This past Sunday, December 23rd, I had the privilege of being the guest speaker at our church CedarRidge. The message was from Isaiah 9:6 "For Unto Us a Child is Born." Wondering what Christmas is all about? Listen to the message online and hear about the most amazing gift ever known to man. Much more than a sentimental reflection, this message of hope packs some perspective given 700 years before Jesus was born.
Monthly Archives: December 2007
A Special Christmas Message
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Filed under Just for Fun
Happy Birthday Dad
Filed under Just for Fun
Yesterday, December 23rd would have been my father’s 78th birthday. He passed-on eight years ago now, having lost a battle with lung cancer. Growing-up I learned many things from my Dad and in so many waysh aside from basic reading and arithmetic skills, my education took place in spite of the time I spent at school.
Dad was quiet and humble in heart and a very intelligent individual. A Physics major at the University of Houston, he had the unique understanding of both how and why something works and more importantly how to fix it. As an inventor he researched how to permanently store information to disk. Had he been successful at just the right time you would be reading the words of a very wealthy writer. But his inventive efforts were by no means failures as he funded my college education through patents he sold, one of which hangs on my office wall. As pilot he owned a number of airplanes and had quite the stories to tell. He learned to fly about the same time he started driving. I grew-up on small airports in Central Texas climbing in and out of airplanes like other kids would on jungle gyms.
Dad was an entrepreneur, a sales rep in the resistor industry, an avionics engineer for American Eagle, a history buff and one who was very skilled with his hands. I spent hour-upon-hour with him while he fixed everything from airplanes to automobiles to reconstructing a house. He taught me to work hard, to work my problems one by one and do everything with my best effort. Dad would often say, “Whatever you do, just be the best at it.” He had a way of both giving liberty and challenging me to strive towards excellence.
These days I miss my Dad. Since his passing I’ve been more involved in technology than ever and have more questions about my career, about parenting and life in general that he would have real wisdom to give. I don’t know if he from heaven is looking down upon my life to observe what I’m doing, but I think he’d get a kick out of it.
Thanks for everything Dad and Happy Birthday.
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Fast Cash and Fifteen Minutes
Filed under Just for Fun
In a quirky chain of events I’ve been awarded some cash from three different sources in the last couple of days. I suppose you could call it dumb luck, but in two of the sources it’s due to taking just a little time to give some professional input.
The first was from the magazine Fast Company. I always enjoy reading this magazine and have been a fan of their work for a number of years. Most recently I’ve been filling-out feedback surveys. They state an incentive of being entered into a drawing for $100 and they follow-through on their word as my name turned-up in lot. Honestly I never really pay much attention to those award promises, but how cool to pay for a little bit of Christmas presents.
The second came in a FedEx envelope from our parent company ESCO Technologies with a gift card of $25 to Wal-Mart for winning second place in a company-wide logo contest for a health newsletter. Having spent fifteen minutes on the art work I thought it pretty good wage. Having submitted the design and pretty much forgotten about it, how nice to add that to the fund as well. I remember pumping out an idea that I thought would be fitting without much regard for the award.
The third source is really a random case of an award from a class action suite to some credit cards. It’s has to do with living abroad during a certain period of time qualifying me for some cash back. So that one really is more dumb luck.
Here’s the deal. Sometimes taking the time to give back to something worthwhile truly is profitable. I see so many online gimmicks where folks are working hard to try and make a quick buck. Maybe if more folks spent time looking to the interest of others and the betterment of organizations financial gain would be realized in the process. I didn’t go looking for it, but these few awards outflanks by far any revenue I would hope to get from gimmicks.
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Funny Ad: Don’t GIVE UP ON VISTA
Filed under Web and Tech Helps
I thought this was one of the most humorous and compelling ads I’ve seen in quite a while. I ran across it on CNN.com. Mr. Mac asks Mr. Windows what’s up with the sign to which Mr. Windows answers he is trying to fix the bad press Vista has been receiving. He then begins to punch the red button that lights up “GIVE UP” and then “ON VISTA”. He keeps pounding the button with a malfunctioning “GIVE UP ON VISTA.”
While I’ve not made the switch to Vista or Mac but just stuck with XP even when adding a machine to my home network I did contemplate the transition. Microsoft has failed to do a compelling job in the marketplace to wholesale convince users that it’s worth it or time to make the switch. Mac remains cool in the eyes of users and Microsoft a necessary evil.
Perhaps my next move will to install Linux on my home machines. I still think Macs are overpriced. More and more I find open source development platforms to be effective and inexpensive solutions for clients. I’m curious if anyone faced with the option of upgrading to Vista has actually gone Mac or Linux.
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