The Stand-up Philosopher

Dexter

When I first heard about the show “Dexter”, I wrote it off. It was an interesting concept, but I had preconceived notions.

For one thing, it’s on Showtime. My impression of most Showtime and HBO “original” series is that they follow this pattern of development:

1) How much soft-porn can we cram into 60 minutes?

2) How many cuss words can we work into the dialogue around the 60 minutes of soft porn?

3) OK, now that we have our soft porn and cussing quota, what kind of story can we write around it?

The first 2 episode of True Blood were enough to validate my opinion.

So when I first heard about this show about a serial killer who was raised by a cop father to only kill bad guys, I wrote it off.

Then I ended up watching it. I was visiting some friends, who had a disk from Season 4 from Netflix. They asked if I wanted to watch. I didn’t want to be rude. I was hooked quickly. The disk ended with the episode “Hello, Dexter Morgan”, where John Lithgow’s character found Dexter in the police station. I’m still feeling anxiety from the cliff-hanger. I need closure on the story.

I’ve since gone out of my way to watch as much Dexter as I can. I actually enjoy it, and I’m intrigued by the concept. It’s sort of how, as “gay” and emo as Twilight is, I was intrigued by the concept of a “vegetarian vampire”, or a monster that consciously decided not to be evil. I don’t mean gay as in homo, but as in “stupid” or “cheesy”. Basically, consider that I’m using the word in the same context that it is used on South Park, like when Stan says “Dude, this is totally gay”. On the subject of Twilight, I know it’s written for tween girls, but seriously, not a single male shows a sign of testorerone. They all lack hair in any place other than their heads. And, as I’m fond of teasing my wife, who likes Twilight, a vampire lacks a beating heart, which means no blood pressure, which means he is physiologically incapable of achieving an erection.

OK, I’m rambling. I like Dexter. I’m a fan now.

I had a similar idea. I came up with an idea for a story about a sociopath who believed and decided to obey the Gospel. But I’m not a fiction writer, so the idea is languishing in the “Writing Ideas” tag in my Evernote account. I had that idea long before I’d heard of Dexter.

My Comment On A Blog Post About Windows Phone 7

A colleague at work pointed out a blog post about Windows Phone 7. The writer of the post bought a new phone with Windows Phone 7 installed on it. He took it back within 4 hours and had to pay a restocking fee.

I would have simply left a comment on the blog post itself, but it’s hosted on InfoWorld, and I would have to register for an account. In a day and age when a 10 year old could easily code a site to allow me to log in with an existing account (like FaceBook, Twitter, or Wordpress), InfoWorld, a site that apparently markets itself to IT professionals, requires me to create yet another account on their site. I’m tired of having to keep track of logins and passwords. I can’t tell you have many sites and blogs and forums I’ve had to create an account on just to leave a comment or view information and NEVER GO BACK AGAIN. I’m tired of it.

So I’ll just use my existing blog to share my thoughts. You can find the original post here. My colleague and I both saw the post as totally unprofessional. Ooh, a supposed professional IT journalist sees an advertisement about how cool Windows Phone 7 is, runs out, buys one, and finds it totally unworkable in real life. How the heck is that news?

I’ve paid my dues with Windows Mobile, which is now called Windows Phone. Yeah, renaming it is sure to change things. I know, they supposed rebuilt the code from scratch. That, of course, means none of the programs I’ve bought for Windows Mobile over the years will work on the new platform. I have to buy them all over again IF THE DEVELOPER EVEN DECIDES TO PURSUE THE PLATFORM. Of course, the programs I’m used to on the iPhone aren’t likely to port over quickly or easily. Most developers of programs I use are waiting to see if the darn thing actually sells before spending time developing for it. Talk about a catch-22.

I’ve had 8 devices with Windows Mobile on them, from Pocket PC’s to touchscreen phones to Smart Phones. I’ve used every version of Windows Mobile from 2002 to 6.1. Each had the same problems. In some cases, new problems were introduced. Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 had a deliberate smtp bug BUILT INTO THE CODE which caused you to have to delete and recreate your email account after sending 2 or 3 email messages.

I finally jumped ship to the iPhone after the Samsung Epix. It was my last straw. For the most part, I like the iPhone. It’s not perfect, but it does what I want it to do well enough. I still have the iPhone 3G, which is slow and functionally obsolete even though it’s still under warranty. Yeah, I know. You have to accept that with Apple products. I’m looking forward to getting an iPhone 4 soon. I’ll probably get one just in time for the iPhone 5 to come out.

I thought the blog post was childish and whiny, even though it was correct. The commercials made Windows Phone 7 sound really cool. But in real life, it doesn’t work. The commercials say something about “take the office with you”, but you can’t. It won’t work with an encrypted Exchange server (a Microsoft product, come on, Microsoft, really?) and Pocket Office doesn’t work any better than it did on Windows Mobile 2005 when it was first rolled out. Pocket Word and Pocket Excel existed previously, but required files to be in a special mobile format. It stripped formatting out of any documents synced to the device, like resumes.

Windows Phone 7 won’t support static IP addresses for those paranoid freaks (like the blogger on InfoWorld) who can’t use DHCP because hackers are targeting THEIR HOME NETWORK for special hacking. The iPhone will!

I already have long since decided that I won’t be getting a Windows Phone 7 phone. This InfoWorld blog post was mostly a waste of my time to read (and comment on), but it validated my decision.

Veterans and Active Duty, Here Are Some Veteran ’ s Day Freebies

With Veteran’s Day coming up in 2 days, several businesses are offering freebies for veterans and active duty service members. You can find one catalogue of them here.

I have a question I’ve always wanted to ask other veterans. Do you ever feel uncomfortable when people who have not served in the military seem to make a big deal out of “Thank you for serving our country!”?

Granted, I would not want to live through the 70’s when being military was a bad thing in some parts of the culture. But I did what I did because it was about the only option I seemed to have. I didn’t have many altruistic motives. OK, I had a few. But not many. I was 17, wasn’t ready for college, and had few options besides fast food. My dad retired after 21 years in the Air Force. I grew up in the military, most of my friends were military brats, and I didn’t really know any different. So I went in the Navy.

I served 6 years, went to some interesting places, learned electronics, a work ethic, and how to endure without sleep or comforts and how to get along with some really weird people. I got my GI Bill, VA Loan, and have had a decent career from the experience I gained.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not above a free meal at Chilli’s. I appreciate it. But sometimes I wonder if I really deserve to have a big deal made of my service. John T. Reed says we live in a nation of draft dodgers. Most are trying to make up for their guilt. I think from my observations, he has a point.

If you know of any Veteran’s Day freebies, feel free to post them here in my comments.

Joel Comm: How To Get Control of Your Email

I’ve been following Joel Comm since the time I thought I’d try to make a living as an Internet Entrepreneur. We all know how well that turned out. That is, it didn’t. I even had to drop my TypePad blog because it didn’t make sense to continue to pay for it. Now I’m back to a free blog where I write whenever I feel like it, and don’t write when I have nothing to say. I now have clarity as to where my skills and abilities serve best, and I’m back in a spot where they can be used.

Joel Comm wrote about how he’s getting his email under control. I’ve spent years reading books like Getting Things Done, 7 Habits, and blog series like Inbox Zero. I have yet to reach a point of perfection with my email, but I’m not bad. The people I work with now have 1200+ emails in their inboxes at any given time. That gives you the idea of the volume of email I’ll be dealing with once I’m up to speed and fully integrated.

Do you have control of your email? What systems do you use to keep email under control?

This Explains A Lot …

Blogger Vox Day took an empathy quotient test. He scored a 23. I took the same test and scored a 15. The test says that people with Asperger’s Syndrome or high functioning autism score a 20.

Of course, you can only take these internet tests at face value. But it would explain a lot.

