Gerry's Place

A Chapter a Day

2012-02-06T11:23:00.001-08:00

2 Timothy 3 (NKJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I have been trying for a while to get back into the habit of reading the Bible daily. It seems that with the busyness of everyday life, it is so easy to let that time get squeezed out by work, family life, and whatever else that there is that has to be done on a daily basis. So I’ve decided this time to keep it very simple and not set my goal to do a longer Bible reading type plan, but to read at least one chapter a day in whatever book I choose, starting at the beginning and continuing in that book until I have finished it.

So far It is going well as I am up to chapter 8 in Romans and am really enjoying it. Years ago, when I had more free time, I read the Bible a lot and went through the whole thing in at least two different versions. It had a big influence on me and was guiding my daily life in many respects. Today, while I still try to live according to what it says, I have not been in it enough to feel the influence like I once did, so I am determined to get back to that point again.

Rather than reading one of my many printed Bibles, I am mainly using either the Blue Letter Bible or the Bible Gateway on my computer, or as an alternative, the mobile versions of the same two on my Android phone. Both ways work well and are a good way to take advantage of modern technology. They also have built in study tools which can also be helpful.

So, if you are not reading the Bible on a daily basis, I challenge you to try my easy reading plan of a chapter a day. Bible reading can be very addicting, you never know how much you may really end up reading if you do.

Sunny Day at Lake Meridian

2012-02-04T16:07:00.001-08:00

We're having beautiful weather here right now, what a change from a couple of weeks ago. We took a short drive to Lake Meridian today, where I took these pictures. I hope you had a nice day too!

Blogger's new censor by country policy

2012-02-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

If you are not in the United States, and you have noticed that your blog's URL has changed from a .com to a new country code ending, such as .au (for Australia) or .in (for India), it has to do with Blogger's new country by country censorship policy. They will now be able to remove content from a blog that violates the law in one country, while still leaving that content visible in other countries where it is legal.

I first came across this change a few days ago on the Blogger help forum, when I saw that people were asking why their blog's URL was no longer a .com, but had changed to something else. Blogger has written all the info. about it here on this Blogger help page. Maybe they should also have made it more public by putting it on Blogger Buzz too. Today a lot of articles appeared in the tech news pages about this, as it is similar to a censorship policy that Twitter also recently implemented.

I personally don't like censorship, as I think that people should have freedom of speech. But this new policy is supposed to make things better for Blogger so they can continue to operate in countries where things are not as free as they are here in the U.S.

So, what do you think about this?

The Widow’s Mite

2012-01-21T22:49:00.001-08:00

Mark 12:41-44 (NKJV)

The Widow’s Two Mites
41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”

I know zero about coin collecting, but today we took our son Aaron down to the Boeing Employee Coin Show so that he could earn his Boy Scout coin collection merit badge. While he and my wife were sitting at the table where he had to fulfill his requirements, our daughter Anna and I walked all around the auditorium at the Kent Commons where it was held. The place was full of collectors and coin dealers, and we saw all kinds of coins, old ones, foreign ones, gold, silver, and paper money too.

We were having a nice time, and a couple of nice collectors gave Anna some coins for free. But when I happened to come across a large display from a local coin shop, I noticed that they had some very old coins that were from the time in the Bible that Jesus was walking on the earth. They were in little plastic holders with a piece of paper behind them to explain what they were. The one that caught my attention the most was the one labeled “Widows Mite.” The dealer told me that these coins are really not all that rare, even though they are very old. It may not be much to look at, but I bought it because I thought it would be neat to have that tiny coin as a keepsake, since it is actually mentioned in the Bible. I don’t think this will lead me into becoming a real coin collector, but you never know.

Problems with Blogger’s new threaded commenting system

2012-01-20T08:25:00.001-08:00

You’ve probably noticed by now that Blogger has given us an new commenting system that allows us to reply to other people’s comments. They announced it here on Blogger Buzz. It was a much requested feature that myself and many others were waiting for. It is automatically enabled on your blog, as long as you choose the “Embedded” setting under comment location, and also have the “Full” setting selected for your blog feed. Unfortunately, some people are experiencing problems now because of this feature, including being unable to leave comments on blogs with it enabled, or having the whole page turn white when they click on a blogs comment section. These problems have been reported here on the Blogger help forum, and Blogger is aware of them.

