Father's Journal: A little accident, a big lesson

Dear Son,

Yesterday, we went to "yum cha" with you and your grandma after church. We were amazed by your "friendliness" shown toward total strangers: waving arms, smiling, laughing, and saying a whole bunch of things that Mom and I would probably never understand (BTW, we recorded some...see if you could explain to us what those mean once you get older). Weather was gorgeous but a bit windy, and we planned to go to park with you after a little shopping.

While I was pushing you in your stroller in Ross, all of a sudden, your Mom screamed! When I took a look, I was stunned for a moment: you vomited your entire lunch plus the additional bottle of milk out, all over your clothes! Despite the mess and stinks, I've checked and made sure you didn't have a fever, then began the mission to find out the cause. It turned out, by the grace of our Lord, that you attempted to swallow a piece of clothing and ended up trigger you to vomit it out along with everything you ate and drink earlier. Your Mom and I have been very careful not to allow you to reach/grab anything, and yet, this tiny piece of cloth somehow ended up in your hands, then your mouth, and finally backed on your clothes. Had you actually swallowed it "successfully", we would probably keep scratching our heads trying to figure out why you got sick all of a sudden...it's all by God's mercy. Praise the Lord!

Because of your situation, we terminated all plans and immediately brought you home for a warm bath and get changed into a new set of clothes. Your Mom was a little sad because she's been wanting to bring you to the park, but it's either bad weather or busy schedule that didn't allow us to do so. But God's hand was at work. We ran a quick errand after settling you down with grandma, and it became fiercely windy all of a sudden. We did go to the park that we intended, and you know what? The surrounding was (and still is) under construction. The wind brought some dirt in our faces, and we literally ran back to our car to escape from the "muddy wind". Can't imagine if we actually brought you here and if we would be able to cover you up in time. It's another proof that God's plan is way better than our plans. That's why Jesus taught us to pray like this:

"¹⁰Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven."

May we all learn to treasure God's will as it's way better than anything we could possibly come up with!

In Christ w/ Love, Your Dad

Father’s Journal: My Son’s first “Ba Ba”

Dear Son,

February 26, 2010 at 7:15 AM, when I was beside your crib trying to lift you up, I whispered to you ‘Say “Ba Ba”!’, just as I did for countless times before. Only this time, I could clearly hear that you actually said “Ba Ba” back to me!!! I was so overjoyed that I literally jumped up and down, and within minutes, I’ve brought you to your Mom and told her the good news. And since then, I’ve been hearing you saying “Ba Ba” every day, and you probably would not know how sweet this phrase is until you yourself become a father someday…

As you’ve grown from “baby” to “toddler”, it’s about time to recollect what a wonderful and miraculous journey Mom and I have shared with you prior to your birth…

December 13, 2009 at around 7:00 AM, your Mom woke me up and told me there’s something wrong. After a brief discussion, we’ve called the OB (Mom’s doctor) and was asked to head to the emergency room ASAP. Little did we know that this trip marked the beginning of a 12-week journey with you, our precious son…

The OB confirmed that Mom's water broke and would need to be immediately hospitalized until she gave birth. There’s a 50% that you would be born within 48 hours; 49.99% within 14 days; a very remote chance that the membrane would seal up and the pregnancy could continue.

You were only 26 weeks and 5 days old. At that stage, many major organs including brain, lungs and intestines were not fully developed. If you were indeed born this early, you would likely be admitted into Newborn ICU at birth for at least 8 - 10 weeks, with tons of complications/surgeries as we’ve seen in some of your buddies in NICU later on.

By His Grace, the hospital has sent many specialists our way to keep us informed on the entire situation and the caring provided from the nurse team was top notch. All doctors and nurses alike were very helpful and sensitive to address our concerns.

I’ve requested your Christian uncles and aunties from our church to pray for us, but my feelings were so complicated that I really didn't know how to use words to describe. I’ve decided to humble myself and lay down all my worries in prayers, and trusted that you and your Mom’s lives are all in the hands of Our Father in heaven, and that He would use this journey to mold us into better children of His. God has proven His faithfulness and love over and over again in this journey…

In Christ w/ Love, Your Dad

What can you do with a box of crayons? Answer: Really Amazing Things!!!

This is a repost of a thread I came across on an online forum. Perhaps you’ve seen it before but to me it’s really stunning. Hope you would enjoy!

Materials needed: A box of crayons

Location: Streets of Copenhagen, Denmark

According to the artist, he’s been doing this on streets for over 20 years. This is his life!

Pretty cute kitten but not really special…yet!

Now this is something special…and there’s more!

How about this classic bottle of Coke?

Newsflash: Amazing statues discovered right underneath the streets of Copenhagen!

Watch seals right in the middle of the street…must have saved them lots of trips to Sea World!

I could play my toy yacht in the middle of the street…nope…I’m not kidding!

How big could a Sony VAIO laptop get?

Can you tell which person in purple is real?