“ Raising Awareness ” vs. Getting Results

I really don’t want to write this post. I probably shouldn’t. I guess I can take solace in the fact that nobody reads my blog, so I can write whatever I want. But I also don’t want somebody to stumble by and misunderstand me. Some people can be incredibly irrational, and from the depths of misguided emotion, will draw conclusions that were never intended.

For instance, I once wrote a post that did little more than make my reader(s) aware of a humorous post Tim Challies wrote comparing Joel Osteen’s (ghostwritten) sayings to fortune cookies. Somebody stumbled across my post and somehow drew the conclusion that because he had a fortune cookie with a proverb in it, we should stop reading the book of Proverbs.

And so, as this post continues, I want you to know up front: I HAVE ABSLOTELY NOTHING AGAINST BREAST CANCER OR CHARITIY. I will only be discussing and ranting about methods and terminology associated with them.

The other day, a friend of mine opened up a fecal storm with a post on Facebook. It got nasty fast. I was going to jump in and attempt to help him out, but the hits were coming fast and furious and I realized that nobody involved would listen to reason. So I caught him later and we discussed it free from the irrationality of the others involved.

Apparently, there was a campaign that was supposed to somehow “raise awareness” of breast cancer by asking women to post where they like to put their purses in the form of a sexual innuendo “I like it on…” How posting “I like it on the coat rack” or “I like it in the back seat of the car” “I like it in the trunk” or whatever else is supposed to “raise awareness” for breast cancer is beyond me.

I’m also curious as to the point. “Raising awareness for breast cancer”. Is there anybody who is not “aware” of breast cancer? Especially on Facebook? What exactly does that mean anyway? I’m “aware” of breast cancer. Therefore, your objective has been met and you can leave me alone and stop annoying me

This is what I think: this is little more than a way to make people feel better about themselves while requiring no risk or effort. You post a Facebook status. Good job, little girl! I’m sure by posting “I like it on the floor next to the coat rack” is going to cure breast cancer! Why didn’t we start this 40 years ago?

I’m not a fan of doing things that make you feel good but not accomplishing anything. Drink some booze or take a hot bath if that’s all you’re after.

The same goes for those stupid “If you love Jesus, then post this as your Facebook status”. No. I’m not doing it. I’ve never done it, and I don’t plan to start now. Or ever. Copying and pasting a status message about Jesus does absolutely nothing for Him. If anything, it cheapens His name. Go do something productive for Him. Go help the poor. Donate some non-expired food to a church pantry.

Seriously, my wife has run the food pantries for 2 churches. At our last church, we’d get up to 7 bags at a time of expired food. In 2009, we were getting food that had expired in the 90’s as donations. Most of the food that came in had to be thrown away.

All I’m saying is, if you really believe in a cause, then go do something productive for it. If your life’s mission is to eradicate breast cancer, then go to places where people might not be aware of it, or the dangers of it, or their responsibilities regarding it. But I’ll give you a hint: your efforts will not produce any results by copying a status message on Facebook.

Did Microsoft Actually Do Something Right?

After years of reading Lifehacker posts about tweaks to make Windows more like Mac OS X, here’s a post about a way to add some Windows functionality to Mac’s OS. Apparently, Windows 7’s Aero Peek is a coveted feature.

I like Aero Peek. If I ever get a Mac, I’ll install this program on it.

TAPS and Hellboy

I’d never seen this before. Hellboy is one of my favorites.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3CjSVRqmKQ?fs=1&hl=en_US]

Should FM Radios Be Required In Cell Phones? (Hint: No)

It’s amazing when I come across a “survey” that shows people having come to a conclusion that I did years ago.

Apparently, most people don’t care about having an FM tuner in their cell phones. Duh. I don’t even care about having in on my home or car. Really. With the beauty of MP3s and Internet radio like Pandora, why would I want to take a step backwards into the realm of inane DJ chatter and commercials? I do not miss spending 80% of my commute listening to pointless chatter and commercials for things that don’t apply to me, like feminine products.

AM talk radio is far worse. I can remember my brief foray into listening to AM talk radio. They’d play the same commercial for “Sea Silver” 3 times in a row while I was driving home.

Don’t get me started on NPR. They can take a story that should be about a headline long and stretch it into an hour. That’s almost as bad as Dragon Ball Z, which needs 7 seasons to move the story ahead 5 minutes. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider yourself blessed.

I do not miss listening to the radio. For me the radio is like Fox News: good in an emergency when I need information quick, bad for the other moments in life.

By the way, speaking of radio, I am a licensed Ham operator. My call sign is KC2KYF. Although it’s been years since I’ve bothered with Ham radio.

Newsflash: Windows Live Spaces To Become Useful

This is an interesting development. Windows Live Spaces will migrate to Wordpress. That should make it useful.

I’ve tried several blogging services. I had a hosted TypePad blog for 2 years, and I was generally happy with it. But when it came time to renew and money was tight, I migrated to a free hosted Wordpress blog. I’d actually had the blog for several years, but never did anything with it.

I like Wordpress. It’s simple and elegant, yet powerful. When it comes time to have my own site, I might change to a self-hosted Wordpress blog.

I didn’t mind Windows Live Spaces, but it had little power. Also, no import/export functionality. I briefly considered moving my TypePad blog to Spaces, but I wasn’t about to copy and paste over 800 blog posts, and lose the comments. Everything migrated to Wordpress without a hitch.

Gmail Will Allow Users To Turn off Conversation View

From the “I Didn’t Realize This Was A Problem” department: Gmail will soon allow users to turn off conversation view.

Apparently, some people hate the conversation view. Are you one of them? I actually like it. I used it in Outlook too. Sometimes it’s easier to follow an email train in conversation view.

Professionals and Referrals

My time in Real Estate is coming to an end, at least as an active agent. I’m keeping my license active so I can still earn referral income. If you need to buy or sell a house, you can still contact me and I will connect you with an excellent Realtor to handle your transaction.

During my time in Real Estate, I’ve really wondered where people’s heads are when it comes to recommendations for professionals. There are many types of professionals who are needed for a Real Estate transaction. Clients, of course, can hire any professional they choose. Most Realtors have a short list of professionals that they’re familiar with and work well with. Unfortunately, anybody not on that list is a wild card. You have no idea how competent they are, or how good of a job they’re likely to do. Often, we’re surprised. But just as often, we’re left wanting to ask our clients “Why the hell didn’t you just listen to me and hire the person I told you would do a great job for you?”

It’s interesting how we can tell a client “I know you need to hire a (home inspector, Real Estate lawyer, termite inspector, title company, mortgage company, etc). Here are a few that I’ve worked with before, and I know they’ll do a great job for you.” Just as often, the client will respond with “That’s OK. I know somebody that my friend’s sister’s cousin’s aunt’s brother’s roommate's 4th grade teacher’s nephew’s college roommate’s friend from church heard about. I’m going to hire him. I’ve never met him, but I have 12th hand knowledge of his existence and he has a business card that says he’s a home inspector.” Then you end up with a home inspector who needs 3 days to hand-write a report and mail it, rather than print it out onsite like the guy you recommended would have done. Then the deal is up in the air for 3 days until the hand-written home inspection report comes in the mail (or fax).

In one deal I was involved with, the client was offered a referral to a local mortgage broker. The client opted to use another broker who hooked him up with a mortgage lender in New Mexico or Nevada. The problem was, when we showed up for closing at 10 AM in New Jersey, nobody was in the office in the mountain time zone. That lender, not being local to New Jersey, had a different escrow policy. We spent 4 hours at the title company waiting for somebody to show up for work to straighten things out. Had a local mortgage broker been involved, a representative would have been available to attend closing and deal with any hassles like that.

Please, when a professional refers you to another professional, please give that referral a little more credence than a referral from somebody less experienced in that field. You can hire anybody you want to, but sometimes a referral from a professional should carry a little more weight than a referral from a friend or distant relative.

The Burning of Any Book

I’ve been tempted to write this only as a journal entry. I want to organize my thoughts, but not to take any real risks. But few people read my blog anyway.

