Church IT RoundTable

jeffsuever

2010-07-28T22:34:44+00:00

You must have landed here by mistake. I think where you MEANT to go was www.jeffsuever.com. Just go ahead and ditch that “wordpress” part of the url.

Thanks and see you over there!

Deep Church

2010-07-27T18:37:32+00:00

I've been trying to catch up on my reading (and my reviews) and recently finished Deep Church by Jim Belcher. In reading this book, I think it's important to understand a bit about who Jim Belcher is. Jim is a graduate of Fuller and Georgetown, and someone who included postmodernism in his doctoral thesis. This is key to me, as I believe Belcher has credibility in this area. A lot of people are

SOHO Backup, Part 3 - Backup Set Selection

2010-07-26T23:20:30+00:00

Continuing on ideas for the "Perfect" SOHO Backup System.

Previously:
1. Local Backup
2. 3-2-1 Rule
3. Off-Site doesn't have to be instant
4. Reporting

Today:
5. Backup Set Selection
Almost as bad as finding out that your backup isn't running, is finding out that it is running, but it's not backup up some important files. I would sure like to see a backup program that is "self auditing?" By that, I mean I'd like to see a system that has a little intelligence and will give ample warning if you're not backing up files that seem like they would be important. I don't want to pretend like that would be easy, but I'm also pretty sure it's not all that hard. For a SOHO situation, the backup system only needs to care about the files on specific machines whereas for an Enterprise solution, the system would need to be able to find all the machines on the network (including NAS devices and the like) and deal with all the files on each of them. Let's stick with the simple for now.

Let me go down a rabbit trail for just a moment here. When backing up a system (or a network), there is a major decision to make: back up EVERYTHING, or back up just SOME things. In years past, it wasn't very practical to back up everything -- disk wasn't quite cheap enough, and tape & bandwidth were too slow. Today, it's probably still not an obvious decision to back up everything, but it's to the point that it's worth considering. Also, an everything backup doesn't really have to be everything, to be all inclusive. Consider, other than for the FBI to do forensics, why would you ever need to back up the paging file? Or any of various temp directories and temp files? And, would everyone agree that backing up unallocated disk sectors is a waste? Likewise for sectors that aren't currently in use? All this to say, that a true disk image backup rarely makes any sense -- even what we call an image can have some logic applied to slim it down.

So, if we're not going to back up everything, then what are the selections we might backup? Here are my suggestions, and I'd like to see the program implement these as checkboxes so you could mix and match:

System files. Can I get away with saying this is self explanatory? And, that if not doing an EVERYTHING backup, these are also the most obvious files to NOT backup?
Applications. Hopefully this is self explanatory too, with the complication that there are some types of utilities and "come with the system" things that are actually applications, but since they come with the operating system, we may lump them into System.
Configuration files. I'll let the guys writing the software dig into the details here, but all .ini files, for instance, and the registry. Many text files in system or application directories are also configuration files. A lot of the stuff that has Unix roots, like all the .../etc/* files probably fit this category. A lot of html files in system directories are also configuration files. One way to think about these files is to look in the system directories for any files that are changing and learn why. (If they aren't configuration files, they're possibly indications of viruses!)
Documents. Spreadsheets, word processing documents, presentations, and text files that are in any (all!) user directories define the basics of this category. Another way to look at it is *any* file that's in a user directory that's not considered a media file should probably be considered a document. (*exception situation below)
Databases. From a user perspective, there's not much difference between a document and a database. (for this purpose, I'm considering things like Exchange to be a database, along the more obvious things like SQL) From the backup program perspective, databases are more challenging since they tend to get big and they also tend to always be in use (open file backup issues). These issues have been solved, let's move on!
Media. Audio and Video files. Those huge files that easily might exist somewhere else, like on a CD or a DVD. Or they may be the carefully edited recording you've spent weeks on. How should a backup system determine what's a copy (legitimate or otherwise) of something commercially available vs. something created by you? IMHO, until there is a great algorithm, the backup program should not try to make that determination. A file is either media, or it's not media, and if you're backing up media, you back it up. Argument welcomed here. (I like the idea of multiple checksum/CRC/LRC/size stamps on a file and if they all match some database, then it's an indication of a commercially available media file. Would you be satisfied with that solution?) Per my comment at the end of #2, if a file in user storage isn't a document, then it should probably be considered media, and again, there might be an exception*.

* OK, what doesn't fit within the 6 types above? I can think of three special classes of files that can be extra difficult to classify:

First is backup files! MS-DOS had .bak files, and they still exist, along with some other friends. Should a backup file be backed-up? At what point does redundancy become redundant?
Second is compressed/collection files. Zip, cab, msi, tar, etc. Are ARC files still around?
Finally, what about archive files? Files that are specifically "marked" with a system attribute to say that they are suitable for rolling off to archive media.

My suggestion for backup software is that the above be treated as if they were any other file in the same directory structure. A .zip file in an iTunes directory should be treated as a media file. A .bak in a user data directory should be treated as a document. Cabs, MSIs, etc. that are in application or system directories should be treated as applications or systems. If users typically download new software into a user directory, then install it, it means we may backup those installation files. That seems preferable to risking not backing up a zip file that's a set of legal papers, for instance.

If the backup program's configuration gave the above six levels of granularity, and the program was responsible for walking all the directory structure to ensure compliance with the checkboxes, what would be missing? Would there ever be a need to really specify every file or directory to be backed up? Since every commercial backup program I've ever seen has the nasty tree/selection grid, then there must be a reason for it. OK, easy: we only want to back up user files for some users, and not others. Or we don't want to backup "template" user files. How much trouble are we going through to avoid backing up these relatively small data sets?

So, I'll leave my proposal out there: Six check boxes would define a complete backup plan. Please argue. I'm expecting it. I want it!

Next: Off-site redundancy?

Red Rover Should be Outlawed, part 2

2010-07-26T17:47:36+00:00

Eric had a follow-up appointment with his pediatrician today and she was very concerned about the lack of movement in the arm. Eric is very sensitive to specific movement in the elbow so she ordered another round of x-rays. When they got to the x-ray room Eric asked if they could just x-ray his other arm instead.

After the x-rays we had an appointment setup with an orthopedic specialist. It turned out to be the same doctor who did my grandfather’s hip surgery back in January. He looked at the x-rays and was unable to see any breaks. Since Eric is only 5 his bones are not done developing so they are not hardened yet therefore it is difficult to see breaks in the cartilage. He examined the arm, with Eric screaming most of the time, and determined based on the limited range of motion that the radial head of the elbow probably has a small fracture in it that you won’t see on the x-ray. Either way the treatment is the same it is broken or not.

They immobilized his elbow and wrist this time in a splint and then put his arm in a sling to prevent any motion. We go back in 2 weeks to see how it has healed. Fortunately if there is a break it is small enough that it won’t create any alignment problems as his arm continues to grow and develop.

The saga continues.

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-07-26

2010-07-26T10:45:00+00:00

And our AC is out. How awesome. Outside fan won't start. #
Home from six flags, now church @watermarkchurch. Hope Blake Holmes and @prcmusic bring the energy, cause mine is gone. #fb #
Mom, with at least 8 kids in tow, gave them money to order for themselves. Then yelled at them the whole time. Awesome. #
Any faith that you have in humankind can be erased by simply walking into a mcdonalds. #
I thought I saw a puddy tat. http://twitpic.com/28l33f #
Spending a full day on a date with the 5 year old at six flags today. Yep. That makes 3 times this week. http://twitpic.com/28l1rc #
@bitbud Congrats! in reply to bitbud #
@Mstanley Kiffin is such an idiot. But he and USC deserve each other. in reply to Mstanley #
A little Battlefield 1942 gameplay from last night. Had some awesome 7 on 7 battles. http://twitpic.com/289h0k #
Just read a great article about "garnering a following on twitter". Sadly, I don't really care to garner a following. Oh well. #
Dear @statefarm, I know we've been in together for 15 years, but if I can save almost half by getting other insurance, we should break up. #
@rhowell sadly no. I did my best and fell just a bit short. Nauseous… Yes. in reply to rhowell #
Mission accomplished. @paulrhoades feels "all team built-er-ized". Yep that's a new term. Feel free to use it. #
After a bajillion rollercoasters, @watermarkmark wants to know if it's possible for your concussion to get a concussion. #
Confused why people bring newborns to amusement parks. #
No fear?? http://twitpic.com/27m5f3 #
Fun team time today at six flags. Good strength finder discussion at breakfast. Now team building via coasters. http://twitpic.com/27lrpk #
@rhowell Praying for your day today. in reply to rhowell #
Feeling better this morning. Fever is gone. Thanks for the prayers. #fb #
@clintmiller what are current echo numbers? in reply to clintmiller #
Excited about @echoconference at @watermarkchurch next week. We've got lots of wifi and bandwidth. Something tells me we'll use all of it. #
Dang guys haven't felt this bad in a long time. Gotta be well tomorrow. Prayers appreciated. #citrt #fb #
@tlphipps excited for what I hope to be true! #citrt in reply to tlphipps #
Umcka, loads of immunity boost vitamins, and powerade. Gotta kick this thing quick. I ain't playing around. #fb #
Wants five guys fries for lunch. #justsayin #
Most random woot purchase I've ever made. http://twitpic.com/27b1a9 #
RT @EatThisNotThat: WORST FRIES IN AMERICA = Five Guys Fries w/ 1,464 calories & 71 g fat (large)! (via @shannonjmiller) / Dang… #
@shannonjmiller Had to go and ruin it, didn't you…? =)#fiveguys in reply to shannonjmiller #
Can. Not. Be. Getting. Sick… Ugggh. #fb #
@JamesHxcDixon How much to deliver to North Dallas? =) in reply to JamesHxcDixon #
coming to @echoconference sans tattoos? gotcha covered! http://bit.ly/dgUfvQ (via @mattarmstrong) #
Two great customer experiences via twitter from @jimmyjohns and @att. using twitter well to reach out and care for customer frustrations. #
@jimmyjohns you've messed up an order twice in two days. Next time I'll just say "bring whatever you'd like to bring me." when I order. #
I've been at six flags since 10 am. I'm melting. http://twitpic.com/26w02o #
Princess of the Roller Coasters. http://twitpic.com/26utyq #

Can We Actually Know the Attributes of God?

