This is a very interesting article if you are a person who thinks that everyone deserves a computer. Negropointe has been battling people right and left to get his dream made into a reality. Of course one group that he is battling is Microsoft (surprised? Not me). The part that caught my attention was this:
"According to several people familiar with the discussions, Microsoft had encouraged Negropointe to consider using the Windows CE version of its software, and Microsoft had been prepared to make an open-source version of the program available."
That is a very interesting . Notice they said "Windows CE", not "Windows for Pocket PC". Does this mean that Billy boy has CE ready to go Open Source? I say let it out. It might be fun to play with.
On the health front. I am amazed how being at work can sap the strength from from me and I have only been here 3 hours. I guess it will take a while to build my strength up. I have not been doing much over the past 10 days or so and I guess it shows.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Cleared
I just got back from the doctor and I have been cleared for work. I am going in to work a half day today.
My incision has healed very nicely and he said that I had a bit of an anomaly with my sciatic nerve. It runs lower than expected and he had to alter his surgical plans to work on it. He said that is why I have to wear a back brace. The good news is I only have to wear it for a total of 4 weeks (instead of 6). He said that while my back is not 100%, I am better than I was. He said that the wear on my back is something he normally sees in people 10 years older than me. I guess that is not great news, but I CAN WALK WITHOUT PAIN! Praise be to God!
My wife has been a tremendous help the past 10 days or so. She has not let me lift anything too heavy, has literally done all the house work (except the dishes and fold the laundry...I still do that). She has really been a blessing to me. I love her so much.
My incision has healed very nicely and he said that I had a bit of an anomaly with my sciatic nerve. It runs lower than expected and he had to alter his surgical plans to work on it. He said that is why I have to wear a back brace. The good news is I only have to wear it for a total of 4 weeks (instead of 6). He said that while my back is not 100%, I am better than I was. He said that the wear on my back is something he normally sees in people 10 years older than me. I guess that is not great news, but I CAN WALK WITHOUT PAIN! Praise be to God!
My wife has been a tremendous help the past 10 days or so. She has not let me lift anything too heavy, has literally done all the house work (except the dishes and fold the laundry...I still do that). She has really been a blessing to me. I love her so much.
Friday, January 27, 2006
A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to Blogger...
I have been off work (doctors orders) for a week now and I have only updated my blog a couple of times. Why? I do not have a clue. I have had the time. Maybe nothing has grabbed me enough to blog about. I have been locked in the house (I have been out a couple of times for short walks, once for lunch with a Christian brother, and once for care groups. I am going out today to be with my wife as she goes for a follow up appointment with her doctor and then we are having lunch with our son.
I have had plenty of time, but I think the big reason is I need things to blog about and being home all day long, not being able to do much physically has kept me from finding things to blog about.
I read that AAA has broken up with her first real boyfriend and that is sad. First loves are special and I was hoping this would last a while. Now I doubt she will be down and out for long time. She is intelligent, has a captivating smile, a heart of gold, and she is very pretty. Her heritage does her justice :)
I have had plenty of time, but I think the big reason is I need things to blog about and being home all day long, not being able to do much physically has kept me from finding things to blog about.
I read that AAA has broken up with her first real boyfriend and that is sad. First loves are special and I was hoping this would last a while. Now I doubt she will be down and out for long time. She is intelligent, has a captivating smile, a heart of gold, and she is very pretty. Her heritage does her justice :)
Monday, January 23, 2006
Third Day
...of recovery that is.
Things have been going well so far. My incision is sore (to be expected) and I have sore places above my tailbone, but other than that, I am ok. I am envious of people who can bend normally. It is amazing how much I took bending for granted. I have to do everything with my legs and that is harder than it looks. So far I have not had any pain in my left leg. I have had some tingling in my left foot, but no pain.
Things have been going well so far. My incision is sore (to be expected) and I have sore places above my tailbone, but other than that, I am ok. I am envious of people who can bend normally. It is amazing how much I took bending for granted. I have to do everything with my legs and that is harder than it looks. So far I have not had any pain in my left leg. I have had some tingling in my left foot, but no pain.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Ouch and "Singing in the Rain..."
I had my surgery at approximately 2 PM (delayed an hour while we were waiting on the surgeon) on Friday. The procedure took about 1.5 hours. That was a little longer than expected because they found additional damage that need correcting. After some time in the recovery area, I was fitted for a back brace and discharged. I was actually able to walk a bit that night and took a small walk (.5 miles) the following morning with my wife and the dogs. Actually the doctor told my wife not to let me stay in bed, but to get me up and walking some. That is not a hard thing...I like to walk. Sitting still is what sucks.
Sleeping is tough because I have to wear the brace 100% of the time. I normally sleep fetal on my left side, but I have been trying to sleep on my back some of the time, at least a few hours a night.
Bending is a no-no. If I drop things, well if I can squat and get it (if it is light enough) then I am OK. If not, it stays on the floor until my wife picks it up. She has not grumbled at all the past 2 days. I am trying to help as much as possible with any light items I can carry.
I was prescribed antibiotics (3 pills a day for 5 days) and pain meds (as needed). I have only taken one of the Vicodin for pain, just a couple of hours before bed last night. It made me a bit sleepy, so I was able to get a good nights sleep, even though I kept getting up to go to the bathroom.
The incision is tender (duh!) and about 1.5-2 inches long. I am not sure how many stitches. I have a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on the 26th, so he can check how I am healing. I hope I get a good report back from him. I want to get back to normal. I do not enjoy having to have my wife help me to everything. I know it is God's way of showing me how much we need each other. There is not such thing as independence in a good marriage.
I have received a couple of phone calls and one meal so far from those in our care group at church, Ben* called and asked what he could get me and to be honest, I was in the mood for a pizza from Papa John's. He had one delivered and all I had to do was sign for it. What a guy. Mack* called later in the evening to see how I was doing and to let me know he was praying for a speedy recovery. He and his wife are looking at houses about 30 miles north of us. Homes are cheaper there so he will get more for his money.