I pay very little attention to the media. Too much bias, and too many non-issues blown out of proportion. Normally, anything important enough for me to know about will find me. Lately, I’ve heard a bunch of noise about some apparent kook from a small church in (nowhere) planning to burn a bunch of Korans on 9-11.

Sounds like a silly and pointless stunt to me. Barely worthy of my attention. Had the Facebook posts stopped after the first one, I wouldn’t have noticed.

But “the media” took and ran with the story. I picture Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and whoever else is still out there talking almost 24/7 about this “story”. I don’t know because I don’t bother to watch them. I have more important and effective ways to waste my time.

It makes me wonder, why does the media seem to love a story like this? Seriously, this church is located practically nowhere and has about 50 members. Berean is at least twice as big, and we get no media attention. OK, Magnolia, NJ is practically nowhere too, but we’re still bigger.

I think the media likes stories like this for a couple reasons:

1. They’re lazy. The media is about as lazy as anybody else. A story like this requires little research. Just keep parroting the same lines over and over again and book guests who parrot the same lines over and over again.
2. There’s little to no risk. A story like this isn’t likely to anger anybody the media considers important. But it also attracts a lot of viewership and sells advertising.

And of course, they don’t have to tell you  anything about what is really going on. Do you realize that if the November elections involve a huge turnover in Congress, we’re heading into one of the largest and most dangerous Lame Duck sessions of Congress in history? Lame Ducks are dangerous. All the Congress people who know they’ll be out of a job in January have no accountability to anybody, except for whoever will cut their next paychecks (hint, not the voters). This November/December session of Congress, we could get some dangerous measures passed, including the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). If you haven’t heard of it, thank the media that spends way too much time on stories like a nobody church from nowhere doing something pointless.

As for the burning of books, I’m not a fan. I believe that the marketplace of ideas is a good enough filter for books. Bad books slowly disappear from circulation. Good books propagate and end up in collections to be preserved. Do you really think Twilight will be around in 100 years? As soon as the next fad pops up, nobody will remember Stephanie Meyer. How many books from 100 years ago simply disappeared because they weren’t really that good? When my grandmother died, I picked up some socio-political books from the 60’s that belonged to my uncle. Someday I might read them, but I doubt anybody has ever heard of them. I’m sure they’re all out of print.

In most cases, I believe book burning is a sign of cowardice or of elitism. Either it’s “you people are too stupid to realize how dangerous I think the ideas in these books are, so we’ll burn them!” or “We can’t counter the ideas in these books, so we’ll burn them!”

In the book of Acts, there is an account of the burning of a bunch of occult or magic books:

[19] And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. (ESV)

 

I don’t think this is a universal application though. It was something these people felt they needed to do when they came to Christ to part with their past. Paul didn’t tell them to do it. God didn’t tell them to do it. They decided to do it.

I think it really sucks that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed. I think China lost a lot of knowledge and history through various emperors ordering all the books in the empire burned.

I am not a fan of book burning. I believe that bad, stupid, and worthless books will naturally be filtered out of circulation through the marketplace of ideas. There are far better ways to disagree with the ideas in a book than to burn the book.

Who Hacked My Facebook Account?

Somebody has apparently hacked into my Facebook account and sent nasty messages to my wife as me. I’m trying to imagine who has the skill to pull this off, plus the time to bother to do it. I’m also wondering who could consider me important enough to mess with like this.

If you happen to know who has done this, please let me know. If a similar thing has happened to you, let me know how you dealt with it. It happened last year, which caused me to change my password. My password has apparently already been hacked again.

___________________________________________________

Upon further investigation, these messages aren't coming from my account.

Google Is On A Roll This Week

Lots of good things came out of Google recently. OK, 2 things. One is interesting, and the other should be highly useful.

One of the reasons I stick with gmail is for the storage space and the world-class spam filter. I rarely have a problem with spam thanks to gmail. I also like that I can get my mail just about anywhere: on the web, in Outlook, on my iPhone, or on just about any other device I might have. The convenience is great.

The interesting thing Google rolled out is the ability to make calls from gmail. I say it’s interesting because I’m not sure I’ll use it much. I can’t get Christina to test it with me. I called my iPhone from gmail and had the boys take it into another room, but they started fighting over who was going to hold the phone and ruined the experiment.

The next thing Google rolled out is called Priority Inbox. This is based on gmail’s spam filter and addresses a very real problem: email overload.

Gmail already has a heavy filtering system built in. You can create folders (or labels) and then filters based on those labels. I probably have 200 filters already, and it seems like I’m creating several more each week. I hate when I’m out, and expecting an email. Every time my iPhone tells me I have a new email, I rip it out of my pocket, enter the passcode, go to email, and find the whole experience anti-climactic. Rather than the important email I’m waiting for, it’s only  the 14th special offer GoDaddy has sent me this afternoon. Like I buy that many websites from them. Or it’s the AFA whining about another secular news organ being biased against Christian interests. Or it’s an automated reminder telling me my cable or cell phone bill is due in 3 weeks. Nothing important, and definitely not the email I was waiting for.

It seems that no matter how aggressively I filter my email, I still have to deal with tons of non-important “bac’n” in my inbox taking up time. I prefer to filter those into other folders then deal with them when I feel like it.

Because I handle email similar to the principles taught in “Getting Things Done”, I don’t mark an email as read or delete it (gmail archive) unless all actions required by that email have been completed. So while I’m out for a while, I can build up a ton of email in my inbox until I get home and can set up new filters so those kinds of emails will skip my inbox in the future.

I’m looking forward to the Priority Inbox. It would be nice to spend less time setting up filters in gmail.

BlackBerry Blog: The First 5 Things I Do When I Get a New BlackBerry

It’s amazing how different the main smartphone platforms are. I came across a post on the BlackBerry Blog about the first 5 things the writer does when setting up a new BlackBerry.

I’m a dedicated iPhone user by this point. I’m not saying iPhone is the best out there, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best for me.

I almost laughed at the first thing this person does: Check to see if the device runs the latest software. When Christina and I got BlackJack II’s in 2008, they were running Windows Mobile 6.0. I learned that Windows Mobile 6.1 was out, so I spent most of that evening updating our new phones to the newest operating system.

I couldn’t even imagine Apple doing that. If you buy ANY iPhone from Apple, it will come out of the box with the newest version of the operating system. That makes me want to laugh at the other smartphone platforms. I’m pretty sure any new Mac comes with the latest software, although I don’t have much experience with buying new macs. I know I’ve never gotten a new Windows PC that didn’t have to download buttloads of updates right away. I’ve also never installed Linux without having to install tons of updates either.

That’s one of the things I like about the iPhone. I can get a new one, plug it into my laptop, and tell it to restore from my last backup. Then I have essentially the same phone without skipping a beat.

Is Accident Forgiveness Simply a Pre-Paid Insurance Increase?

I’ve had my insurance with Allstate New Jersey for the last 11 years. It’s not a bad relationship. They don’t bother me, I don’t bother them, and I guess we’re both happy.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to talk to Allstate. We sold a car last year, and I had to call to take it off the policy. I don’t remember how long it was before that when I had to talk to them last.

One of the last two times I had to call Allstate was right after Accident Forgiveness was rolled out. I thought that was a great idea. I’ve paid tens of thousands or more of dollars for car insurance, and so far I have not had to make a single claim. So by this point, after 20 years of driving (and paying insurance), being forgiven for an accident sounds like a great idea. I could probably have bought several cars for what I’ve paid in insurance, especially in the early years when it cost me a fortune to insure a car simply because I was young, single, and male.

But when they asked me if I wanted to add accident forgiveness to my policy, they explained that it would raise the cost of my policy. I politely declined.

I have to ask, if you’ve talked to your insurance company about accident forgiveness: isn’t this just another banking/insurance scam? Is this little more than pre-paying a policy increase? Or am I missing something?

How Twilight Works

Originally a comic by The Oatmeal, this has been turned into a YouTube video. Watch to see how Twilight works, and why the women in our lives go nuts over this cheesy fiction, featuring an immortal who has chosen to spend his immortality as a junior in high school, a fate worse than death.