2010-07-25T21:00:25+00:00

This coming Sunday our church moves into their fall schedule with the start of a new series on the attributes of God. This should be a great look at a few of the many elements that make up the existence and nature of God Himself. I was thrilled when I found out this was the next series since I had just finished my own research on the attributes of God, specifically that of God’s love (research post as The Attributes of God: Analysis on the Basic Dimensions of God’s Love if you are bored), but there are an infinite number attributes that could be studied in detail. Paul says it best in Romans when he asks “who has known the mind of the Lord?”, for the depth of the riches, wisdom, and knowledge of God is so great, that we could never fully exhaust our understanding of God’s greatness (Romans 11:33-34).

One of the more recent theological champions of the attributes of God is the author, theologian, and pastor, A. W. Tozer (April 21, 1897 – May 12, 1963). Tozer wrote a book entitled The Attributes of God (Volume 1): A Journey Into the Father’s Heart, which takes a look at God’s infinitude, immensity, goodness, justice, mercy, grace, omnipresence, immanence, holiness and perfection, and this is the reference book for our upcoming series on the attributes of God. Tozer spent much of his ministry studying what he deemed to be one of the most important questions to ask, what is God like?

Can We Actually Know God?

I think too often today we take a more pluralistic (or post-modern if you like) view of this question, and answer “who are we to think we can know God?”, and then push it off to the back burner and say why bother trying something impossible. To answer in that manner is to excuse oneself from the rigors of pursuing a relationship with God, but it is more than that, it is to deny scripture itself.

In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians he talks to the church about Christ’s judgment at the second coming (2 Thessalonians 1:8). At the time of the second coming, Christ will punish two distinct classes of people; those who “do not know God” (cf. Romans 1:18-32), and those who “do not obey the gospel” (cf. John 3:36). Jeremiah the Prophet spoke to Judah just before the impending invasion of the Babylonian army and told them they were fools because they didn’t know God, but instead certainly knew the way of evil (Jeremiah 4:22, Isaiah 1:3 and Psalm 82:5).

There are many other examples, but the point is, if we are called by His name, we are called to know God. We can spend a lifetime doing this, but God loves those, and has made Himself known, to those who seek Him out (Proverbs 8:17).

Great Resource for Audiobooks

A quick plug to those who enjoy digging in deeper to these and other topics of faith. Christian Audio (christianaudio.com) has one of the largest selections of Christian audiobooks, and each month they give away a free audiobook. This month happens to be The Pursuit Of God (Unabridged) by A. W. Tozer, and you can download it for free until July 31st. Not only is this title free, but all of A. W. Tozer’s other books are only $4.95 until the end of the month. This is a fantastic resource, and I would recommend Christianaudio to anyone interested in audiobooks (you can listen on your iPod, MP3 player, iPad, iPhone, whatever, and you can also follow them on Twitter @ChristianAudio).

I have no stake in the company or know anyone personally over there, I have just used their resources and have never had any issues with quality or service (only wish they had even more titles than they do). I often depend on a wide range of resources for studying, but even iTunes can’t beat an unabridged book like that for $4.95. That’s my plug for the month, if audiobooks are not your thing, get a copy of Tozer’s books in print, you won’t be disappointed.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-25

2010-07-25T16:34:00+00:00

The day I don't feel well and don't go to Church early, the network completely fails. So much for sick days. #

Protect Against ID Fraud

2010-07-25T08:30:20+00:00

Identity or ID fraud is huge.

Here are some facts to make you think ….

90% of users never check all their transactions on their bank or credit card statements. (ID Theft Protect, Aug 2007)

89% of users do not use a password manager to store their online and offline usernames and passwords. (ID Theft Protect, Sept 2007)

Identity theft is costing the British economy over £1.7 billion annually. (2006 – CIFAS)

Impersonation of the dead is growing at a rate of increase of 60% each year. (2004 – UK Home Office)

In 2004 most UK card fraud was committed via face-to-face transactions in shops. (2004 – Cardwatch)

These are just UK figures.

So what can you or should you do to help protect your ID in an ever increasingly connected and online world?

Keep personal information secure.
Keep all your plastic (credit / debit / identity) cards safe.
Keep your documents safe.
Keep your passwords and PINs safe.
Use individual passwords for anything that requires online transactions – monetary or not.
Protect the identity of deceased family members.
Shred letters / documents that contain identifying information.

I will almost certainly expand on some of these in the weeks and months to come, but if you need any specific information or answers now then please do ask via the comments section or via my contact form or even by using the Skribit suggestions tab.

My Related Posts:

Protect Against ID Fraud is a post from: Church Techy

Still Looking for a "Perfect" SOHO Backup Solution

2010-07-23T19:10:09+00:00

I'm still looking for that perfect solution for small office / home office backup needs. It's amazing to me that there are so many potential solutions out there, but none seem to quite hit the trust + simplicity + speed + cost points that I somehow feel are reasonable. Maybe I'm being unreasonable. Maybe I just haven't looked the right place yet. Or maybe I just haven't defined well enough what I want, so I think I'll start there.

1. The starting point - back up locally
Perhaps, above all else, I think a key requirement of backup is that is *start* with a local backup. Client systems, especially notebook users, need to be able to get their data backed up locally, at LAN speeds, without any delays caused by Internet bandwidth. Likewise, when you need to restore something, especially something big (or rebuild a complete machine), having the backup data local is a key. The local backup is ideally some sort of appliance, or mostly-dedicated system, such that you can trust it to be there an on all the time. Barracuda's backup does this, so does Zenith's BDR & ARCA, SonicWall's CDP, and I'm sure many others do as well. Based on other points to follow, this doesn't have to be the most expensive piece of hardware in the world because it's not a single-point system.

2. 3-2-1 rule
This isn't my rule. I learned of the term from the SecurityNow podcast, and they actually got it from Peter Krogh, and it probably has origins even further back. The concept: Data needs to always be [at least] three places, it needs to be on two different types of media, and one of those should be off-site.

3. Off-site SOON, but doesn't have to be NOW
My opinion only! For most SOHOs, near-real-time off-site backup is NOT a requirement. If you have an eCommerce site, that's different, but that's probably not located at your office. If it is, you have a whole different set of problems that I'm not addressing here. If you are getting frequent backups, per #1 above, then if the off-site backup lags by a few hours, to maybe even a full day, you are in a pretty low risk situation. Fire, flood, theft, or other local catastrophe would be bad, but at worst case you'd lose approximately 1 day's worth of data updates. Compared to the rest of your loss, that's not a big deal.

The local backup device should take advantage of unused bandwidth, so it would be nice if it knew how to monitor bandwidth, but simple throttling based on days/hours is probably plenty good for most organizations. What is important is that the off-site backup process is handled by the local backup device, not by the clients. If client machines are turned off overnight, or in the case of notebooks, not on the LAN, the local backup to remote backup process still happens.

Next up: reporting needs, then more.

SOHO Backup, Part 2

2010-07-23T19:04:44+00:00

Continuing on ideas for the "Perfect" SOHO Backup System.

Previously:
1. Local Backup
2. 3-2-1 Rule
3. Off-Site doesn't have to be instant

Today:
4. Reporting
Have you ever discovered (usually at a very unfortunate time) that the backup you thought you were running every day hasn't actually run in several weeks? A key of a great backup solution is that you can tell that a backup has happened, and what was included, but even more importantly, if something goes wrong, make sure that somebody knows there's a problem.

Personally, I don't care to get flooded with success reports. When those start coming in daily (or more often?) then they become noise and I don't look at them much, so they actually have a negative value. I do like the idea of being able to audit success, but I don't need to have it flashed in my face every day. On the other hand, if something is NOT working right, I'd like to make sure that anyone and everyone knows it. Should that be an email, or a text message, or a pop-up on every station, or something else? Yes!

Another nit I have with some existing systems. When a "reasonable exception" occurs, don't call that a failure. For instance, let's say that some desktop is turned off for a few days, so it's not getting backed up. That is NOT a daily failure! When a machine hasn't been backed up in several days, that's another story and is worth reporting.

Next: Backup set selection

ShadeTree

2010-07-23T16:49:58+00:00

A while back Mark with BigBadCollab gave us a demo of ShadeTree. ShadeTree is a platform being developed that seeks to integrate church members into church life through social networking, spiritual formation, etc. In some ways ShadeTree could lead to a full blown ChMS at some point, but right now it's really meant to augment what you currently have in place. I was privileged to look "behind the

Red Rover Should be Outlawed

2010-07-23T01:12:15+00:00

Today was a fairly normal day, aside from getting some bad news regarding the compatibility of our MSA 1000 series SAN and Windows Server 2008 Core. I was looking forward to a quiet evening at home when around 4:30pm my wife calls me and tells me that Eric fell at school and they think he broke his arm.

Since we are all at Faith each day, she had picked Eric up and brought him over to the building I work in. He was crying like I’ve not seen him cry before and any attention we tried to pay to his arm only made things work. We called our pediatrician and Heather and Eric headed to Urgent Care.

I went back to my office to grab a few things and then followed behind them. By the time I got to Urgent Care, they were already back seeing the doctor. Apparently, I still look a lot like Eric because when I walked in the receptionist immediately asked if I was with the little boy that had just come in. She took me back and I could hear Eric crying in the exam room. I really appreciate the quick service the staff provided us although I don’t know if they were helping us out of concern for Eric or concern for their ears. Have I mentioned I’ve never seen Eric that upset?

While they were taking his vitals, Heather explained the story details. They were playing Red Rover and Eric was trying to break through the other team but instead of breaking through, he fell backwards and tried to catch himself landing on his arm. This got my attention as I had received a tweet earlier in the day from someone saying Red Rover should be called “Get Stitches”. Yet another example of Twitter predicting the future.

They took him back to x-ray and even from the lobby I could hear Eric screaming as they tried to get his arm in position for several pictures. The doctor was concerned about the wrist, arm, and elbow areas. Based on the amount of pain I was assuming a break of some sort.

We got back to the exam room and the doctor arrived a few minutes later after reading the films. His arm was not broke. The swelling and pain were caused by contusions and over extensions of the tendons and ligaments. I was surprised to say the least but very relieved. They put his arm in a splint (through Monday’s follow-up appointment), another enjoyable process, and we were on our way.