We have not had any significant rain in about 3 months here in North Central Texas. That changed early this morning when it began raining and has not stopped. It is not a real hard rain, but it has been steady. I guess everyone who was praying got what they wanted :).
Well, our internet connection has been pretty bad all morning so I am gonna close this.
More later!
Sleeping is tough because I have to wear the brace 100% of the time. I normally sleep fetal on my left side, but I have been trying to sleep on my back some of the time, at least a few hours a night.
Bending is a no-no. If I drop things, well if I can squat and get it (if it is light enough) then I am OK. If not, it stays on the floor until my wife picks it up. She has not grumbled at all the past 2 days. I am trying to help as much as possible with any light items I can carry.
I was prescribed antibiotics (3 pills a day for 5 days) and pain meds (as needed). I have only taken one of the Vicodin for pain, just a couple of hours before bed last night. It made me a bit sleepy, so I was able to get a good nights sleep, even though I kept getting up to go to the bathroom.
The incision is tender (duh!) and about 1.5-2 inches long. I am not sure how many stitches. I have a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on the 26th, so he can check how I am healing. I hope I get a good report back from him. I want to get back to normal. I do not enjoy having to have my wife help me to everything. I know it is God's way of showing me how much we need each other. There is not such thing as independence in a good marriage.
I have received a couple of phone calls and one meal so far from those in our care group at church, Ben* called and asked what he could get me and to be honest, I was in the mood for a pizza from Papa John's. He had one delivered and all I had to do was sign for it. What a guy. Mack* called later in the evening to see how I was doing and to let me know he was praying for a speedy recovery. He and his wife are looking at houses about 30 miles north of us. Homes are cheaper there so he will get more for his money.
We have not had any significant rain in about 3 months here in North Central Texas. That changed early this morning when it began raining and has not stopped. It is not a real hard rain, but it has been steady. I guess everyone who was praying got what they wanted :).
Well, our internet connection has been pretty bad all morning so I am gonna close this.
More later!
Friday, January 20, 2006
I Think I Am OK / Coffee With a Friend / Mango Update
Yesterday started out as a very "foggy" day mentally and emotionally. It slowly got better and ended very well.
Work was what I call a "slow burn"; it started off slow but picked up speed towards the end of the day. Early on my friend Ben* called me and asked me to join him at Starbucks for a cup of coffee. I was a little nervous about meeting with him because I thought he knew what I was struggling with and I did not want to share it with him or anyone else for that matter.
The day rolled on with me checking the news (what is up with Osama bin Laden? TRUCE? WITH US? HA!), running some reports, showing 2 other people how to run them (seems like my gung ho attitude is making more work for other people...sorry!), showing a third person how to run a special report he needed, and the removal of some very persistent software ware from a fourth persons PC. All that in just 2 hours. I failed to mention I had lunch again with Paul* at Wendy's. Yeah, he is crude but he has a heart of gold. I had lunch with him last week (we had Wendy's and at it at the park) and he was pretty low key. His doc has been adjusting his meds and I think they are beginning to balance him out.
I had my coffee with Ben* and we chatted for about an hour and it seemed that he really enjoyed it. I felt blessed for many reasons. One, he enjoyed what we talked about, he enjoyed my company, and he prayed for me regarding my surgery today (yep, I go under the knife in about 3 hours). The man really has compassion for his BiC's (Brothers in Christ).
I got home at about 6 PM and my son was at the house. We chatted about this and that, not much of importance, but it felt good to chat with him. His mobile phone that we were paying for was shut off today. He has been told and has a replacement ready to be activated.
His car is acting up so he will be driving me back today from surgery in my truck. It is going to cost him $1600 to repair his car and his only paid $1500 for it and has put about $1000 more into it. At this point he is going to hang it up.
We gave him a small bag of groceries and lots of hugs. He is not dong stellar where he is living, but he is doing ok. I know that in some way he in ministering to those he lives with. I love my son. I am proud of him.
Well, my Mango plant is really doing well. It has 6 large leaves on it and the fair weather we have been having has really helped. I put it outside when I can, but many days it just sits in a sunny window.
The issues that were clouding my thoughts yesterday have left me and I am at peace. While I am still very nervous about the surgery, I am not afraid. God has blessed me more than I deserve and if I were to die tomorrow, I would not want for anything.
God Bless you all, and I hope to be blogging again real soon!
*Not their real names.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Fog
That is what I feel like I am living in. Fog. I have so much on my mind and do not know where to begin. Personal issues in my life are monopolizing my thoughts. I have not prayed like I normally do and my bible reading has slipped a bit over the past few days. It seems that the enemy has been working overtime on me. I want to pray more, but I am just having so much trouble committing to it. I hear the voice of God but it sounds so far away.
My surgery is tomorrow and I will be off work for a week. I feel so lazy. We men have to feel like we are contributing in everything we do. I do not feel like I am giving enough at work and I know I am not going to be able to give as much as I would like to at home.
I wonder if this is the onset of mild depression?
Not exactly the post you were expecting, eh?
My surgery is tomorrow and I will be off work for a week. I feel so lazy. We men have to feel like we are contributing in everything we do. I do not feel like I am giving enough at work and I know I am not going to be able to give as much as I would like to at home.
I wonder if this is the onset of mild depression?
Not exactly the post you were expecting, eh?
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
It Never Ends
Work Rant --
I have been working for months trying to clean up a huge backlog of tickets that have fallen into "the black hole" over the past 12 months. I have had some degree of success. My boss told me he has stopped getting beat up in the meetings and has now been given a "good job" nod from mgmt. I am feeling pretty good about all this. The stats are looking up, closure rate is good, our Service Levels (SL) are being met. Then I get hit with one out of left field.
From a forwarded e-mail:
"El Gee, can you give me an idea what is going on with case 12345678?"
I go an do a query on the case and it does not belong to us. As a matter of fact, it is halfway around the globe and has been resolved. Rather than respond back to my boss "No trouble found", I read the e-mail attached to see what HE was sent.