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4uuGvmAxTI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

What It ’ s Like To Own An Apple Product

I came across this cartoon. I think it’s accurate enough.

Apple has got to be the only company on Earth to have a product that is barely 2 years old and still under warranty (my iPhone 3G), but is 2 generations behind and functionally obsolete.

Book Review: Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola

This book took me a long time to read. That’s partly because I was busy, and mostly because I didn’t like it. But, I felt duty-bound to finish it and post a review, although way too late for the book’s launch.

I got an email from somebody inside Thomas Nelson. This person got my name from somewhere else, and asked if I’d like an advanced copy of the book. I emailed back to say that I would, and I’d be glad to read the book and post a review. This book didn’t come from Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze program. I thought I was finally becoming important enough to have books come to me. Some bloggers get books unsolicited. I was hoping that some day, that would be me.

The authors of the book are Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. I don’t think I’ve read anything from either author before. I’m not familiar with them, but I think I’ve heard good things about them.

---

The subtitle of the book is “Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ”.

I’m not sure who the audience for this book is. Obviously, there is one. Thomas Nelson wouldn’t publish and distribute and promote a book that isn’t going to sell. So obviously, they expect it to sell.

The premise of the book seems to be “The church almost as a whole has drifted away from the simplicity of the Gospel, and we need to restore everything the church does to just that: just Jesus.” If you’ve read many of my blog posts, you know what I think about that line of reasoning. If we’re going to say “the church has drifted”, that means there was a point in time when the church hadn’t drifted. Read the Book of Acts! The church struggled with these same issues right out of the gate! It’s always battled with this kind of thing. I’m not sure why so many authors think “I’m just the man God needs to right this ship! I can write a book that’ll fix everything”. Sure, Paul and Peter and James and John couldn’t do it. But a 21st century author can do it.

Lest you think I’m putting words in the author’s mouths, let’s look at a few things. On page xx of the introduction is the following:

The Lord Jesus Christ is far beyond what most of us could ever dream or imagine. His greatness, His beauty, and His splendor are unknown to many Christians today (My note: does this imply they were known to Christians at some point in the past, since we’re “getting worse all the time”?)This is why a fresh look at him –a fresh Christology- is so vital. To put it in a sentence: To faithfully represent Jesus in our time requires re-presenting Him. And that’s why we are attempting to write this book.

In the margin, I wrote “But is this new?” I think Solomon would disagree with the authors:

[Ec 1:1] The words of *the Preacher,* the son of David, *king in Jerusalem.

[2] *Vanity* of vanities, says *the Preacher,
*vanity of vanities! *All is vanity.

[3] *What *does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?

[4] A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but *the earth remains forever.

[5] *The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens* to the place where it rises.

[6] *The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.

[7] All *streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.

[8] All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
*the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.

[9] *What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun. (ESV)

On page xxii, the authors write: “we believe that the major disease of today’s church is JDD: Jesus Deficit Disorder.” And “But increasingly, the church likes the church, yet they don’t like Jesus.”

On page 14 in chapter 1 is the following:

Both of us have developed the habit of counting the number of times the preachers we hear mention the Lord Jesus. Sadly, in many cases, contemporary preachers and teachers who spend an hour speaking on a subject, mention the Lord just once or twice. Sometimes the number of mentions is zero. Compare that with how many times Paul referred to Christ in the opening chapters of some of his letters:

My wife and another woman were joking about a habit the children have picked up. Ask any child in Sunday school at our church what they learned about, and they’ll reply “Jesus”. It doesn’t matter what the lesson is. In any case, I wrote in the margin around this paragraph that I’d like to know what churches and preachers the authors listen to. I’d like to invite them to listen to a few of Pastor Bill’s sermons and tell me he doesn’t preach the name of Jesus regularly.

I could keep going. Once the introduction is out of the way, the authors spend 8 more chapters breast feeding their audience what the writer of Hebrews called “milk”.

I’m sure both writers are great people. But this book made me angry. The only reason I bothered to finish it is because I told Thomas Nelson’s representative I’d post a review of the book. Books like this seem to have an “Elijah Complex”.

1 KI 19:[14] He said, *“I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, *thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” [15] And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. [16] *And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and *Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. [17] And the one who escapes from *the sword of Hazael *shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu *shall Elisha put to death. [18] *Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not *kissed him.”

In other words, “Oh, woe is me! The entire church has strayed away into Purpose Driven and Best Life stuff. We’re the only two left! How can we hope to restore the church?

Almost 2 years ago, I wrote a post called “Christian Heuristics”. In it, I asked why we comment that Jesus Christ is written on every page of the Bible, yet we restrict ourselves to so few pages of the Bible, especially when visitors are present. I wrote the post about the time we started taking the kids to AWANA at the church we’re now with. I sat through the adult class. The elder teaching, who is a good friend of mine now, seemed to make the assumption that as a visitor, I wasn’t saved and spent the entire class reviewing some very basic material.

How can anybody expect to learn and grow (i.e.. discipleship) when our books and sermons are little more than an exposition of “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”?

My verdict: read Jesus Manifesto if you have no idea who Jesus Christ is. Or read it if you’re one of those people who is well studied, but still gets off reading about how stupid and far behind everybody else is. Some people really enjoy that for some reason.

Otherwise, get out there and meet a few people. Stop assuming that the entire church is apostate. Find a place to serve. Find needs to meet. Find a class to teach, or another way to use your God-given gifts. I’m tired of books that do little more than assume everybody but the authors and their little circle has drifted away from the truth of Jesus, and is either stupid or apostate.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Which summer trend sent you running to the shops? Which trends are already tired?

I cancelled my Typepad Pro membership, so I'm now restricted to the TypePad Micro. Until I renew my pro membership, you can follow my blogging at http://emuelle1.wordpress.com .

TypePad Conversations » Answer this question!

One of My Listings Was Just Reduced and is Waiting for You

We just reduced the price on one of my listings. If you’re looking for a fine home in Deptford, NJ, this could be yours.

This fine 3 bedroom, 2 bath home was completely renovated in 2003. It features an open plan living/dining/kitchen area. The kitchen has skylights that provide plenty of natural light. The master suite is on the first floor and includes a sitting room or office or whatever you may need to use it for. Upstairs are 2 bedrooms with huge closets and a spacious loft with built-in bookcase.

The detached 2 car garage is air conditioned.

This home is centrally located to shopping and major highways.

Contact me for details and a personal tour of this fine home. You can also visit the home’s website for more information.

Quick Review of What Is The Gospel by Greg Gilbert

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003DQK77E/ref=mp_s_a_4?qid=1281892241&sr=8-4

Please forgive any formatting errors. I am trying out Wordpress for iPhone. I'll fix formatting problems later.

I like to read. Occasionally, I'll go on Amazon to see what Kindle books are available for free. Then I download far more than I could hope to read in one lifetime.

Recently, I discovered a book for free in Kindle format for a limited time called "What Is the Gospel" by Greg Gilbert. I downloaded it, and got around to reading it. It's part of a 9 Marks series.

First, the positives. The book was well written. It was written very lovingly and should be of use to it's target market. I hope it is. I have no qualms about the book in that regard.

Now for my thoughts. Take a drive around your neighborhood. Notice all of the churches? There are a lot of churches around. Considering all of the churches around, isn't it a little embarrassing how many "What Is the Gospel" books have to be written? What is really embarrassing is the number of self-proclaimed Christians who apparently need these books.

At this point, I'm thinking of Paul's words in Philippians:
Philippians 2:12 (ESV)
[12] Therefore, my beloved, *as you have always *obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

What I'm thinking of is that we need to take some responsibility for our own growth. We're not supposed to wait to e spoon fed, or for God to miraculously change us. Yes, I believe that He can, but I'm not so sure that in most cases, He will.

