Sami Mikhail

Required Viewing.

2011-07-04T14:53:00.001-05:00

We're coming up on an election year.

Been wondering how we instill some sanity in the process.

Still don't know, but just watched the "Neverlution" show by Christopher Titus. It should be required watching for all Americans.

http://www.christophertitus.com/

Mind expanded, funny bone tickled. Life is good.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Priced Out Of Your Medication? Must Be All That 'Expensive' Big Pharma R&D

2011-06-28T06:56:00.002-05:00

Everybody who thinks we do not need healthcare reforms should read this.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110626/17115214866/priced-out-your-medication-must-be-all-that-expensive-big-pharma-rd.shtml

Sent to you via Google Reader

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

FarmTown users might want to take a look at this warning. Even if you are not a FarmTown user, you might want to take a look at this warning. Chasing and Removing computer viruses is not near as much fun as all that!

2010-04-12T09:46:00.002-05:00

From Mashable: WARNING: Farm Town Serves Malware Ads to Facebook Users

Slashkey's response is wishy-washy: Either the ads deliver Malware or
they don't. If they do, they should not have gotten past the most
rudimentary of QA checks!

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Divide and Conquer?

2010-04-08T00:04:00.001-05:00

A nagging thought has been bothering me for a while: Why is it that polite political discourse and the frank and open exchange of ideas have gone the way of the Dodo?

Everywhere I turn, there's somebody screaming at someone about their position on some topic or another.

In my head I've been putting a plan together for analyzing this, but the recurring theme is: "It's as if "They" are deliberately setting out to divide us."

Looking back in history "Divide and Conquer" is a very popular strategy. It has been used with commensurate success by ALL imperialist powers, most dictators and not a few corporate raiders.

Who "They" are is open to debate.

It bears noting that there are very few objective/neutral news sources left. And the ones on the extremes of the spectrums (spectra?) are getting more and more strident (and less and less credible, but that doesn't seem to stop people reading/hearing/viewing them apparently.)

Am I alone in thinking this way?

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Thanks to @Beth Rich George for pointing me to Compassion Bloggers: They are on a trip to Kenya even as we speak.

2010-03-04T12:14:00.001-06:00

Trip Banner

Click inside the box below and use CTRL-C or CMD-C to copy the code.

via compassionbloggers.com

Don't know much about the group, but will be following their progress. Kenya and her people are near and dear to my heart.

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

MIT's Flyfire paints images in the sky using micro helicopters -- Engadget

2010-02-19T13:17:00.001-06:00

via engadget.com

Pretty Kewl!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Finally! Creative (hopefully peaceful) protest!

2010-02-12T13:47:00.001-06:00

via news.yahoo.com

Hope adding creativity to the mix will get the world's attention!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 released.

2010-01-08T12:49:00.001-06:00

Thunderbird 3

Now with tabs, better search, and email archiving.

Free Download 3.0 for Windows, English (US) (6.4MB)

Release Notes - Other Systems & Languages

Download Now - Free (English (US) | Other Systems and Languages)

Windows (8.6MB)

Linux (10MB)

Mac OS X (19MB)

via mozillamessaging.com

I've been using Thunderbird for a gazillion years now. Up to now it's been because I can't stand Outlook (or it's retarded younger sibling Outlook Express.)

I've put up with it's foibles and had a wish list of things it would do for me, but never got around to sending that wish list to the developers.

Apparently they got hold of the wish list anyway. (Spoooky!)

My favorite features:
1. Smart folders: I can view email coming into the 13 (good thing I'm not supersticious!) accounts I have to monitor from one smart folder while leaving the actual emails in their own physical folders.
2. Awesome Search capabilities! You really have to try it to believe it. It's a bit slow at first if you have thousands of emails (like I do!) on your hard drive. But after indexing it's pretty darn quick. The best part: You can actually act on the search results as a list! (Didn't use to have that.)

If you like open source and are looking for a more robust way of managing the flood of emails, this is it!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Cory Doctorow’s Makers serialized on Tor.com

2010-01-06T14:16:00.002-06:00

via tor.com

Cory Doctorow is a phenomenal writer. He's ain't half bad at social commentary and forward thinking either.

Interesting points:
1. The world-view shift he's proposing in the novel is intriguing.
2. Interesting that serialization is coming back in vogue.
3. Aspiring writers could learn tons from Cory Doctorow, not just about the craft of writing, but about online presence and marketing!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

For my Beer Drinking friends.

2010-01-06T13:53:00.001-06:00

via i.imgur.com

I have to imagine whoever put this together did a LOT of research! Lucky person!!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Scarry Thought: Amusing Ourselves to Death < Recombinant Records

2010-01-04T12:03:00.001-06:00

via recombinantrecords.net

I've read both "1984" and "Brave New World", about a million years ago....

Either proposition is scary. Mostly because you can see evidence for both if you look hard enough...

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

First tech I look at in the New Year, and Wow!!!! XO-3 concept design is here! | One Laptop per Child

2010-01-01T11:18:00.001-06:00

via blog.laptop.org

If you're not familiar with One Laptop per Child, check out http://laptop.org

Amazing concept and I got the kids the 1.0 version in the Get One Give One campaign. The original models have survived my kids and they still use them (at 16 and 13 respectively.)

This form factor is freaking amazing! I hope that it's the trend of the future because frankly: That's ultraportable even I can use!!!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:28:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope 2009 was good to you and that 2010 is even better.

Personally, I'm hoping for World Peace and an end to World Hunger. I'll be praying for them, and maybe even listening for the word of God as to how I can be a part of bringing them about... :)

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

West Plano Presbyterian Church - Sing Noel

2009-12-11T14:50:00.001-06:00

via westplanopresbyterian.org

My Church (http://www.westplanopresbyterian.org) will be holding it's Carol Service and Readings.

Please join us.

(Oh, by the way I'm back in choir! :) )

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

New feature: Choose your autopost sites through bookmarklet - The Official Posterous Posterous

2009-12-11T08:23:00.001-06:00

via blog.posterous.com

I've always thought Posterous was pretty cool. The fact that they continue to develop and improve is even cooler.

In case you don't know what it is, Posterous is a site that allows you to post one blog entry to multiple destinations. For instance, this will go to my Posterous blog, my Blogspott blog, will post a tweet about the posts and update my facebook status.

The bookmarklet is, essentially, a button that you add to your firefox (and IE and chrome I believe) toolbar. See a site, blog, forum, whatever you want to blog about? Click on the bookmarklet. It will scrape photos and videos along with the text for automatic inclusion.

If you're already a Posterous bookmarklet user, you don't have to do anything. The one wrinkle that the post doesn't mention is that the tags/where to post settings are under Advanced Options. (Took me all of thirty seconds to figure out though.)

If you don't have the bookmarklet you can find it, and instructions, here: http://posterous.com/help/bookmarklet

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

UPDATE on Rescue Shelter in need of help

2009-10-15T18:47:00.004-05:00

I got an update on the Camp Wolfgang situation:

The situation is not as "dire" as the e-mail you sent suggests...as most all
of the dogs have been placed according to the e-mail I received (directly
below) sent to me by someone else yesterday.
Subject: Fw: Camp Wolfgang closing; German Shepherds need help (K-P)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:11:06 -0500
I adopted one last weekend. [...]
I think all but 10 dogs have been adopted out (based on their website
yesterday) And whatever is left is going to another rescue place. NONE will
be euthanized. I got this info first hand from Camp Wolfgang.

Which explains why there is only one page of "Adoptable" dogs at http://www.campwolfgang.petfinder.com/

Rescue Shelter in need of help

2009-10-15T11:21:00.001-05:00

I got this from a friend (Hi Tricia!) in email today.

I'm not in a position to do anything but spread the word right now. So I'm spreading the word. Please help me do the same by posting to your Social Networks, Blogs, Email etc. Thanks!

A German Shepherd rescue group called Camp Wolfgang, in Ennis, Texas is
closing down because of family issues on 31 October. I don’t have any
additional details, other than they are closing their doors.

All the dogs are vetted, spayed/neutered, micro-chipped, well cared-for
and many have had training.

They have nearly 200 dogs that must find a foster or be adopted before 31 October or they will have no choice but to euthanize them all.
I am shocked by this and I hope you are too.

If you cannot help by fostering or adopting...YOU CAN STILL HELP!!!
Please forward this information to everyone you know...if we all
forward this to everyone we know, chances are good that many of these
dogs can be saved!
They do not need or want donations, [ed: emphasis mine] they simply MUST place all of the
dogs.

Adoption fees are $75.00, free to verifiable rescue groups.
Current dogs: (approximate)
120 German Shepherds
2 Akitas
1 Anatolian/Great Pyrenees
4 Purebred Rottweiler
1 Great Dane/Lab
1 Boxer/Mastiff
1 St. Bernard/Akita
1 WolfDog
45 Other mixed breeds
Time is of the essence!!