The e-mail originated from our Monitoring Center in Asia. They use a tool that generates tickets when network devices, servers, etc fail tests (ping, load, cpu, memory, disc space, etc). These tickets are worked by the team in Asia and if they cannot resolve them, they send them to the team that works that particular platform (network, telecom, Unix, Windows, etc). None of us at the site I work at knew that these cases were assigned to us. When I researched this, I found 446 open cases in our queue. How did all of us miss this large number of tickets? I have to compare the tool we use to Outlook (it looks a lot like it).
In Outlook, you have shortcut buttons that take you to your Calendar, Mailbox, Task List, etc. If you want to see your calendar, you click on it. If you want to see the journal, you click on it. When we were trained on this tool, we were told we only needed to look at the Service Calls. We had no need to use the other shortcuts. We were told that other people would monitor the work orders, auto generated tickets, and RFC's (requests for corrective action). It appears that this monitoring / auto ticket creation went live and we were not told our part in the puzzle. So now we have some real work to do.
So to bring you up to speed, I have spent the last 2 days sorting the alarm tickets out, closing what I can and forwarding the others on to mgmt. My bosses boss told me yesterday not to worry, because we are not being penalized for missing the SL on these. He told me to close what I could and evaluate the rest. So I closed 200+ alarms and created a report listing the others and send it to my TL and my boss.
My question is, if these are to be worked why are they in a separate area? The tickets look almost exactly like the regular work orders. They have the same severity. They need attention.
I guess I should be relieved. We only had about 450. The Windows group has 1600 to sort through. The LAN group only has a couple of hundred.
Back to work :-(
I have been working for months trying to clean up a huge backlog of tickets that have fallen into "the black hole" over the past 12 months. I have had some degree of success. My boss told me he has stopped getting beat up in the meetings and has now been given a "good job" nod from mgmt. I am feeling pretty good about all this. The stats are looking up, closure rate is good, our Service Levels (SL) are being met. Then I get hit with one out of left field.
From a forwarded e-mail:
"El Gee, can you give me an idea what is going on with case 12345678?"
I go an do a query on the case and it does not belong to us. As a matter of fact, it is halfway around the globe and has been resolved. Rather than respond back to my boss "No trouble found", I read the e-mail attached to see what HE was sent.
The e-mail originated from our Monitoring Center in Asia. They use a tool that generates tickets when network devices, servers, etc fail tests (ping, load, cpu, memory, disc space, etc). These tickets are worked by the team in Asia and if they cannot resolve them, they send them to the team that works that particular platform (network, telecom, Unix, Windows, etc). None of us at the site I work at knew that these cases were assigned to us. When I researched this, I found 446 open cases in our queue. How did all of us miss this large number of tickets? I have to compare the tool we use to Outlook (it looks a lot like it).
In Outlook, you have shortcut buttons that take you to your Calendar, Mailbox, Task List, etc. If you want to see your calendar, you click on it. If you want to see the journal, you click on it. When we were trained on this tool, we were told we only needed to look at the Service Calls. We had no need to use the other shortcuts. We were told that other people would monitor the work orders, auto generated tickets, and RFC's (requests for corrective action). It appears that this monitoring / auto ticket creation went live and we were not told our part in the puzzle. So now we have some real work to do.
So to bring you up to speed, I have spent the last 2 days sorting the alarm tickets out, closing what I can and forwarding the others on to mgmt. My bosses boss told me yesterday not to worry, because we are not being penalized for missing the SL on these. He told me to close what I could and evaluate the rest. So I closed 200+ alarms and created a report listing the others and send it to my TL and my boss.
My question is, if these are to be worked why are they in a separate area? The tickets look almost exactly like the regular work orders. They have the same severity. They need attention.
I guess I should be relieved. We only had about 450. The Windows group has 1600 to sort through. The LAN group only has a couple of hundred.
Back to work :-(
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Nagin Needs a Cooking Lesson
Where is He?
Over the past few years we have had comic book super heroes being made into Hollywood big-budget films. Spiderman, The Hulk, The Punisher, Daredevil, Elektra, The Fantastic Four, and The X-Men. We have even had remakes of remakes (Batman Begins and the upcoming Superman Returns). The list could go on, but the question I have is WHERE IS CAPTAIN AMERICA?
If you follow the trade rags, Cap'n America has been a failed TV series and a direct to video film and the rumors are all over the map on if and when it will ever be done correctly by Hollywood.
I have wondered why we have not seen a Cap'n America Movie and I think it may be because Hollywood is working on "The Avengers" which will have CA in it.
If you want to see updates on the upcoming comic book hero movies, go here for some pretty good info.
If you follow the trade rags, Cap'n America has been a failed TV series and a direct to video film and the rumors are all over the map on if and when it will ever be done correctly by Hollywood.
I have wondered why we have not seen a Cap'n America Movie and I think it may be because Hollywood is working on "The Avengers" which will have CA in it.
If you want to see updates on the upcoming comic book hero movies, go here for some pretty good info.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
I Am Sorry
That is what Pat Robertson wrote in a letter hand delivered to the son of Ariel Sharon, the PM of Israel after he made the STUPID statement to that leader that his condition (he had a severe stroke) was the wrath of God for giving up Gaza.
I will give Mr. Robertson props for apologizing, but he should really learn to keep his mouth shut.
If you are reading this and are not a Christian, please do not judge the many by the comments / thoughts /actions of the few.
On a side note, I had my pre-op consultation today. I honestly felt it was a waste of time and money. Thank goodness I have insurance. I waited for an hour, than sat with a nurse for 5 minutes while she wrote down my condition ... again. The the doctor came in, dictated some notes, and gave me the run down. He was rushed. He had a hard day and it was only 1 PM. Surgery is next Friday afternoon. I would appreciate your prayers for the skill of the doctor and a speedy recovery.
I will give Mr. Robertson props for apologizing, but he should really learn to keep his mouth shut.
