The Stand-up Philosopher

They Grow Up So Fast

Ikea had a country kitchen bench that my wife wanted. It was always out of stock, but two weeks ago we found it and I bought it for her. We then found out that it won't push under our table and therefore it's too big for our kitchen. I have to take it back to Ikea.

I decided to try to load it in the car by myself. As I started dragging it out to my minivan, Joshua grabbed one end and picked it up. Caleb, who loves to help, grabbed the middle. They actually helped me carry it out to the car. I had to get a picture.

Seems like just yesterday I was handed a screaming bundle of blankets that needed a diaper change. Suddenly, we're creeping up on 4th and 5th birthdays and they're helping me carry furniture. Time sure flies. I'm proud of my boys.

The Benefits of Professional Membership?

The company that I work for pays for one professional membership. Last year, I attended a presentation about the American Society of Naval Engineers, and decided to join using that paid membership.

Yesterday, my department had an In Service day. We were all encouraged to attend. Many of us had a lot of work, but as our Department Head said "Your work will be waiting for you tomorrow."

I paid $10 for the catered lunch and ordered the Chicken Ceaser wrap. What I got wasn't a wrap; it was on a bun. It was decent, but I wonder how it was $10. That's beside the point. During lunch, a presentation about "The benefits of professional society membership" was to be given. I bet it was interesting, but I elected to carry my lunch back to my desk to check email and try to get a little bit of work done.

Microsoft Can't Even Code a Web Page, Anybody Trust Office 2010?

I found out about an interesting new program by Microsoft. Apparently, they'll send you a loaner laptop with Office 2010 installed. You use the laptop, report on it, and they use you in their media and advertising. I thought it would be an interesting idea, and maybe just once they could get some real feedback about their office suite.

I spent the time filling out the form, including answering the questions as to why I want to participate and why I should be included. I submitted the survey, and guess what I got?

 

What does this mean? "Your response cannot be recorded because the survey has been changed by another user?" To me, it means that Microsoft can't code a web page.

I'm seriously ready to get a Mac. The only thing standing between me and a MacBook is the money. I'm getting tired of going with the lowest common denominator just because the price is lower.  I think the iPhone is like a gateway drug. I sit there getting frustrated at my Windows PCs, then I look at my iPhone and wonder "What if the whole computer was like this?"

The biggest reason I still use Microsoft office is because I was a heavy Outlook user, but since I stopped using Windows Mobile, I've mostly been using Gmail's web client. I hardly use Outlook at all anymore. Maybe it's time to look at OpenOffice again.

Father’s Day Is Tomorrow. Are You Excited?

I’m not. I have a few reasons. I’m sure I’ll get up and find some cards and presents on the table. I like presents. My wife has a habit of throwing cards out as soon as they’re read, which makes me wonder what the point to them is. I normally keep them, but after a while I start to wonder why. I’m trying to reduce some clutter in my life, and I don’t know what to keep anymore and what to toss.

After that, we’ll go to church. I can’t say that I know for sure what the sermon will be. Steve is preaching (Dr. Steve Sikes- a wonderful man and awesome minister) but I don’t know what the topic will be.

We make a huge deal in our culture about motherhood. Mothers are honored. Fathers, it’s sort of another story. On Mother’s Day, we get sermons about some of the great mothers in the Bible. On Father’s Day, we sometimes get to hear about the fathers who are absent or do a horrible job. Sometimes we don’t even get a sermon about fathers.

Any Indication That This is True: How A Millionaire’s Brain Works?

This is one of those apocryphal stories that pop up from time to time. This time it’s on Fortune Watch, although under a humor and stories set of categories. It’s the famous story of the millionaire who, on his way out of town, borrows $5000 from a bank and uses his Ferrari as collateral. Upon return, he picks up his car and pays approximately $15 in interest. When asked why he would use a $250,000 (although I’ve seen the value of the car vary in retellings) for a $5000 loan, he replies “Where else can I park my car in this city (usually NYC) for $15 and expect it to be there when I get back?”

It’s a nice story, and a nice illustration that most wealthy people get to be wealthy by not making the overpriced mistakes of the “poor” and “middle class”, but does anybody know if this story is actually true?