It is pictures like this that I make public that will inevitably scar Eric for life.

Later I asked Eric how he hurt his arm and he started crying and said, “I was trying to break through the line and I couldn’t.” I’m not sure if he was upset because his arm hurt or because he lost at the game.

We want to thank everyone for the kind words we received via many technology means and their prayers for Eric.

Deliberate Simplicity

2010-07-22T19:01:37+00:00

I am way behind on book reviews, so it's time to get caught up. The first book I read recently is Deliberate Simplicity. This book is written by Dave Browning, who is a friend of our senior pastor's. We read this book as a staff, and I expected a lot from it. Perhaps my expectations are part of why i was disappointed (a theme you will find repeats itself in this round of reviews). The book

Digital Training

2010-07-22T17:55:22+00:00

One of my audio trainees recently had his first time at the helm during a Sunday morning service. Because we have a digital sound board (Yamaha’s LS9), I was able to do a few things to make his first time a little less hectic. I start out my newbies during rehearsals and working our Sunday night service. But there is a sharp contrast between our morning and evening services. Mornings involve four vocalists and a full band, videos all quickly moving from one element to the next. Evenings are more laid back with just the Music Minister and keyboardist.

My trainee’s job didn’t allow him to attend the weekly band rehearsal, and that concerned me, but since I’ve been moving toward saving a scene on the board for each song during the service, I decided to do that for him. I linked each scene for the service to a user defined key and noted on the worship flow which UDK to press for each song.

Next I sat my laptop beside the board that morning to make changes that his trainee user profile on the LS9 doesn’t allow him to do yet, like save settings. So while he was driving with his limited permissions, I had full use of my administrator permissions from my laptop using Yamaha’s LS9 Editor in Studio Manager. Kind of like the instructor in Driver’s Ed with the brake peddle on his side of the car.

We have used this method for a weeks, and it has worked very well. It allows the trainee to focus on timing and mechanics over mixing changes from one song to the next. Now that he is getting broken in to the Sunday routine, we can migrate to focusing on mixing.

Studio Manager and the LS9 Editor are free. All you need is a network connection, preferably wireless so you can move around. Mike Sessler has some great setup info here.

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Live from my iPad...

2010-07-21T01:36:26+00:00

It has been a while since I have posted here so I figured it was time to at least say something that was more than 140 characters. While I find Twitter easier due to the shortness of posts I know my loyal audience expects more on this blog.

This post is the first of its kind as I am writing and posting this entirely from my iPad. My iPad and entrance to the Apple world are posts in and of themselves but my point here is there is more to come and as always for the latest follow me on Twitter.

If there is anything wrong with this post, blame the iPad.

Happy Four Year Birthday to VMware Server! You Rocked For Us!

2010-07-19T21:04:17+00:00

Since it didn't receive much, if any, news last week ... I thought I'd take a few moments to say Happy Birthday to VMware Server! Hard to believe you're 4 years old already!

While we're no longer using VMware Server, it had a monumental impact on our IT strategy and served us faithfully for over 3 1/2 years from Feb 2006 thru August 2009 ... forever changing the IT landscape at GCC. In those years we were huge cheerleaders for the free VMware Server platform giving several public talks and demos ... culminating with VMware asking us to do a webinar for them :-)

So for fun here's a short look back at some of the VMware Server related "events" at GCC ...

Feb 2006 - GCC begins testing VMware Server Beta on a few lower priority applications like Terminal Services and WSUS. We're so impressed that in the following weeks we start moving more and more applications into VM's. Read the blog post

April 2006 - Our physical Exchange server pukes, so we rebuild it onto VMware Server. We also start researching SAN solutions to take our virtualization environment to the next level. Read the blog post

July 12th, 2006 - VMware Server 1.0.0 goes live and offers paid support options. Of course by this time we're already sold on virtualization and VMware Server and have most everything running in a VM. Read the blog post

July 2006 - I'm asked to give a presentation on our use of VMware Server at the Michiana IT Pro User Group. Read the blog post

November 2007 - VMware contacts us and Ed does a webinar for them about our use of VMware Server. Read the blog post

April 2008 - I present on Virtualization and VMware Server at MinistryTECH. Read the blog post

April 2008 - Overview of our virtualization environment at the time. Read the blog post

August 19, 2009 - We begin saying farewell to VMware Server as we start our 1st Vsphere Install. Read the blog post

Why the switch from VMware Server? Well, once you get over 20 VM's it becomes difficult to manage them all under the VMware Server platform. You'll also get a performance increase by moving to a bare-metal hypervisor like ESX/ESXi. So when I crunched the numbers, paying ~$1000/yr over 3 years to move us to Vsphere Standard was a no-brainer.

VMware Server is still available for free ... if you've not played with server virtualization (you need to be slapped mightly if that is true!) it's still one of the simplest ways to get your feet wet.

I will always have a special place in my heart for VMware Server ... thanks for all you gave to us at GCC ... and happy 4th BDAY!

The Complete Egoist

2010-07-19T14:59:23+00:00

I have tried over the years to reconcile the whole of what is social networking to how it helps or destroys the effort of devoting one’s life to the pursuit of God. Reading through a sermon written by a family member in 1976, I came across this poem by Arthur Guiterman called “The Complete Egoist”, who wrote this around 1930 about our pursuit to self. I wonder what he would think of our narcissism in 2010.

A Mollusc who dwelt in primordial slime
Was always himself to the innermost core;
As being himself took up most of his time,
He never did anything more.
Still just as he was, though long ages have flown,
He stands on the specimen-cabinet shelf
A fossil, immortal in durable stone,
A monument raised to himself.

–Guiterman ~1930

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-07-19

2010-07-19T10:45:00+00:00

@shannonjmiller You have died of dysentery! in reply to shannonjmiller #
@rhowell I've always thought that too. in reply to rhowell #
Gazeebo burger and two free sprinkles cupcakes to boot! Thanks @sprinkles! #
@i_daniels getting these for you buddy… =) http://twitpic.com/26avw9 #
@NathanandMisty never said Jesus was stinky now did I? in reply to NathanandMisty #
For all those times when you just MUST smell like baby Jesus… http://twitpic.com/26azsr #
@idaniels getting these for you buddy. http://twitpic.com/26avw9 #
@rhowell bet you didn't know about the vuvuzelas either. Nah, not stalking, just perceptive. in reply to rhowell #
@rhowell just passed 5000 tweets. We're throwing a party at his house tonight at midnight to celebrate. He doesn't know. Bring vuvuzelas. #
Malls used to be where the cool suburban types hung out. Now? Not so much. Really not so much. #
113 degrees? Really? #fb http://twitpic.com/269xr9 #
@rhowell me too. Sigh. Me too. in reply to rhowell #
AT&T came out and ran a temporary fiber to my house. They aren't doing anything permanent until the morons in the alley are finished. #
The thermostat in the house says 81, but it feel like an igloo in here after being outside. It's 102 out there. #fb #summer #
Hello Saturday. Swim party, then taking kids to grandmas = awesome. #
@rhowell just awful. in reply to rhowell #
So only 5 Texas Rangers in history have hit for the cycle. I maybe watch 1 game a year on TV. I guess I picked a good one tonight. #
How in the world does a big guy like Benji Molina hit for the cycle? A triple AND your HR is a grand slam? Really? #fb #
Those little flags? Oh. Just suggestions. http://twitpic.com/25xnz0 #
So @atmosenergy, not sure why the gas line repair guys are saying the didn't cut anything. AT&T thinks otherwise. http://twitpic.com/25xmlp #
Well AT&T sent the tech, but ummm he can do nothing and will have to put a ticket in for the I&R group. Why? Because the cable is cut. Dumb. #
@Mstanley my brother-in-law lives in Appleton. in reply to Mstanley #
@clintmiller just going to do our best. The idea of handing out over 1000 IP addresses is a bit daunting. (all those dang apple products) in reply to clintmiller #
me either… (maybe) #
Would you be worried about your Wifi network if you were having a media conference with about 800 people with ipad, iphones, and macbooks? #
Flat panel monitor cage match! Fight! http://twitpic.com/25txpr #
@chriswheat Real. Sand. Lots of it. in reply to chriswheat #
And yes, that's real sand. Lots of it. #
Just wow. http://twitpic.com/25syea #
Well, this is what happens when you write a Journey entry saying you want to go to Hawaii. http://twitpic.com/25sxto #
Antennagate press conference today. Should be fun to watch. #
RT @desibrown: Greatest garage sale in Dallas Area!! Raising money for the Brown's #adoption Friday 7am http://yfrog.com/mumnstj #
Just helped an older couple with a laptop get connected to wifi at Starbucks. They were clueless about their computer, but SO cute. #
@benjordan need to cancel tomorrow? Don't bring me no funk. in reply to benjordan #
@sgoodger cursing a lot while walking around? in reply to sgoodger #
Now AT&T sending a tech tomorrow. Just found out from neighbor that phone lines got cut today in the alley. It pays to listen 2 customers. #
Tried to tell AT&T that workers in my alley might have broken something today, tech was convinced she would see an outage and I was wrong. #
And now uverse is out at home. And ATT techs are awful. Awesome. #
@i_daniels never really had problems to begin with. So. Dunno. in reply to i_daniels #
About to do the iPhone 4.0.1 software upgrade. This might cause a disturbance in the force. #
@Spd_Rcr right about 100 of the 450s. in reply to Spd_Rcr #
Swichvox 335. http://twitpic.com/25k74v #
Polycom 450s! http://twitpic.com/25k3z0 #
Say hello to the new Switchvox phone system. #fb http://twitpic.com/25k34f #
Just had some Umpqua Oats (with cashews, macadamia nuts, coconut and papaya). Dang. Legit. #
Apple is holding a press conference on Friday, but they'll probably be holding it wrong. #citrt #
From men's study. outline scripture, "like a miniskirt, long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep things interesting." ha! #
Old Spice: The Archetype Of a Successful Social Media Campaign: http://bit.ly/dsSWzX / laughed a ton watching these. Brilliant. #
If the name of your car dealership is Reliable Chevrolet… Is that an oxymoron? #
In another construction meeting. Envy me. #fb #
@wantmoore too late, The Steve got mad and threw an iPhone 4 at me, but the antenna was bad, so it completely missed me. Poor poor Steve. in reply to wantmoore #
So I guess lots of other people are having issues with @facebook crashing on iPhone. Sounds like a facebook issue. #facebook #
First email locked up on iPhone 4. Now facebook app crashes. Reboots and reinstalls don't help. More apple #fail #
Looking back over old contracts. Crazy to think we are paying less for 50mb of bandwidth than we did for 3mb only 3 years ago. #
@ryanyogi TimeWarner for fiber. in reply to ryanyogi #
Signed contract to bump our Internet connection to 50mb. For the same price we were paying for 15mb. I can haz big internets. #
Man. Today just wore me out. It's going to be a long week. #
Beautiful morning in Dallas. Working on getting things ready for #echoconference Coming up in just a few week! Eeek. #

Lessons in Hate

2010-07-19T09:37:59+00:00

If you ever want to know why I have such a strong interest and opinions about security?

