JCruz Presents

Times are hard for many. They are for me also. Regardless of the times, I am going to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!

For those of you who have been greatly affected by the economy or can’t stop thinking about it, hang in there. We’ll get over this.

Finally its Friday and the weekend begins. It’s an exciting time of year. Christmas is around the corner and the thoughts of a new year and a new beginning come into mind. I thank God for everything so far this year. I’m happy to be alive and to be in love with a very special lady. I’m happy my family is doing well and that I have a job.

Let’s count our blessings whenever thoughts of defeat, lust, money, and failure come to our minds. Have a fantastic weekend!

The WordPress team released a new version of their blogging software and is available for download. Version 2.6.2 contains several security fixes, including at least one security fix. This week I will be in charge of updating several blogs that use this open-source software.

While updating WordPress is not very difficult, care must be taken to plan, test, and execute the upgrades carefully. If you are interested in receiving a professional upgrade to the lastest version of your WordPress-powered site, contact me or leave a comment.

Make it a great week!

Senator McCain’s speech on September 4th, 2008 at the Republican National Convention marked the first time I listened to him at length. He gave us a talk about who he was, his experience, ideas, plans, and how he differed from his opponent Senator Obama.

Overall I was pleased with his talk. In my opinion, Senator McCain is a much better choice than Senator Obama.

My favorite part of Senator McCain’s speech was truly inspirational and reminded me of a message Jesus gave to his listeners about what it means to lead.

If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you’re disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist in our Armed Forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed. Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. Because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself. - Senator John McCain

It’s weekend time! My beautiful girl and I are going to spend this weekend together. We try to spend one weekend out of the month on a special get away - no distractions and only for each other. This week we both caught a cold, so we may not be able to venture far from home. Nevertheless, any time we can spend together is absolutely priceless.

This week was long and tough, despite the holiday, because I have been fighting this awful cold. In fact, I think I might have gotten other colleagues at work ill. I’m sorry.

Stay safe and take plenty of Vitamin C. Have a fantastic weekend!

I just listened to Sarah Palin’s speech and it was very neat. Sarah is presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate.  I liked her manner, she seemed confident, strong, and determined, yet gentle, caring, and sincere.

I almost cried when the mention was made about her youngest son and how she would represent people with disability if elected. Though I’m not legally classified with a handicap, my heart goes out to anyone I see with one. I even feel my heart cry when I see the elderly struggling. It is a soft spot in my heart, and I know God loves people with a handicap or disability and the elderly very much.

I look forward to listening to Senator McCain accept the nomination for the Republican presidential candidate tomorrow. I’m not registered with any party but I love to exercise my right and liberty to vote intelligently.

I already made up my mind on who to vote for President and Vice President. However, that doesn’t shake or excite me much. For it is much more important to elect the right leaders to local offices and state offices than it is to vote for two people to a federal office. Servant leadership starts at the local level. It begins in the community.

Realizing how important that statement has become in my life, and how uninformed I have been about local elections and affairs, I started to watch the Florida Channel. It is a service to the people of this state to become aware of the various laws and proceedings attracting the attention of those we elected to represent us at the state level.

But that is at the state level. What can I do to stay ahead of affairs at the more local level? I can’t say the newspaper, for that is a commercial enterprise and is in place to serve advertisers and other hidden interests for the purpose of generating profits. I’m sure the answer will come. If you know it already, please share it with me and our readers.

On a final note, family is of great importance. I know there is no such thing as a perfect family. But still, I want my family to be a family more than it is today. I will begin by changing myself first. Watching and listening about Governor Palin’s family and then Senator McCain’s wife support her husband was truly inspiring.

Truly marriage is between a man and a woman and life is at conception. God bless America!

Tropical storm Fay has passed our area. This is the projected path of tropical storm Fay. Source: weather.com

Tropical Storm Fay passed through Southwest Florida without any major damages that I know of. I haven’t tuned to the TV in the last few hours, but at least where I’m at, electricity, water, mobile service, and Internet access have been uninterrupted and I feel safe. I thank the Lord my family and friends are OK.

Earlier today advisories went out for people to stay indoors as much as is possible. I didn’t feel as safe then. I’m so happy that my day employer had closed their offices for the day.

So what major things did I accomplish today? Well, I slept in until ten am, tidied up my place a little, and worked at home for my night employer.

It’s been a rainy day today and God bless all those that had to go out there and work!

Tropical storm Fay's path through the Caribbean, Southwest Florida, and now facing more of Florida and Georgia. Source: weather.com