I know many churches are full of well meaning people who simply don't grow. It can be very frustrating, especially in a smaller church, when a few people are burning out doing all the serving while many just show up to get their tickets punched. At one point in our last church, Christina taught the 2-3 year old class for four consecutive quarters because nobody else would step up to teach. She had more than 10 children in that class, so there were many other parents, but nobody was interested in teaching that class. She got a one quarter break after a solid year, then was right back to it. The church we're at now had to shut down some children's activities because of a lack of volunteers.

I must admit, it scares me how many people identify as Christians, compared to the need for books explaining to them the very basic points of what they claim to believe. This is what the writer of Hebrews called milk. Baby food.

A couple of years ago, I worked out a scale for Christian books. I rate them as beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Maybe I should change that to breast milk, mush, and hearty steak. I would rate "What Is the Gospel" as beginner/breast milk. I don't mean that as a slam against the author. The author is a pastor, and I'm glad he has a heart for God's flock. I am very thankful for good pastors. I wouldn't be whatever I am today without a few.

Verdict: read it if you have no idea what the Christian Gospel is, or have no idea how to explain it. Alternately, read it if you want to. Don't let my cynical opinions talk you out of buying a book. But really, if you're a Christian you should know this already. You should be looking to grow and get off the milk.

Let Me Know About Broken Links on This Blog

Since I imported all of my blog posts, I’ve been going back in time and trying to update all of my links. Some of my linked videos didn’t import, and of course most of my links are to posts on other blogs.

My TypePad blog is likely to go down soon, and many of my old posts still like to that blog.

But I see little evidence that anybody reads my old posts, so investing the time necessary to update 600 blog posts (the most recent 200 have been done) seems like a waste. Maybe some day I’ll get around to doing it, but for now, I’m stopping.

If you find yourself in my archives and find a broken link, please report it to me. I’ll either fix it or send you the link to the proper post.

Also, if you enjoy a post, please let me know in the comments. I've made it as easy as possible to comment, even though that leaves me open to spam and flames. At times, I’ve considered shutting down my blogs due to lack of interest. I keep hoping I’ll develop my writing skills though, and some day find that one topic where my unique perspective draws an audience.

From this point on, I’ll ignore my blogging past and move into the future.

You Never Regret Being Generous

Chris Guillebeau had an interesting post on his blog earlier this week. It has to do with a tip to a cab driver and a lack of anything smaller than a $5. Because he lacked anything smaller, he kept the $5 and didn’t tip the cab driver.

He stated in his post

It’s funny how I don’t often regret being generous, but when I choose to be stingy, it comes back to me later.

That really resonated with me. I can’t remember a time that I shouldn’t have given what I did, but I can think of many times that I should have given more, or something at all.

This Is My New Blog

I’ve been on TypePad for the last 2 years. I really enjoyed it, but my account is up for renewal at a bad time. Perhaps in a few months I could go back, but for now, I’ve decided not to renew. My TypePad blog will go down around Aug 22.

I agonized over where to go. I have several other blogs from years past. I finally settled on Wordpress. It is simple and elegant. That largest drawback is that I can’t monetize it, but I’ve been trying to monetize blogs for years and gotten nowhere. Maybe I should just focus on writing and see what happens.

I imported all of my blog posts onto this blog. The scary thing is, they seem to already get more traffic than I had previously.

I’m slowly going through and fixing my links, pictures, and video. Most of my internal links still reflect either my TypePad blog, or my Blogger blog. I’ll get that fixed. Please be patient. If you find a broken link or formatting problem in one of my posts, email me, or leave a comment.

Thanks for reading.

Time To Switch Blogs Again?

I moved to TypePad 2 years ago. I’ve been happy with it. They’re constantly adding new features, and it’s simple and powerful. I’ve somehow managed to build a blog that gets an average of 30 hits a day whether I post or not.

But, with my recent career change, the $89.95 renewal fee looks like a mountain. I’m sure in a few months, it won’t be an issue, but here in August, it’s insurmountable. I don’t want to leave TypePad, but unless somebody loves my writing enough to donate to a “Renew the Stand Up Philosopher for another year fund”, this blog is probably going down soon.

It’s not that I’m disappearing. I have several other blogs over the years. I have a lot of duplicate content between them. I started with Blogger at the end of 2004. I’ve tried Wordpress (free) and MSN Spaces. I’m trying to decide which of those services to return to.

MSN Spaces

Here’s my #1 deterrent to moving back to MSN Spaces. Too much of this junk:

Two out of 3 times that I click anything on MSN Spaces or Windows Live, that happens. It’s much too frustrating. This has been going on for years. 2 years ago, when I moved from Spaces to TypePad, this was happening. It hasn’t changed. OK, the “this link won’t work” graphic is prettier than it used to be, but the reliability is the same or worse.

Plus, there’s no import function. I would have to manually move each of my 800 plus posts over, one by one. Too much work.

Blogger

Blogger was my first blog. Actually, I think I tried Live Journal, but I moved to Blogger quickly. I’ve seen it grow quite a bit, although it’s still missing some simple things, like split post and categories. Blogger uses tags.  Also, again, I would have to manually copy all of my posts over, or at least the 400 or so I’ve written the last 2 years. Blogger does have an import, but it won’t import any of the pictures I’ve posted. So importing my posts would require a lot of work.

Wordpress

I have another blog on Wordpress.com. I haven’t done much with it. Visually, it’s much more attractive and has a lot more plugins. My main complaint with this blog (it is not a self-hosted wordpress blog) is that I can’t monetize it. Of course, I’ve been trying to monetize blogs for 5 1/2 years and gotten nothing for it, so maybe I should just give up on the idea of making money and concentrate on writing and building an audience. Then maybe I’ll decide on a self-hosted blog with options to earn money for my blogging.

What do you think? Which of these blogs do you prefer I move to? I’ve been moving posts and changing my profiles to reacquaint myself with the features each service offers.

Postrank Verification

Please ignore. I'm just using this post to register with Post Rank

Postrank Verification

Please ignore. I'm just using this post to register with Post Rank

Failblog: Date Win

I wonder if the people who put together this episode of The Simpsons expected to still be on the air when this happened.

Naboth’s Vineyard

I haven’t written a Bible post in a while. I came across a thought this morning that seemed worth writing about.

When people tell me “the Bible is boring”, I question how much of it they’ve read. Sure, some portions can be VERY tedious to read. Genealogies, for instance, are hard to read just to read. You’ve got to have a certain mindset to plow through Leviticus, and even I dread having to read Ezra. It’s hard to read some of the prophets without learning the background of who is being written to and why. Some books, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, were written over a lifetime. It takes some homework to be able to understand either.

The New Testament has challenges too. Even Peter had trouble understanding Paul:

2 Pe 3:[15] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (ESV) (emphasis mine)

But the historical books are different. These are accounts of things that really happened. And they contain some VERY graphic descriptions of events and people. Battles. Massacres. Rebellions. Rape. Incest. It holds little back.

Failblog: Date Win

I wonder if the people who put together this episode of The Simpsons expected to still be on the air when this happened.

Naboth ’ s Vineyard

I haven’t written a Bible post in a while. I came across a thought this morning that seemed worth writing about.

When people tell me “the Bible is boring”, I question how much of it they’ve read. Sure, some portions can be VERY tedious to read. Genealogies, for instance, are hard to read just to read. You’ve got to have a certain mindset to plow through Leviticus, and even I dread having to read Ezra. It’s hard to read some of the prophets without learning the background of who is being written to and why. Some books, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, were written over a lifetime. It takes some homework to be able to understand either.

The New Testament has challenges too. Even Peter had trouble understanding Paul:

2 Pe 3:[15] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (ESV) (emphasis mine)

But the historical books are different. These are accounts of things that really happened. And they contain some VERY graphic descriptions of events and people. Battles. Massacres. Rebellions. Rape. Incest. It holds little back.