Then this post shows everything that is bad about people in this world …

from the too young child allowed seeming total freedom to do what she wants…

to the father that shouts abuse at a webcam from behind his daughters shoulder…

to the mother that stands off camera and mutters obscenities…

to sites like 4chan and Tumblr that have degraded the usefulness of the internets.

It’s a sad world that brings an 11yr old child to public tears on a youtube video.

The rest I’ll leave up to you to decide.

Nuff said.

My Related Posts:

Lessons in Hate is a post from: Church Techy

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-18

2010-07-18T16:34:00+00:00

In the game of life fall damage is turned on. #
Why do you still have an iPhone? http://is.gd/drT4t #
Who likes Pi? err… Pie? http://twitpic.com/25t2ke #

Social Engineering

2010-07-18T08:30:39+00:00

We’ve been getting a spate of phone calls at home.

The conversation goes something like this:

Me: Hello

Them: Can I speak with Mr. Smith? (name changed, but it isn’t mine)

Me: I’m sorry Mr. Smith hasn’t lived here since 2003.

Them: Is that Windy Way? (also changed)

Me: I’m not prepared to confirm that ….

We then bat back and forth a bit where they are trying to get some details about my address confirmed and I just stick to my mantra of “Mr. Smith hasn’t lived here since 2003″ and / or “I’m not prepared to confirm that”. At which point they have always got nasty or downright rude and it always ends with me hanging up as they try every tactic they can to get me to confirm something. Typically a day or so goes past before I get another one.

This seemingly innocuous approach to getting details is the old ‘social engineering‘ approach – whereby you use a fact (whether true or not) to gather accurate details of your target. The end game being that your or your company’s security gets compromised in some way.

The whole saga reminded me to have another chat with my children.

I’ve covered online dangers many a time with my children but for some reason had overlooked the more obvious direct approach.

My end advice to them was ultimately very simple:

If you don’t know the person then tell them nothing.

And always refer them to mum or dad.

Turns out our regular caller is a debt collection agency based in Scotland and they are known for their rude strong arm tactics in trying to get information so that they can pin a debt on you.

Reminds me that all the dangers aren’t online and we do well to remember that.

have you any simple safety advice?
have you fallen foul of social engineering?
if so, what was the outcome?

My Related Posts:

Social Engineering is a post from: Church Techy

Haiti Mission Trip… From my couch!

2010-07-17T03:02:09+00:00

This week, I’ve been assisting our mission team in Haiti with networking upgrades for the Guest House. I really wanted to go on this trip, but there’s way too much going on back at Resurrection. So I get to do my part through the magic of the Internet.

With the help of Liz and Bryon on the ground, as well as Thomas, our local IT guy there, we got remote management enabled on the Sonicwall, and from there I was able to reconfigure it for Dynamic DNS, WAN failover to the satellite when the WiMax link goes out.

The following day, I got word from the team that the failover works like a champ and that performance is much improved. Now we have a static IP on the WiMax link, so we can remote into the device when our teams aren’t there.

The other piece that needed to happen was to secure the wireless so that folks in the neighbourhood can’t mooch the limited bandwidth at the guest house. We tried to do WPA, but realized afterward that you can’t do WDS and WPA on a Ubiquiti radio because the MAC addresses are encrypted in WPA. Going to have to fall back to WEP. Key management isn’t nearly as easy with WEP, but it is what it is. Maybe Ubiquiti isn’t the solution here. That will be for a future team to figure out.

Free Webinar: Secrets of Successful Check-in by Fellowship Technologies

2010-07-15T21:34:29+00:00

This webinar is obviously for Fellowship One users, but what if you use another product? Any chance you still might learn something? I'll leave that up to you. Thanks to Curtis Simmons of Fellowship Technologies for this detailed information.

Free webinar on the Secrets of Check-in For Children, Events and Rapid Follow-Up.

Fellowship Technologies will host its next webinar on July 21, 2010 at 1:00 PM (CDT) about the Secrets of Successful Check-In. This helpful and informative online session will reveal how to use Check-In for children's ministry, activities and events with rapid follow-up!

The webinar is free, but registration is required. To register visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/675236104. This hour-long webinar includes insight from the staff of Fellowship Technologies on helping your church take check-in to a whole new level! One registered webinar attendee will win a FREE Godex DT-4 label printer, courtesy of POS Computer Corporation.

FREE resources on the Secrets of Church Check-in & a chance to win a FREE check-in printer! http://budurl.com/CheckInSecrets #KIDMIN #CHMS

QUICK LINKS:
WEBINAR REGISTRATION: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/675236104
CHECK-IN RESOURCES: http://www.fellowshiptech.com/dynamicchurchtrends
COMPANY: http://fellowshiptech.com

POS Computer Corporation: http://www.poscomputercorp.com/fellowshiptech.htm

Thank you!

Curtis Simmons
VP, Marketing & Community
Fellowship Technologies
@CurtisSimmons
2 Corinthians 11:28

CITRT at CCB conference, 9/10/2010, Colorado Springs

2010-07-15T15:36:30+00:00

Church Community Builder & CITRT are hosting a Roundtable in Colorado Springs, Friday, September 10, 2010. This event is open to anyone involved in Church IT, whether a CCB client or not.
.

Advance Registration required
> CCB conference attendees can select the CITRT day as part of the conference registration.
> Non-CCB clients register here: https://tribe.ccbchurch.com/w_form_response.php?form_id=35
* There is a $20 registration fee which covers all costs, including lunch and snacks. Of course, transportation, lodging, etc. will be at your own expense.

Location:

Church For All Nations
6540 Templeton Gap Rd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80923
http://www.churchforallnations.com/

Proposed Schedule
8:00 – 9:00       Registration, meet & greet
9:00 – 4:00       Roundtable
<evening>        optional hang-out time as long as anyone wants; plenty of places nearby

http://www.connectedchurchconference.com/ is the CCB conference site

CITRT information is always available at http://CITRT.org/

Health and Travel – Navajo 2010

2010-07-14T19:43:30+00:00

It’s that time of the year, one of my favorites as groups from our church and churches across the country are sending their people out on short-term mission trips. My wife and I are once again going with our church to the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico this summer. I will be updating with blogs and pictures as much as possible. We have a large RV and trailer that left last night to make the drive, as well as multiple flights of people flying into Albuquerque till Friday afternoon. The whole team minus the driving team will be in Albuquerque Friday night and then we will meetup with the drive team on Saturday in Window Rock, the capitol of the Navajo nation.

Please pray specifically for the health of each of the team members before and while they are travelling on Friday as well as protection for the drive team as they make the long drive. Also pray specifically for Keith and his health and energy on this trip as he recently finished his chemo treatments for cancer. You’ll remember he found out about his cancer one year ago exactly on Friday after having to fly back early from last years trip thinking he had severe kidney stones.

Security Wizard

2010-07-14T18:00:32+00:00

I’ve been a long time fan of Ian “Gizmo” Richards and in days past we’ve had quite a natter about tech items. Sadly his newsletter no longer runs but he does still maintain the most excellent Gizmo’s Freeware reviews site under the old TechSupportAlert newsletter URL.

Sadly I don’t get as much time as I’d like to contribute there but a recent discovery of mine is his Security Advice Wizard.

It’s a very simple, 4 page, multiple choice info gathering wizard.

Nothing complicated and I guarantee that once you’ve read the T&C’s it’ll take you less than a minute to complete (and if you include those then make it less than 2 minutes).

At the end of it you get appropriate and focused advice on what you should do and how you should protect your Windows based computer..

I say you all should go through it … now.

My Related Posts:

Security Wizard is a post from: Church Techy

Twitter Lists

2010-07-14T02:13:25+00:00

I’ve taken to recently unfollowing a bunch of folks on Twitter.

Not because I don’t want to see their tweets but because I’m seeing them twice and sometimes three times.

You see, I use lists – probably not as extensively as some do but then TweetDeck does recommend you restrict the maximum number of open columns. So in an effort to improve the flow of my twitter world I’ve taken to trying to be more organised.

Some lists I’ve created myself:

ChurchIT – this one covers far more than just IT. The basic criteria is do you go to a church (I don’t care what denomination or faith) and are you involved in IT, Tech, Media, AV, or similar in some way. If so, and I’ve seen your name then you are likely on this list. Currently it has 197 members and 17 followers.

CCNA – this one loosely covers anyone that tweets about the Cisco Certified Network Associate certification. It’s work related so I feel duty bound but it only has 19 members and one follower.

Welsh Rugby – I think this one is fairly self explanatory but it is a list of folks that play or have played rugby for or in Wales. A passion of mine and has 32 members but no followers.

I also have a couple of private lists that include folks I know IRL (in real life) and the folks I’ve interacted with on the 31DBBB project. I’m open to bribes for making my 31DBBB one public though. Equally I have a few lists I follow that I didn’t create.

The trouble with my recent actions is that it could cause some folks to unfollow me – and I accept this as it is too much effort to tell them individually that I’m following them via a list so please don’t drop me. Instead I’ll accept that my sphere of influence will likely decrease.

That’s no bad thing – after all it’s not about me.

Anyway, to utilise lists requires that you have a twitter app that allows you to easily view them.

My software of choice is TweetDeck because for me and the way I use Twitter it just works – and there’s an iPhone app for it as well.

Do you use lists – if so tell me a list or lists you follow?
What software do you use to manage your lists?
How do you find your lists?
Would you find a lists 101 helpful?
Are you on any lists?
Do you have a twitter plan of action?