If you know anyone who can adopt, accept a dog into their rescue, or
help in any way, contact Neisha Livengood, Kennel Master at Camp
Wolfgang.
Neisha Livengood
windigo1966@yahoo.com
wally@campwolfgang.com
campwolfgang@yahoo.com
phone: 214-755-1627
Camp Wolfgang
6234 FM 879
Ennis, Texas 75119
www.campwolfgang.petfinder.com
Thanks to everyone for anything you may be able to do to help these
dogs.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Virus/malware/spyware from Hades. Update 6. Victory. I think.

2009-08-13T16:41:00.001-05:00

I have mounted the offending hard drive back on the original machine.

I am now able to run:
HijackThis
Hitman Pro 3.5
ComboFix
SuperAntiSpyware.

All of them did their thing and report cleanliness. On the other hand, all of them were killed before so I'm not sure they are able to detect whatever Virus I had.

Firefox still didn't start, I uninstalled it wiped out all the settings directories and prior installation directories and re-installed and it seems to be ok now. I'm open to the possibility that it was an add-on problem rather than the Virus killing Firefox. We'll see.

So to recap here's what I think got this cleaned up (or at least, clean for now until proven otherwise):
1. Removed the HD from the original machine and mounted on my machine using a USB dock
2. Removed scecli.dll from the c:\windows\system32 directory and replaced it with the one from c:\windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 (after scanning with novirusthanks!)
    2.1 Panda said that it found "Generic Trj" on that file. See previous post for what http://scanner.novirusthanks.org/ also found.
3. Scanned with http://safety.live.com/
    3.1 it said it found:
       3.1.1 HTML/Advegol.gen
       3.1.2 Win32/Sirefef.B
       3.1.3 WinNT/Sirefef.A
    3.2 I'm assuming it removed them all because the scanner froze and crashed as it was producing it's report...
4. Mounted the HD back on it's original machine
5. Used the above mentioned scanners to scan again. They found nothing.

I am hopeful that this is under control now.

Thanks for all the prayers and support !!!!

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Virus/malware/spyware from Hades. Update 5.

2009-08-13T12:38:00.002-05:00

The virused drive is still mounted on my machine...

Went to http://onecare.live.com. It's been scanning for about 10 hours now. Says it has found 15 items with 3 issues. Don't know what they are yet, but it's looking good.

Interesting side effect: while scanning Norton found Bloodhound.PDF.1 in one of the files. Panda didn't find that. Not sure if onecare found it and it's one of the 3 issues, or if Norton got to it before OneCare did.

Stay tuned....

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Virus/malware/spyware from Hades. Update 4.

2009-08-12T14:56:00.002-05:00

Mounted the hard drive on a different computer. (Dangerous I know, but I'm desperate)

Was able to upload scecli.dll to http://scanner.novirusthanks.org and this is what I got:

File Info

Report generated: 12.8.2009 at 21.47.50 (GMT 1)
Filename: scecli.dll
File size: 59 KB
MD5 Hash: 60670d7e95dadc3d43b23c3892f7e9e6
SHA1 Hash: 42280CEF0AEC2F6CB080F82CF27A1C18B296ABE7
Self-Extract Archive: Nothing found
Binder Detector: Nothing found
Detection rate: 4 on 22

Detections

a-squared - -
Avira AntiVir - -
Avast - -
AVG - -
BitDefender - Trojan.Dropper.Kobcka.Gen.1
ClamAV - -
Comodo - -
Dr.Web - -
Ewido - -
F-PROT6 - -
Ikarus T3 - -
Kaspersky - -
McAfee - -
NOD32 v3 - Win32/Kryptik.YQ
Norman - -
Panda - -
QuickHeal - -
Solo Antivirus - -
Sophos - Mal/Crot-A
TrendMicro - -
VBA32 - -
VirusBuster - Trojan.Sirefef.C

Scan report generated by
NoVirusThanks.org

I'm just going to delete scecli.dll and replace it from a known good source.

Will post again.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Virus/malware/spyware from Hades. Update 3.

2009-08-12T14:21:00.002-05:00

It also kills:

Hitman Pro 3.5

It also will mess with the CMD pif files almost as soon as they are created: I set CMD properties to "Allow Quick Edit". Within two copy/pastes it had reset it to not allow quick edit. (I saw a program popup on ProcExp, but it flashed by too fast.) It also takes away the auto complete capability.

Panda Software Scanner tells me (after running almost 18 hours):

;***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

ANALYSIS: 2009-08-12 13:36:00

PROTECTIONS: 1

MALWARE: 3

;***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

PROTECTIONS

Description Version Active Updated

;===================================================================================================================================================================================

AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.5 No Yes

;===================================================================================================================================================================================

MALWARE

Id Description Type Active Severity Disinfectable Disinfected Location

;===================================================================================================================================================================================

00020942 adware/exact.bargainbuddy Adware No 0 Yes No HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{0878B424-1F95-4e26-B5AB-F0D349D89650}

02460067 Generic Trojan Virus/Trojan Yes 0 Yes No C:\WINDOWS\system32\scecli.dll

03587590 Adware/Yassist Adware No 0 No No C:\System Volume Information\_restore{B762F5BE-1DFD-40DA-9793-F321C2185D05}\RP5\A0000307.exe[²ÇÇ\y_toolbar.exe][²èÇ]

;===================================================================================================================================================================================

http://scanner.novirusthanks.org/ says that scecli.dll is empty when I uploaded it. I can see that it it's a 60kb file. This thing is evil!

I am going to attempt to nuke that file and report on results.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Virus/malware/spyware from Hades. Update 2. I think I'm the first.

2009-08-11T20:27:00.001-05:00

This virus/malware/spyware also kills combofix.

Download Dr. Web which found some other infections, but absolutely no trace of what this one is.

Google the following:
"Virus that kills HijackThis RootRepeal Microsoft's Malware removal Kaspersky Autoruns Blacklight Trend Micros SuperAntispyware"

It only turns up my blog entries!!!

I don't know if I should be proud to be a trail blazer or scared that this thing is so carefully hidden.

I feel the dark doom of a complete reformat/restore (and the attending grief/wailing/gnashing of teeth thereof) looming in my near future.

Before I do that, I'm going to go to:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list-world.htm

and try the ones I haven't tried.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Virus/malware/spyware from Hades. Update 1

2009-08-10T09:06:00.001-05:00

Forgot to mention that I took the Hard drive off my wife's machine and mounted (USB) on mine and ran Malware Bytes on it.

This is what it told me:

N:\Documents and Settings\Jenny\Local Settings\Temp\c.exe (Trojan.Downloader) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. N:\System Volume Information\_restore{B762F5BE-1DFD-40DA-9793-F321C2185D05}\RP1609\A0099944.exe (Trojan.Downloader) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. N:\temp\mov263.40001.exe (Trojan.Downloader) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

But that didn't take care of the problem when I remounted the drive on the original computer.

SuperAntispyware finally finished scanning and found nothing (!!)

Will attempt to run it in Safe Mode again when I get a chance.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Virus/malware/spyware from Hades. Anyone know what this is??

2009-08-10T01:00:00.001-05:00

I've been fighting w/ an evil virus from heck since Friday. If you've seen something like this and have suggestions please contact me using your favorite method.

The virus is on my wife's machine. XP SP 3 up to date on Security updates. Running AVG Free, up to date.

Symptoms:
1. It started with a bunch of adverts popping up on IE at random times. i got rid of that symptom (see below) but think this is one of at least two infections.
2. Whatever this is, it's killing Firefox and every anti-spyware, malware removal tool I've tried so far.
3. It kills explorer if I right click on the desktop.
4. kills as in causes whatever was running to abbort and corrupts the executable. If I try to run the executable from a command line, I get "Access Denied" if I try to run from explorer I get a "Windows cannot find the path or you do not have access to run..." kind of message.
5. This thing is active even in safe mode (!!!!!)

Only success:
1. Running Spyware Doctor pointed at trojan.fakealert. Did not spring for their removal service because it a) identified this as a medium threat and b) the symptoms that they describe have nothing to do with what I'm seeing.
2. Going through the registry and killing "MS Antivirus" and "b.exe" (a symptom of trojan.fakealert) caused the advert pop ups to stop.

Anti-spyware, malware removal etc. tools I've tried so far:
1. Malware Bytes. Gets killed on scan
2. HijackThis. Gets killed on scan
3. RootRepeal. Gets killed on execution
4. Microsoft's Malware removal tool. Gets killed on scan
5. Kaspersky's online scanner: gets killed on download - tried from IE and Opera. Google Chrome won't work.
5. Sysinternals Autoruns. Gets killed in mid-scan
6. Sysitnernals Autorunsc. Runs, gives results, but doesn't show anything out of the ordinary.
7. MSConfig, tried disabling EVERY startup except MS basics. Still not able to run Firefox or any kind of scan. which tells me some of my OS files are corrupted, and/or there's something running that I can't see in Task Manager or Sysinternals ProcExplorer.
8. F-Secure Blacklight (online scanner). Gets Killed on scan.
9. Trend Micros online scanner. Gets Killed on scan.
10. SuperAntispyware: in Safe Mode got killed on execution. In normal mode, after re-installing, is still scanning but not finding any threats.

I've tried all of the above in Safe Mode, Safe Mode w/ networking, with pretty much the same results.

Scarry:
1. AVG doesn't detect anything even after a full scan.
2. SuperAntispyware (if it runs) hasn't detected anything yet.

