips. Damn, where would the GPS have sent me? Was Phelps Lake actually a small lake at the end of an ever decreasing spiral of dirt roads? The GPS talking to me again about turning left onto Lake Road. No damn way I was going to turn onto another dirt road, taking me to some dead end. Plenty of gas still. Glancing to the right, signs of humanity… a large farm tractor (no one around) and further on a silvery barn.

No expletives deleted. Damned GPS, with not enough sense to get me to the right lake. A long dirt road, Canal D, but this time I knew there was Pat’s Road, paved at the end. A house on the right and then a mobile home with truck… and up ahead and then passing me, a young woman in an automobile going to one of these residences.

As I came to the crossroads where I had originally turned onto Pat’s Road, I pulled off to the right to check the GPS. I saw that Pungo Lake was only about 7 miles away, but that it would take over 20 minutes to get there… a sign that it might be more dirt roads.

Now, I was on Hwy. 45 (I think.). Off to the left in the far distance was a very large farm complex. It almost seemed to be like Cape Canaveral and I imagined it had to be gigantic, up close, for it to be so visible in the distance. I continued on Hwy. 45 as it began to wind and I began to wind around the distant complex and even get nearer at some point. A sign warning of “low flying planes.”

Now I saw that Hwy. 45 would intersect with Hwy. 264. I could then make a right and head back to Belhaven, Washington, Greenville and onto I95 at Wilson, NC. There was a church on the left, when I came to the intersection, so I turned into the parking area, and paused to get the pizza out. Now I was on Hwy. 264 and heading to Belhaven. I checked my gas and calculated that it would be “pushing it” to try and wait until Washington to fill up.

I turned off onto Business 264 into Belhaven. I knew I had passed a HESS (?) station my first time through. *Now that I think about it, if I had kept on 264, I would have come past Hardees and to the intersection much quicker. I got about 5 gallons of gas at $2.59. I knew I had seen gas for $2.4x just before coming into Washington on Hwy. 264, at a couple of stations so one of those would be my goal.

The trip back to Fayetteville was relatively quick.

At home, I got on the Internet and found that Phelps Lake was at Pettigrew State Park. I went to Google Maps and quickly found that where I had turned around was just a few miles from the lake, and that I had passed very near Pungo Lake as I travelled down Canal D Road. It was only now that I realized how “rustic” Pettigrew State Park actually was. The roads around Phelps Lake aren’t paved, or at least, that is how it looks to me now, having experienced Canal D Road.

The GPS was working as best it could, getting me ever nearer my destination, using the best routes it knew. I had put in the correct name for my destination, and just a short distance from that destination, I had given up, frustrated because I wasn’t seeing what I had been expecting and not knowing that I was travelling to the “heart of darkness”.-)

I hope to visit Phelps Lake at some point and will cherish the visit… I hope.

Location of Marabella Restaurant in Washington, NC

A Little Reflection

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Many years ago, in computer time, I sat down at a computer and began to play a game. The game was basically a journey. Everyone started at the same location, but the game gave you options of where you wanted to go next and options of what you did at each location along the way. So the game became very personal and yet potentially different for everyone. Learning how to ask the right questions became important, as to what you needed to do, or where you should go next. The only two things, for sure, was that everyone started at the same place and eventually everyone, who successfully completed the game, ended up at the same place.

Where are we going?

 

Everyone has to start somewhere, but, we all do not have to start at the same place.

 

Along the way, you pick up tools and learn to use them to further you along your journey.

What are some of the tools that you might want to pick up along the way?

One tool might be the ability to use a “blog” to record your journey, and share your thoughts along the way. Not only can a blog be a communication tool from the one, to the many, but by allowing “comments” in your blog, the many, one at a time, can ask questions or make comments to what you are saying. Their comments can help hone your communications skills, to help make you a better communicator.

A question you might ask yourself is, “Do I communicate better by the written word, the spoken word, creating a video or a combination of one or more of these.” If “a picture is worth a thousand words,” would it be better for me to type 500 words and provide a couple of images to illustrate what I am trying to communicate, or just type 2500 words?

If the normal “frame rate” of a video is 30 frames per second (fps), then 10 seconds of video should be worth about… yep, 300,000 words. Unfortunately, a poor script, visual composition, lighting, etc. can make the word value of a video far less.

Everyone becomes a producer. Production involves collaboration. Communication involves multi-media, and communication potentially can be 24/7 and “worldwide,” even if the world includes other planets.

The tools we are going to use to communicate, both for production, consumption and responding to others are going to get smaller and become more ubiquitous.

So, I want to be able to take out my phone (smartdevice) and create video, still images, audio and text and easily make “the best combination” of these available to one or many to communicate or share my thoughts and ideas.

Is any one tool going to give me the ability to communicate? Probably not. In the world we live in, in the world we will live in, we will need to have the ability to adapt to change. As tools change, we should be able to decide which new tools are going to be important, and have the ability to learn how to use them, either by being “taught” how to use them, or becoming “self-taught.”

My time is important, and so is my energy. I have a limited amount of both. But, being able to rest and renew, to remember and rethink are also important. Remember, it is a journey we are on. Sometimes we must walk alone, often we share the journey. Knowing when to walk away from the crowd, to follow that distinctive path that only we can travel, is part of Wisdom. Sometimes stopping is wise, even though we see others walking on.

Knowing how and when to share is part of Love.