My Related Posts:

Twitter Lists is a post from: Church Techy

Are You Looking for a New Church Management System?

2010-07-13T23:05:24+00:00

Per my earlier post, I'm working with Think Ministry to find a very few, very special, churches to be the final "charter partners" in the development of MinistryPlatform.

What sort of special churches are we looking for?

Large: at least 2500 weekly worship attendance, larger is better
Strongly prefer Multi-campus (or at least multi-congregation). If not multi-congregation, then "large" above should be even larger
An IT staff that’s been around a while [or an excellent outsourcing firm that can be fully engaged] (Not because it's difficult, on the contrary, supporting MinistryPlatform is a joy for IT compared to most other products)
Church leadership that is fully engaged in transitioning to a fully-used, single point of reference, ChMS
A ChMS champion exists, or is ready to step up
And finally, motivated to make a change within the next few months

If this is you, or your church, let's talk. If you don't already have my contact information, you can send me an email. I'm TonyDye and I use gmail. Easy enough?

Although Think Ministry is a new player in the Church Management market, we have a stable product that is currently being used in 7 large churches successfully. MinistryPlatform in an amazingly competitive product that, in my biased opinion, is a game changer and is more comprehensive than any other product on the marketplace. As a "charter partner," you will be in a position to influence features and form. Also, if your church is a bit unique, we'd like to ensure we can address your needs.

Once a church is on-board with Think Ministry, the data migration is typically completed in just a few days so the church can begin to see real data in the new system very quickly and immediately get the benefits of easy access and simplified views and queries.

Moreover, you get full check-21 compliant check scanning, online giving, online event registration, and the most powerful check-in system on the planet out-of-the-box. (yes, I am biased, that doesn't mean it's not true!)

Adding Google Apps account Sync to Apple iPad

2010-07-13T14:00:33+00:00

It’s true I recently got the Apple iPad to use as another communication and connection device when away from the office or home. While I’m still learning the different apps I’ll want to complete the different tasks I do, obviously one of the main things I want to easily access is my contacts and calendar. I went through and added my account on the ipad using the GMail button as we use GApps. It loaded email just fine but my calendar and contacts did not work. After some further googleing and searching I found and did the following which allowed me to properly do a Google Apps sync on my iPad (instructions i found said Apple device so I assume this will work as well for iphones and touches though I only did on ipad). This is all found on Google’s site on a couple different pages but I want to make sure it was easily found the next time I needed it.

All instructions found on Google’s Support site:

Mail, Calendar, & Contacts:

Set Up Your Apple Device for Google Sync

If your business, school, or organization uses Google Apps, your administrator will first need to enable Google Sync before you can take advantage of this feature.

1. Open the Settings application on your device’s home screen.
2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account….
4. Select Microsoft Exchange. Yes, choose this even if you are not using Exchange

Enter Account Info

5. In the Email field, enter your full Google Account email address. If you use an @googlemail.com address, you may see an “Unable to verify certificate” warning when you proceed to the next step.
6. Leave the Domain field blank.
7. Enter your full Google Account email address as the Username.
8. Enter your Google Account password as the Password.
9. Tap Next at the top of your screen.
9a. Choose Cancel if the Unable to Verify Certificate dialog appears.
10. When the new Server field appears, enter m.google.com.
11. Press Next at the top of your screen again.

12. Select the Google services (Mail, Calendar, and Contacts) you want to sync.

13. Unless you want to delete all the existing Contacts and Calendars on your phone, select the Keep on my iPhone option when prompted. This will also allow you to keep syncing with your computer via iTunes.

If you want to sync only the My Contacts group, you must choose to Delete Existing Contacts during the Google Sync install when prompted. If you choose to keep existing contacts, it will sync the contents of the “All Contacts” group instead. If there are no contacts on your phone, the latter will happen — the contents of your All Contacts group will be synced.

You’ve set up Google Sync! Synchronization will begin automatically if you have Push enabled on your device. You can also open the Mail, Calendar or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync.

Choosing Which Calendars to Sync

Open the Safari browser on your phone and go to http://m.google.com

Click on Google Apps user? at the bottom of the screen.

Enter your domain name (e.g., YourDomain.com).

Click the Sync icon in your domain area (this section has a green background).

Select your device to configure Calendars.

Always Reconcile Your Credit Card Statement!

2010-07-13T14:03:13+00:00

Like many Westerners, we make most of our purchases throughout the month on our credit cards to earn points we can use towards vacations, etc. It's a wise stewardship decision, as long-- and only if-- we pay our credit card statement in full every month.

Troubling Trends
We've noticed over the last couple of years a couple of trends that are very troubling:

Almost every other month we find fraudulent charges on our statements. These are not due to our carelessness; we are careful to only make online purchases on secure websites and we shred all of our receipts when we're done with them along with all other potential-identity-theft trash. These fraudulent charges are usually for less than $10, so they'd be easy to miss (think the thieves are doing it that way on purpose?); it's rare to see one for more than $10.
Merchants have begun asking if we want our receipt when we make purchases. They're probably wanting to be ecologically sensitive or just trying to be courteous, but their question suggests that many say they don't want their receipt! Without a receipt, how can one verify the charges on their monthly credit card statements?

If we didn't reconcile our monthly statements (the process of matching every charge on our statement with a receipt), we would throw a lot of money into theives' pockets-- money we are trying to manage well. Is that what you're doing?

My Recommendation

I strongly recommend you get a receipt for every credit card and debit card purchase, and reconcile those receipts against your monthly statements. Our family averages about 90 receipts per month, and reconciliation takes me 10-15 minutes. If you make fewer purchases, it'll take you much less time. And it will save you money when you catch those charges that are wrong or shouldn't be on your statement!

Customer Experience & Follow-Through

2010-07-13T00:03:43+00:00

Have you ever been surveyed after a hotel stay? Recently I was. I'd stayed at a nice place and had a good stay. But it wasn't great. I was satisfied, but not thrilled. That's what I tried to express on the survey. Certainly I was FAR from disappointed.The survey didn't have much opportunity for free-form comments, so I couldn't tell that the "problems' were really trivial. But, I submitted it. I figured that would be the end of the story.

Within a couple of hours, I had an email follow-up by a real person, who gave full contact info and apologized for my bad stay. There was pretty good evidence that this wasn't an automated response. I took advantage to now explain that the stay wasn't at all bad, and was able to articulate the little things that had been less than perfect. Within minutes, I had a follow-up to that message again thanking me. Very nice.

So, where do you think I'm likely to stay next time I need to be in that same city?

Oh, did I mention, this all took place after 7pm local hotel time (actually, probably even later, but I don't remember). Clearly, customer service isn't a 9-5 job for them.

Loss of Trust

2010-07-13T00:00:17+00:00

AV-Comparatives have, until recently, been a site I trust.

I’ve referred you good readers to them before as a place of independence.

But today, IMO, they’ve blown that trust.

In their words:

At the end of every year, AV-Comparatives releases a summary report to comment on the various Anti-Virus products tested over the year, and to determine the winners in the various tests.

All sounds good so far – but last year, 2009, they awarded “AV Product of the year” to Symantec.

What?

How on earth can the widely recognised bloat that is Symantec beat the likes of Kaspersky (2nd) or Nod32 (3rd) as two examples I do trust? OK, so no one company will get it right 100% of the time for 100% of the people, but day in day out Symantec AV software has shown to be problematical, slow and notoriously unfriendly to systems. And woe betide you if you want to remove it.

Take a look at the summary report on which they base their award. On the surface and just looking at the chart you’d be inclined to agree – and let’s face it; not many of us dig into the meat of reports like this. But I do and I did and it makes for far more revealing reading than the headline – AV Product of the Year. After all, will Symantec care that in the details they state “being recognised as “Best Product of 2009″ does not mean that a product is the “best” (underline emphasis mine) – ah right, so now the truth comes out.

So, explain it to me. How can you on the one hand award a best of and then on the other say it isn’t necessarily the best?

Either it is or isn’t.

As I said, Symantec won’t care as they’ll just use the headline.

Oh and you get all this at twice the price of the other two I mention. Go figure.

Do you agree with me on trust?
What about in this particular instance – should I just shrug my shoulders?
Has any security company lost yoru trust?

My Related Posts:

Loss of Trust is a post from: Church Techy

Ebay’s Response – No 700 mHz Here!

2010-07-12T20:27:18+00:00

Heard back from Ebay regarding the 700 mHz mics being auctioned. It took them 24 hours, which is not great, but OK. The response is, however, surprising to me.

“Thank you for writing in regard to wireless microphones that operate in the 700MHz band which are prohibited on eBay.

We conduct searches for wireless microphones that operate in the 700MHz band throughout the day, though if you have located specific auctions you would like us to review, please respond to this email with the item numbers.”

I have reported a few dozen auctions over the past few weeks… and NONE have been removed. There are dozens of illegal units for sale now. I’ll send them a list and we’ll see what happens.

The Mask

2010-07-12T17:45:48+00:00

The latest blog i’ve done with our senior pastor for timsvlog.com. Make sure to check it out and leave a nickname or a vote for the best hip-hop name for Tim.

Poll Question: What would be the best hip-hop nickname for Pastor Tim?

iPhone 4 is iFLOP – again

2010-07-12T12:00:01+00:00

Sorry Apple but looks like you wont be getting any kudos from Consumer Reports anytime soon..

According to their recent testing “we can’t recommend the iPhone 4” because of the issues with the reception and the potential dropped calls… sure we know Apple tried to blame a flaw in the algorithm, but seriously why didn’t they just take the MAcGyver approach and fix it with duct tape…. see the video below on how you can fix your iphone 4 with duct tape..

now 1,000,001 ways duct tape saves the day!..

Sorry Apple but looks like you wont be getting any kudos from Consumer Reports anytime soon.. According to their recent testing “we can’t recommend the iPhone 4” because of the issues with the reception and the potential dropped calls… sure we know Apple tried to blame a flaw in the algorithm, but seriously why didn’t they [...]