If you are having these kind of problems when you try to comment on other people’s blogs, and you are using Internet Explorer, you can try switching to Firefox or Chrome instead as people using these browsers don’t seem to be having them. If you want to eliminate the problem for people trying to comment on your blog, just change your comment location setting to “Popup” or “Full Page” instead of “Embedded.” Hopefully Blogger will have the bugs out of this new feature soon so we can all enjoy it.

Happy Blogging!

Ice Storm

2012-01-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, so much for the tree in the corner of our backyard, as well as part of our fence. Thanks to the ice storm we have had here today, the tree fell over just barely scraping the window on my neighbors house where two infants were being taken care of in the daycare that is held there. A little scary to say the least. our daughter Anna and I were actually looking right at the tree when it started to fall and we ran for the hills. this was the only half way big tree on our property, and it really wasn’t that big. I guess I should of had it pruned, as now I get to pay the $500 deductable to my insurance company so they can have someone saw it up and haul it away, and then fix the fence. Oh well, you just never know what’s going to happen I guess.

Just before the falling tree incident, I was taking the below pictures of the ice on another much smaller tree. I have never before seen the amount of ice that is covering everything here today, not even during one other bad ice storm we had here over ten years ago. I tried to get my car thawed out this morning to take our son Aaron to the eye doctor, but after a half hour of running the heat, the windows were still so thick with ice that I just gave up. I didn’t make it to work again today either. Maybe tomorrow, but as it has now been snowing here again for the last few hours, I’ll have to wait and see if I’ll be able to do that. I’m not complaining though, as many people around the Puget Sound area are without power tonight, and although our lights have been blinking off and on since this morning, we are still warm and doing well. And we did go out and play in the snow again a little, although it is all crusted over and icy underneath.

I hope you all have a nice day tomorrow, and stay warm ;-)

Big Snow Day!

2012-01-18T11:35:00.001-08:00

The snow has arrived! We’ve got over four inches so far, but more is still expected. No plans for today but to relax and have fun in it.

My clever wife Marilyn decided to put rubber gloves over our kids snow gloves to try and keep them dry. I never would have though of that. It seems to be working so far. Maybe other people will want to try this idea. I imagine they will end up getting torn eventually though.

I hope you all have a great (snow) day!

Still waiting for the big one!

2012-01-18T00:51:00.000-08:00

Seattle Awaits Biggest Snowstorm in Decades

I'm home from work and waiting for what is supposed to be a really big snow and wind storm coming our way. We don't actually live right in Seattle, but about 20 minutes south of there.

We still have a little snow left at our house from yesterday, but at Boeing in Renton where I work, the ground was bare and almost dry tonight. It must be the calm before the storm.

If we really get hit like they say, I will stay home tomorrow and play in the snow with our kids. I put in for vacation just in case. Since I work on the flight line, I don't think we'll be flying any planes out in that kind of weather anyway.

I hope you all have a nice day, snowy or not!

First Snow!

2012-01-15T09:11:00.001-08:00

We had our first taste of snow this morning. It's not a lot, but there may be more tomorrow!

Our online friend Michiko has been injured in an accident...

2012-01-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Michiko's son Andrew posted this morning an her blog here: http://michiko--blogpostcom.blogspot.com/ Some of us have been friends with her since our MSN "Spaces" blogging days a few years ago. I though I should post this and give the link to her blog, as I recently exchanged emails with her while I was trying to help her get reconnected to her blogging friends, since she had changed the URL to her blog and become disconnected. Please pray for her recovery and leave your well-wishes on her blog at the URL that I posted above.

Gerry

Anna’s Powder Puff Derby

2012-01-06T01:12:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

Today our Daughter Anna was in her first Girl Scouts Pine Car Powder Puff Derby. She didn’t win the race, but took home a 3rd place ribbon for best car design. Our son Aaron helped her get the car ready, as they didn’t even start working on it until earlier today. Aaron has been in a few Pinewood Derbies in Boy Scouts, so he’s good at making the cars now. Unfortunately I didn’t get to be there since I was at work, but my wife took this picture on her phone. Maybe I can make it to the next one.

I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Happy New Year! 2012

2011-12-31T00:03:00.001-08:00

To all my blogging friends,

I really appreciate you, and the online sharing that we are able to do here on Blogger. I hope that 2012 will be a wonderful year for all of you.

Gerry

Christmas in Oregon

2011-12-27T00:35:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

We are back from our Christmas in Portland Oregon once again. Since we’ve been married, my wife Marilyn and I have spent Christmastime down there more often than not, since this is where she is from, and her mom and other relatives still live there. We stayed in what has become like our home away from home, the Lloyd Center Residence Inn. We love this place, as it has everything we need, including a great free breakfast every morning. It is really a money saver when you have a whole family to feed.