Any other suggestions?
(Formatting the hard drive and starting over is an option of last resort and I'm trying to avoid that because there's a bunch of (unbacked up of course) data that would get lost.)

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09 - Thoughts from David Sipp

2009-08-06T13:35:00.001-05:00

Note: David Sipp is the Pastor for Emannuel Presbyterian, Penasco NM. Lisa is his wife. David and Lisa were our gracious hosting coordinators during the trip.

I have two speeds these days one is push the other is pull and along comes this group of Corvettes
ready to race. I have to dig in my closet and find my track shoes only to realize all I need is my starters whistle and a stop watch. God will do the rest.

This past week was a wonderful blur. There were so many moments packed into a week of activity.

By moments I mean those events when time stops and people emerge who need to speak or listen and you need to do the same. People seeking meaning and finding it in a lunch on the grass talking about life that only God can give or seeing new values and spiritual discipline in just letting go.

The irony is that a wonderful group of young adults came to work and boy did they work (they did a years worth in a week and helped teach Bible school as well) they also discovered the rhythm of God's creation. The leadership of this group also taught me about sacrifice. Investment in people always pays and I believe this group is very rich in compassion and love. Thanks for your investment in us!

For Emmanuel Presbyterian,

David and Lisa

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09 - 10th day thoughts from Betty.

2009-08-06T13:31:00.001-05:00

"And there was evening and there was morning" the tenth day.
This is the tenth day of MT-09. How can that be (since we all slept in our own beds last night?)

How can this day be different because of MT 09?

How are each of us living out our baptismal identities in the world?

Changed by our experiences during the past nine days, we approach today with new eyes, ears, and hearts.

If you, the reader, have the opportunity, please ask any MT09 participant about when, where and how he/she "knew" God during this time away.

Ask about how time seemed different.

We will all be eager to share, eager to reflect on the complicated simplicity of life in the Spirit and with the Spirit.

Much was accomplished and much is yet to be accomplished in each of us as the seeds of understanding of God's "fullness of time" grow in us.

Thanks be to God for limitless truth, grace, and love.

And there will be evening and morning from now through eternity.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Home Again.

2009-08-02T23:21:00.001-05:00

We are all home safe and sound.

The ride home was as intense as the mission trip has been:
Morning devotionals Saturday in the Chamisal church. Possibly the last service in that space.
A very moving spiritual journey to Sanctuario in Chimayo.
Brunch in Santa Fe with a quick visit around the Plaza.
Dinner at Big Texan in Amarillo. Way too much food.
Sunday morning started with delivering Kristyn to the Amarillo airport for the next leg in her busy summer schedule.
Then the long drive home. Going from the mountains of New Mexico to the flatness of West Texas --- well let's just say it gave everybody time to play all kind of road games.

This will be the last blog entry for the WPPC Mission Trip '09.

All of us fervently hope that we will continue to live out our baptism covenant and see God in God's creation in the world as we did in Penasco.

"And there was morning and there was evening for the rest of our days..."

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Day 7. Last day in Penasco.

2009-08-01T00:19:00.001-05:00

You'd think that a day white water rafting would be the most intense part of a very intense Mission Trip. You'd be close.

Some pictures here:
http://tinyurl.com/ktkskx
http://tinyurl.com/lc678v
http://tinyurl.com/neswwk
and page forward from there...

But it wasn't. The service of wholeness and renewal that was our last devotional was significantly more intense.

Tomorrow we hit the road again.

First stop Sanctuarion in Chimayo, then Santa Fe for some Brunch, then onto Amarillo for the night (and dinner at the Big Texan!)
Sunday morning: Homeward bound.

In case you're interested in seeing where we've been, click here for a map of our travels.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Day 6. Stained Glass Windows.

2009-07-30T23:21:00.001-05:00

We have completed the tasks we had set for ourselves, to the best of our abilities. The community at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church has expressed their gratitude. But all of us feel that it is us who should express gratitude: in serving we have learned more from the folks of Emmanuel than we could have learned anywhere else.

The sanctuary of Emmanuel has commemorative stained glass windows. The design of each window reflects the life of the person being memorialized.

The theme for our devotions today, in the sanctuary this morning and by firelight this evening, took up the theme. Betty asked us to think of the people we have served and who have shown us Christ and to imagine the stained glass windows we would create for them. The stained glass windows we imagined would fill a cathedral, the reflections of God's creation, God's blessings and God's grace experienced in Penasco will fill a lifetime.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Day 5. Feast and Fiesta.

2009-07-30T08:39:00.001-05:00

If we were to recount what we did on Day 5 it would sound like a laundry list of everything we have been doing. But it would not convey the increasing level of intensity we are experiencing as we do God's work and look for God in creation.

We cleared more brush and did more painting, and in so doing experienced new levels of team building and interaction with our hosts. We have learned a lot about them and about ourselves.

Half the Outreach Ministry team provided Home Bound Communion to two "Ancianos", older members. Silas is 101. He will turn 102 in September. Mary is 86 years young. Both of them, and their family and caregivers, welcomed us warmly. They thanked us for coming. We thanked them for the opportunity to server, the opportunity to see life through different eyes, to hear stories from well before our times.

The other half of the Outreach Ministry team shopped for Communion elements and prepared for the Communion worship in the evening. The team sarted learning about the differences in traditions between WPPC and Emmanuel Presbyterian. Emmanuel uses matza crackers, WPPC uses white bread. The team couldn't find the matza crackers in the Espanola Wallmart. They got sweet Hawaiian bread instead. And so began the melding of traditions, both congregations getting to experience a part of each other's services.

The Hospitality team shopped for and prepared our sustenance. They kept us fed and watered and happy.

The Church team continued their work of beautifying the church and the church grounds.

It's hard on a day like this to say this was the highlight, or that was the highlight.

The visit from Wes and Jan Lackey was a highlight. It was a joyous reunion. Wes hadn't seen most of the youth in 9 years. Youth he had baptized... Wes and Jan are both doing very well and send their greetings to WPPC.

The Fiesta in the evening was a highlight. The Emmanuel congregation shared traditional New Mexican foods with us. The WPPC crew deemed all delicious and delighted in getting to know more of the congregation. Including Delcenia, 101 who joined us for dinner and the worship communion service.

The worship communion service was a highlight. The service was intensely meaningful to all. Emmanuel got to experience the renewal of Baptism at the font. WPPC got to experience communion passed out to the congregation and taken in unison.

The Kickball games were a highlight. We learned that there is healthy competition, and competition that needs to be be reigned in. In the end, we learned that it is more satisfying to cooperate and encourage than it is to win.

And Dr. Laura got to do some Doctoring. Don't worry parents, no permanent injuries but lots of learning opportunities.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Day 4. Beyond Comfort Zones.

2009-07-28T23:58:00.001-05:00

Today's accomplishments, of the mundane variety, look remarkably like yesterday's accomplishments: Painting, landscaping, clearing, trimming edging, teaching playing.

But that doesn't begin to tell the story of people stepping out of their comfort zones (all the way to the top of rickety ladders, or to talking to folks we were not expecting to talk to.) Nor does it tell the story of community growing here in Penasco, and reaching back to our home church. It doesn't tell the story of the stories we have heard, the faith journeys that have been shared. Those stories cannot be fully shared in a blog, only hinted at.

When we come back to our home community, we will make time to share the stories of our missional community.

The treat for today was a visit to Ghost Ranch. Exciting drive to and and from - including some very threatening weather that mercifully stayed away while we were on the road. Great supper and a chance to revel in God's creation around the Ranch.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Day 3: In God's Time, on Penasco Time.

2009-07-27T23:30:00.001-05:00

A different title for this entry could have been "Having a Mountain Top experience, on the Mountain top."

We are learning new things:
Timing and Pace are totally different here in Penasco. For us over-organized, over-scheduled Plano-ites this is a bit of a culture shock.

We are learning to be grateful for the gift of found time, the luxury of not having to rush to the next appointment, the blessing of being able to take the time to enjoy each other and nature.

On this day we have seen God in Nature, in the people we have met, in the people we have helped, in the people that have helped us.

We have experienced tasks we've found onerous and tasks we've enjoyed. In all of them, we are seeking to be disciples "immediately."

Things we've accomplished:
Kicked off VBS. A bit of an adjustment here because of the above mentioned difference in pace. But the Penasco participants are enjoying it as much as the Plano team is enjoying leading!

We moved a Piano from the old Church in Chamisal. The four young ladies today's Outreach Ministry team, with very little help from a couple of adults got it moved!

We've cleared (weed-whacked (the old fashioned way!) and pruned) the Church's road frontage. Fortunately no snakes reared up out of the foliage. The church is now more visible, and the view of the road from the church parking lot exit is unobstructed making it safer.

We've begun re-painting the outside of the Church. The face lift is making a noticeable difference.

The texts guiding us through our journey are from Genesis, the creation story. Our theme is incarnation. We have been given a number of opportunities to experience God's Grace in his incarnation and are looking forward to even more opportunities.

Please note: More pictures will be added to the Mission Trip album on Picassa as they are taken...