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-07-12

2010-07-12T10:45:00+00:00

@nathanandmisty @rhowell / I gotta agree with @Kr15How3ll on the Skyline call. It's pretty much awesomeness in a chili costume. in reply to Kr15How3ll #
Love sitting outside at central market enjoying a beautiful summer evening and watching the kids play. #
@marksnewton oakville grocery and market in Napa. Great place to grab stuff for an awesome romantic picnic. in reply to marksnewton #
@philbob10 that's what happens when you start making things free @Starbucks, quality goes downhill. in reply to philbob10 #
Great weekend with my girls. Finishing up with 530 service @watermarkchurch with some friends, then dinner @centralmarket. #
Tried to head to the canyon creek pool with the two oldest, but they closed it because they heard thunder. Ummm. #
Grilling some flank steak. Omm nom nom. http://twitpic.com/243vat #
@rhowell need anything tomorrow? in reply to rhowell #
Tonight's arts and crafts. http://twitpic.com/23vu45 #
There are few things that I enjoy more than a good Texas summer thunderstorm. #fb #
@rhowell dude do you need us to drive you to the er? in reply to rhowell #
@cgreentx Exactly that. have a bunch of donated HP p4s that we want to turn into lab machines, but just provide a locked down environ. in reply to cgreentx #
Anyone familiar with using Terminal Server to serve up desktops for a lab environment? msg me if you have details. #
@chrismoseley What do you mean? It's still being worked on. in reply to chrismoseley #
Anger, when coupled with Comic Sans, comes across a lot softer. http://bit.ly/91CXvH (via @itsblake) #
If I cared about the NBA, guess what team I would now cheer against… #
Working late tonight @watermarkchurch with @benjordan on a new shadetree site for #citrt Join the fun if you want. Bring munchies. #
RT @mikeshelton: Right when Lebron goes to announce, Kanye will jump on the stage & talk about how Jordan was the best player of all time #
@cgreentx now you'll have to go back to Cali next month when the install finishes so you can finish setting it up. in reply to cgreentx #
You just can't put broccoli in a smoothie and expect it to taste good. #newlifelesson #
Yes! We love donated hardware. 13 desktops, 2 laptops and 16 flat panel lcds! http://twitpic.com/23j3y4 #
@cyberentomology I can't recommend ADmit Mac any longer. It was fine before snow leopard, but now creates more problems than its worth. in reply to cyberentomology #
Hanging with about 25 guys this morning working through Luke chapter 1. #
@benjordan just made me go to Lindsaylohan's twitter page. I hate him… =) #
@austinmc No es mi problema, debe ser un error del usuario. =) in reply to austinmc #
My two year old consumes so much macaroni and cheese that I'm pretty sure she could successfully complete the whole milk challenge. #
@sgoodger where else can you have dinner above centerfield in (an empty) ballpark? #rays in reply to sgoodger #
@planobarryb I'd be surprised to see a bald eagle driving anywhere. Figured it was always faster for them to fly. in reply to planobarryb #
couldn't care less if or where Lebron James plays basketball. #
@rhowell Hey who said you could use Mail? Yours truly, The Entourage Police (who hypocritically let themselves use Mail) =) in reply to rhowell #
@andresee WANT! Pacman please! in reply to andresee #
With the closeness to the highway and variety of ethnic restaurants, Knox Henderson smells more like NYC than any other part of Dallas. #
Well… the weekend is officially over. #backtowork #
@mattknisely cool, thanks. Twitter is not always the best conduit for my humor! in reply to mattknisely #
@mattknisely don't feel good about my last tweet to you. Wasn't helpful and tone was sour. Don't want to sleep on it. Will you forgive me? in reply to mattknisely #
@mattknisely a new word to describe themselves. Calling yourself a creative is like calling everyone else a "boring". It's just arrogant. in reply to mattknisely #
@kilodelta we're not better, just more used to the heat. We complain when the temps hit freezing down here though. Wintertime wimps. in reply to kilodelta #
Question of the day. Do I have girls or boys? http://twitpic.com/22q68j #
On the new iPhone, why in heck does my music stop playing every time I launch the facebook app? Kinda the opposite of multitasking. #fail #
@JasonPowell pretty romantic date for a bad boy rockstar with a mullet. Haha. in reply to JasonPowell #
@kilodelta dang. Down it Texas it is usually that hot by 8am. When it hits 110, come talk to us. it's good to turn ac on then. Ha in reply to kilodelta #
RT @icebourg: RT @Photocritic In 'Back to the Future', Doc sets clock in the DeLorean to a day 25 years in the future. Today is that day. #
You know it's a holiday weekend when my wife agrees to play wii at midnight. #fb #

Are Bill & Steve fighting over me?

2010-07-12T00:46:42+00:00

As you probably know by now, I purchased an iPad over the weekend. I’ve been evaluating this decision for several months and trying to make a business case for the device (more on that in future posts). The full story will be told on this blog over time and what better way to start than with the relentless pursuit of Microsoft not to let me go.

The backstory here can be summarized as follows: I’m a PC person, Apple sucks. PC’s are better. So my using an Apple product is very much a paradigm game changing shift.

The fun started with the whole Apple Store experience. . It was as if they could smell my MCSE and knew I was wearing a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone. You can’t just go in there and buy something, you have to put your name on a list and wait for someone to help you. Naturally, the place was packed and after waiting an hour I found out several of the geniuses had called in sick. I thought I could just go pick an iPad off the shelf and head home

The only one they had was the 64gb 3G model. I wanted the 3G but would have been happy with the 16gb but decided the extra $200 was worth the extra space and worth not having to wait another month to get one.

Once I got home I tried to install a free app from the App Store. I have an iTunes account but hadn’t used it in years so I had to update my credit card information. I’m still not sure why a credit card is required for a free app but it is. The problem was that iTunes would not accept my credit card. It kept saying my security code was invalid. Frustrated I Googled the problem and found out that I wasn’t the only one but that the solution was to call the credit card company. I couldn’t figure out what could be wrong with my credit card, after all I had just used it at the Apple Store.

So I broke down and called the credit card company. The nice lady told me my card had been blocked due to an unauthorized purchase at the Apple Store. She said I had never used my card there before and so they blocked my card. She asked me to confirm if the purchase was valid. At this point, I’m laughing aloud. I told the lady she made my day and the charge was valid. She turned my card back on and my iTunes account was back in business so I could install that free app.

Between the long lines and the blocked credit card it is a wonder it all worked out but I have an iPad, I’m using it, I made this post with it, and will be talking a lot more about it….even though I do feel a bit dirty.

A New Record

2010-07-11T17:47:02+00:00

Approximately 12,000 people attending HDC regularly. Approximately 7,000 programs stating the time and date of the business meeting distributed over two weekends. Approximately 5,000 adults in worship each weekend. Approximately 2,000 voting members. Exactly 0 non-board members or staff (or their immediate families) in attendance at our semi-annual business meeting. Wow. Joel

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-11

2010-07-11T16:34:00+00:00

saving the world one crisis at a time: dont worry im keeping track, the bill is coming #

Is Ebay Listening?

2010-07-11T15:44:25+00:00

Over the past month, I’ve seen an ever increasing number of 700 mHZ wireless microphone systems up for sale on Ebay. Few of them point out the fact that they are illegal to operate in the United States. I have talked with two churches recently who thought they were getting a great deal on wireless. In one case I was able to catch them before they bid on the worthless gear. For the other, it was too late. They had already made the purchase and were pretty much stuck.

Today, I sent Ebay an email asking them to clarify their position on the sale of illegal wireless in the U.S. on Ebay.

Sirs:

I would like to have you clarify your policy on sales of items that are illegal for use, for sale, or to ship in the United States.

FCC Document 10-16, adopted 1/14/2010, prohibits the manufacture, import, sale, lease, offer for sale or lease, or shipment of wireless microphones and other low power auxiliary stations intended for use in the 700 MHz Band in the United States.

At this point, there are DOZENS of these items listed for sale on Ebay, in clear violation of the law. I have reported a number of these items... but as your system allows for no follow up with the reporting member, I'm not sure if I'm simply shouting into the wind.

Is Ebay going to continue to allow illegal wireless microphones to be sold to US customers?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Kirk Longhofer

I’m looking forward to seeing what Ebay has to say about this.

10 Internet Scams

2010-07-11T08:30:40+00:00

Here are 10 of the most popular Internet Scams.

I list them purely for your edification in the hopes that you don’t get caught out by them

- or that you can use this as either a quick reference

- or as a pointer for friends that may need some advice.

So, without further ado and in no particular order:

1. Nigerian scam – aka 419.

This almost always appears as an email from someone that is the “relative of the late [insert grand title]“ – in short they utilise emotion to try and get you to part with smaller sums of money in return for a decent %age of a much larger sum. One of the best sites out there for advice and fighting back is 419 Eater.

2. Lottery scams.

Similar to the 419 scam this one typically asks for an up-front payment to release the funds you’ve won. See FraudAid for some great advice.

3. Advance Loan Fees.

These, like the previous two, will ask for an up-front fee typically referred to as an admin or processing fee. They will normally ‘guarantee’ the loan – but ask yourself this: Why, when a conventional bank or credit card company will add the charge to any loan, do I need to pay an up-front fee? Short and to the point advice from Fraud.org.

4. Holiday scams.

These almost always take the approach that you’ve won a greatly reduced cost cruise or holiday but you never get to hear the ‘catch’ until you’ve signed up and paid what you believe is the total cost. Then the hidden clauses come out. ExpertLaw.com appears to have the best coverage of these types of ‘deal’.

5. Phishing scams.

I’ve talked about these before – see my full advice here.

6. Disaster relief scams.

I trust I don’t need to spell this one out? Instead I will simply say – go direct to the homepage of your favourite disaster relief charity and donate there. And if you don’t know any then check out CharityNavigator.

7. Chain eMails.

This is the modern equivalent of a chain letter and you are asked to forward a small (typically) amount of money to a name & address and add your own to the bottom. More advice and fun at some of the emails out there from BreakTheChain.org.

8. Overpayment scam.

Best way to describe this is with an example. You want to sell item A for £100. Scammer B offers £500 in the form of a cheque (or similar) for goods they’ve sold in your country and for you to forward on the remainder. In this example £400. Then the cheque bounces and not only are you without item A but you’ve also sent B £400. Much more info on this type of scam at Scambusters.org.