I’m not a fan of unverifiable illustrations. I don’t like them in sermons, in motivational material, and even in drinking stories. They’re fine in jokes. If this millionaire parking story came from a joke book, that’s fine, but I’m getting worried about it being passed off as unverifiable fact like the “train bridge operator” story. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that sermon illustration about the train bridge operator who brought his son to work with him, and when the train was approaching, he saw his son playing in the gears, and was forced to kill his son to put the bridge down as the express train was fast approaching, and as the train went by, he screamed “Don’t you people know that I just killed my son for you!” followed by a Gospel invitation. Yeah, nice story, but let’s have some names, and dates, and maybe some CPS or DYFS investigations, or some railroad investigations. It sounds more like negligence and parenting failure to me than a comparison to the cross. I’ve probably heard this millionaire parking story more than I’ve heard the idiot train bridge operator kills son for express train sermon illustration. (Yes, I’ve heard that train story from the pulpit in my own church several times, and in podcast sermons, and I’ve probably read it in books.)

I can’t find anything on Snopes, which is my go-to site for any stupid email that I get. Actually, nobody sends them to me anymore. It’s far more likely that I was just taken off distribution lists rather than I convinced people to verify that Bill Gates is in fact testing an email tracking program and will pay you $1000 for every idiot you can spam.

If you can provide any details about this millionaire parking story (or the train-bridge guy story for that matter), please leave them in the comments.

Random: Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose Discuss Their Top 5 Must-Read Books

I finally got time to watch this. Tim Ferriss of The 4 Hour Work Week and Kevin Rose of Digg (and many other ventures) discussed their top 5 Must-Read Books on an episode of their Random video podcast.

I’m a total book geek, which annoys my wife to no end, and I always enjoy hearing about the books that other people have been influenced by. Books are a great way to capture and spread ideas. I love ideas and information. There are many media for spreading these, but books are the best for larger ideas especially over long periods of time.

Whenever I come across somebody who has met with some success in life, I’m always interested in what books influenced them. What ideas inspired them to achieve? What ideas can carry me further in life?

Dan Miller said that everybody he knows who has been successful has two books in common: Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” and Dale Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends and Influence People”. Interesting combination. Dan said that he’s never met a successful person who hasn’t read those two books (among many, many others). I have no idea why this is, but I’ve recently dug my copies out and started reading them again. I dismissed them years ago as brainwashing tools of Multi-Level Marketing/Motivating groups, but perhaps they have some utility away from the” big A” MLM group.

What would you consider to be your top 5 books? I might have to start a post on mine.

 

iPhone 3.0 Bug Report #1

I still really like my iPhone and I'm never going back to Windows Mobile (well, maybe not never, but only under a long chain of favorable events that probably won't happen). I upgraded to the 3.0 software last night. Obviously, whenever software changes, sometimes bugs surface, or features change.

One thing I use my iPhone for the heaviest is to listen to podcasts. Some of those podcasts have sponsors or commercials. I've taken to, in the interest of time, fast-forwarding through those commercials. Yes, I know that's how they make their money, but most run the same commercials over and over and over again. I'll stop and listen to new ones in the interest of fairness. Yes, I actually do that. But I fast-forward through the ones I've heard 100 or more times.

When the iPhone is in standby, and a podcast runs commercials, I pick it up, double-tap the home button to bring up the iPod controls, and hold down the fast forward button.

That's where the bug comes in.

I notice in 3.0, the iPod countrols time out even when I'm holding down the fast-forward button. Yeah, it's a minor annoyance, but still, it worked in 2.2.1.

Anyone know how to submit a bug report to Apple, or do I hope they catch it themselves and fix it in 3.0.1 or whatever comes out next?

Want to Spit Coffee on your Monitor and Beat Your Head Against the Wall? Follow Casey Serin

I blogged about Casey Serin last year when he launched one of his comebacks. Now he's back again. You can read my previous post or any of the 700+ articles at Caseypedia for most of the details rather than me creating a massive link-laden post.

In March of '07, I read an article called "The World's Most Hated Blogger". It got me into a train wreck watching phase that I can't break out of. Casey is about the weirdest Internet denizen I've ever seen. He's alternately open and totally evasive at the same time. I can't figure out if he's lazy, stupid, manic depressive, bi-polar, NPD (narcissistic personality disorder), sociopathic, or just completely brainwashed by Real Estate Guru and MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) and motivational material. All I know is that waiting to see what he'll do or say next for many becomes an obsession. I am no exception.