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Day 3.

2009-07-27T10:35:00.001-05:00

Another glorious day on the road. Spirits continue to be high, ready, willing and able to serve the Lord.

Temperature is gloriously cool and sunny. Praise the Lord.

More as the day progresses.

Some videos of the drive up have been added to the Album. They are NOT recommended for those prone to motion sickness! :)

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Link to Pictures.

2009-07-26T22:07:00.001-05:00

We will be up uploading pictures to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thesamim/WPPCMissionTrip09?feat=directlink

They will not be in any particular order, nor will they be edited - for now, we're just going to upload them as we take them and worry about prettying the album up when we get back to Plano.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Posterous | Re: WPPC MT '09. Day 2.

2009-07-26T21:32:00.001-05:00

Forgot to mention:
It would appear that we brought some Texas Storms with us: Shortly after we finished unloading, the heavens did open up and a mighty storm came forth. Great timing huh? Well, it would have been except I was still in process of backing and unhitching the trailer. Fun Stuff!

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09. Day 2.

2009-07-26T21:25:00.001-05:00

After a peaceful rest in Tucumcary, we got up bright and early (07:00 !) and prepared for the day. After a quick but thorough clean up we spent some quality time meditating in First Presbyterian Tucumcary's sanctuary [links?]

Our first stop was the Flying J in Tucumcary, where we arrived on schedule. Here we had breakfast and showers. It takes a LONG time to get 18 folks through 2 showers, even with the speediest of showerers. Nonetheless, we were close enough to being on schedule that we made it up the time on the road.

Our next stop was close to Cline's Corner, stradling the continental divide. Here we had our Sunday morning worship devotional. It was an interesting experience to go through our Liturgy with traffic flying by. We then divided into our ministry teams for the rest of the drive.

Next stop, Espanola, fast food and Wallmart (finally!) shopping. Splitting the shopping list among the ministry teams proved to be a very efficient way of getting it done quickly.

And then on to Penasco. The last several miles of the trip were particularly exciting: Mountain Roads with particularly steep grades and interesting turns. Just a bit of excitement.

David (their David, not our David :) ) and Lisa greeted us and showed us around.

The menfolk are in the Church Office (with access to the internet! Hurrah!!!!) and the womenfolk are in the main Church.

We have met some of the Penasco youth and adults that will be working with us on VBS. There has been an almost instant bonding between our crews. This promises to be a very exciting week for all.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT'09 - Day 1. Tucumcari New Mexico

2009-07-25T22:40:00.001-05:00

We arrived in good time in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Eight or so hours of driving had their effects of course, but we are getting good opportunities to be flexible! :)

We find First Presbyterian Church of Tucumcari ready to offer us hospitality with Grace. Our accomodations are very comfortable.

Dinner at Denny's was quite a production, but we made it through with no major mishaps.

In a break with tradition, the first shopping stop was NOT a Walmart! They have Big K, KMart here. Shock! But all found what they needed.

We will be heading for devotionals and a relatively early bed time (we're on Mountain Time now) shortly.

The technology to keep the blog posts going may be an issue: The Cell phone reception here is spotty at best, and there is no Data Access to speak off. So the notion of updating via Cell Phone goes away bye bye. Tonight we have a network connection thanks to the generosity of First Presbyterian Church Tucumcari. Not sure what the network connection situation is going to be when we arrive. Which is by way of saying, if you stop seeing blog posts, it doesn't necessarily mean we've fallen off the earth, it means that those of us that take internet connections for granted are getting a wake up call. :)

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT'09 - Day 1. Send off.

2009-07-25T22:29:00.001-05:00

At 06:30 this morning we gathered for a lvely breakfast prepared by ouw own Jeannie Stone. Breakfast was a huge fact in everyone showing up close to on time!

Final packing complete we were sent off with prayer from Daivd B. and warm wishes from all. Perhaps even a bit of glee from parents left behind?

We are about an hour and half from Wichita Falls now.

All is well.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT'09 - Day 1. On the road.

2009-07-25T16:37:00.001-05:00

Out of sequence update because of a basic flaw in my cunning plan: There is NO AT&T signal on the road. So the send off post is going to show up after this post.

This post is a quicky from the first Rest Area in New Mexico which has FREE computer Access.

We are about 35 minutes from Tucumcari, where we will spend tonight.

Spirits are high, we're having fun, the drive has been easy.

More later.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT'09 - Day 0.

2009-07-24T22:42:00.001-05:00

We had our pre-packing devotional, we found out about our ministry teams, we talked about hospitality, we talked about bars being raised.

The trailer is packed.

We get together at 06:30 tomorrow morning to begin our journey.

We are excited.

Keep us in your prayers please.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT'09 - Reflections From Betty.

2009-07-24T13:43:00.001-05:00

We are an overtly mobile and scheduled people. Tasks of work, daily life, overcrowd reflection and the "so, how was your day" times together.

Grounded in sacramental theology, our discussions take many tracks depending on the crowd assembled. Sometimes esoteric and imaginative, sometimes concrete and logistical, the wavering between the world of faith and the world of human constraints becomes cumbersome and even, possibly, wearisome. Rather than a rhythm that encourages and nurtures our living out our lives in sacramental ways, the flow that evolves becomes a boondoggle rather than a time of mutual nurturing and informing of the whole in faith.

So, the question becomes, how can we reframe ourselves into the rhythm and time of eternity that surrounds us. How do we delight in the moments of kairos and not get bogged by chronos? Intentional use of language, time, materials, and connections will facilitate a move toward a more whole community effort.

Pacing, go do's, task lists, calendaring events, all take a new and different position in the communicative and active flow of God in the world and in the lives of all of us regardless of age.

What if we see that all of our "ordo" of faith community springs from the extra-liturgical expressions of our corporate liturgical worship?

The PYM mission trip provides a semi cloistered means of the living of an "ordo'd" life. Kids and adults yearn for the strength of the inherent purpose that infuses each aspect of the Mission Trip. There remains no doubt what is being done or why each and every day, each and every situation. How can this be a model for life? As we embark on Mission Trip 09, our PYM Youth Ministry Mission Team takes seriously the commission enacted in worship on July 19.

We do indeed seek lo live out this sacramental life of and in Christ. Thanks be to God.

Elizabeth "Betty" Weckerly PhD
Director of Christian Formation
West Plano Presbyterian Church
2709 Custer Rd
Plano TX 75075

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

WPPC MT '09 - Technology Experiment

2009-07-24T10:00:00.001-05:00

West Plano Presbyterian Church youth and sponsors will be starting out on their 2009 mission trip tomorrow. I am going to attempt to chronicle the experience via blog posts.

This post is a test post.

I will be using Posterous. Because I'm not sure what kind of connections we're going to have along the way, I'm making the assumption that the worst case scenario will be posting via email from my phone. Posts will go to my Posterous Blog, my personal Blog and the Church's Blog. Post announcements will go out Facebook and twitter as well. That pretty much covers all the services I subscribe to. :)

If you see this, and are interested, feel free to contact me using your favorite method for suggestions, thoughts, recommendations, prayers or just to say Hi. :)

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Customer Feedback

2009-07-14T15:53:00.001-05:00

Hakunamatataweb gets it's first Customer Feedback! Please click on: Customer Feedback.

Hakunamatataweb's customer first, "The Web, No Problems." business model is paying off. :)

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Texas bill HB300 article 33. Where's the reporting? Where's the outrage?

2009-05-28T10:50:00.001-05:00

I admit that I don't read the print press on a regular basis. But I have a very sophisticated filtering system that alerts me when things of importance show up there: My Wife tells me about them. She hasn't brought this up, and she would have.

I did a brief search on the internet, I only found articles praising the technology. Really???

The Bill is actually about sunsetting the Texas Department of Transportation (follow the link and search for "ARTICLE 33"). I don't understand how this got in there...

I have several concerns.

I wouldn't have heard anything about this if I hadn't gotten an email from the ACLU of Texas recommending action .

I'm lost in the legalese here, but it looks like it's already passed if I'm reading this right: Vote Record

The stated purposes of the bill are actually laudable, worded in such a way that if you object to any of them you are not a law abiding citizen and therefore must have something to hide. That's great, but:

(e)A person commits an offense if the person uses an
automatic license plate identification camera to produce an image
other than in the manner and for the purpose specified by this
section.
(f)An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.

So, even if "someone" is busted using the data for - let's just say for the sake of argument - tracking the movements of ordinary law abiding citizens, they get a fine. That's it. (if I got any of this wrong, please feel free to correct me in comments. (comments are moderated))

Having just finished "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow, having read "1984" by George Orwell, and having a natural tendency to be a bit paranoid, this is very scary stuff. It's setting a precedent for what can and cannot be monitored!

Scary stuff!

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

The place of the "Mainline" Church in American Culture?

2009-05-19T08:16:00.002-05:00

Two things over the last couple of days got me thinking.

This article Is it "hard to be a Christian in America?" by Byron Wade, vice moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)..

And this comment on Twitter.

“Why are people in the Church surprised no young adults show up for stuff when they are boring, a waste of time, have nothing for children.”