If you are reading this and are not a Christian, please do not judge the many by the comments / thoughts /actions of the few.
On a side note, I had my pre-op consultation today. I honestly felt it was a waste of time and money. Thank goodness I have insurance. I waited for an hour, than sat with a nurse for 5 minutes while she wrote down my condition ... again. The the doctor came in, dictated some notes, and gave me the run down. He was rushed. He had a hard day and it was only 1 PM. Surgery is next Friday afternoon. I would appreciate your prayers for the skill of the doctor and a speedy recovery.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Assassins, Judges, and Linux Testing
This article was posted on Matt Drudge's News site but this one on an indie news blog tells a more gruesome detail not given in the Reuters story. The would-be assassin came to court with HIS MOUTH SUTURED SHUT in protest. Wow, what some people will do for attention.
It appears that Judge Alito is handling himself rather well, even if the Dems think he is being inconsistent. I think that is a bit harsh since Joe Biden can't keep his stories straight. Well at least he did not slaughter Judge Alito's name like Ted Kennedy did. During the first day of hearings, Kennedy kept calling Judge Alito, "Ali-oto". Dingbat (Hats off to Michelle Malkin for the link. Michelle is offering excellent converage of the hearings, btw). Who votes for people like Ted Kennedy??
I finally finished testing the Linux Boot Disks that were created for the local R&D sites to use for unattended installations. They all worked, most with some minor slowdowns, but one did not start the X server and refused to allow the desktop to launch. This is supposed to be unattended so my TL will have to fix this before we can release this to the sites.
It appears that Judge Alito is handling himself rather well, even if the Dems think he is being inconsistent. I think that is a bit harsh since Joe Biden can't keep his stories straight. Well at least he did not slaughter Judge Alito's name like Ted Kennedy did. During the first day of hearings, Kennedy kept calling Judge Alito, "Ali-oto". Dingbat (Hats off to Michelle Malkin for the link. Michelle is offering excellent converage of the hearings, btw). Who votes for people like Ted Kennedy??
I finally finished testing the Linux Boot Disks that were created for the local R&D sites to use for unattended installations. They all worked, most with some minor slowdowns, but one did not start the X server and refused to allow the desktop to launch. This is supposed to be unattended so my TL will have to fix this before we can release this to the sites.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Of Cylons and Back Surgery
A while back I saw the pilot episode for the new Battlestar Galactica on Sci-Fi. While I liked the grittiness of it, I was rather disappointed to see how sexual the new show was. For that reason, I never bothered watching the series.
I managed to see a few episodes and the more I watch it the better it gets. If you like sci-fi and have not seen this, I suggest you give it a try. The characters really grow on you and the new storyline is quite compelling. The new Cylons are not machines, well not all of them that is. The robotic ones still make up the bulk of the race, but they have figured out a way to make synthetic humans. Not clones, but beings that look, smell, and feel like real humans. The new Cylon Raider space ships are not all machine, but sort of cyborg space ship with organic and mechanical parts.
A couple of things that I do not like (other than the sexual content) are: Starbuck and Boomer are both female (Starbuck is white and Boomer is Asian) and Colonel Tigh is a drunk (and white). Just seems odd to me.
I like the new Adama, although his relationship with his son, Lee (Apollo) is strained.
I have seen 5 or 6 episodes, plus the pilot. I think I have about 10-12 more to watch, then I will be up to date. I also have a few more episodes of "The Lone Gunmen" and almost a full season of "Star Blazers" to watch. That should help keep me occupied while I recuperate from back surgery, which has been delayed a couple of days. The surgeon was overbooked and did not want to cut on me when he was tired. I guess that is a good thing, eh?
I managed to see a few episodes and the more I watch it the better it gets. If you like sci-fi and have not seen this, I suggest you give it a try. The characters really grow on you and the new storyline is quite compelling. The new Cylons are not machines, well not all of them that is. The robotic ones still make up the bulk of the race, but they have figured out a way to make synthetic humans. Not clones, but beings that look, smell, and feel like real humans. The new Cylon Raider space ships are not all machine, but sort of cyborg space ship with organic and mechanical parts.
A couple of things that I do not like (other than the sexual content) are: Starbuck and Boomer are both female (Starbuck is white and Boomer is Asian) and Colonel Tigh is a drunk (and white). Just seems odd to me.
I like the new Adama, although his relationship with his son, Lee (Apollo) is strained.
I have seen 5 or 6 episodes, plus the pilot. I think I have about 10-12 more to watch, then I will be up to date. I also have a few more episodes of "The Lone Gunmen" and almost a full season of "Star Blazers" to watch. That should help keep me occupied while I recuperate from back surgery, which has been delayed a couple of days. The surgeon was overbooked and did not want to cut on me when he was tired. I guess that is a good thing, eh?
Friday, January 06, 2006
What Happened to Being Neighborly and Thoughts on Witnessing
As human beings we are a confusing species. We are social creatures by nature, yet we do some very strange anti-social things. Most "social" people that I know are social doing things that are not very beneficial for Christians (drinking and clubbing). It seems that as Christians we tend to pull ourselves away from our community. We are not happy with what our community has become. We fill our days and nights with so many activities that we do not have time to be "neighborly" (guilty as charged, your Honor), build fences (sometimes quite tall) to keep our neighbors from looking in our yards (guilty again, your Honor), and refuse to take the time to get to know those who live right next door.
I have walked our neighborhood extensively and can tell which people spend time outside. It is easy. Look at the front door and see how many advertisements are attached or how many of the free newspapers litter their sidewalk and yard. Homes that have these same ads there day after day never go out the front door, they only enter and exit their homes via the garage (your Honor, I have stopped doing this. I am rehabilitated). The only way people are going to know we are Christians and see Christ's light in our lives is to interact with us and that is going to be difficult if they do not even see you.