I was reading about Naboth’s Vineyard this morning. The scary thing is, it actually starts very reasonably:

I Kings [21:1] Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. (ESV)

It’s a factual statement. Naboth had a vineyard that happened to be next door to Ahab the King’s palace.

[2] And after this Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.”

This is actually very reasonable. Maybe I see it that way because I’m in Real Estate, but there’s nothing wrong with this. “Naboth, your vineyard is next to my house. I’d like to buy it from you so I can put a garden there. I can walk to that garden from my house. In exchange for your vineyard, I will give you a plot of land that is better. Or I will compensate you monetarily. In either case, I will give you an exchange in value that is greater than the value of your land, because I want the location.”

The text doesn’t say anything about whether Naboth’s house was next to the vineyard. Wherever Naboth lived, the land was apparently closer to Ahab’s palace.

Next, Naboth responds to Ahab’s offer:

[3] But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid *that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”

Maybe it’s because I grew up in the military and moved a lot. Home is where I park my car. I’ve lived in my current house for 9 years, which is a record for my life. I’ve been in New Jersey for 11 years. Again, a record. Prior to that, my longest stretch lived in one place was in Texas for 7 years. One of the houses we lived at in Texas I’d lived in for 4 years. I can understand Naboth’s attachment to his inheritance. I won’t bore you with the Torah’s instructions for land.

I would have at least asked Ahab “What do you have?” But Naboth was well within his rights to respond the way he did. There was absolutely nothing unreasonable about Ahab’s request up to this point. But now, events go off the deep end:

[4] And Ahab went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.

Ahab was understandably disappointed, but the account paints him as crying like a baby. I wonder if he tried holding his breath before he decided to demonstrate his maturity by not eating.

Then it goes south. His wife, Jezebel, asks him why he’s crying. Then she sends out letters to the elders asking them to hold a feast with Naboth as the guest of honor, and to bring out false witnesses accusing him of speaking out against God and the king. Then to stone him.

Amazingly, they comply. Talk about corruption. Naboth is setup, falsely accused, stoned to death, and Ahab is told to take possession of his vineyard. Then Elijah shows up. No account involving Elijah could possibly be boring. I’d like to encourage you to read it for yourself.

Rethinking How I Look At The World

Those who know me know how little enthusiasm I have for sports. I’ve never developed an interest. I’ve tried. I just couldn’t do it. Which is why I’m surprised at something that happened.

I got a call Sunday night. A friend of mine had Phillies tickets, and asked if I wanted to go to the game. I almost reflexively (and politely) declined. But then something went through my head. It’s something I’ve been chewing on for a while now.

I may not be that interested in the game, but I do enjoy spending time with my friends. And I don’t get asked to go to games very often. I said I’d like to go and we worked out the details.

I’ve made a lot of decisions in my life based on what would make me comfortable, or what would allow me to avoid inconveniences. I’ve turned down plenty of adventures because I didn’t want to deal with crowds and traffic.

But I’ve also given up a lot of chances to build relationships.

So I went to the game. And I had a good time. I spend time with friends. The weather was awesome. We had great seats, just off 1st base and in the shade for most of the game.

In 2004, right before Joshua was born, my brother in law had Phillies tickets for a Friday afternoon game and was going to take the whole family. I was working the swing shift at that time, but I was able to get off. Then one guy didn’t show up for work. I could have fought harder to leave, but I didn’t. I stayed and worked. It hit me yesterday that I should have gone to that game.

I made the pledge to myself that I’m going to stop making decisions that allow me to stay home and read or surf the Internet. I’m going to start doing more to build friendships and to get out and meet people. Maybe I’ll go to the Army/Navy game this year with a friend.

The Key Word in Social Media is Social

Social media is a double edged sword. Through social media, I’ve reconnected with high school friends and Navy buddies I thought I’d never see again. I’ve even kept in touch with family, and formed closer relationships even with those in driving distance. I’ve been able to get a glimpse into the minds of business leaders I respect and admire. I’ve been able to see what celebrities I like are doing, like the Ghost Hunters and the Deadliest Catch fishermen.

Social media provides a business advantage. I can promote my listings a lot easier through social media. I can broadcast a lot farther and a lot faster about open houses and new listings. It’s a great business tool.

But I can also be spammed relentlessly by others promoting their own businesses and interests, who have no filter between their mind and keyboard. I routinely get friend requests from people, only to have my status stream and messages filled up with “business opportunities”, webinars, demands for information, and other distractions. All this from people who totally ignore the social aspect of social media.

Just now, I cleaned out 8 messages from my Facebook inbox. All were from people who “friended” me only for business promotion purposes. One guy sent two messages about a video of a friend who is supposedly making $1000 a day.Great. Believable. Somebody else sent out 3 messages about how he’s looking for short sales. That’s just the Real Estate and “Internet Marketers”.

I’m all for using social media for business. But I think you need to form a relationship. The founder of the company I’m affiliated with says “people buy people before they buy (anything else)”. So if you’re expecting me to buy your product through Facebook, then who are you? What are you thinking about? What are you doing? What do you like to do? What books are you reading?

I don’t turn down friend requests unless they’re obvious spam, but I tend to ignore those people who do nothing but shamelessly market.

What about you? Do you run into shameless promoters on social media? Do you think it’s OK?

Scoble: Why I Can’t Kick the iPhone Out of My Life

Robert Scoble, a total gadget geek, who hangs around with other gadget geeks, can’t get rid of his iPhone. In this post, he explains why. Scoble is a tech journalist among many other things, and has access to tons of other phones. He can either afford to have several phones on several different networks, or he gets review units paid for by other people. Many of the people Scoble runs with are in the same situation.

At one point, I used to listen to several tech podcasts and read several tech blogs. I found the people behind these are often more opinionated than political journalists and bloggers. I eventually drifted away from most of them due to time and bias issues. I got tired of the “Mac can do no wrong, Microsoft can do no right” attitude. And I didn’t want to spend the time to keep up anymore.

So Scoble runs with people who can afford (or are provided) four or more different phones at the same time. Most of these people had an iPhone the FIRST day it was out, and used it until everybody else caught up, then moved on to other phones. Now they’re using Android or whatever else is trendy.

I have an iPhone 3G. I’m content with it. It’s not a 3GS or a 4G, it’s a 3G. On iOS4, it’s slow and crashes a lot. But I still like it. I look forward to the day when I get an iPhone 4G. The iPhone isn’t as trendy as it once was, but I like it.

In the circles I run in, I notice an interesting trend. In Real Estate, at least here in south Jersey, I notice two prominent phones: the iPhone, and the BlackBerry curve. For some reason, most Realtors in this area seem to gravitate to those two models. I see other phones, but those two are the ones I see most people using.

As for me, I can’t say if I could kick the iPhone out of my life or not. I wouldn’t want to. I’m content with it.

Great Question: Where's Our Rollover Data, AT&T?

When I write posts like “Rumors of the iPhone on Verizon annoy me”, I’m not saying that I don’t want to see the iPhone on other networks. I have little love for AT&T. For some reason, I think GSM is a better technology than CDMA, but I’m hard pressed to provide any objective evidence to support that opinion. I just like being able to switch phones by moving a little chip.

The only problem I have with those rumors is stated in my last post on the subject. Apple would be breaking a contract, and Verizon has left no evidence that they would allow the iPhone’s capabilities on it’s network. They turned it down in the first place.

I have no idea if Verizon has a better network than AT&T. At one point, I had Verizon phones issued by a company I worked for. I had a RAZR and 2 models of BlackBerries during the time I worked there. It didn’t seem like I had better reception. If anything, there were times I had to use my personal AT&T phone because I couldn’t get a decent connection on Verizon’s network.

I’ve always liked the concept of rollover minutes. I never use all the minutes I pay for, but I did pay for them, so why can’t I keep them? The Unofficial Apple Weblog now asks: where’s our rollover data?

Most people don’t use the full amount of data allowed. Why can’t we roll over a few gigs? I’ve always wondered why we can’t tether our phones up to our full allotment of data, except that the few telcos in existence have us over a barrel and can dictate whatever terms they want, since we have few options. I can’t take my iPhone to Cricket.