I am not going to attribute the second quote. It was seen on Twitter, addressed to a Pastor I follow, only saw it because I happened to check their time line for something else, and I don't want to embarrass that person – that's not my intent here.

Byron's article raises questions, really, about the viability of the Church in American culture today.

The Twitter quote illustrates the point I made in my comment on the post.

We can talk about Church reformation until we are blue in the face. But this perception that Church is somewhere you go to get something out of the going, rather than somewhere you go to actively participate in community, will be the biggest stumbling block to any growth. It puts the Church, and it's staff, in the position of having to think in terms of entertaining the flock, rather than caring for and nurturing it!

This is where it would be really cool if I had some kind of answer on how to change attitudes, it would make for a more interesting post. But I don't. I know I can change my attitudes and perceptions, but I don't know how to change those of others.

Perhaps in raising the point and asking folks to think about their attitudes and perceptions?

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

We're Back Online. Verizon was great.

2009-05-06T11:56:00.001-05:00

Well, we're all back online!

Hurrah!

The family lynch mob has disbanded and I'm free to walk about the house again.

I normally hate tech. support calls but I have to say that Verizon staff -- both on the phone and those that came out (yes, plural) -- were very friendly, helpful and efficient.

I wish I had written down their names, but I believe they are: Mark and Rob on the phone and Chris and Randy in person. I'm hoping somebody from Verizon is following on twitter, finds this post then asks me for a ticket number so these folks can be recognized!

So in case you're wondering:

Router 1 gives up the ghost -- possibly storm damage.
Troubleshooting session 1 over the phone conclusively proves that the router is beyond redemption.
Router 2 delivered. Provides good connectivity for about an hour. Then follows Router 1 to Silicon Heaven.
Troubleshooting session 2 over the phone not as conclusive, but certainly points at Router 2's unfortunate demise.
Router 2 delivered. Further troubleshooting leads to Randy's recommendation that NIC triage (Network Interface Card) might be in order. Indeed, two NICs had also made their way to Silicon Heaven. Was it a suicide pact???
Defunct NICs replaced.
All is well.

Another saga behind us.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

We are still off the air. :(

2009-05-04T21:14:00.001-05:00

The only connection to the internet we have right now is my phone. There's only so much you can do on a Blackjack.... :(

Intersting statement on the state of technology that everybody that needs to know this is going to find out through Facebook/twitter/this post. :)

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

In honor of Bruce Reyes-Chow's Birthday.

2009-05-03T00:02:00.001-05:00

On his blog Bruce suggests a way to celebrate his 40th Birthday.

40 PRAYERS OF HOPE AND GRATITUDE
If you are a blogger or Facebook note writer, I would love for you to post a list of prayers for 40 things for which you are grateful, gives you hope or are in need of God's healing.

What a brilliant idea!

Here goes:

Grateful for:

My Family
My Church
God blessing us such that I can take a sabbatical and evaluate my life
My family's health
My health
My Church
My Church's Mission opportunities: The community Garden; our involvement in Family Promise
Eldest daughter becoming a full member of our Church tomorrow
Our youth program
Time to work on my Golf game when I want to (see 1.2 above. :) )
Time to take off and ride the Goldwing when I want to. (See... (you get the picture))
Time to work on my writing when I get around to it.
My fledgling startup: http://www.hakunamatataweb.com
The friends and relatives who are being encouraging and supportive in my decisions.
(It's coming down a frog killer out there.) A Nice dry house to sit and listen to the storm in.
The creature comforts that I often take for granted.
The blessing of talents to employ while I'm on sabbatical.
The opportunity to use those talents to help my Church, Presbytery, Family Promise of Collin County.

Gives Me Hope:

The American system of government works! President Obama was elected.
America's image on the international stage is starting to improve.
We are starting to get a bit more transparency in government. Long ways to go, but we're headed there.
I live in a free country, where I can make the above statements without fear of reprisals. (This one goes in the Grateful category too by the way.)
Advancing technology is giving us the ability to be more connected and more immediately a part of our world. I'm hoping it's going to give us the ability to shape it as well.
Watching our Church youth. I believe they are better informed and more involved in their world than my generation ever was.

In Need of God's Healing:

The economical times.
Those that have lost their jobs because of the economical times
Those that are under stress and duress during this time of turmoil
Those that don't have close family
Those that don't have a Church family, or an equivalent support system and source of love.
Those that don't have their health
Those that don't have close friends
Those that are not comfortable with their lives
Those for whom life is so busy and fraught with commitments that they can't take time for themselves, to find their joy
The Swine Flu pandemic, or whatever it turns out to be.
All in the world that don't have adequate shelter
All in the world that don't' have adequate food
The conflict in the middle-east
The conflict in all the rest of the world (yes, I do see them as two different concerns.)
Guidance for our Church and Denomination to discern our future direction. (Not implying that the Church or Denomination is in any way lost, just that we are always in need of guidance.)
When we see all that needs to be done, and feel overwhelmed and under-equipped, when we fell like giving up, or throwing our hands up and waiting for "them" to take care of it all, may God forgive us and grant us the strength and wisdom to remember that God works through us, despite ourselves.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

I like Golf, it's a quiet subtle game.

2009-04-29T12:32:00.001-05:00

via sports.yahoo.com

On the other hand, you've got to hand it to Daly: If you're going to make a come-back, make a BIG come-back!

Go John!!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Robert Cray Band, at Glass Cactus (Grapevine, TX) was awesome.

2009-04-25T00:31:00.001-05:00

It's official, no experience is complete until you've twitted it, facebooked it or blogged it!

:)

My Better Half won tickets to the show.

It was AWESOME.

First twitt-sent picture was not so great, and these aren't spectacular either, but hey... we were there!

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Good Shift

2009-04-20T14:20:00.003-05:00

A friend (Hi Ken!) forwarded an email from a friend With this video attached: Sonny BMG Rome 2008 Demo (cool sound track if nothing else.) They ask:

“It's no wonder I feel so overwhelmed these days...how do we protect and support our selves and our kids through this level of change?????”

In the last couple of days I have seen two examples demonstrating both edges of the rapidly evolving technology sword.

On the one hand we have a book that takes the premise and builds a fiction around it's destructive powers: Daemon
On the other hand we have a concrete demonstration of the powers of the Internet for information dissemination: have you heard about Susan Boyle? If you haven't, please use the comment section to let me know how you managed to avoid this phenomenon!

How do we Protect and Support ourselves and our children:

Don't Panic!
Stay abreast
Communicate

Don't Panic!

Though the information and risks seem to be multiplying daily (if not hourly), there's nothing here that is immediately life threatening. We need to take the time to analyze all the perceived threats calmly and react to them appropriately. Panic about any of this will only cloud our perception.

Stay abreast

Keeping up with the technologies can be daunting, but it's not insurmountable. Keep in mind that none of the new technologies are black magic, rather they build on existing premises.

Social Networking is nothing new. It's been around for a long time, it's what we do as humans to survive.

Social Networking started with the first gathering around a cave opening. Information was shared about the current whereabouts of the local Saber Toothed tigers, the current set of edible berries and the proximity of the next tribe over...

Fast forward a bit and you have the bulletin board. In the beginning a bulletin board was a framed rectangle of cork board that you pinned items of interest (eg: things you want to sell/give away, things you want, upcoming events) to. In it's first electronic iteration, (anybody else old enough to remember BBSes?) discussion areas were introduced. The next iteration, News Groups, took the same principle and increased visibility, because of the spread of the Internet. The advances in web technology enabled the creation of “Social Networking Sites.”

MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc. are still essentially information sharing mechanisms. Some of it is useful, some of it is not, and some of it is actually dangerous. But when it comes right down to it, it's humans passing information to other humans.

Each increment in technology added capabilities, but the basic premise has not really changed. Of course the fact that they are getting more ubiquitous increases the potential for abuse...

Communicate

Educating yourself about the technology is the first step, but making it part of regular conversation (using your favorite medium, real world or electronic) multiplies your ability to keep up with all the new developments. You know the bit about “It takes a village...”, well that's particularly important with the rapidly increasing rate of communications. If friends and family make it a point of looking out for each other, then it's not a solitary effort. More eyes looking on gives us the ability to discover and share new facts faster.

FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt)

I don't know what the initial intent of the video was supposed to be, but it seems to have generated a lot of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD.) Anytime I see statistics bandied about, I ask myself: What point of view are they trying to sell? The fact that this video was (supposedly) created by Sonny/BMG and that the closing frame is about illegal song downloads leads me to believe that it's probably an opening salvo on a music piracy campaign... Bring out your salt shakers folks.

Not saying any of the stats are wrong, just potentially misleading. None of them are attributed for starters, but the implications the video present seem awfully one sided.

Information overflow

There's no doubt, however, that the basic premise holds: there's way too much information coming at us faster than we can reasonably digest it. Keeping up with technology growth alone (let alone it's uses in the real world) can be a full time job!

But here's the thing: we really don't have to let it overwhelm us. We can pick and choose what we pay attention to and what we ignore.

Common Sense

The video implied several points:

Technology is moving so fast that it's going to be obsolete in very short order.
In relatively short oder computers are going to be as good as if not better than human brains.