Which side is “really” up?

Even a fly as giant as this is no match for our brand of bug killer…

Spidey, I’m stuck at the top of a pile of Jenga. Save me!

Who would have thought there’s a giant hole in the middle of the street? Help!!!!!!!!!!

Gold rush on the streets of Copenhagen?!

You still don’t believe it, do you?

These gold are all mine! Wahahahahaha!!!

Finally, it’s Batman and Robin’s turn to save me from the building on fire!

SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager Snap-In failed

I need to access multiple versions of SQL Server at work, and for SQL Server 2000, it's nothing better than to use the SQL Server 2000 client tools to connect. However, after some uninstallation of other programs on my work computer has corrupted the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager Snap-In. Re-installation was a challenge on its own. Just want to post what helped me in this incident and see if it could help anyone down the road...

SQL Server 2000 installation fails with "...previous program installation..." error message

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B312995&x=7&y=17

http://tonythetester.blogspot.com/2008/08/enterprise-manager-snap-in-failed.html

Cheers!

The Gift of God's Smile - my reflection

From Max Lucado "In the Eye of the Storm":

"We do not ask these things because we are good; instead, we ask because of your mercy."
(Daniel 9:18)

If only, when God smiles and says we are saved, we'd salute Him, thank Him, and live like those who have just received a gift from the Commander in Chief.

We seldom do that, though. We prefer to get salvation the old-fashioned way: We earn it. To accept grace is to admit failure, a step we are hesitant to take. We opt to impress God with how good we are rather than confessing how great He is. We dizzy ourselves with doctrine. Burden ourselves with rules. Think that God will smile on our efforts.

He doesn't.

God's smile is not for the healthy hiker who boasts that he made the journey alone. It is, instead, for the crippled leper who begs God for a back on which to ride.

Dear Father, I don't remember since when I fell from your mercy to think that only my achievements would make You and others around me smile. It's my sins that have blinded me to think less about You and more on what I could/should accomplish. The striking news you brought forth tonight is a wake up call for my spiritual life. It's essential to be a good husband, father, employee, friend...but out of all these, only one is the most important and vital: I'm Your child, not by my works/performance, but completely by Your grace. Forgive me God! May You have the Holy Spirit constantly remind me this truth and help me to love You more! In Jesus' Name I prayed, Amen.

離婚酒店 - an inspiring story forwarded by a couple in Christ

他和她結婚整整10年 了，夫妻間已經沒有任何衝動與情趣，他越來越覺得自己對她幾乎就是一種程式與義務，他開始厭煩起了她，尤其是單位新調進了一個年輕活潑的女孩，對他發起了 瘋狂的進攻，他突然覺得她是自己的第二春，經過再三考慮，他決定和她離婚。她似乎也麻木了，很平靜地答應了他，兩個人一起走進了民政部門。 ­

手續辦得很順利，出門後，兩個人已經是各自獨立的自由人了，不知為什麼，他心裏突然有種空落落的感覺，他看了看她：“天已經晚了，一起去吃點飯吧。”

她看了看他：“好吧，聽說新開了一家‘離婚酒店’，專門執行離婚夫婦的最後一頓晚餐，要不咱們到那兒去看看。” ­

他點了點頭，兩人一前一後默默地走進了離婚酒店。 ­

“先生女士晚上好。”二人在包廂剛坐下，服務小姐便走了進來，“請問兩位想吃點兒什麼？” ­

他看了看她：“你點吧。” ­

她搖了搖頭：“我不常出來，不太清楚這些，還是你點吧。” ­

“對不起先生女士，我們離婚酒店有個規矩，這頓飯必 須要由 女士點先生平時最愛吃的菜，由先生點女士平時最愛吃的菜，這叫‘最後的記憶’。” ­

“那好吧，”她理了理頭髮，“清蒸魚、溜蘑菇、拌木耳，記住，都不要放蔥薑蒜，我先生……這位先生他不吃這些。” ­

“先生呢？”服務小姐看了看他。

他愣住了。結婚10年，他真的不知道老婆喜歡吃什麼。他張著嘴，尷尬地愣在了那兒。

“就這些吧，其實這是我們兩個人都愛吃的。”她連忙打起了圓場。 ­

服務小姐笑了笑：“說實話，到我們離婚酒店來吃這最後一頓晚餐，所有的先生和女士其實都吃不下去什麼，所以這‘最後的記憶’咱們還是不要吃了吧。就喝我們酒店特意為所有離婚人士準備的晚餐——冷飲吧，這也是所有來的人都不拒絕的選擇。”