Finally, Social Media Expert Defined

From Jason Dunn. I’d say this video sums it up nicely.

I need to find out what program is being used to create these things. 

Lifehacker: Email Annoyances

Lifehacker put up a post yesterday dealing with the worst email annoyances. I’ve dealt with my personal worst email annoyances on this blog over the years. My two biggest are Reply to All and “You’ll win something if you forward this to everybody”.

I’m not really annoyed with signature lines like “sent from my iPhone” or “sent from my Verizon BlackBerry”. It tells me the person is probably out of the office. Hopefully I can expect more information when they get back to the office, but I usually have to follow up again.

What do you consider an email annoyance?

John Maxwell: Don’t Shun The Sting

This post by John Maxwell hit home for me. I had to make a phone call last night. I got an answering machine. I’m not very good with voice mails. Even with people I know, I’ve never been good. I sometimes opt to hang up on the voice mail and try to call later. My messages are very stilted because I lack feedback from the person. But when I’m calling for business, it’s bad form to not leave a message.

After I left a message last night, Christina told me it sounded horrible. I agree.

But, I am going to have to master the art of the phone call and the voice mail message to succeed in my business. I guess I’ll just have to keep at it.

I’ve only known of John Maxwell as an accomplished speaker. Like me with phone calls, he once started from somewhere too.

Rumors About the iPhone on Verizon Annoy Me

Ever since the day the iPhone came out, tech blogs have been whining about how it should be released on Verizon. Every time a new iPhone or software update comes out, rumors start flying about how the iPhone will be on Verizon soon.

I want to reach through my screen and ask the tech bloggers or reporters if they remember 2 basic facts:

1. Apple originally approached Verizon with the iPhone. Verizon would not bend it's will far enough to allow the iPhone to be what it is on AT&T's network.
2. Apple has a 5 year contract with AT&T. Let's see, the first iPhone came out in 2007.

2007+5=2012.

That means the exclusive agreement will be over about in time for the end of the world. Unless you follow Harold Camping, in which case the world will end a few weeks before the iPhone 5 announcement...

None of the “iPhone on Verizon” rumors contain any statements like “AT&T is releasing Apple from it’s agreement” or “Verizon is relaxing it’s dictatorial grip on smartphone capabilities”. The last time I had a Verizon phone, I still couldn’t transfer ringtones to it over Bluetooth.

Most of these rumors operate on the assumption that the day after the iPhone came out, Verizon got on it’s knees in repentance to Steve Jobs and said “We are most sorry. We will allow you to do whatever you want on our network regardless of our existing policy. Have your way with us, oh great Steve.”

So today The Unofficial Apple Weblog ran its 48,031st rumor that a Verizon ready iPhone has been in existence at Apple, and is being developed alongside it’s cousin until the day it can be released.

My prediction? IF the iPhone EVER is released on Verizon, it will be after June of 2012. If it’s EVER released. Show me some evidence that Verizon will actually allow the iPhone to run at it’s AT&T capacity or better on their network, and I’ll believe it.

Bezos: Kindle is "Buy Once, Read Everywhere"

I'm happy about this. One massive problem I've had with adopting eBooks, a technology that I'm really excited about, is a fear of "platform lock-in". 

Let me explain. Say you buy an eBook device. It doesn't matter which one. Kindle, iPad, Sony eReader, whatever. Now you can only buy books from a single provider. And if that provider goes out of business, or if your hardware becomes obsolete, you might lose access to your books.

I have an iPhone and a Barnes & Noble nook. I almost never use the nook. I've only gotten free books for it. It was a Christmas present (or an unmentionable solstice cultural observance present for those of you who go into seizures at the mention of Christmas). I'd hoped to be able to read pdf files on the nook, but most of them don't format properly which renders it nearly useless.

Any Barnes & Noble books I buy can be read on my PC and iPhone. But still, Amazon has a better inventory, and often better prices, so when I buy eBooks, I buy them from Amazon.

Also, Sony books can also be read on a PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. But still, Amazon has a better inventory with better prices.

I'm convinced that the hardware eBooks are read on is a secondary factor. What matters most is content. Who has the best content, at the best price, with the best way to avoid obsolescence? So far, in my observation, the winner is Amazon.

Which is why I was happy to see Jeff Bezos' (founder of Amazon) quote in this blog post. Despite providing their own hardware (Kindle), Amazon is still committed to delivering content (books) as far and wide as possible. Even though I have a competing device, most of my purchased content is for Kindle, which I read on my iPhone and computer.

Thank You, Sears. May I Have Another?

As a small businessman, customer service is VERY important to me. I can't afford to unintentionally get customers angry. That would send me back to a cubicle. Anything but that. Things happen. Yes. People get upset. Yes. That's part of life, and part of business. How you react to things happening and people getting angry says a lot about yourself and your business.

I bought a treadmill from Sears about 3 years ago. Lately, it started to smell like it was burning. I called Sears, since we paid for the 5 year service plan. I was scheduled for a service call between 1 and 5 PM this afternoon.

Guess what? It's obvious. They didn't show. Nobody called. And of course, with a 4 hour window requiring one of us to be home, it placed us under a huge inconvenience. We had an errand that both of us needed to do, but I ended up doing it myself. It required a lot of labor.

Christina called me after 5 when it was obvious that a large, billion dollar corporation can't keep an appointment. She called them. The call center rep was rude to her. She asked for a manager. She escalated 2 levels in the call center, and did not encounter a single person who cared. We've already been waiting a week and a half for this service call. Now we're waiting until July 18. That's a Saturday. In my business, Saturdays are workdays. Thanks, Sears, you could have just cost me money.

Guess what Sears offered us for our inconvenience? A "free" consultation for air conditioning or siding or some other home service. Right. It would be free anyway. What idiot would pay for a consultation for that? Sears already demonstrated their unreliability and lack of caring about us as customers. If I needed anything done on my home, I know several good and reliable contractors who would do the job right. And I know where they live...

If you live in south Jersey and need air conditioning or siding (or any other contracting service) performed, please contact me. Spend your money on a good small businessman who cares about doing a good job. I can refer you to several. Don't give your money to Sears.

I'm writing this as sort of an open letter to Sears. Some companies actually monitor social media and blogs. When you're as large and soulless as Sears, it's a good way to find out what's really going on when several levels of corporation are between the executives and the customers. Of course, when you're as large and soulless as Sears, you probably don't care about one inconvenienced customer. Or two, or even a thousand. You'll do just fine no matter how many upset customers you leave in your wake.

So if you're reading this, Sears, I hope you don't miss the few tens of thousands of dollars in sales that you just lost from me. I have a long memory when large, soulless mega-corporations tick me off. Just ask Lowe's.

Banks Getting Rid of Free Checking?

I saw a post on Lifehacker this morning about banks getting rid of free checking. Apparently they have their customers back over a barrel and can do what they want once again.

I've only used the services of one "bank" in my life. That was Commerce Bank. But I got tired of their stupid games and closed my account. Commerce bank had some silly policy that if you deposit a paycheck on Thursday, somehow the funds would not be available until Tuesday even though they were reflected in your balance. That is, unless you get out of the car and go in the bank and cash out part of the paycheck at the counter. Then the entire thing was available. It never made sense to me at all.

I have almost always conducted my banking at credit unions. I started with Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio, Texas, when I was 13. I started with a savings account, and opened a checking account when I was 16.

Book Review: Mystically Wired by Ken Wilson

I haven't read many books on Prayer. It's one of the spiritual disciplines that I believe I'm weakest in. Most of the books on Prayer I've read are expositions of the "Lord's Prayer".

I remember a comment Bob Bly made on the difference between a "what to do" book and a "how to do" book.  For instance, a book that tells you that you should pray, and lists the benefits of prayer, and maybe even tells you stories about other people's prayers, would fall under a "what to do book".

