I stood out in the parking lot yesterday taking in the warmth of the sun and the smells of fall surrounding all about. The blue of the sky above and the yellow of the leaves in a stand of trees nearby were so near perfect they seemed to insist I linger. I stayed put to appreciate what must have been offered up as the ultimate autumn day.

Shortly thereafter Carol from the office came outside and headed for her car.

She pointed to the stand of trees I was admiring. The lovely yellow leaves were clinging to the branches of the trees as a light wind rustled around and through them.

"Winds of change," Carol offered ominously, "winter can't be far behind."

I chuckled to myself how the warm glow of this present fall day could be cast aside for the future cold of the inevitable winter ahead. But it does seem consistent with Carol's personality to see the ominous in the tranquil.

And Carol is right. With the national election ahead and the economy swirling, change is without a doubt in the air.

Voting

Speaking of voting, the State of Indiana caught a lot of national flack with its requirement that voters produce a photo ID before exercising the right to vote. It seemed to be a reasonable requirement, a good idea really, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed.

The photo ID requirement seemed even a better idea to me in retrospect last week. That's when it was revealed that a community organization group known as ACORN filed about 2,500 fraudulent new voter registrations up in Lake County.

Every single fraudulent vote disenfranchises a legitimate voter. I don't think it is at all naive to expect and demand that both political parties fight and renounce voter fraud.

Spoofed

"Spoofed" that's what the computer technician told me had happened to me overnight when over 1,000 messages appeared in my "in" box telling me my e-mail messages had not been received by my intended recipient.

Spoofing is the word used to describe the hijacking of one person's e-mail address by a con artist sending bogus messages out by the thousands.

Well, they weren't my messages and they weren't my recipients and you wonder just what these cyber-jerks get out of their time spent on purely mischief. So much profit has been made on legitimate Internet based enterprise that the real dopes are these guys intent on malicious mischief.

Gifting

Occasionally I listen to the radio programs sponsored by the Moody Bible Institute. In the past I've contributed to their fund raising, but it's been awhile.

The phone rang on the end table the other evening. I mention the location of the phone because we find our phone calls are pretty much all on cell phones these days. The phone on the end table is now referred to as a "land line" phone and this term seems to denote a prehistoric kind of quality to it. I think the days of our land line phone are numbered.

Anyway, when the phone on the end table rings at night, it's usually a fund raising call. I pick up this phone very gingerly and set it down quite quickly.

The caller on the other end was a student at Moody Bible Institute telling me about their pledge drive. I ached to set the phone down. I did not want to pledge that evening. But I tell you, there's something about these "kids" and their enthusiasm and raw sincerity. The Ball State guys and gals, the Purdue ones too, they get to me.

My Moody Bible fellow melted the icy facade I project over the end table phone. The check went out night before last. I've gotta get rid of that phone - these kids are too good!