I’ve been helping friends getting their blogs setup with the new features from Blogger. Suddenly anything from the paid pro version of Blogger is free. We’re talking titles and picture uploads. I think most of the Bloggers I’ve helped are more excited about the picture uploads even though you could do it manually if you were adept at HTML and could upload a picture. Now Blogger will do it for you.
I’m more excited about the title feature, which makes Blogger almost as good as Movable Type. Almost. Still can’t have decending posts and other customized output files with Blogger. However as far as being cheap and easily setup and incorporated into your homepage, I’d recommend Blogger for the first time weblogger.
Interestingly enough, Todd hasn’t been blogging as much since he transfered from UT to FHU. He calls it being busy. Whereas his blood brother Scott seems to blog more often than in April when he first got started blogging. A casual reference as the “King of Blogging” has been used occassionally whenever someone posts frequently. Scott is fascinated with posting pictures. I’d imagine we’re going to see alot of Bluecoats pictures before it’s all over with.
Josh? Somehow if I were in Hungary I’d probably have less priority on blogging, and more priority on experiencing culture. Then again I’d probably be getting online frequently to combat homesickness by talking to friends.
Budapest is different than my experience in China. My online time in China was very limited. Dialup. Bad connection. Just enough time to send a handful of emails home and that about it. No wonder Mark never really wanted to hang around and chat much in China. However Josh appears to have a broadband connection in Budapest. He’s always connected. And much of the time, especially late afternoon for me…he’s actively online…when it’s late night in Buda.
Budapest seems like a fascinating countries. I’ve been looking at Josh’s pictures of the city and statue park. Great pictures.
And I helped Jesse with her blog. Getting her setup on UT’s servers rather than the less dependable Blogspot. She even gave me props on one of her entries.
Also I think that Blogger.com ought to filter out vulgar titled blog names on their front page. Having curse words on a front page for “Recently Updated Blogs” would probably discourage visitors from taking it seriously. Plus it just doesn’t look good for a corporation to do that.
On a less interesting note, my sister lost her domain. Her network administrator let it expire and someone else snagged it. Doh! I hate it for her. Actually I’m probably more upset about it than she was when I told her about it. There’s no getting it back anytime soon. And I feel like her website is significant enough, at least among Kindergarten teachers, that its a good thing. No wonder someone snagged it.
An open letter to elders’ kids
We’re in the process of appointing new elders at church. The elders are a group of older men who make decisions in regards to church management. Being somewhat familiar with life as a elder’s kid I want to offer this advice to any elder’s kid.
It can mean good benefits. You will always have an understanding ear in church issues, without necessarily scheduling a formal meeting with the elders. See something you like or dislike at church? Mention it to your father.
You will be scrutinized more often then you should. Or at least you’ll feel like you’re being judged. In reality probably many people don’t know or don’t care that you’re an elder’s kid. Keep doing what you’re doing. Remember, your father wasn’t put in this position because of bad behavior of you. If you sin, ask for forgiveness and move on. Elder’s kids aren’t immune from sin. You or your family might be considered high profile and therefore any of your blemishes might seem magnified for some. “Well, he’s an elder’s kid….” might be said about you in regards to anything you might have done.
The behavior of an elder’s kid should be the behavior of any Christian. The only difference is that the good behavior of an elder’s kid is specifically mentioned in the Bible as a prerequesite for appointing eldership. See Titus 1:6 and 1 Timothy 3:4-5.
You will hear “Tell Your Dad about this” more often than you want. There may be a handful of misled people who will want to become friends with you primarily because they want a close ear to the church leadership. It’s your job to determine whether or not their offer of friendship is genuine. 99% of the time people are genuine.
You will tend to see your father less often after and before church, simply because of the overabundance of meetings. Your father will have to keep things from you in regards to church decisions. Stop being nosy and move on.
The Big Eleven
“Here’s some things that drive me nuts.
In the www dot com things. It’s not a dot at all. It’s a period. That’s wrong.
The Big Ten – the athletic conference – the Big Ten, there are 11 teams in the Big Ten. That’s wrong. Why don’t they call it the Big Eleven? They don’t. It’s the Big Ten. Well explain the fact that you’ve got one left over at the awards banquet.”
–David Letterman 9/29/03
Spam
I loaded spam at the Disaster Relief warehouse today. Honestly we really had too many people there. Lots of people were standing around doing not much of anything. What the Disaster Relief Org needs is cash now. Donations. Normally they have plenty of people helping, although I’ve been up there when we were running short of labor.
The spam was the off brand of spam. Treet. “Premium Pork.” Japanese lettering on some of them. I guess if you have nothing, you’d probably appreciate the spam, even though it might not be the first thing you’d pick up at the grocery. It was the meat staple in the box. We put 6 cans each in the box. Normally there is less spam, but we had no Vienna canned sausages, so hence the increase in spam.