她與她都點了點頭：“那就來冷飲吧。” ­

很快，服務小姐送來了兩份冷飲，兩份飲料中一份淡藍一片，全是冰渣；一份滿杯紅潤，冒著熱氣。 ­

“這份晚餐名叫‘一半是火焰，一半是海水’，兩位慢用。”服務小姐介紹完退了下去。 ­

包房裏靜悄悄的，兩個人相對而坐，一時竟不知道該說什麼好。 ­

“篤篤篤！”輕輕一陣敲門聲，服務小姐走了近來，托盤裏托著一枝鮮豔的紅玫瑰：“先生，還記得您第一次給這位女士送花的情景嗎？現在一切都結束了，夫妻不成就當朋友，朋友要好聚好散，最後為女士送朵玫瑰吧。” ­

她渾身一抖，眼前又浮現出了10年前他給她送花的情景，那時，他們剛剛來到這座舉目無親的省城，什麼都沒有，一切從零開始。白天，他們四處找工作，努力拼搏；晚上，

為了增加收入，她去晚市出小攤，他去給人家刷盤子。很晚很晚，他們才一起回到租住在地下室裏那不足10平米的小屋。日子很苦，可他們卻很幸福。到省城的第一個情人節

那天，他為自己買了第一朵紅玫瑰，她幸福得流下了眼淚。10年了，一切都好起來了，可兩個人卻走向了分離。她想著想著，淚水盈滿了雙眼，她擺了擺手說：“不用了。” ­

他也想起了過去的10年，他這才記起，自己已經有五六年沒有給她買過一枝玫瑰了。他擺了擺手：“不，要買。” ­

服務小姐卻拿起了玫瑰，“刷刷”兩下撕成了兩半，分別扔進了兩個人的飲料杯裏，玫瑰竟然溶解在了飲料裏。 ­

“這是我們酒店特意用糯米製成的紅玫瑰，也是送給你們的第三道菜，名叫‘映景的美麗’。先生女士慢用，有什麼需要直接叫我。”服務小姐說完，轉身走了出去。 ­

“XX，我……”他一把握住她的手，有些說不出話來。 ­

她抽了抽手，沒有抽動，便不再動彈。兩個人靜靜地對視著，什麼也說不出來。

“啪！”突然，燈熄了，整個包房裏漆黑一片，外面警鈴大作，一股煙味兒飄了進來。 ­

“怎麼了？”兩個人急忙站了起來。 ­

“店起火了，大家馬上從安全通道走！快！”外面，有人聲嘶力竭地喊了起來。

“老公！”她一下撲進了他的懷裏，“我怕！” ­

“別怕！”他緊緊摟住她，“親愛的，有我呢。走，往外衝！” ­

包廂外面燈光通明，秩序井然，什麼都沒有發生。 ­

服務小姐走了過來：“對不起，先生女士，讓兩位受驚了。酒店並沒有失火，煙味兒也是特意往包房裏放的一點點，這是我們的第四道菜，名叫‘內心的選擇’。請回包廂。” ­

他和她回到了包廂，燈光依舊。他一把拉她：“親愛的，服務小姐說得對，剛才那才是你我內心真正的選擇。其實，我們誰都離不開誰，明天咱們重新結婚吧？”

她咬了咬嘴唇：“你願意嗎？” ­

“我願意，我現在什麼都明白了，明天一早咱就去辦結婚。小姐，買單。”他說著喊了起來 。 ­

服務小姐走了近來，遞給兩人一人一張精緻的紅色清單：“先生女士好，這是兩位的帳單，也是本酒店的最後一道贈品，名叫‘永遠的帳單’，請兩位永遠保存吧。"
­

他看著帳單，眼淚淌了下來。 ­

“你怎麼了？”她連忙問道。 ­

他把帳單遞給了她：“親愛的，我錯了，我對不起你。” ­

她打開帳單一看，只見上面寫著：

一個溫暖的家；

兩隻操勞的手；

三更不熄等您歸家的燈；

四季注意身體的叮囑；

無微不至的關懷；

六旬婆母的微笑；

起早貪黑對孩子的照顧；

八方維護您的威信；

九下廚房為了您愛吃的一道菜；

十年為您逝去的青春……

這就是您的妻子。 ­

“老公，您辛苦了，這些年也是我冷漠了你。”她也把自己的那份帳單遞給了他。他打開帳單，只見上面寫著：

一個男人的責任；

兩肩挑起的重擔；

三更半夜的勞累；

四處奔波的匆忙；

無法傾訴的委屈；

留在臉上的滄桑；

七姑八姨的義務；

八上八下的波折；

九優一疵的凡人；

時時對家對子的真情……

這就是您的丈夫。 ­

兩個人抱在一起，放聲痛哭。 ­

結完帳，他和她對經理千恩萬謝，手牽手走回了家。看者他們幸福的背影，經理微笑著點了點頭：“真幸福，我們離婚酒店又挽救了一個家！”

Killer Bees (SMB's that is!) On the Way! (for Vista and Windows Server 2008)

Just got this from Mark Minasi's newsletter. If you are using either Vista or Windows Server 2008 I would highly encourage you to check out the newsletter yourself:

http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws0909.htm

Hope you find it helpful!

Cheers!