9. Computer money making machine scam.

In return for some money, yes up-front, you are asked to install a program on your computer that opens lots of popups / adverts. Each of these effectively generate a click for that advert and ths income for the scammer. You are highly unlikely to see any return on this other then seriously impaired computer response. Avoid.

10. Employment scam.

The only reason this scam exists is to gather information – yours. Oh, and possibly your money too. The end result is likely to be fraud of some kind, either your ID is stolen or money from your bank (knowingly or not) and far from earning you money will always cost. Job-hunt.org has some great advice on this type of scam.

Have I missed any obvious scams?
Have you any great links to share that provide advice on avoiding scams?

My Related Posts:

10 Internet Scams is a post from: Church Techy

How Much IT Are You Willing to Outsource?

2010-07-07T17:14:07+00:00

Recently I had a nice visit with the folks at MinistryBox. If you know me, then you know that I'm a big fan of outsourcing. MinistryBox takes the outsourcing concept a step beyond what we normally think of. They have chosen to be a "Church IT Platform" rather than just a ChMS. In concept, they want to take "whatever a church needs for IT" and provide it, via the web, for a very low price, without the church ever needing to be concerned about IT.

So, where some churches might be choosing an outsourcer, such as Higher Ground, HyperDrive, MBS, Solerant, or Viant (I know, there are many others), AND choosing a ChMS, such as ACS, Arena, BVCMS, Church Community Builder, Fellowship One, MinistryPlatform, or Shelby. For churches that fit the right model, there would be only one choice rather than two. Choose MinistryBox and you are done!

OK, let's be clear, MinistryBox isn't for everybody. It's probably not going to fit any mega-churches, but that's not their focus. They are looking at the very small church (the staff of 1, or less), or the church with just a few staff. The concept: let the church focus on ministry and let MinistryBox supply the IT needs, all in a package. What a great idea for the start-up church. Let the pastor do what he's been hired to do, and have a well-resourced company handle the rest as a service.

If you know a young or small church that needs "something" for IT and ChMS, but doesn't know where to start, please suggest they look at MinistryBox. It's at least a good reference point, and probably can grow with a church through a membership of 1000, maybe more.

Somehow, MinistryBox missed out on previous Church IT Roundtable events, but they have recently begun to get involved and even had an attendee at the recent CITRT event sponsored by Shelby in Atlanta. Expect to see them at future events. They're good folks -- check them out.

My Favorite Mobile Apps

2010-07-06T19:45:35+00:00

I travel a lot and rely on a number of mobile technologies to help me stay productive while on the road. Whether you travel a lot or not, mobile technology can help you in your personal and professional life. I just released a brief article for publication that lists my favorite mobile apps... click here to get a free copy in PDF format!

4th of July Fireworks from Auburn Alabama // Video

2010-07-05T14:04:36+00:00

Each year we usually go see the fireworks put on by the city of Auburn, and this year they were worth the wait. I wanted to post a very quick video of the finale, in part for a friend of mine who didn’t come out to see the fireworks saying he would prefer to watch them on the computer, so here they are. I also wanted to test the video quality of my iPhone while shooting at night, not bad video for a phone. Too see the full 720p HD version change the resolution below or click on the video.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-07-05

2010-07-05T10:45:00+00:00

RT @TNWapple: iTunes accounts hacking more widespread than initially thought. The facts, and what you should do. http://tnw.to/16UhW #
Dear @huntsketchup, I used to greatly prefer Heinz. Then u took out all of the high fructose corn syrup. Now I prefer yours, go figure. #fb #
Of Bible believing Christians, only one in four actually vote. And of that 25%, far fewer are informed on the issues and their faith. #
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. #fb #
@wordsfromwags and Kelly Shackleford from the Liberty Institute discussing the role of believers and government @watermarkchurch. Awesome. #
@brendanstark yeah. Mac is a great platform for many. A few hundred bucks is small price for productivity and keeping staff happy. in reply to brendanstark #
Dinner included four of my favorite words. Chicken. bacon. ranch. pizza. Papa Murphy's for the rainy Friday night dinner win. #
Not sure. Your quote was right up against what we have to spend. so I'd just squeeze in as many as we could with the savings. #
A stranger with an Afro just told me to "take it easy, my man". I think I have just experienced time travel. #
Quote of the week. "Sometimes your knight in shining armor is just a retard in tin foil" Thanks @samanthakay2011 for the laugh. #fb #
@rsmith92807 second the vote for sophos. Had it for 2 plus years. Great features. in reply to rsmith92807 #
Twitter has taught me to think only in short, pithy statements. Don't hate. It's not personal. #
When I go to northpark mall, I feel like a homeless person who shows up to a very fancy wedding. #
Lots of voice and data decisions that need to be made. My brain is full. #
Great night hanging with @Shannonjmiller. Love that girl! #
@shagginhpu @rhowell I'm picking him up. in reply to shagginhpu #
Lunch at papasitos with @cgreentx @paulrhoades and others. Yum. #
Ummm… Switchvox is really, really sweet. @cgreentx is giving a great demo too. #citrt #
On the way to Houston for a @switchvox demo. #fb #
@clifguy I can show you the Aruba system via a skype screenshare if you want to see it. Had it 3 years. Flawless wifi. in reply to clifguy #
Prepping for our roadtrip to Houston tomorrow with @paulrhoades to check out a Switchvox phone system with @cgreentx. #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-04

2010-07-04T16:34:00+00:00

As long as I'm waiting on something in the mail, it will be late. This is one of the foundational principles of the universe as we know it. #
I've got Android running on my HTC Diamond on Boost Mobile. That's unlimited voice/text/3G data for $50/mo. #

ISS Links

2010-07-04T08:30:17+00:00

As today is my daughter’s 10th birthday (which is far more important than any country celebration <g>) I’m being lazy and just posting some links.

The links will show you that I’m far from the only site talking about internet safety but I do try to make my approach cover all aspects and not just children.

PRNewswire is a web based press release centre – here’s one of their recent releases.
i-Safe is a US based non-profit promoting education in internet safety.
Internet Safety with Professor Garfield – everybodies favourite cat teaches internet safety.
180 TechTips does more than just general Tech Tips, they also have a specific section on the internet – 5 min lessons on tech, good stuff.

That’s all for now – enough to keep you going but this section will probably become a regular within my ISS series.

My Related Posts:

ISS Links is a post from: Church Techy

Where does your rabbit trail go?

2010-07-03T11:01:00+00:00

Filed in: church technology

DNS 201

2010-07-02T08:27:06+00:00

It would appear that a certain Irish ISP (no names, no pack drill) has taken to blocking content they deem as unsuitable. This follows on from another Irish ISP that has adopted the “three strikes and out” rule on file sharing.

They aren’t just blocking the unsuitable content but entire sites.

The worrying thing is the lack of choice offered and no prior warnings – just blocked unceremoniously. Additionally there is no burden of proof required – so malicious reports could easily see someone barred from the internet. When you consider that most schools in the UK expect children to have access to the web at home for school purposes – then we once again enter into the realm of a two tier society. The have and have nots.

But, I don’t want to get into the politics of these decisions here, but show how (in the case of the site blocking) it can be overcome with some simple changes. Equally, making these changes could improve your surf speeds even if you don’t get blocked.

The approach is to utilise a third party DNS service such as OpenDNS or Google.

If you’re not a fan of either or find they aren’t perhaps as good as your current ISP then try using namebench – which is a simple utility that has code for Windows, Macs and *nix. In their own words they state that namebench “hunts down the fastest DNS servers available for your computer to use“.

So why is this a 201?

Mostly because it’s a step above an intro lesson to DNS (covered here) as you’ll need to know how to access yoru router and change it’s settings – that I won’t cover here, but OpenDNS cover a ‘how to‘ for most major manufacturers.

And another way around this is to utilise one of the methods discussed here recently.

Should ISP’s play judge & jury?
What about other un-regulated setups such as the IWF?
Ignoring for now, the dangers to minors are you for or against ineternet censorship by organisations?

My Related Posts:

DNS 201 is a post from: Church Techy

Think Ministry Relationship

2010-06-30T20:18:01+00:00

I’m pleased to report that I’ve entered into a non-exclusive relationship with Think Ministry Inc. to help them find the next few churches for their MinistryPlatform ChMS solution.

Think Ministry’s principals, Kevin McCord and Stephen Wareham, are two people I’ve known, respected, and worked with, for a long time. I even had a trivial role in their start-up, and was one of the few who could say “I was there” when they started. I’ve been an interested observer throughout their whole company life, actually even before they were a company or had a name. I’d like to believe I even had some influence on the work they are doing.

MinistryPlatform is an exciting product that may spark the next revolution in the ChMS market. Kevin and Stephen have a long history of providing added value and simplification to existing Church Management Systems, and now they’re putting what they’ve learned into an entirely new product that supports multi-campus (or multi-congregation in any form), living up to one of their tag lines “a single source of truth for multi-site churches.” MinistryPlatform has many great features but I’m most excited about the querying, selecting, and reporting aspect. Finally, there is a solution that normal people can use to get meaningful information out of your database from all that data that you’ve put in.

MinistryPlatform is not for everyone, or at least not yet (being patient is so difficult). For now, we’re looking for a few special churches, specifically larger, multi-site churches, with a dedicated IT staff, and a team or individual committed to the implementation of this new system. If you might be the next special church, I’d be happy to talk with you.

Healthcare Makes Me Sick!

2010-06-30T20:38:40+00:00

Our healthcare insurance carrier is conducting themselves in a manner that is changing my perception of their industry-- for the worse! Their industry is under a lot of scrutiny these days, and I'm beginning to believe they deserve it.

My Perspective To-Date
I run a small business and am sympathetic to the plight of the small businessman (or woman). Our taxes and fees are increasing, and doing business-- especially in California, is challenging.

But I have always defended the insurance industry as I would any legitimate business. They provide a service, and they have a right to do so profitably.

Our Situation
Without going into specifics, our health insurance company made fast changes to their plans that cost us and our team members thousands in the last year. These were done without warning, and they were entirely unsympathetic to our plight.

The person in our office responsible for dealing with them was under so much stress from them that I personally took on the responsibility earlier this month. I've been working with them for three weeks, and now I understand why she was nearly at tears. They have been insensitive, uncaring, and unresponsive.

