Conversation in the lunch line today

Cashier: "Do you want to donate 50 cents to save a child's life today?"

Me: "No thanks, not today."

Yikes. SO not liking the way that reflects on my character!

A tesstimony that blessed me this morning

I have appreciated Paul Washer's preaching, but this is the first time I heard his testimony.

Paul Washer's Story from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Considering selling my library

Just thinking "what ifs" today.

I have a 900 volume library. It appears that many of these books are available for the Barnes & Noble e-reader. Some free ... some $3-10 range.

If I started transferring these books to the reader, and selling the hard copies, I could gain an enormous amount of space in my world, and all-the-time access to my books.

I like the pretty covers, that's true ... but I'm thinking I like less-stuff-to-dust even more.

Pondering ...

Amazon Kindle vs. Barnes & Noble Nook

I'm considering getting myself either an e-reader, or a new laptop for Christmas this year. (My computer is still working, but starting to get awfully slow for what I'm asking of it.)

In comparing the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook, I'm torn. So I decided to post the positives of each, and see if anyone else had any ideas!

Kindle:
Biggest pro is that it will read the book aloud to you. This is mighty nice. You could be reading something, and hop in your car, and turn on the audio, so you could keep reading while you drove.
Seems to have internet access included - has a rudimentary web browser, so you can use it to go online whereever.

Nook:
S/D slot, so you can add more books, and replaceable battery
You can read samples of the books before you buy them.
Reads multiple types of files, whereas the Kindle only reads what you get from Amazon
You can loan books to others, if you know their email address.

I've checked, and a lot of the old books I love - Stepping Heavenward, Paula the Waldensian, Mrs. Howard Taylor biographies, etc., are available, and are FREE.

The idea of getting books cheaper, and having virtually no storage space required ... this is a real interest for me!

Pondering ....

Preserving Leading Zeros when Merging from Excel to Word

I interrupt this blog with the solution to a problem that's been dogging my steps for years. I figured that if it's been causing me problems; it's been causing others problems too.

To preserve leading zeros:

Choose "special / zip code" cell format in Excel. This will keep the leading zeros while still in the spreadsheet. (If you have more than 5 digits, you may need to alter this format ... but you get the idea.)

Then, on the Word side ... (these instructions assume your document is already created. If it has not been, then make the changes to the Options before creating it, and you're good to go.)

Open the Word doc you want to merge

Choose button at upper left corner, and pick "Word Options"

Click on "Advanced"

Scroll down to "General"

Check the box that says "Confirm file format conversion on open"

Choose "OK"

Now, link your merge document to some random spreadsheet (to break the connection to the old spreadsheet.)

Save document and re-open.

Answer yes, or OK to whatever questions to get back into the document.

Re-link it to the original spreadsheet. Choose "Excel spreadsheet" when it asks for confirmation of the type of document.

Merge.

Leading zeroes will be there.

Happy, happy me. (Since this year's offering envelopes start with "00". :)

Addendum: This only works for me if I open the spreadsheet manually prior to merging. However, I'm running Windows on a Mac inside Parallels, so this may be a Mac-related weirdness. But if you have trouble, try opening the spreadsheet before merging.

the wonderful magic box

The offices at the church where I work are notoriously hard to heat & cool. The building has been added on to in phases over the last 30 years, and so it's a bit ... well ... finicky.

But this wonderful box has appeared this week.

It's a portable thermostat. If you have possession of the box, your office comes to whatever temperature you set.

Of course, possession of the box is going to be a hotly-contested prize. But ... right now ... I have it, and it's LOVELY in here. :)

Anyone care to join me?

I want to try reading through the Bible in 2010 using Robert Murray M'Cheyne's reading plan. I'm going to start today, so as to leave myself a few skip days!

A couple of Facebook friends have said they want to join in.

I downloaded the schedule here: http://www.mountzion.org/text/DailyBibleReading.pdf

If you've never read the Bible through, why not join us!

Thanks Mom!

Mom has been working on this beauitful flannel quilt for me, and while I got to pick out some of the fabric, I never got to see it until today. I just love it! It's all the colors I like best, and such a pretty design!

 

 

I've decided that I just might start making my bed again (a habit I've gradually forfeited due to early morning alarm clocks), just because it's too pretty not to see in all its glory!

A couple sweet pictures of the adorable nieces