And today is the first time in a long time I’ve felt chilly going outside. Fall is here. Autumn is coming, seems like it’s in sight, to borrow a line from the Gin Blossoms.
My superpower
I really shouldn’t start ebaying. I don’t have money to spend on useless garage sale items. Still the cheap price of the trivial pursuit game got me interested. Friends have been playing that game fairly often. I like it mainly because I’m sorta good at it. Useless knowledge is my superpower.
The theme to Trivial Pursuit is similar to the Jeffersons: Getting a piece of the pie. Except fish don’t fry in the kitchen and beans don’t burn on the game board.
It must be some kind of conspiracy with Parker Brothers and Trivial Pursuit or whoever makes it. Thinking that you need more questions because the genius edition is too hard…or the young players edition is too easy….or there’s not enough questions for the baby boomers. And I still don’t know why the 80s edition on ebay is selling so high right now.
Jersey Mike’s Subs
(I promised “Bob” that I would write about Jersey Mike’s Subs, so he could distinguish who exactly liked them.)
Within the past couple of months I have discovered Jersey Mikes Subs ( www.jerseymikes.com ) . Thankfully there is one within 10 minutes of my house. What makes Jersey Mike’s Subs so great is the amount of meat you get on it, compared to Subway. With Subway, you find yourself hungry after a few hours. With Mike’s you will stay full all day. Unfortunately with the extra meat, comes an extra cost. Mike’s subs can cost upto $6.50 for a 7 inch sub. But it is well worth it.
I have been told that the Jersey Mike’s Sub shop in Hermitage is dirty, but I have not seen any evidence of uncleaness in the restaurant. I don’t know what their health scores are, but I am not getting sick, so everything must be fine.
Let’s review:
Subway Subs: old and busted
Jersey Mike’s: new hotness
Trillian Shortcomings
Trillian is a instant messenger program ( www.trillian.cc ) which gives users the ability to connect to AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ messenger services. They have a free version and a paid pro version of the program with many more options. They charge $25 for the pro version, which I think is highly over rated. The Trillian folks are depending on 3rd party services to provide them with the inner workings of their programs. With any tweak from these 3rd party services, and Trillian could be useless on a certain protocol.
I’ll give you an example. Today Trillian started complaining about Yahoo Messenger. Afterwards anytime you try to connect to Yahoo via Trillian, it would crash. Trillian says they are working on a fix. Somehow I think it is a bad business model to depend on 3rd party services to make your program work. 3rd party services go down; change protocol; anything…. If AOL wanted to, they could ban all Trillian users. The pro users would be out $25.
News article about Yahoo Blocking Trilian
Oh yeah, new photo of the moment is up. Can you spell your Savior’s name right?
Verses on Worry
I had a letter written up which I was planning on sending. But the power must have went out while I was gone, so maybe it wasn’t meant to be sent.
It has been a tough week for me. Some of this is imagined. Other things are real. I won’t bother to go into specifics. In times like these I should probably look at Bible verses which deal with this.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
John 14:1 KJV
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Luke 12:25
A Message to John Schnatter
I have a message for John Schnatter, founder of Papa John’s Pizza.
John: Your coupons suck. Two years ago, there were coupons for $5.99 for a large one topping. Now that you’ve got us hooked on your pizza, you force us to pay $8.99 for a large pepperoni pizza. Any other of your current coupons just suck. I’ve seen coupons only for a specific topping. Like Spinach or Barbeque chicken…neither of which I would ever want to buy. I would possibly buy a pizza every other week if you would let us buy them for $5.99.
Why the dramatic increase in the price of one-topping large pizzas in today’s recession economy? Aren’t prices supposed to stablize or fall during recession years? Now I’m paying just as much for a Papa John’s as I would for Pizza Hut…which in itself is terribly expensive. All I want is a good quality pizza at a reasonable price. Is that too hard to ask for?
Friday Five: Music
1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why?
I’d rather concentrate on bands themselves rather than individual musicians.
Better than Ezra, Wallflowers, Cracker, Oasis, Lucinda Williams, Son Volt, Ben Folds, Gin Blossoms, INXS, U2
These are bands you’ve never heard of. Once a band gets extraoridinarily popular, then I usually stop listening to it. The exception to this is U2, which will probably always have a cult following.
2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why?
Anything R&B or Rap. I just don’t get it. It all sounds the same. Funky bass line and generic lyrics. Nothing special here. Move along. Nothing to see here.
3. If your favorite singer wasn’t in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person?
Not necessarily. For example, I really like the band Oasis. I like their music, yet the actual attitude of the members of the band are pretty lousy. They call themselves the greatest rock band ever, which is hardly the case. Good music; bad attitudes.
4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?
Complete list of concerts I’ve been to
Some of the best shows have been Better Than Ezra, where they get crowd participation and do some cover songs. This is opposed to the slickly produced Tom Petty and Aerosmith concerts I’ve been to.
5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from dowloading free music?
I plead the 5th. 🙂