Big Isn't Always Better
Before starting our small business in the mid-1980s I was in executive service for General Motors. They had pirated me from a similar role in Ford Motor Company. I understand working in a large corporation, and know that sometimes they can be difficult to navigate. Sometimes their personnel can be unsympathetic to customers' needs. But an objective and caring manager can create a culture where the customer is king (or queen) and reasonable needs are met. The best part is that everyone wins in that scenario!

My New Perspective
I'm beginning to believe that those who hate the healthcare insurance industry are justified. I can't believe I'm saying that, but after trying to deal with them for three weeks, they have completely turned me around!

I spoke with their CEO's office, and they are trying to navigate the corporate culture to resolve our issue. Unfortunately, the first person I was referred to had the sole responsibility of defending and explaining their plan. Not helpful. Next is that person's manager and the national VP. I hope I will be writing a follow-up post that says they made everything right, and that my original position (that of defending their right to do business and to do it profitably) is still in tact.

Dumbbell

2010-06-30T18:33:44+00:00

It’s true we’ve done another video blog. You can only imagine what’s on the table of mystery with such a clever title. You’ll also hear a story about a guy who went to school late in life for one particular purpose, when you have a goal are you disciplined to reach it?

Social Media Boot Camp

2010-06-30T16:32:38+00:00

This may be the closest thing to an advertisement I've ever done on my blog. I think this is a great opportunity, but I'm not compensated in the least if you participate.

If your organization knows you need to be doing something with Social Media, but don't have a strategy, or know how to create one, this is the event for you. This all day event (in Nashville) will give you the tools you need. Check it out. Social Media & SEO Boot Camp. If you want to save a few dollars, check out Ben Stroup's post that has a discount code.

Rescued

2010-06-29T22:44:47+00:00

The last few days I've had lots of car time, which is my ideal time to catch-up on audio programs. When I last visited with Liberty Church in Marietta, they gave me a second-time visitor gift of an audio drama called Rescued. Once again, a clarification on things about eternity, and (my words) how many of us have listened to easy messages rather than studying for ourselves. What does the Bible really say about the judgment? What about Jesus phrase "I never knew you."?

I've listened to this 2 CD set about 4 times so far. It clearly made an impression on me. There's a bit of a scary contradiction here. Most of us have been taught that we can be confident of our salvation. Consider: is it possible to be confident, and also wrong? If so, then how can you be reassured? That's an interesting paradox.

Computer Repair, Cowboy Style

2010-06-29T22:39:08+00:00

Today’s post is a guest post from Kevin Weatherby. Kevin is a cowboy by trade and a pastor by calling and has some fantastic stories and insights and a wonderful ability to link stories from ‘the ranch‘ to real life spiritual applications.

Here’s one that caught my eye recently and Kevin kindly agreed to re-write it to better suit my tech blog. Thanks Kevin.

My friend Stuart asked me to pass along a few high tech cowboy tips and pointers post. I am always willing to help people out where and when I can. Today’s lesson will be on computer repair. There is a right way and a wrong way to get things done….I’ll leave you to decide which one this might be.

When you live 30 miles from the nearest anywhere, you learn to use a variety of things in a variety of situations. Cowboys can figure out how to fix items, or at least patch them, with the simplest things he has laying around.

I had lightning strike the house about 5 years ago and ruined my computer. I know I should have had a surge protector, but it was outside running the air compressor, the drill, two heat lamps, a fountain pump, a weedeater, a radio, a kick-butt chair massager, a battery charger, two ceiling fans, a burned up coffee maker, a curlin’ iron, and a cell phone charger.

Well, this computer wasn’t working, so I didn’t figure I would break it by trying to fix it. It was already fried. I opened it up to see if anything was wrong. The whole durn thing looked like a rainbow bright rat’s nest with all the colorful wires and green boards. I didn’t know the first thing about what any of that stuff did or where to begin. The whole thing looked broken to me. I couldn’t even find the cards from the Solitaire Game that I played so much. But I did find one of the mines from minesweeper. It looked remarkably like a mouse turd.

I figured I would just start where the cord went in the back. I had to take out about fourteen screws the size of a pencil lead just to get into the little box where the cord goes. I didn’t have a screwdriver that small so I just took a hacksaw and opened it like everyone else does. That is how ya’ll would do it, right?

Anyway, the first thing I saw in this little box was a fuse. It was not a big fuse, but it didn’t take an electrical jeanius to see that the durned thing was blown. I had never seen a fuse like this in my whole life. I didn’t know where I was going to find a “little weird computer fuse” store. So I did the next best thing. I made one out of baling wire.

All a fuse does is make electricity go from one side of it to another. Wire will do that. I went out to the horse pens and got some wire that was tied up there. I didn’t use the good stuff, I used the real rusty batch. It didn’t have to be pretty. It just had to run a little electricity. I taped that little piece of baling wire on the outside of that fuse and secured it with a little piece of duct tape. It’s very hard to get a piece of duct tape that small. I was afraid at one point I was going to have to get some bubble gum to make the wire stay put.

In the end though, the toughest part was getting the blasted thing back together, not fixing it. I had hacksawed all the little screws off and I couldn’t figure out how to get the cover back on. If I hadn’t seen that cover come off there with my own two eyes, I would have bet you a good dog that the cover was off something else.

I plugged the computer in and hit the magic button. The thing fired right up and I used it for about three more years.

Now that baling wire was not ever intended to be used to fix a computer. It might have worked out alright, but that definitely was not the tool for the job. I learned two things from that close encounter with the computer kind.

The first is to not be afraid to dive into something you don’t know anything about. You might surprise yourself with what you can do.

The second is that if you have to use a hacksaw to get into something, you should probably stay out of it. Let someone that knows what they are doing get the job done right the first time–without duct tape and rusted wire from a horse pen.

My Related Posts:

Computer Repair, Cowboy Style is a post from: Church Techy

Flashlight

2010-06-29T20:20:27+00:00

I told you i’d be sharing my video blogs that I do with Tim Passmore, the Pastor at Woodland. This weeks is Flashlight and as I tweeted the day of I was bossed around, called names, and nearly blinded in the making of this video, and for that reason alone you shouldn’t miss it!

“On Living Simply”…today!

2010-06-29T02:02:33+00:00

I wanted to share something I recently read in “On Living Simply” by St. John Chrysostom. It amazes me how applicable this 4th century wisdom is to today’s politics (and many other aspects of our lives in the 21st century)! Enjoy……

Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich person’s gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should we beg the emperor to impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to the level of the poor and then to share the proceeds of that tax among everyone? Equality imposed by force would achieve nothing, and do much harm. Those who combined both cruel hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of making themselves rich again. Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away would feel bitter and resentful; while the poor who received the gold form the hands of soldiers would feel no gratitude, because no generosity would have prompted the gift. Far from bringing moral benefit to society, it would actually do moral harm. Material justice cannot be accomplished by compulsion, a change of heart will not follow. The only way to achieve true justice is to change people’s hearts first – and then they will joyfully share their wealth.

-St. John Chrysostom

Twitter updates for the week of 2010-06-28

2010-06-28T10:45:00+00:00

With the iPhone 4 reception problems/ATT woes, wonder if we will look back on this iphone as the one where Apple jumped the shark.(or not) #
Don't really understand why the world likes soccer so much. But I guess with all the acting and bad performances it's like theater. #fb #
"Rush – beyond the lighted stage" was amazing. It's on vh1 again today if you missed it. Great documentary for one of my old fav bands. #
Just saw two people leave carts like this. So close, yet not close enough. Lazy much? http://twitpic.com/1zy8j9 #
The whole family at a grocery store grand opening. At some point I knew partying hard on a Friday night would come to this. #fb #
@JasonPowell check, but hbo is free for us on uverse this weekend. in reply to JasonPowell #
Taking a cue from apple. From now on, all helpdesk requests will be responded with an email saying "you're holding it wrong". #citrt #apple #
@jeff_r_ward yep. Using that from now on. in reply to jeff_r_ward #
If you build a piece of technology, & it has problems. telling the users "you're holding it wrong" is not really an answer. #apple #fail #fb #
Shadetree extending private beta invitations on July 1 for delivery of source code on July 15th. Who wants to play? (via @GetShadetree) #
RT @mashable: HUGE: Twitter Lets You Automatically Follow Your Facebook Friends – http://bit.ly/byxB3f #
“@mashable: Steve Jobs: iPhone 3G Couldn’t Handle iOS4 Backgrounds – http://bit.ly/d5VnaM” / that explains it @idaniels #
Wow @firesidepies is amazing. #
Just got schooled on voip by an amazing IT volunteer with a full-blown lab environment. Unbelievable. Every phone and system imaginable. #

7 Deadly Sins of Social Networking

2010-06-27T08:30:11+00:00

Let’s face it – we’re probably all addicted to social networking.

Whether you can walk away from it for a week or more or have to use it to tell us every minor part of your day from what you had for breakfast (and where) to what colour socks you’ve got on – then in some way, the very fact you are reading here is likely proof you use social media and possibly are addicted to it..

Well according to CSOonline “dozens of IT security professionals have pinpointed seven typical security mistakes people make” and they are:

Over-sharing company activities.
Mixing personal with professional .
Engaging in Tweet (or Facebook/LinkedIn/Myspace) rage
Believing he/she who dies with the most connections wins
Password sloth
Trigger finger (clicking everything, especially on Facebook)
Endangering yourself and others

Please click through on the above link to see the detail.

Are you guilty of any of these?

Do you feel any of these are an over-simplification?

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7 Deadly Sins of Social Networking is a post from: Church Techy

Diplomatic answers to awkward new parent questions

2010-06-25T19:02:58+00:00

Q: Will you vaccinate your child?

A: I'm not licensed to practice medicine.

Q: Was it a natural birth?

A: I was indoors at the time so, no.

Q: Do you spank your kids?

A: I certainly wouldn't spank yours.

Q: Does he sleep with you at night.

A: Yes, he sleeps at night.

Q: Is he on a schedule?

A: We're all creatures of habit.

Q: Does he sleep through the night?

A: I don't know, but I do.

Q: Are you breast feeding?

A: Not at the moment.

Q: Do your kids have the same daddy?

A: Paternity tests are so last season.

This post is in honor of Max Decker McCord born on the twenty-third day of the month of June in the year of our Lord two-thousand and ten.

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