I once heard a member of our church state that she wishes she could live in a town or community that was only populated by Christians. What a thing to say! There are so many things wrong with that statement, I am not sure where to begin. Do not get me wrong, I understand why she said what she did, she has been hurt and is becoming distrustful of the non-churched. I can relate, but we are called to witness to those who do not know Christ. If you lived in a Christian commune, how could you witness to others? While I do not have many "close" friends that are un-churched, I do have a few and I am witnessing to them. They see how I live and they have made changes. Not big ones, but changes nonetheless. I witness at work (I do have to be careful because of work policies) and have Christian and non-churched coworkers.
A while back I heard a Christian announcer comment that the Christian hard rock band POD has sold out because they are getting airtime on secular stations. How is that selling out? POD being played on secular radio is evanglizing to the unsaved. If they only played POD on Christian rock stations, some kids (and adults) may never get the message that THEY need to hear. If we are to witness to others, we need to let them see who we are and music is a great tool to witness with. I have known people say things like "I don't like praise music" or "I don't want to stop listening to rock music". That is when I pull out my POD, Day of Fire, Pillar, or Disciple CD's. Listen to those and you will not miss your secular music. If you want to really have some fun with music, go register on www. apologetix.com and download FREE mp3's from the best parody band around. Apologetix is sort of like a Christian Weird Al, but funnier.
I am sure I derailed this post but to be honest, I do not care. It is my blog :) .
I have walked our neighborhood extensively and can tell which people spend time outside. It is easy. Look at the front door and see how many advertisements are attached or how many of the free newspapers litter their sidewalk and yard. Homes that have these same ads there day after day never go out the front door, they only enter and exit their homes via the garage (your Honor, I have stopped doing this. I am rehabilitated). The only way people are going to know we are Christians and see Christ's light in our lives is to interact with us and that is going to be difficult if they do not even see you.
I once heard a member of our church state that she wishes she could live in a town or community that was only populated by Christians. What a thing to say! There are so many things wrong with that statement, I am not sure where to begin. Do not get me wrong, I understand why she said what she did, she has been hurt and is becoming distrustful of the non-churched. I can relate, but we are called to witness to those who do not know Christ. If you lived in a Christian commune, how could you witness to others? While I do not have many "close" friends that are un-churched, I do have a few and I am witnessing to them. They see how I live and they have made changes. Not big ones, but changes nonetheless. I witness at work (I do have to be careful because of work policies) and have Christian and non-churched coworkers.
A while back I heard a Christian announcer comment that the Christian hard rock band POD has sold out because they are getting airtime on secular stations. How is that selling out? POD being played on secular radio is evanglizing to the unsaved. If they only played POD on Christian rock stations, some kids (and adults) may never get the message that THEY need to hear. If we are to witness to others, we need to let them see who we are and music is a great tool to witness with. I have known people say things like "I don't like praise music" or "I don't want to stop listening to rock music". That is when I pull out my POD, Day of Fire, Pillar, or Disciple CD's. Listen to those and you will not miss your secular music. If you want to really have some fun with music, go register on www. apologetix.com and download FREE mp3's from the best parody band around. Apologetix is sort of like a Christian Weird Al, but funnier.
I am sure I derailed this post but to be honest, I do not care. It is my blog :) .
Thursday, January 05, 2006
A Leader in Serious Condition and The Living Room is ALMOST Finished
Ariel Sharon is a very sick man. The Israeli Prime Minister suffered a massive stroke and things are not looking good for him. I am not sure what this may mean for Israel. Will tensions increase? Will a new Prime Minister make a difference in the violent plagued nation? Only time will tell. I will pray that before he dies he discovers the truth like so many other Jews have. The truth I speak of is Christ Jesus.
With that said, I am sure that Christians are going to get a black eye after the remarks made by Pat Robertson. Why must he feel compelled to make negative, often inflammatory comments about the leaders of other nations? If we are to be a group of peaceful people, we need to learn to stop making judgments.
On a side note, the new leaves that sprouted on my mango plant are about an inch long in just 3 days. Warm temperatures and lots of water have helped, I am sure. Not that the plant has gotten any rain. It has been very dry in North Central Texas the past few months.
My wife has almost finished painting our living room. She is taking her time and with her schedule it is not easy to get much done at any one time. I can tell you that after she does a few touch ups, I can start moving all the audio and video equipment back in and we can start using our living room again. Yippee!
With that said, I am sure that Christians are going to get a black eye after the remarks made by Pat Robertson. Why must he feel compelled to make negative, often inflammatory comments about the leaders of other nations? If we are to be a group of peaceful people, we need to learn to stop making judgments.
On a side note, the new leaves that sprouted on my mango plant are about an inch long in just 3 days. Warm temperatures and lots of water have helped, I am sure. Not that the plant has gotten any rain. It has been very dry in North Central Texas the past few months.
My wife has almost finished painting our living room. She is taking her time and with her schedule it is not easy to get much done at any one time. I can tell you that after she does a few touch ups, I can start moving all the audio and video equipment back in and we can start using our living room again. Yippee!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Sadness From My Home and Decisions Made
Tragedy has struck my home state of West Virginia. Twelve coal miners have died after an explosion trapped 13 miners 260 feet underground. One miner survived and is in the hospital in critical condition.
The really sad part of this is that the family members of the dead miners were initially told that the miners were removed ALIVE. This info was delivered by the command center and cause the families to begin celebrating. When the real news came out, sadness hit like a stone. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones.
WV is know for coal mines, glass, crafts, and tourism. It is some of the prettiest land you will ever see. It is also one of the poorest states in the union. Coal mining is dangerous work that many West Virginians undertake because it pays better than most jobs available. When I was growing up there, the stories of mine accidents and death were common and the foundation for many ghost stories.
