One of the guys who leads music at our church (Church of the Open Door) is Joel Hanson. Joel is probably best known for being one of the members of the Christian rock band PFR. He and the guys in our church band are very talented. The song that they played while the offering was taking place yesterday was “Mess of Me” by Switchfoot. They may have actually sounded better than Switchfoot. Listen to the video below (really loud if you can)…and picture it being played in church. :-)
[Edit: Okay...I just realized that the video is set to not allow embedding...so you will have to go directly to Youtube to view it.]
This morning I went to get a plastic cup out of our dishwasher that had just finished running. When I pulled it out, the cup was still dirty…it felt slimy or greasy. It actually made me wonder if we had forgotten to put detergent in the dishwasher when we ran it. I checked and we had put detergent in from a newly opened box. The fact that it was a new box triggered my memory…
I had seen a few news articles last year about some areas passing laws limiting or banning the use of phosphates in dishwasher detergent. In the articles I had seen about states banning phosphates, people quickly found out that their dishes weren’t getting clean. Some residents in Washington state were headed across the border into Idaho to buy detergent.
I checked the box and found the proud proclamation in very tiny print on the back of the box: “Contains no phosphates!” We ran the dishwasher a second time. Same result. I then loaded up my son and headed to Target to see if any other dish detergent had phosphates. After grabbing a box of Cascade that does have phosphates we once again have clean dishes.
I’ve seen the “green” initiatives that are driving the phosphate free dish detergent bans. I support conservation. My family recycles (even with the convoluted restrictions on what can/cannot be recycled in our area). I am very conscious of gas mileage and how the way I drive affects that. I do my best to waste as little as possible. However…if I have to wash a load of dishes multiple times with the phosphate free detergent (and then again with detergent that actually gets the job done)…is that really “green”?
A Sierra Club page claims: “Safe, effective, phosphate-free detergents are already on the market and among the most effective, according to Consumer Reports.” They don’t link to anything by Consumer Reports. After my experience (and the experience of those traveling across state lines to buy detergent) I seriously question the term “effective” in that quote. Matter of fact I found a reference to a Consumer Reports article on dish detergents from August 2009 that stated “Detergents without phosphates … tended to perform worst overall.”
I very rarely go see a movie in the theater. Before this week, I don’t think I have ever seen a movie in a theater on its opening day. But ever since I heard that Michael Lewis’s fantastic book The Blind Side, Evolution of a Game was being made into a movie, I have been looking forward to seeing it in the theater on opening day. I went to watch it last Friday on opening day, and I honestly wanted to turn around and go back in the theater to watch it again. They did an outstanding job with this movie. I just got back from watching it a second time (with Julie’s grandfather and my friends Tim and Nate).
In the book, Michael Lewis weaves together two storylines. One storyline is that he traces the evolution of the left tackle position in football from a utility position like any other lineman to a specialized position that is often one of the highest paid positions on the team. The reason for this is that the left tackle is responsible for protecting the quarterback’s blind side. He traces it back to teams needing to adjust to protecting their quarterback from defensive players like Lawrence Taylor.
The second storyline of the book is following the life of Michael Oher. Michael was an All American football player at Ole Miss who is now playing for the Baltimore Ravens. Michael was homeless in Memphis TN, and through a series of events came to be enrolled in a private school in Memphis and was taken in by a wealthy family who had compassion on his situation. The eventually became his legal guardians.
Now…anyone who knows me for very long knows that I went to Ole Miss and am a die hard fan. Yes it was fun hearing places mentioned in the movie that I knew from school. I ate lunch in Johnson Commons. However, the movie is fantastic outside of my Ole Miss leanings.
Over the last week I have had three people email me questions via the Contact Form on my blog with questions about past posts. This was instead of leaving a comment on the actual post on the blog. The last three posts that I have put up are answers to those three emails. I prefer to answer it here so that my responses can benefit more people than just the person asking the question.
If you have a question about something I have written, you can feel free to ask via either the contact form or by leaving a comment. I will try to respond in a timely manner.
Okay…a few things to get out of the way at the beginning of this post. After Microsoft announced Bing Search, I evaluated it as a possible replacement for Google’s search. I have been very impressed…I have found that I can actually get better results at the top of the search list using Bing than Google.