One commentor on his now-defuct "True Casey" blog (formerly at http://www.truecasey.com ) accused Casey of have a "cargo-cult" mentality over entreprenuership. He seems obsessed with being an Internet marketer, Real Estate Investor, and of course holder of "sweet passive income", but like the cargo cults all he seems to do is shuffle papers around and talk.

If you're looking for a source of free amusement, follow his new blog, Blogger Casey. Don't try to offer him advice though, even if he asks. Casey never follows advice. It only gets you frustrated. It's much more fun to watch other people get angry at Casey for not taking their advice, especially if that advice is tempered by decades in the industry or field from which he's asking for advice.

Also, if you're going to follow Casey, don't correct any spelling thereby revealing yourself as a n00b. Some people have been following Casey since September of 2006 when his I Am Facing Foreclosure blog went live, and some of his famous misspellings have become legend and have entered into the lexicon of those who find themselves both frustrated and amused by Casey. Don't correct words like "looser" and "advise" (especially when used in the context for which "advice" would be correct). Those who use them know what they're doing.

Tim Challies- Don't Take Your iPod to Church

Last Friday, Tim Challies posted "Don't Take Your iPod to Church" to his blog. (UPDATE: Today he posted a 1.5 update as he continues to develop his argument.) I normally enjoy Tim's posts, and I read through this one. I didn't agree with it, and since nobody else had commented, I left the first comment. I did my best to be reasonable, and I hope my comment came off that way. I then spent the weekend far too busy to get back to read other comments. I also spend some time thinking about the issue. The last thing I would want is for my own pride to get in the way. I've been reading the Bible on electronic devices for years. I find it much easier to carry and study the Scriptures from a handheld and from a laptop. When I teach classes in church, I've taken to bringing my laptop to church and teaching from my notes.

As I processed my thoughts on Tim's post over the weekend, I came to a realization that his arguments against reading the Bible on a mobile device, especially in church, seem to come from the same reasoning that old people might use in their "any hymn written after 1850 is from the Devil!" arguments. Simply because something is new does not make it bad, and simply because something is old does not make it good or right. Speaking of hymns, I'm about burned out on the 19th century hymns my church sings.

Sometimes, in an effort to be pious or to urge other believers to holiness, Christians make some really weird arguments. Two weeks ago, a lot of Christian blogs were repeating a post about why you shouldn't Twitter in church. I couldn't resist: I sat down in church that Sunday and Twittered that I was Twittering in church in response to a blog post I read. OK, the service hadn't started yet, but I felt like I had to. (My wife was furious with me when she saw that tweet on Facebook later). 

To this point, I'm not convinced that the possibility of misuing technology or being sidetracked by technology equals an admonition to not use technology in Bible study or corporate worship. I'm also not convinced that just because Twitter can be distracting means I shouldn't use it in church either. I know at least one person who attends our church's second service reads my first service Tweets.

The Onion: Obama Announces Plan to Run for McCain's Senate Seat in 2010

I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I read this post this morning. The Onion is hilarious!

An excerpt from the "article":

"The key thing we learned in 2008 is that McCain is beatable," campaign manager David Plouffe said. "And our goal is to continue to exploit that, whether he is running for the Senate, mayor of Phoenix, or board president at an assisted living facility."

Reclaiming the Mind: Doing Business with Christians

C. Michael Patton asks an interesting question: have you ever been burned doing business with Christians? I think the question was directed more toward believers, but I’m sure most people in the west have stories. We’re notoriously picky diners and cheap tippers on Sunday afternoon right after church. I’ve heard horror stories about how waitresses are somehow expected to feed their families with those contrived Chick tracts rather than like money. My wife and I go out of our way to leave good tips on Sunday. If they don’t suspect we’re Christian, under the circumstances, we can live with that.

I’m not sure if I can say I’ve been burned by another believer, at least, not any more than I’ve been burned by anybody I’ve done business with. Have you ever done business with somebody who went out of his or her way to make sure you knew that he or she was a Christian, then either delivered a substandard product or service or just plain ripped you off?

What Is A Community? How Is A Community Lead? (AONC)

I came across a great post this morning by Chris Gullibeau about communities. This is probably the best, most concise definition I've read of what it means to have and to lead a community.

I think it also helps me to understand partly why my blog has never managed to go anywhere. Sure, I've written almost 600 posts and gained some valuable experience, but my readership never took off. I think the reason why is because this blog has always been about me. That's fine, because it's my blog. But then again, who are "we" in the context of my blog? What community could I write for?

I better figure that out. In the meantime, read Chris' awesome post.