My doctor (the back specialist) called yesterday to ask me what I decided to do about the growing pain I am having. I told him that I would go ahead with the surgery, since my life without it would be painful and most likely very expensive. The surgery is scheduled in a couple of weeks. I will not be allowed to work, but I am going to keep my work laptop handy so I can watch movies and keep up with the news. I hope to be able to post some while I am healing. I will be out of action for about a week, then I have to take it easy for a month or so to give everything time to heal. Please pray that God will guide the surgeon's hands, my recovery time will be short, healing will be complete, and especially keep my wife in your prayers. She will have to wait on me for a while and even though she loves me, this will be tough on her. It will be tough on me too, since I hate being served. I like doing things myself (I think this is part of the lesson God is trying to teach me...to graciously accept help when it is offered).
Remember my post about my mango plant? I should have waited before I took the photo. That evening after being out in the warm sun and fresh air, 4 more leaves began sprouting. The "trunk" of the plant is growing taller and a bit thicker and is look good. I want to buy a nice planter to put it in sometime soon. All this plant talk is so unlike me. I feel like a geek :-) .
The really sad part of this is that the family members of the dead miners were initially told that the miners were removed ALIVE. This info was delivered by the command center and cause the families to begin celebrating. When the real news came out, sadness hit like a stone. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones.
WV is know for coal mines, glass, crafts, and tourism. It is some of the prettiest land you will ever see. It is also one of the poorest states in the union. Coal mining is dangerous work that many West Virginians undertake because it pays better than most jobs available. When I was growing up there, the stories of mine accidents and death were common and the foundation for many ghost stories.
My doctor (the back specialist) called yesterday to ask me what I decided to do about the growing pain I am having. I told him that I would go ahead with the surgery, since my life without it would be painful and most likely very expensive. The surgery is scheduled in a couple of weeks. I will not be allowed to work, but I am going to keep my work laptop handy so I can watch movies and keep up with the news. I hope to be able to post some while I am healing. I will be out of action for about a week, then I have to take it easy for a month or so to give everything time to heal. Please pray that God will guide the surgeon's hands, my recovery time will be short, healing will be complete, and especially keep my wife in your prayers. She will have to wait on me for a while and even though she loves me, this will be tough on her. It will be tough on me too, since I hate being served. I like doing things myself (I think this is part of the lesson God is trying to teach me...to graciously accept help when it is offered).
Remember my post about my mango plant? I should have waited before I took the photo. That evening after being out in the warm sun and fresh air, 4 more leaves began sprouting. The "trunk" of the plant is growing taller and a bit thicker and is look good. I want to buy a nice planter to put it in sometime soon. All this plant talk is so unlike me. I feel like a geek :-) .
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
The New "800 Pound Gorilla"?
The tech world is buzzing about the possibility that Google, the mega search engine entity, is going to release a cheap PC with its own operating system (OS). No real info is available yet, only speculation. That speculation has caused Google to be one of the hottest stocks in the world.
Google has been doing a good job of acquiring various Internet and desktop tools during the past couple of years. Google has in its stable Blogger (blogging), Gmail (e-mail), Picasa (graphics and photos), Desktop (search your PC), Earth (satellite maps), Talk (instant messaging), and Base (free classified ads). Not to mention tools for mobile phones, a tool bar for Internet Explorer (and a Mozilla/Firefox extension), image search, news groups, shopping (Froogle), video, RSS news feeds, and a web accelerator. They even bought a web site statistics program and are giving it away for free (if you get a Gmail account). This should make some Webmaster very happy.
They have also registered www.gbrowser.com, .net, and .org (although Google swears this was a joke). What is missing? Let's not forget their relationship with Sun and their plans to distribute Open Office anywhere they can. Heck, they even have plans to offer FREE wifi in select US cities.
OK, let's recap. Google owns or has close ties with: search engines, office software, photo software, e-mail, maps, news feeds, wireless internet access, and classified ads. The only thing missing is an OS. My prediction is (and if I am wrong, no big deal) that Google will offer a cheap PC with a Java OS, preloaded with ALL their tools. Just think, if they got into the OS business, you could quite possibly have another contender for Microsoft.
Currently the competitors to Microsoft are few. You have Apple, but Macs are not cheap, although the software is rather easy to use. Linux, which is free, but for the most part it is not very easy to use. That is about it. Well, there are other OS's, but Linux and Mac OS are the only ones that are used in the mainstream and that segment is small (well, compared to Microsoft that is). What about the other OS's, the ones that are really in the mintority? Well, Linspire is Linux running WINE, so it is very "Windows-like" but it is still Linux. Amiga is dead, and so is BeOS (although there are open source versions (free) being made of these). Solaris has a free Intel download, but it is a bear to install and configure, so it is typically used by diehard geeks. Solaris (the Sun OS) is best suited for Sun hardware.
Apple has not (and says it refuses to do so) released a version for Intel PC's,. Too bad. I feel this would be something that would sway a lot of people towards the Mac OS. Most people do not want to use Mac OS because it only runs on Mac hardware. Mac hardware is expensive (compared to Intel hardware that is). I could go one forever about Macs, but I will try to say on point. This post will be long enough as it is.
There are a few more obscure OS's being worked on: SkyOS, Syllable (both are new, Unix-like OS's with very nice graphical interfaces) and ReactOS. ReactOS is interesting because it is the only OS I know of that is made to be compliant with Windows, not Linux. All 3 of these are still in early development, but they show promise. None of them will never be mainstream OS's (mainstream meaning usable by Joe Consumer) because no one will ever write applications for them out side of the open source crowd and most likely will not be "idiot proof" to install. No, they will be "hobby OS's" that geeks like me will play with and learn on and tweak.
Now I think that a Java PC from Google would really be interesting. If you are not familiar with Java, it is a programming language that allows you to write the code once and run it on any machine (providing you have the Java Runtime Environment on your computer). Java is used on PDA's, in cell phones, on Unix / Linux, Windows, and Mac. It can be slower than the native OS, but on its own it does OK.
So let's look at a hypothetical situation: Google releases a PC with a Java OS (Courtesy of Sun). You could connect to the web with Google's free WiFi service, do all your searches with its search engine, work on your resume in the free Open Office Suite, surf the web using the free GBrowser, check your free Gmail e-mail account, organize all your photos with Picasa, and play tons of free Java games that are available on the web. What did all this cost you? The price of a PC, nothing else.