However on the Maps side of things…Bing has some catching up to do. I love the fact that Google Maps allows you to drag the route line to another road to change the route. Until Bing Maps has that, I will be using Google Maps for directions. Where Bing does have a serious leg up is with the “Bird’s Eye” view. It is really really good. Check out the differences between these two links to maps of the Campus Crusade for Christ headquarters where I used to work. (Google / Bing)
Now…on to the real reason for this post.
Over the weekend I got really annoyed with Google. Because I like Google’s Map function better, I decided to install the Google Mobile app on my Moto Q9c smartphone (which is running Windows Mobile 6.1). After installing the app and then switching to my home screen, I was annoyed to see that Google chose to install the app such that it changes the home screen…making itself the top app on the home screen. I was able to move it using cHomeConfigurator which I already had installed, but the fact that they chose to replace the top item on the home screen is not only annoying, it’s just plain arrogant.
Additionally, after moving the app off of the top of my home screen and playing with a couple of the Google apps, I locked my phone…and Google appeared in the top left corner of my screen. Again…Google…what the heck were you thinking?
Last year I had the idea to start a series of interviews with various people in the Microsoft management space. The concept was to have a personal interview with people that we all know because of their contributions to the online management community. The interviews are designed to allow others in the management space to get to know the personal side of the technology person. The first one that I interviewed last year was Wally Mead. Had a fun time sitting down with him while he was taking a break from TechEd.
While at MMS in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with the MOF Master herself, the one and only Sherry Kissinger. Sherry is a ConfigMgr MVP who works for Wells Fargo and is widely known as a expert in getting the most out of the ConfigMgr inventory by making modifications to the sms_def.mof file. Continuing the interview series, here is the conversation I had with Sherry.
Note: the player below requires Adobe Flash. If you don’t have Flash, you won’t see the player.
While preparing for MMS and TechEd, I needed to record the demo that I would use in my session. This was a requirement for TechEd, and I ended up using the recorded demo instead of doing a live demo…partially because it is very difficult to perform a live demo of Operating System Deployment in the 75 minute time frame of the sessions at MMS/TechEd. It also allows me to show the entire OS Build and Capture process (about a three and a half hour process in my virtual demo environment)…I am able to speed up the video of that process to show it all in about 3 minutes. Overall a much better process.
Knowing that I needed to be able to record my screen for the demo I knew that there were a few options. One is LiveMeeting and/or WebEx. I don’t have access to either one, so I looked elsewhere. I learned about Camtasia Studio by TechSmith. They offer a fully functional 30 day trial of the software. Using that I was able to not only capture the screen while the demo was running, but was able to speed up sections, slow down other sections to allow me time to talk to it, and splice together two portions of the demo (server side and client side) into one video to use during the demo. Very nice piece of software. I was also able to use it to produce the ConfigMgr Child Labor video. It allowed me to pull in my raw video segments, have a separate narration track, add in opening and closing title tracks, as well as add the video from MMS 2008 in as a Picture-in-Picture.
Overall I was VERY impressed with the software. However…it’s not cheap. With as often as I would use it, there was no way that I could justify the $299 price tag. If I did more demos…it would pay for itself quickly. For the once a year or so that I would use it…not so much.
Well…tonight at TechEd there was an opening night reception in the Expo hall. Lots of companies. As I was wandering around, I saw that TechSmith had a booth, so I walked over to see if they were going to have a drawing for a copy of Camtasia…which they are. As I was talking to the lady at the booth I was telling her about what I had done with the software and that I loved it but couldn’t justify the expense. Heck I’ve been telling a lot of people over the course of the last month about the software. She then proceeded to pull over another lady named Betsy whose title is “Chief Evangelist” for TechSmith. After telling her what I had done, she pulls out a business card to give to me. On the back of the card was a sticker with license keys for Camtasia Studio and Snagit. SWEET!!! My 30 day trial expired yesterday…I get to keep using it!
Last week I spent a couple of days working on creating a deliverable document for a client. Specifically it was for a Desktop Deployment Planning Session that we performed at a client. Over time I have learned that I work more efficiently in certain environments. Home…we don’t currently have a good workable office environment, so there are generally too many distractions…TV, kids, etc. Office…sometimes…but again there are distractions…generally I’m a social person, so I end up getting into conversations that suck time out of the day. And realistically…if I’m working on documentation or training, I can save the commute time and work from somewhere else.