Technology may be moving that fast, but a) the basics are not changing as fast as all the hype would like us to believe and b) if you give someone the correct basic foundations in learning, then the learning of new technologies is incremental.

The human brain will always outperform computers because fundamentally computers are binary, they can only really compute either/or when it comes right down to it. The human brain is better equipped to evaluate complex decisions and make multiple connections while learning. I do realize that there's research in progress in Quantum computing that supposedly overrides these limitations, but the key element in the human brain's functioning is imagination. Can't program that.

Good Shift can Happen

There are many ways to look at the same data. A different approach, with roughly the same numbers can be found in this video: Shift Happens. Slightly more hopeful. My rough interpretation: the spread and evolution of technology can be used positively. Increasing communication speed and capacity should give us the ability to better communicate and achieve world peace! (Naive? Possibly, but I prefer the positive outlook. :) )

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Sharon Ervin book signing.

2009-04-15T16:57:00.001-05:00

I met Sharon at the Lesser North Texas Writers Group several years ago. It's fun watching a writer's growth and progress journey from inception to publication. It gives the rest of us hope. Sharon's having a book signing in the area shortly. Here's the information:

Next Saturday (April 18), from 2 to 4 p.m., I will be signing copies of AFTERMATH at the Stonebriar Barnes & Noble Store there on Highway 121 and Preston Road.

Location:
Barnes & Noble Booksellers Stonebriar Mall (click for directions)
2601 Preston Road
Frisco, TX 75034
(972) 668-2820
Sharon's Website:sharonervin.com

All eight of my published books are available from Amazon, Ingram, bn.com, many chain and independent bookstores. I've signed for a new hardcover, the third in my Jancy Dewhurst series, but CANDLESTICKS will not be released until June 2010. Long wait. Meantime, THE RIBBON MURDERS, recently remaindered, should be out in audio book from Books in Motion sometime soon.

Hope to see a lot of folks there!

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

How to Begin Blogging with Blogspot.

2009-04-09T17:15:00.003-05:00

A friend asked for guidance on how to begin blogging. (Hi David!)

There are many ways of getting started, the easiest and fastest (IMHO) is Blogspot. It's free, easy to use and has the added advantage of being a Google offering. After progressing further in your blogging career, you will find out that “page rank” and “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)” are very important variables. Blogspot, being a Google product, gives you a leg up.

Prerequisites:

You need to define a target audience for your blog
Based on the target audience, choose a name and description for your blog

For the purposes of this discussion, let's say I'm going to be creating the “Mystical Magical Blog” and I will want its address to be http://mysticalmagicalblog.blogspot.com.

Clearly you're going to want a shorter, more memorable name, one that your target audience (remember them?) will relate to easily.

Steps to Blogging with BlogSpot.

Create a gmail account
Create a blogspot blog
Commence blogging!

Step 1 - Create a Gmail account:

Blogspot requires a gmail account to manage the blog from. It also gives you a landing spot for the deluge of emails that you will get in (hopefully positive) response to your blog.

Go to http://mail.google.com/mail/signup
Fill in the blanks.
You'll get your email at http://www.gmail.com
Congratulations, Step 1 complete.

Step 2 - Create a Blogspot account:

Go to https://www.blogger.com/signup.g
Fill in the blanks

First page is email information and passwords, and accepting terms of service
Second page is naming and addressing your blog.
- Blog Title: The Mystical Magical Blog. That's what's going to appear in the banner section.
- Blog Address: mysticalmagicalblog. That's the first part of http://mysticalmagicalblog.blogspot.com.
- Fill in the word verification entry (obviously!) and skip the advanced settings. Click on Continue.
Choose your template. Pick something you like, you can always change it later.
Done! You can start your first blog immediately. But....

Settings you should change:

The only one setting I STRONGLY recommend changing is under the “comments” section, towards the bottom, “Comment Moderation”: Change the value to “Always”, and fill in the email address to be notified of comments. This will avoid Spam.
Adding a description for you blog would be a really great first step!

Congratulations Step 2 complete!

Step 3 - Commence Blogging

Go to your blog (http://mysticalmagicalblog.blogspot.com.)
The top navigation menu (top right) has a “New Post” link. Click on it.
You'll be presented with a simple editor: have at it!
Congratulations Step 3 complete!

Getting started in Blogging is relatively easy. Where you go from here really depends on how much effort you want to put into it.

Best of luck and don't forget to link back to this blog with your new blog! :)

Check yourself for conficker infection here: http://bit.ly/zOOGw (see post for attributions)

2009-04-02T22:26:00.001-05:00

Saw this article on Slashdot | Diagnose Conficker With Web-Based Eye Chart

I've been telling everybody I know that if you practice safe computing, you should not be at risk. Safe computing means an up to date Windows (regardless of version) Installation, and up to date Anti-Virus software. Also means stay away from web sites that are obviously suspect.

Oh, and now would not be a good time to try new software from untrusted sources.

The above link does not do any thing to your computer. It's a rather clever way of checking for infection: it uses browser links to images, rather than running software of any kind on your computer.

Follow the link. Hope you're clean!

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Discovering Twittdom

2009-04-01T17:57:00.001-05:00

And wasting a large part of the day. :)

So I've been a Twitter user for a while now. I've been following a select set of folks. It's been fun. But I wasn't seeing the big draw.

Well... Now I have to be careful.

In my constant search for new and different ways of keeping myself organized (a full time job!) I discovered that Remember the milk has a Twitter interface. Cool! Not content with just adding a new toy to my arsenal I decided to check out more Twitter toys.

Downloaded TweetDeck and Pocketwit (home PC and Phone respectively) so I can keep track of my todos EVERYWHERE.

Great Idea. Only, I decided to see what they could do. Found the "Search" function in TweetDeck. You want to give your Twitter software a stress test? Set up the following search "giveaway OR "Give Away" OR free OR Contest." Holly Smoke! TweetDeck kept up. I did not. Granted, there was a lot of dross. And "free" is pulling up all kinds of CR^H stuff. But just glancing at the more legit Tweets blew my productivity to smithereens.

Ironic considering this journey started as a quest for improving productivity....

I think I'm starting to get why all the marketing Gurus are saying to make Twitter a part of your word-spreading arsenal.

(Oh, and if you have productivity tips please leave comments!)

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Root canal time again.

2009-03-26T07:57:00.001-05:00

I know i'm going to get drugs and will probably feel nothing, but waiting for things to get started is still nerve wracking.

Your thoughts and prayers woukd sure be appreciated.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Starting a new venture: HakunaMatataWeb.com

2009-03-09T17:34:00.001-05:00

I've been surveying the landscape: There are lots of ways to get on the web!

The gamut runs from free, self-service, roll your own sites to fairly expensive turn key solutions.

On the free end of the continuum, the choices are to know exactly what you're doing or accept a cookie cutter solution. In either case, you don't always end up owning your material when it's all said and done.

On the expensive end, someone does all the work for you and you have (theoretically) total control over the outcome. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the higher price point is not always a guarantee of satisfactory outcome.

HakunaMatataWeb.com is my attempt at finding the happy medium. Providing web presence, no problems. :)

I'm looking forward to the adventure.

Internet 101

2009-03-02T17:24:00.002-06:00

Introduction

I've discovered over the last several weeks, in talking to various friends, that we may not have the same frame of reference. Things I've assumed all along that everybody knows, may not be as clearly understood as all that. This is an attempt at over-simplifying matters, and ensuring that we are talking about the same things.

If any of this is not clear, or if you need further clarifications, please use the comments below to let me know.

What's the Internet, really?

If you're reading this, then you already know the answer to that. I hope.

Just in case: the Internet is a vast network of interconnected computers.

Other than the obvious potential for information sharing, you also need to know that any interaction with the Internet goes through a multitude of connection points. Why does that matter? Because if your content is not compelling, it's going to get lost in the noise.

So leaving aside the mechanics of the Internet, what tools do you have to make an impression? There are Websites, Blogs, Social Networks, Forums, Newsletters, etc. One of the keys to standing out is to make sure that all those tools work together in harmony to deliver a consistent message.

In his upcoming workshop, Tony Eldridge is going to cover these topics in great detail. What follows are general descriptions of the technology involved.

What's a Website?

We all know what a Website don't we? You're looking at one now. But it's important to keep in mind that really, it's just a collection of specially formatted files. The magic happens in the way the files are presented. Long story short: the files are converted to something that your browser can translate to viewable content.

A Website has an address, also known as it's Uniform Resource Locater (URL). That's how people get to your web site. Just as important is where your site links to. More on that in the SEO section.

Hosting.

The bottom line to hosting packages is that you are renting space on a computer which is connected to the Internet and has software to enable the magic.

Along with the space you are also paying for “bandwidth.” In very general terms every time your Website is viewed, the data that was on the computer you rented space on is transferred to the viewer's browser. “Bandwidth” refers to the amount of network “space” taken up by that transfer.

There are a multitude of hosting options out there. The choice of hosting really depends on your needs and what you can afford. The cost range is $0.00 to “the Sky is the limit.” Free is good, but free can impose limitations on how your site looks, who owns the content on your site. More expensive is not necessarily better.