If you did this from a Microsoft perspective, you pay for your PC, much the same as you did with Google, but with Microsoft you would pay for MSN broadband every month, use the inferior MSN search, pay for your Office Suite (MS Office), use the insecure Internet Explorer to surf, and check your Hotmail account (which has less storage than Gmail does, unless you pay for the upgrade).
I am not saying that Google has a "slam dunk" here. As a matter of fact, I think this scenario would COST Google money initially. However, if they software is easy enough to install (like Windows), free (like Linux), easy to use (like Mac OS), then Google could make a difference in the way we use our PC's.
To be honest, I really do not want Google to be the new "800 lb gorilla". While it would be nice to see some competition as well as some standards (why is it we have standard graphic and sound formats, but not a standard document format?) in our marketplace, but as much as I like Google, I do not completely trust them.
I do not have Google Desktop or Picasa installed. I do have Google Earth (more of a toy than anything) and a Gmail / Gtalk account. I did not install the Gtalk client (I used GAIM, the open source IM client). I do not put all my eggs in one basket. Just as I do not like Microsoft having COMPLETE control of a normal computing environment (OS, Office suite, browser, e-mail client, chat, newsreader, etc), I do not put all my faith in Google. They are the kings of searches, hands down, but their other tools are not all that great. Good, mind you, but not great. The IM tool is very limited, Google maps has been wrong more than right when I have used it, the Picasa interface/usability takes a lot of getting used to.
Gmail is good and the changes they make to it are making it better. Blogger is nice (not plugging it, I just like it). Google Earth is very neat, but more as a toy than anything else. The image search in Google has been very helpful at work when my boss asks me to find pictures of obscure hardware we are making documentation for.
I am not a fan of Microsoft, but I am not "anti-Microsoft" either. I still use their OS on one of my machines at home (the other two have Linux). I do this mainly for my wife and for the odd occurrence where Windows and Internet Explorer are required. It is not often, but it does happen.
Google has been doing a good job of acquiring various Internet and desktop tools during the past couple of years. Google has in its stable Blogger (blogging), Gmail (e-mail), Picasa (graphics and photos), Desktop (search your PC), Earth (satellite maps), Talk (instant messaging), and Base (free classified ads). Not to mention tools for mobile phones, a tool bar for Internet Explorer (and a Mozilla/Firefox extension), image search, news groups, shopping (Froogle), video, RSS news feeds, and a web accelerator. They even bought a web site statistics program and are giving it away for free (if you get a Gmail account). This should make some Webmaster very happy.
They have also registered www.gbrowser.com, .net, and .org (although Google swears this was a joke). What is missing? Let's not forget their relationship with Sun and their plans to distribute Open Office anywhere they can. Heck, they even have plans to offer FREE wifi in select US cities.
OK, let's recap. Google owns or has close ties with: search engines, office software, photo software, e-mail, maps, news feeds, wireless internet access, and classified ads. The only thing missing is an OS. My prediction is (and if I am wrong, no big deal) that Google will offer a cheap PC with a Java OS, preloaded with ALL their tools. Just think, if they got into the OS business, you could quite possibly have another contender for Microsoft.
Currently the competitors to Microsoft are few. You have Apple, but Macs are not cheap, although the software is rather easy to use. Linux, which is free, but for the most part it is not very easy to use. That is about it. Well, there are other OS's, but Linux and Mac OS are the only ones that are used in the mainstream and that segment is small (well, compared to Microsoft that is). What about the other OS's, the ones that are really in the mintority? Well, Linspire is Linux running WINE, so it is very "Windows-like" but it is still Linux. Amiga is dead, and so is BeOS (although there are open source versions (free) being made of these). Solaris has a free Intel download, but it is a bear to install and configure, so it is typically used by diehard geeks. Solaris (the Sun OS) is best suited for Sun hardware.
Apple has not (and says it refuses to do so) released a version for Intel PC's,. Too bad. I feel this would be something that would sway a lot of people towards the Mac OS. Most people do not want to use Mac OS because it only runs on Mac hardware. Mac hardware is expensive (compared to Intel hardware that is). I could go one forever about Macs, but I will try to say on point. This post will be long enough as it is.
There are a few more obscure OS's being worked on: SkyOS, Syllable (both are new, Unix-like OS's with very nice graphical interfaces) and ReactOS. ReactOS is interesting because it is the only OS I know of that is made to be compliant with Windows, not Linux. All 3 of these are still in early development, but they show promise. None of them will never be mainstream OS's (mainstream meaning usable by Joe Consumer) because no one will ever write applications for them out side of the open source crowd and most likely will not be "idiot proof" to install. No, they will be "hobby OS's" that geeks like me will play with and learn on and tweak.
Now I think that a Java PC from Google would really be interesting. If you are not familiar with Java, it is a programming language that allows you to write the code once and run it on any machine (providing you have the Java Runtime Environment on your computer). Java is used on PDA's, in cell phones, on Unix / Linux, Windows, and Mac. It can be slower than the native OS, but on its own it does OK.
So let's look at a hypothetical situation: Google releases a PC with a Java OS (Courtesy of Sun). You could connect to the web with Google's free WiFi service, do all your searches with its search engine, work on your resume in the free Open Office Suite, surf the web using the free GBrowser, check your free Gmail e-mail account, organize all your photos with Picasa, and play tons of free Java games that are available on the web. What did all this cost you? The price of a PC, nothing else.
If you did this from a Microsoft perspective, you pay for your PC, much the same as you did with Google, but with Microsoft you would pay for MSN broadband every month, use the inferior MSN search, pay for your Office Suite (MS Office), use the insecure Internet Explorer to surf, and check your Hotmail account (which has less storage than Gmail does, unless you pay for the upgrade).
I am not saying that Google has a "slam dunk" here. As a matter of fact, I think this scenario would COST Google money initially. However, if they software is easy enough to install (like Windows), free (like Linux), easy to use (like Mac OS), then Google could make a difference in the way we use our PC's.