Generally I have found that coffee shops work well for me. I don’t know anyone there, so I’m not going to get into conversations. And once I put on some instrumental music, I’m not going to hear any of the other noise in the place that would distract me. (Favorites for work music: the Gladiator soundtrack and “Acoustic Sketches” from Phil Keaggy. If I’m programming/scripting, I’ll typically go for something more high energy even though it’s not acoustic…”Bloom” from Audio Adrenaline. Although some old R.E.M. or SonicFlood works well also.)
So last week I’m in Dunn Bros Coffee working on the doc. First thing each morning I would buy a small dark roast coffee. Free refills all day. Every time I started to fade and lose focus on the doc, I’d go for a refill. By end of day Friday I was way way over-caffeinated. If you’ve seen the movie “Over the Hedge”…I was Hammy. The following day I was still a little sick. The combination of too much caffeine and being a bit dehydrated was really not good.
But in the end…the doc was finished (approx 20 pages), and it was really good. I was very pleased with how it turned out. Still needs a few more points about Business Value related to my recommendations for the client, but that shouldn’t take long.
This post falls under the category of most people won’t care, but I’m going to ramble about it anyway.
Since moving to Minneapolis I have stocked up on winter clothes. I bought the heavy duty winter jacket a while ago, but I really wanted a nicer looking jacket to wear to work. One that looked more professional going into a client location. Last week I finally got it.
I’ve been watching a leather jacket at Kohl’s since November. Back then it was being sold for $295. If you know me, you know that I’m too cheap to spend that much on a jacket. So I continued to watch it. I’ve watched it go down in price multiple times, and last week finally bought it. It was 70% off…and I had a 15% coupon to tack onto that. Final price: $75. I’m probably just as happy about the deal I got as I am with the jacket!
Now here is the trick. While the jacket is insulated…it isn’t going to hack the depths of a Minnesota winter. It’s fine down to around +5F. Any colder than that and I will probably still wear my Columbia jacket…but then…when it’s below zero practically everyone is wearing coats like that.
One aspect of blogging that has been a bit addictive to me is blog stats. WordPress.com (where this blog is hosted) gives really good stats. Aside from the hit totals that you would expect, it also gives you top posts, top referrers, search engine terms, click throughs as well as incoming links. So, over the last five months I’ve been watching the monthly hit rate climb and approach 5000 page views. It came close in October, November and December, but didn’t quite make it…Thanksgiving week and Christmas week had lower than average hit totals. January finally hit the mark. It’s amazing to me that my little blog is getting that much traffic.
A good friend of mine posted this on his blog back in October. I just saw it tonight and enjoyed it. With our messed up tax system here in the US, what would it be like if ten friends paid their bar tab the way that we pay taxes?
Over time I have developed a few posts that I really liked for one reason or another…but they rarely got hits after they aged off of the front page. I’ve been considering creating a “My Favorite Posts” type page…sort of a “Greatest Hits” of this blog. I finally did it tonight…My Favorite Ramblings. Yeah, it’s probably a bit self-centered…but then again…aren’t blogs by their very nature typically self-centered?
Over the last few weeks, gas prices have been dropping like a rock. I’m paying a full dollar/gallon less now than I paid about 3 1/2 weeks ago. All of the stations in the little town I live in are currently sitting at $2.19, and they seem to drop the price a little more every few days. So…what I’m looking for now…is for the 2 to go away. I’m looking for the first gas station to drop below $2/gallon.
Interestingly, in talking to friends from around the country…none of them are even close to this price. Most are at least 30 cents/gallon higher
For those of you who are regular visitors to my blog, you will notice that it has a different look. I chose a different theme and modified the widgets in the sidebars. Also changed the Suicide Resources page from a separate page to a post. Generally did some visual housecleaning.
Let me know what you think about the changes. I’m interested to hear.
On my flight to Bristol yesterday, I’m checking in at the airport. My bag is slightly overweight…52.5 pounds. I looked at the guy and asked if I could have a little grace or if I needed to take something out. He told me, “with the price of fuel, our managers are really cracking down, so you need to take some things out.”
I didn’t mind so I took 2.5 pounds out, and put them in my laptop bag. About that time it struck me…if fuel cost is the reasoning, what difference does it make if that 2.5 pounds is in my checked bag or my carryon?
I know that guy is just doing his job, and I didn’t say anything. But the logic that his manager is using is simply a bit faulty.