Not a Geek, Not a Geek, …

bgibson135

Although I have worked as a Computer Consultant with Fayetteville State University for a little over 15 years, I do not think of myself as a computer geek. I do “play” with a lot of software and hardware that should make me realize that I am a “geek”, but it just hasn’t sunken in yet.

For instance, I was looking through a “Top 40” (or 45) of free apps for the iPad/iPhone on Friday afternoon. It was a countdown and when I reached #2, I had already installed about 6 or 7 new apps to my iPad. I say, “My iPad,” but it’s not actually mine. It is an iPad that was given to me, on loan, in order that I might test it out especially regarding the Blackboard Mobile Building Block. Chet Dilday has an iPad Project and this was one of the units from that work. It is a WIFI capable, but not 3G, system which means that when you get out of WIFI range, you’re not linked to the Internet, so the GPS and real-time mapping functions don’t work then.

I found that Blackboard was willing to provide either an WIFI iPad or an Android phone to me during the Mobile Building Block test period. Since I knew I was going to get an iPad from Dr. Dilday’s project, I asked for an Android device (whatever that might be). I wasn’t expecting much from the Android device, and the iPad was still in its early release, marketing frenzy hype. But, quickly I found that the HTC Hero (Android 2.1) was an exciting little piece of technology.

Let me interject that I’ve never owned a cellphone. I’ve used two cellphones extensively, but both were provided to me via work. The Hero came to me at a time, just at the end of 5 months of self-imposed emersion in the new Web 2.0 technologies. This emersion process, at least at the beginning was painful. It’s not easy for a 56 year old man to learn about, begin to incorporate & embrace some of the new ways of doing things. And, I am not a social animal, or not a naturally social animal and I enjoy my privacy.

So, getting the Android and iPad devices and beginning to get a real hands-on feel for Web 2.0, especially as it might be used in higher education, became “fun.” Frankly, though I don’t use the cellphone as a phone. It’s all the other neat, “hook me to the Internet” applications that I enjoy: email, news, simple Blackboard admin functions, recording live video while I’m out, posting to my blogs, either text or audio while “on the road,” etc.

If you had asked me if I wanted a GPS device, I would had said, “No.” But, if you ask me now if I have enjoyed using the Sprint Navigation (GPS & Map) functions on my phone, “Darned straight I have!” I even broke down and bought a phone mounting unit for my truck, and a USB power unit that plugs into the cigarette lighter so that I can recharge the phone while I’m out driving.

So, the #2 free iPad/iPhone app was “AirVideo.” You use the program to serve videos from your PC or Mac to your iPad or iPhone. It was simple and quick to install, a free app on the iPad and then a free “Air Video Server” app to run on my PC (or Mac, etc.) The free version limited the number of video files I could list in a folder, but “out of the gate” I was able to stream, without a hiccup, both MP4 and FLV files. You can actually download your YouTube videos in either of those formats.

Why might I want to stream video from my PC to an iPad? Well, video length might be one reason. YouTube videos are limited to 10 minutes, so you could stream an hour video from home.

On Saturday, I drove up to Smithfield, NC. I ate a little, shopped a very little, and stopped by the Johnston County Library in downtown Smithfield to see if I could hook up to their WIFI (if they had it, which they did). Okay, I see that I am “geeky,” because I walked in with my iPad and the Apple Wireless Keyboard and asked if they had a local history section, and if they had WIFI. I was directed upstairs, and told, “Yes, we have free WIFI.”

I saw nothing interesting, to me, in the local history section and so I went to a nearby table and sat down, noting that the chairs were simple, but stylish. I started the iPad and hooked to the Library’s WIFI, and then started the AirVideo app. It found my Air Video Server instance, which was running on my laptop in Fayetteville, and listed the two folders that I had made available. There was my SIFAT video (of my time at S.I.F.A.T. in Wedowee/Lineville, AL back in 1983/4) and it started playing with just a little hesitation.

I pull out my phone and start the USTREAM broadcast app, and here I am recording live video of me using the AirVideo app on my iPad, and the video that is playing is something that I recorded many years ago on a VHS Camcorder (converted to digital video a year or so ago). And, part of the video even shows the PC technology that was “state of the art” at that time, an IBM PC with a 10MB Winchester hard drive with a monochrome green monitor.

So, the Library chair was interesting to me and I looked for a manufacturer’s tag on the back. I attempted to turn the chair over, to look on the bottom, but because there were a few other Library patrons nearby, I chose a more discrete method of looking for the tag. I switched to the camera app on the phone and attempted to take a picture of the bottom of the chair. There was a 2 second delay from when you pressed the trackball button to take a picture, which was perfect for giving me time to get the phone positioned beneath the chair. The first photo was fuzzy, but there was a visible tag. The second photo was fuzzy also, but readable enough to get the first 5 or so character of the manufacturer’s name. I went to the Google Search app and started to enter the manufacturer’s name and the search suggestions popped up a name with “chair” appended to it. That was it, I had the chair manufacturer and I googled for their website.

I looked through their online catalog and did not find the exact chair and began to think that this might have been an old style that maybe the Library got at a discount. I then thought to see where a showroom might be located. To my surprise, the only showroom in the whole United States was in… Smithfield, NC. Must be the distribution point for America. I entered the address in the Google Navigation window and found that the showroom was only a few miles from where I currently was.

[Got sidetracked… with work.]