To be honest, I really do not want Google to be the new "800 lb gorilla". While it would be nice to see some competition as well as some standards (why is it we have standard graphic and sound formats, but not a standard document format?) in our marketplace, but as much as I like Google, I do not completely trust them.
I do not have Google Desktop or Picasa installed. I do have Google Earth (more of a toy than anything) and a Gmail / Gtalk account. I did not install the Gtalk client (I used GAIM, the open source IM client). I do not put all my eggs in one basket. Just as I do not like Microsoft having COMPLETE control of a normal computing environment (OS, Office suite, browser, e-mail client, chat, newsreader, etc), I do not put all my faith in Google. They are the kings of searches, hands down, but their other tools are not all that great. Good, mind you, but not great. The IM tool is very limited, Google maps has been wrong more than right when I have used it, the Picasa interface/usability takes a lot of getting used to.
Gmail is good and the changes they make to it are making it better. Blogger is nice (not plugging it, I just like it). Google Earth is very neat, but more as a toy than anything else. The image search in Google has been very helpful at work when my boss asks me to find pictures of obscure hardware we are making documentation for.
I am not a fan of Microsoft, but I am not "anti-Microsoft" either. I still use their OS on one of my machines at home (the other two have Linux). I do this mainly for my wife and for the odd occurrence where Windows and Internet Explorer are required. It is not often, but it does happen.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Best Wishes for the New Year
My wife and I went to a New Years Eve party last night that was hosted by the praise and worship leader and his wife. It was "bring a snack, bring a beverage, bring a game" party that was very quiet, but fun. Highlights include:
* A pinata for the smaller kids (which was broken open by a pre-teen girl who hit the thing like major league baseball player)
* A "Texas Hold'em" poker game for the teens. I sat in and helped one girl win 2 hands in a row even though I have never played the game before. She accumulated quite a few chips.
* Lots of great snacks, including some caramel flavored apple chips that most people refused to eat because they though they were potpourri. Once people saw me eating them, they disappeared quickly.
* A "white elephant" gift exchange that actually had white elephants as 2 of the gifts.
* Lots of good music and laughter.
I think about 30 adults and 15 teens and pre-teens showed up. We stayed until 12:30 or so and then went home to get some sleep. Church is at 11:00 AM so we needed to get some rest.
I am wishing everyone a blessed New Year. I hope and pray that 2006 is the year wonderful things happen for you and your family.
* A pinata for the smaller kids (which was broken open by a pre-teen girl who hit the thing like major league baseball player)
* A "Texas Hold'em" poker game for the teens. I sat in and helped one girl win 2 hands in a row even though I have never played the game before. She accumulated quite a few chips.
* Lots of great snacks, including some caramel flavored apple chips that most people refused to eat because they though they were potpourri. Once people saw me eating them, they disappeared quickly.
* A "white elephant" gift exchange that actually had white elephants as 2 of the gifts.
* Lots of good music and laughter.
I think about 30 adults and 15 teens and pre-teens showed up. We stayed until 12:30 or so and then went home to get some sleep. Church is at 11:00 AM so we needed to get some rest.
I am wishing everyone a blessed New Year. I hope and pray that 2006 is the year wonderful things happen for you and your family.
Update on Our Katrina Adoptee and Mango Plant News
I got an e-mail from our church admin the other day that was sad to receive. It looks like one of the families that we adopted from the Katrina disaster has decided to go back to New Orleans. They have been back once and said EVERYTHING is gone. When I talked to her a few weeks after they got here, she said she would not go back. Actually 90% of the people I talked to said that, but it seems that North Central Texas is not for everyone. Actually she is the second to let us know that she is not happy. I understand part of their frustration. FEMA has been helpful, but they also have been very slow. Fraud is running rampant as people who were not even affected by this disaster are claiming benefits in the names of those who have (which is exactly what happened to the one family we adopted). You may recall that my care group at church helped out as much as we could donating things needed (furniture, appliances, clothing, food, computers, etc), provided transportation, and lots of prayers. I went to the alter with our family and prayed twice with them as they struggled with this situation. I am sad for them.
Many of the people displaced have never lived anyplace else other than New Orleans. It is the only place they know. Families had been scattered all over the US and the holidays have been difficult for them. Would you please keep these families in your prayers for me? I would appreciate it.
I took a photo of my mango plant that I started a few months ago. I know it does not look like much, but I understand it is a slow growing plant that can get to 30 feet tall and live 300 years. It is currently outside because it is going to be 80 today and is currently 65 degrees. For those using Celsius, that is about 18 now and about 26 later. It has been unseasonably warm in Texas so far this winter. We have had some cold days, but not as many as I would expect. I guess that will be good for our natural gas bill.
Speaking of bills, our 3 year contract is up with Direct Energy and we went shopping for the best rate. In Texas, electricity has been de-regulated and you can pick any company you like, much like you can for phone service. We were locked into a very good .079 per kilowatt hour but now that our contract is up, we are looking at nearly twice that. We have had Green Mountain Energy come by and offer us .145 kw/h and we heard that Starlight was offering .135 kw/h . We told the guy to come back after we researched it more. He said he would return a few Saturdays ago, but he never came back.
We got a notice from Direct Energy telling us our rate was .079 kw/h and my wife called about it. It was a horrible misprint and told us there was no way they could offer that to us, but did offer us service for .145 kw/h, which was the same or cheaper than the other companies. TXU which is the "primary" company, has a rate of .145 kw/h ... if you use a lot of electricity. We normally do not. During the summer is when we use the most, and that is simply because of the cost of cooling a home is large. We used to pay $150-180 a month in the summer, but I can expect that to be $250-300 a month now, and we have a small 1700 sq ft home. Oh well. Maybe I can get some solar panels to place outside to augment what we use :) I know one thing...my server will not be running as much in the summer. We are going to have to really have to start watching our energy use.
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