The best bet on selecting a hosting package is to budget a monthly amount for the hosting and so some comparison shopping to see who has the best bang for the buck.

Things to keep in mind:

Are you going to build your own Website?
1. If you are: are the tools provided by the Host tools you are familiar with.
2. If you are going to hire someone, ask THEM what tools they need to have available to build your Website with.
How much space are you planning on taking up?
1. If you have a media heavy (lots of pictures, sounds, videos, flash animation) you will need more storage and more bandwidth.
Support availability from the Host. Are they easily accessible? Do they provide free/low cost support for general problems?

Design.

The topic of Website design has been written about copiously and argued about vehemently by numbers of “experts.”

The starting point of a good design is this: “What do I want my audience to remember about their visit?” (Which of course implies that you know your audience.)

My personal opinion is that gee-whiz graphics and eye catching web effects may detract from the message, in as much as they may be remembered longer (or more prominently) than the content of the site. Which is not to advocate boring Website, just to say that there is an interesting balancing act there.

Maintenance

Once designed and created, a Website must be maintained. A Website that doesn't change over time is a Website that will soon fade into oblivion. There are a number of strategies for making content dynamic while ensuring that the Website doesn't end up taking all of your time. Among others: News Feeds and Blogs.

What's a Blog?

The word “Blog” is a shortening of Web Log. In their origins, Blogs were not much more than online diaries used to give friends and family periodic updates. Blogs have evolved into information dissemination tools used by individuals and corporations alike. They are seen to be more timely and immediate than traditional Websites.

For all intents and purposes, Blogs are really specialized Websites and have many of the same characteristics. Likewise there are free hosting alternatives and paid hosting alternatives with the same caveats...

A smaller, more agile, variant of Blogging is Micro-Blogging. Instead of whole articles/stories, only very brief updates are shared. Twitter, Yammer, Jaiku are all examples of Micro-Blogging services.

What's Social Networking?

The purest (and original) definition of Social Networking is the use of relationships (friends and family) to achieve common goals.

The more web-centric definition is not too far removed from the original definition: It is the use of “Social Networking” services, such as Facebook, MySpace, Orkut and so on to achieve common goals.

While Social Networking is most commonly used for sharing personal updates, photos, videos and so forth, they are also being used as information sharing systems.

What's SEO?

SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Web Sites, Blogs, Micro-Blogs etc. are most often discovered through the more popular search engines such as Yahoo and Google. Theoretically all Websites have an equal chance of being discovered for a given set of search terms. But the reality is significantly more complicated. Leaving aside the distortion of sponsored search results, there is a whole science to making a Website more or less visible to search engine. A number of factors play into SEO: the URL of the Website, the page titles withing the Website, the words used to describe the site (Tags), the links To and From the Website and so forth.

Time we took over our Healthcare.

2009-02-26T16:39:00.001-06:00

Ok, so this is from MoveOn.org, and this gets a knee-jerk reaction from a lot of folks. I'm not going to debate that point.

I am going to say that it doesn't surprise me. If you've worked in or near Healthcare, or had to deal with insurance for you or loved one, you've probably got your share of horror stories to tell.

So, what to do? What American folk are best at doing: kick up some noise. Let's get some attention on this.

So here's an excerpt of what I'm reacting to:

"In his speech, President Obama made it very clear that he wants Congress to pass health care this year. But lobbyists are lining up to torpedo Obama's health care plans.

Next week, Congress will gather for President Obama's health care summit to make plans for the year—they need to hear from real people who want health care reform in 2009! "

I signed a petition urging Congress to pass health care for all this year. Can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/thisyear/?r_by=15682-14617159-30pYTix&rc=confemail

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

it's 12:18 am, WOOT hasn't updated for the day yet. Is this a sign??

2009-02-25T00:24:00.001-06:00

In the larger scheme of things, I'm sure this is a complete non-event and we'll find out that there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for Woot to not have updated until now.

But in the tired, need to go to bed, but this is driving me nuts, scheme of things: this can't be a good sign!

Update: it's ok, it's 12:21 and Woot has updated. The world is not coming to an end. :)

If you don't know what Woot is, I couldn't begin to explain it here. If you do know, you know what I just went through...

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Stars training.

2009-02-21T10:04:00.001-06:00

Some shots from Stars training. It's still early for these folks!

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

YouTube - ArcAttack performs the Dr. Who Theme on Twin Tesla Coils

2009-02-20T16:19:00.001-06:00

via youtube.com

For my hard core Dr. Who fans. You know who you are! :)

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

How's your online presence?

2009-02-19T16:56:00.002-06:00

"Online Presence", "Personal Branding", "Search Engine Optimization".... buzzwords that are showing up on more and more people's radars.

Who does it matter to?

The obvious choices are:

Anyone who relies on the Internet for their living.
Anyone who relies on marketing for their living.

If you have disqualified yourself from either of those categories, think carefully: Are you sure?

There is ample evidence that employers are using search engines to look up potential employees. (Google: "Employers Search Google" for some interesting reading.)

The Writers Guild of Texas has an upcoming program on "Guerrilla Marketing", presented by Tony Eldridge. I'm fairly confident those topics will be covered.

So: Does it matter to you?

If you think it does, take a look at this "How To" over at Mashable.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Never Going to Fry's again.

2009-02-13T17:46:00.001-06:00

Let me preface this by saying that I'm angry.

If you've been following the saga of the computer mayhem I've been going through you know that I've made several trips to Fry's so far.

Set aside the fact that I've been given misleading information. I should have done my own research and not relied on the store drones.

The final straw: being treated condescendingly by the store manager, and stuck with a CPU that is not going to do me any good. They say the CPU had bent pins. Ok, maybe. But that's no reason to be rude to me when I ask if there's anything they can do to help.

Oh well, lesson learned: No more Fry's for me. I don't have to spend money anywhere that I don't feel comfortable in.

The store manager's name is Warren Frostron (I think that's the right spelling of his name.) If you decide to go in to Fry's, do say Hi to him for me.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Remote Control Beetle.

2009-02-12T08:08:00.004-06:00

Removed video can be viewed here

via technologyreview.com

If you think you don't have control over your life....

Probably
overthinking this, but I wonder what the poor beetle thinks of all
this?!

Posted via web from Sami's
posterous

Taking a break from frustration,

2009-02-07T14:47:00.001-06:00

via youtube.com

This is really interesting. Be sure to watch it ALL the way to the end.

Clever.

Thought Provoking.

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

FRUSTRATION! PC Still dead.

2009-02-07T14:36:00.001-06:00

This is so Frustrating. I use to know how to troubleshoot and fix these things. But this one is not cooperating.

Anybody know what one long beep (one second long) repeated every second means? The 'net tells me it's a memory problem. I've swapped out memory with known good memory sticks. No Joy.

I've followed every troubleshooting procedure I have seen online. Nada.

Here's the fun part: I've gotten it to boot once from an Ubuntu CD (!!) and once to go to Bios. But as soon as I reboot it goes back to beeping at me.

I think I've seated and reseated everything, including the new CPU at least five times. (Yes, I verified that there are NO bent pins on the CPU this time!)

I think it's going to take a Miracle of epic proportions to get past this!

Good news is: Daughter Unit is still being patient about the whole thing. Bless her heart.

Please continue to pray fervently for me and the <expletives deleted> PC.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

HD recovering.... New MOBO DOA.... urgghhh

2009-02-05T22:35:00.001-06:00

I know it's been a heavy posting day. Mostly because I'm taking out my frustrations on the keyboard....

The trip to Fry's resulted in the purchase of a new Mother Board, new CPU and a new USB SATA/IDE connector thingy.

the Latter works Thank God. I'm in process of backing important stuff. Hallelujah.

The MOBO: No joy. Nothing. Nada. It's going back. It's going to be fun dealing with the Fry's drones!

BTW: Posterous is brilliant. I'm enjoying using it. But if you post to it from the wrong email it will happily create a new account for you and start posting to a brand new blog. Which is Dandy but confusing. I like that you don't have to go through a registration song and dance, but I would have liked a "Hey Dummy, that's the wrong email address!" warning.

Ok, how would they know that I'm the same guy that posted from a different email address five minutes ago. I know... minor detail.

Checking in the other account and seeing the welcome email should have been a clue... but hey... it's been a long <expletive deleted> day!

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Never say "That was Easy" before the WHOLE project is complete.

2009-02-05T22:00:00.002-06:00

If you're following the Saga, so far I have one dying HD I'm trying to save data from, I have one CPU I have mangled, it can't be replaced. I have purchased a new Mother Board and CPU because.... I had no other option if I want to get this done in this millennium.

Taking the old Mother Board out was a cinch. Keeping track of all the connections, no problem. I've been to the rodeo before...

Putting the new Mother Board in, well... Ok, so it took some doing it is slightly smaller than the old one and the connections are slightly off. But OK. I made it work. All connections are back where they should be.

And that's when I made a fatal error: I thought "Well, that was easy!"

And the computer gods (note: small "g") heard. And they laughed.

The PC powered up. All kinds of lights and fans and whirring. And then... Nothing. No error beeps, No Video at all.