Here is a pic I snapped of Julie standing next to the Christmas tree in her parents’ house. She is 4′ 11″. The tree is approximately 17 feet tall. The guys at the tree farm they got it said it was the biggest tree on the farm. BTW…I did no trick photography to make the tree look bigger. I held the camera level at standing height…what you see is an accurate representation.
I’m currently trying to sell our minivan on cars.com. On Saturday, I got a phone call from a potential buyer. It was a phone call through one of the services for the deaf…so I’m talking to an operator who is reading to me what the other person is typing and then typing what I say in response. The caller made an offer that sounded good, then e-mailed me with details for closing the sale. However through the entire call, I just had feeling that this was a scam. Why would a person in Wisconsin want to buy an eight year old van in Florida that is listed as “fair” condition? That just doesn’t make sense.
As soon as I got the email, I knew that I was right. It was a fake cashiers check scam. Basic gist was that he was “offering” to send me a cashiers check for more than the purchase amount and have me wire the balance to him. Sorry dude…I may have been born at night…but it wasn’t last night. What made it even funnier was the name that the scammer used. Shawn Combs. Dude! P Diddy wants to buy my eight year old minivan! Yeah…right.
So…my first inclination is to send back a nasty email. Then I thought for a second. Naw…I don’t want to send an e-mail that he will just delete. If possible, I want to screw his world. I called the Secret Service instead. Read the rest of this entry »
I was having a hunting conversation with a co-worker and was showing him the pictures below. My dad found these when I was about three years old. These two very mature bucks had been fighting and got their antlers locked together, and because they couldn’t get their antlers separated, they ended up dying or killing each other. They were found on private property in Mississippi back in November 1974. Somewhere out there is a picture of a very small verbal processor sitting in the center of the antlers.
Just a note: the antlers were locked together hard. Before they were mounted, my dad and someone else tried unsuccessfully to pull them apart. Another note is that both of these deer were large enough to make the Boone and Crockett record book. Clicking on either picture will take you to the higher res version on my Flickr site.
One of my hobbies is photography. It typically goes in spurts. I’ll go for a long time without taking any pictures…then will go a couple of months and take a ton. This summer was a spurt. In a six week period I took almost 850 pictures on my digital camera. No way that I could have ever afforded my photography with a film camera!
I’ve started a Flickr site and uploaded some of my favorites. Most are from that spurt this summer. Most have not been retouched from what came off of the camera other than cropping. A couple have been retouched a bit. I’m no expert…I just did what looked the best to me with what I had. I’ve posted a bunch of them on my photography page. The Flickr site has better quality images, although you won’t see the difference on your computer screen.
As for what I use for editing pictures. I really like the power of Paint.Net. It’s really powerful…and free! I also use Microsoft Office Picture Manager that is part of Office 2007. I also use Windows Photo Gallery that is part of Windows Vista. I typically use Photo Gallery more for managing photos than editing. I’m probably 50/50 on which of the first two I use…depends on what I’m trying to do. Basic cropping and retouching probably gets Picture Manager. It’s just really simple to use. More advanced stuff gets Paint.Net.
On Tuesday of this week an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy was struck by a hit and run driver. He died from those injuries last night. His name was Michael Callin. He was 26 years old. He was the brother-in-law of one of my friends.
The early indications are that this driver intentionally swerved to hit the officer. The driver, Allan Barahona, has a rap sheet a mile long. Other passengers in the car told authorities that he intentionally hit the officer…because he didn’t want to be arrested.
What does this have to do with immigration? According to the news this morning, Barahona is an illegal alien. He is in this country illegaly. Aside from violating the laws of this country by simply being here illegally, he has also continued to prove that he cares nothing for the laws of this country evidenced by his rap sheet.
WHY IS HE STILL IN THIS COUNTRY????????? This kind of junk infuriates me. We have laws for this. Why are they not being enforced? He is an illegal alien. DEPORT HIM!!! If he is deported…he doesn’t have the opportunity to violate the other laws…or kill our deputies.
My quick and dirty solution:
1. Harden the borders…ASAP. Make is so that as much as we are able…you don’t get into this country unless you are supposed to get in.
2. Deport all illegal aliens. No discussion, no second chances. If you are here illegally…you are gone. Period.
3. Streamline the process for legal immigration. Make it a desirable process.