I think Mystically Wired is a "how to do" book. It's different from other books I've read on the subject of prayer.

The point to the book is our brains are wired for prayer. Even if we don't think we're good at it, we can learn the discipline of prayer by forming new habits. We can rewire the synapses in our brains by forming new habits around the discipline of prayer.

I'll admit, I was very skeptical in the first chapter. Looking at my notes in the early chapters of the book, you can tell that I was gearing up for a disagreement with the author. He convinced me of his point of view though by the 3rd chapter.

The author discusses current studies about the brain to make his case that we're Mystically Wired to pray. Much of the information he cites agrees with what I read in This Is Your Brain on Joy by Dr. Earl Henslin. The author shares his own experiences in prayer over the course of his life, as well as several methods he's used in his prayers. He then includes many practical tips for forming new habits in your prayer life. I will probably incorporate most into mine.

If you're looking for a practical book on prayer, get this one.

Vampires In Contemporary Culture

Back in February, I wrote a post asking what the deal is with the current cultural obsession with vampires. Since them, I've seen elements of Twilight pop up in some interesting places. Oh, come on, where else could this come from?

First up, we have "teen wolves" running around a San Antonio high school. I'm sure they're in others, but I have a link to a story about them in San Antonio. This is in the school district I graduated from. It's apparently harmless. Just a wolf pack that doesn't consider it a gang. I'm sure it will eventually evolve some rituals or initiation and cause trouble for the community, if the culture doesn't come up with something else for teens to obsess over first. I hope they don't have to shave their chests and oil up to join the wolf pack.

Next up, from TruTV, some 21 year old, drunk and dirty and caught trying to break into a drug store at 3 AM. So what's the big deal? I've seen enough "World's Dumbest" to know there's nothing special about that. But this drunk 21 year old claimed to be a 100 year old, immortal vampire. He threatened to kill one officer and his family. He wanted to eat the kidney of a female officer.

Why Is Charity Often Connected to Greed?

I just had somebody come to my door. We were finishing up dinner, and I was throwing some trash away. I fixed the storm door and screen, so we had the front door open to let air in through the screen. I saw somebody standing there.

He called to me, so I walked up. I talked through the screen. I don't like solicitors. I don't buy anything from my door. I don't donate money from my door. When I give, I like to make sure that what I give actually gets to the cause it was given to.

The pitched started with something about a chance to win $5000. Then it turned to something about winning a trip to Europe. Been there, done that. I was born in Spain. That comes up every time I have a discussion about my security clearance. "You were born in Spain? Are you sure you're a citizen?" "Yeah, that's why I've had a security clearance for the last 18 years. Nothing gets by you, does it?"

I exchanged a little friendly banter over how cool Europe is, and how great it would be to take my wife. Then I cut it off by explaining my situation, and how I'm not putting money out for anything but essentials right now. Then it all came down to "You don't have one dollar to give to Children's Hospital?"

As I have no way of knowing whether my $1 would actually benefit any children at Children's Hospital, I said sorry, but no. Not right now.

I'm curious why charity works that way. If you need money for a cause, why not just ask? Why does it always have to be connected to $5000 raffles and trips to Europe? Is the best way to get people to part with money to appeal to their sense of greed?

I also think of other questions. Is Children's Hospital a for profit or non-profit? If it's a for profit, why are people on my doorstep asking for donations to "benefit" Children's Hospital? Is the donation for an ancillary program? This is why I won't donate money from my doorstep. I can't get my questions answered.

It's never worked on me. I don't care much about winning anything. OK, I've won a few books the last couple of months from blog giveaways. That's been helpful. I entered to win an iPad in a couple of places. I didn't win. But for the most part, I don't care if I win. I'd rather earn the money and pay for it myself. I've already explained how I refuse to buy lottery tickets.

I can only imagine what would happen if churches started doing this. Give out raffle tickets and draw one out of the collection plate after the offering has been taken. Winner gets $1000. Would that raise the amount of the offering? It would probably keep people around after service to see if their ticket was drawn. I'd probably leave a church that did that. I hope most of you would too. But I'm interested if that would have an affect on the offering.

So I guess it comes down to the question: are you more likely to give money to a charity if you have a chance to win something? I'm not saying it's wrong. Maybe it does result in higher donations. I've never checked into it. All I'm saying is it doesn't work on me. 

Book Review: Wild At Heart by John Eldredge

John Eldredge updated Wild At Heart for 2010. It was first written in 2001.

I first read the book in 2007. I taught a class on the book at my church for the fall quarter of 2008.

The book is written from a Christian perspective. With his wife, John Eldredge wrote a version of the book for women called Captivating. For non-Christian readers, I don’t believe the book was overly evangelistic. You may find it helpful.

The premise of Wild At Heart is that the church, as it exists today, teaches men that their ultimate aim as Christian men is to be “really nice guys”. Secular society doesn’t do much better, as it seeks to feminize and emasculate men. John Eldredge makes his case that Adam was created in the wilderness, then brought into the Garden, where Eve was taken from his rib. This means that man has something wild in his heart, and he spends his life trying to recapture it. John says that every man has 3 needs:

1. A Battle to Fight
2. An Adventure to Live
3. A Beauty to Rescue

He also says that every man asks the same question: “Do I have what it takes?” Every many also carries a wound, usually inflicted by his father (or the lack of a present father). He often looks to the wrong places for the answer to his question. His mother cannot answer it, nor can his wife. Seeking the answer from these can cause more harm.

He then lays out the enemy, the strategy, the beauty, and the adventure, and urges the reader to write the next chapter.

John Eldredge uses movies and literature for illustrations for his point.

Many reviewers complain that the book is little more than an urge to be over-macho, with its constant references to mountain climbing and horseback riding. John Eldredge claims that is not the point, but some readers can’t get past it. I personally have no urge to climb a mountain or camp or hike through bear-infested woods armed with only a whistle. Every time I think about how cool a Jeep looks, I have to remind myself how horrible they drive. But I found the book helpful in some ways.

I compared the 2010 edition against my original 2001 edition. In the text of the book, there are some minor editing revisions. A few paragraphs have been reworded. I found a few new paragraphs in one section, and a few removed in another. The major changes include the addition of an Epilogue, “The Daily Prayer”, “A Prayer for Sexual Healing”, and the except from “The Way of the Wild Heart” has been replaced with an excerpt for “Fathered By God”. If you have the original edition, you shouldn’t need to buy the new one. I got a review copy from Thomas Nelson, the publisher. If you’d like to get free books in exchange for a review, check out Thomas Nelson’s Book Sneeze.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

What Is The Difference Between Joel Osteen and a Fortune Cookie?

I'm not trying to be mean-spirited with this post. I'm linking somebody else's work. Tim Challies ate Thai food and read the fortune cookie. From Tim:

 I thought "This fortune sounds like something Joel Osteen would say." And then it struck me--there is very little difference between Joel and those fortune cookies (except that the cookies are delicious, of course).

Tim then sampled some of Joel Osteen's work, and created a 12 question quiz to compare the two. You can take the quiz on his blog. Let me know how you do in the comments. 

Why Do People Waste So Much Energy Worrying Their (fill in the blank) Makes Them Dumber?

I'm starting to think there is something wrong with me. Am I missing something?

I don't spend any time worrying that my (iPhone, Dell, netbook, nook, TV, DVR, refrigerator, washing machine, GPS, reading lamp, stand-up shower, power mirrors, RSS Reader, or whatever the heck else) is making me dumb.

None. I don't waste any energy worrying about it.

Yet I read tons of content from other people worrying that such and such is killing their brains. Consider this from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW): Is My iPhone Making Me Dumber?

I don't get it. But I see these things as very useful tools. I enjoy them while I have them. If they all disappeared some day, I'd find a way to get by. I'd really miss my broadband Internet and air conditioning though.

Do you worry about these things making you dumb? Destroying your ability to think? Why? Do you have any objective evidence for this, or are you just following "conventional wisdom"?