The daughter unit is being patient about it, but I can tell there's a bit of apprehension about all her stuff being lost.

Oh, and she neds the blessed computer RSN.

Taking a break and enjoying some wine. Trying to breathe slowly. Trying not to throw anything or punch anything. This whole being a responsible adult thing sometimes [sips mightily through a straw!]

OTOH: Barumundi surprise (because we don't know what the dish is actually called) (Barrumundi, parsley, sun dried tomato, onions, lemon, wine) was freaking amazing! I LOVE my wife!

Have we reached TMI yet?

I am NOT having a good technology day!

2009-02-05T13:38:00.001-06:00

The Saga continues: bent four pins on the CPU while putting it back in. Broke one of the pins trying to straighten it out.

Yes, it did take a magnifying lens to see all that. Please withhold all old age jokes.

Hope I can get all this fixed in the next two hours! (Hi Emz! :) )

Off to Fryes.

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Hard Drive not well. HP Recovery NG. Trying to put it in a different PC to revive it. Pray for us.

2009-02-05T11:37:00.001-06:00

Tried the HP Recovery Discs. It gets nowhere.

If I could find my power cable for my USB hard drive bay this would be so much simpler.

Instead I'm trying to put the HD in one of the other PC's in the house.

Of course the newest most capable PC in the house only takes SATA drives. Can't get an IDE drive in there for love nor money. At least, not that I can see.

Next most capable PC is the Daughter's PC. (Hi Emz!)

So... not reading instructions first may cause some issues.

On first glance it looks like the only way to get another HD is to remove the CPU and memory sticks. (In retrospect, red flags should have gone up at that point.) Having stood on my head and gone through some incredible gyrations, I accomplish that only to find out that the HD slot this exposes is not long enough! I break down and go to the Compaq site only to find out that I could saved a whole lot of time and effort by just removing the front pannel.

So the CPU and the memory sticks go back in.

The HD is in.

I put everything back together.

I hook everything back up.

And.... NOTHING. No Boot. No POST. No warning Beeps. Just fans Whirring (at least I know I didn't screw up the power.)

I think my daughter is going to kill me.

Stay tuned....

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

Ion Audio Port @ WooT

2009-02-05T00:33:00.001-06:00

via woot.com

Ok, now I have Seen it all!

Posted via web from Sami's posterous

Is there such a thing as too much information sharing?

2009-02-04T23:31:00.001-06:00

I just found Posterous. So of course I had to try it.

What it does: It lets you post to multiple places at the same time and eases what you post. There's more to it, but that's the main appeal.

I'm on Twitter, Facebook, I have a blogger blog. Granted they really serve different functions but from Posterous I can bang out posts to all three. It'll be interesting to see how it works.

But here's the real question: is that TMI?

Well, I'll try to keep up with this one for a while and see what happens.

Assuming, that is, I find enough items of interest to friends, relatives and complete strangers....

Posted via email from Sami's posterous

I think I've figured it out.

2008-11-20T19:52:00.005-06:00

I've gone on and on about NaNoWriMo being great because of the deadline element focusing the attention on the writing at hand. And it is. But I've also figured out why this time around I'm not making near the progress I made last year.

I've equated deadline with work.

Not good.

Attitude-wise, I've finally figured out that I'm looking at this as a chore. Not fun. Not something I want to do.

In Motorcycle Riding, as well as in a lot of NLP work, there's something called "Target Fixation." Like most everything else in life, it can be positive or negative.

In Motorcycle Riding if you fixate on the on-coming car as you clear a curve, it's a safe bet you're going to cream it. Because that's all your mind can handle.

In goal setting (NLP) fixating on a target is good if it keeps you moving toward that target. It's bad if the target becomes the sole focus to the exclusion of the process.

Which is where I got stuck.

Knowing the problem, I will now endeavor to fix it. And not fixate on it. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Yes! and Thought Provoking

2008-11-18T17:17:00.004-06:00

Found Jenny's Blog through Bruce's blog...

The post is about Theology and Evangelism.

The following is a great follow on to my previous post about being Presby-Proud.

Now I know not all Presbyterians have the same theology but it has been so incredibly amazing for me to discover a church where there is room for discussion on many things and where the core theology is a God who freely loves and who blesses us so that we can love and bless the world. I love the rigorous theological heritage of the Presbyterian church and the ways that theology is “always reforming” as we take both Scripture and our world seriously, always seeking the discernment of the Holy Spirit. AND, I think the world is dying for this kind of environment. If we can get excited about this and learn how to create these places in our world, our denomination will have a tremendous gift to offer the world.

And this is a great take on Evangelism:

Instead of going there to rescue souls, we would go expecting to find Christ outside the church walls, willing to truly listen and learn, and seeking to bless and fan the flames of the kingdom of God wherever we find it.

From a purely secular point of view: and it's also time to reclaim the word from those that have abused it. Non-churched America could benefit from being exposed to a different model of faith than the extremism they are bombarded with in the media, which is portrayed as "Religion." Well, maybe not just in America. But might as well start with our own backyard.

Proud to be Presby.

2008-11-15T23:10:00.003-06:00

So, I've always been proud of being Presbyterian. There's a long list of reasons and some day I'll get them down in writing, but for right now suffice it to say that being part of a Liturgical church satisfies my need for intellectual worship as well as a my need for myth and mystery rooted in Tradition and tradition. Not a typo, there's a difference. Ask if you care.

But I've found a new reason to be proud.

The Moderator of the General Assembly has a blog (actually, early reading indicates that he has multiple blogs, I will find and read them all at some point.) I believe that this is his personal blog.

Why's that make me proud? Because:

this is who my denomination chose to moderate General Assembly
he is one cool dude
his views jive with mine :)
his views are well thought out and expressed
Oh: and he's a self-professed fellow-geek!

I found his blog through http://www.presbygrow.net/. Which is a well kept secret in our denomination, apparently, since I only found out about today in an article our pastor sent us about evangelism. That's cool. I hope we can reclaim that word real soon!

OhOh

2008-11-15T23:07:00.002-06:00

NaNoWriMo writing came to a crashing halt. I'm fairly sure that the decision to switch gears, and novels when it comes right down to it, was a good idea because this one is growing (at least in my head and on my mindmap, if not in actual writing) while the other had stalled.

With any hope at all, I'll pull a couple of all-nighters and get caught up. It could happen.

Changing Novels Mid-NaNoWriMo

2008-11-10T15:02:00.003-06:00

This should probably be posted in a "What not to do for NaNoWriMo" category.

Friday November 7th I paused to examine why I was so far behind on my writing. For a change I had brainstormed, mapped out the framework of the novel, completed character sketches... All the right stuff. But whenever I sat down to write, it just wasn't happening. Not just the slow start, it will get moving wasn't happening. The "Holy Smoke! I'm going to resort to typing the alphabet just to keep typing" kinda not happening.

And it came to me: This "Novel Idea" that I had been carting around with me for years was tired and trite. I just didn't care about it anymore.

So I back-burnered it. (In the hope of having time later to re-craft it in a more modern context....)

I started on a whole new work, completely different genre, with a whole new set of characters. The planning was, by necessity, significantly abbreviated.

I feel better about it though. Despite being way behind on word count, I'm a lot more excited about getting caught up than I was about keeping up with the first attempt.

How will this all play out?

Stay tuned.

NaNoWriMoThoughts

2008-10-13T21:36:00.002-05:00

I first submitted this to Writers Guild Of Texas.

Posting here in case it's helpful to others...

NaNoWriMo Thoughts

by: Sami Mikhail

"One time publishing rights granted, copyright is held by the originator."

NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, is in November. If you haven't heard about it, check it out at http://www.nanowrimo.org/.

NaNoWriMo is “Just Do It!” for writers.

I did it.

My priorities shifted from writing an epic work of art to writing, period. It took a while, but I finally stopped worrying about every nuance of writing the perfect novel (ya, I know...) The realization that I had to write 1,667 words every single day or make up for the days I missed, allowed me to shift my thinking: Write quickly, polish later. Or in other words, what every Writing instructor teaches: don't edit while you're writing. Funny what it takes to bring some lessons home, huh?

It's amazing how much writing you can put out when you put the perfectionist away and just get on with it. It allowed me to let the story flow and the characters to drive the action. I set doubts about the quality aside, promising myself that I'd come back and clean it up later, and kept writing.

In “Almost Lucy”, Al Stewart had a line:

“She says it sharpens your perception when your back's against the wall...”

The frenzied writing pace caused the story to be foremost in my mind at all times. Even when I wasn't actively writing I was working on the story. It had been a long time since I'd been that focused on my writing. THAT was exhilarating.

So, got a project in mind? Need a nudge in the right direction? Do IT! Do NaNoWriMo..

Welcome

2008-10-13T20:27:00.000-05:00

Hi:

Thanks for stopping by.

Application Architects writing, or Writers architecting applications one way or the other there's creativity going on.

This will be my place to put out some info about both endeavors.

Application-Architecture-wise:
I live in the Enterprise Java world creating Enterprise Applications, not surprisingly.

Writing:
I live in my own head space writing Science Fiction, Techno-Whatever, Main Stream'ish, whatever hits my imagination at the time.