Along with visiting my wife’s relatives to exchange presents, and going out for dinner a couple of times, we also went for a walk with one of my wife’s closest friends who took us for a tour of Peacock Lane. This is Portland’s equivalent to Seattle’s Candy Cane Lane. These are streets which are well known for being totally decorated up for Christmas. It was a nice walk, but boy was it packed with people, and we had to park a few blocks away just to find a space. I guess that was due to it being on Christmas eve. It was still worth it though as it was very nice to look at, and people behind us were singing Christmas carols as we walked.

On Christmas morning we opened our presents in the hotel, as we had brought most of them with us. Our kids were very happy and didn’t seem to mind at all that we were not at home. It was a very nice time this year, and a whole lot better than last year, when we didn’t make it down to Oregon as I was dealing with my mom having just passed away a few weeks earlier. Yes, this year’s Christmas was a big improvement over all, and I hope a sign of “2012” being a much better year than “2011” was.

I hope you had a nice Christmas too!

Celebrating the birth of Jesus

2011-12-21T01:17:00.001-08:00

Luke 2:1-20 (NKJV)

Christ Born of Mary

1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

To understand more about who Jesus is, and God’s plan of salvation for mankind, please watch The Jesus Film. It will be well worth your time, and could change your whole life forever. God bless you this Christmas!

The Continuing Problems of the “Followers” Feature

2011-12-20T10:04:00.001-08:00

Back when Blogger first added the “Following” feature, it was simple, easy to use, and reliable, and the followers gadget looked like it does here on this picture . We could now feel connected with our blogging friends, and find new ones by looking at the followers gadgets on the blogs of people we followed.

But unfortunately, not too long after that, Google decided to combine the Blogger following feature with their new “Google Friend Connect” social network and things became more complicated and trouble prone. You now had to sign in to “Friend Connect” to follow a blog that you liked. And the followers gadget now had new and hard to understand features, such as: a way to “friend” followers, a message feature, and an invite people from other online services feature.

Another issue was that some people went on to the Friend Connect home page and added the almost duplicate Friend Connect “Members” gadget to their blogs, not realizing that you can’t combine the two gadgets together. They ended up having followers displayed on two separate gadgets on their blogs.

As a helper on the Blogger Help Forum, I’ve seen many people struggling with problems relating to following and the followers gadget. Those include: not being able to follow blogs, disappearing followers gadgets, disappearing followers, not being able to stop following a blog, blogs showing up on the the reading list after being deleted, and recently followed blogs not showing on the reading list. And last but not least, an issue which I still currently have, seeing the number of followers listed on your dashboard be a different number than what’s displayed on your followers gadget.

But now the good news, recently Google announced that they will be shutting down their Friend Connect network in March of this year, and updating the Blogger following feature so that it is once again a Blogger only feature. With their new Google+ social network up and running, they don’t need the rarely used Friend Connect service anymore. I’m hoping that this will eliminate most of the Blogger following problems and allow us to go back to having the simple reliable feature that we once had. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Happy Blogging!

Matthew 1:23 Republished from The Daily Bible Verse

2011-12-18T20:45:00.001-08:00

I really liked yesterday’s editon of The Daily Bible Verse, so I thought I would share it here so you can read it, in case you don’t receive it in your email like I do.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

– Matthew 1:23 (NIV)

Today’s commentary
by Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org

The story of Jesus confronts us with events that defy and even offend rational thinking. Matthew pulls no punches: this Jesus is miraculous from start to finish. The birth of God as a man is one of the great mysteries of Christianity. Which is of great comfort, because if everything about this God could be explained one should question its supernatural origin. The preposterous nature of this miracle (and the ones that follow Jesus) demands a verdict. As C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity: ” Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Anna’s Christmas Party

2011-12-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Tonight I took the night off from work and went with my family to our daughter’s first Girl Scout Christmas Party / Toy Drive. It was a nice time with all the girls making some cute Christmas crafts, having cookies and hot chocolate, and even getting pictures taken with Santa Claus. They each got a Beanie Baby as a present from him too. It was a fun night for the kids and for us.

I hope you all had a nice night too.

How to make it snow on your blog

2011-11-29T01:34:00.001-08:00

It took me a lot of tries and several days before I finally found a site on the web which had a code that works on blogs made with Blogger’s newer templates. The code as written on the original author’s site would not work. But the same code which I found altered a little on this page did the trick.

But just to warn you, viewing this kind of effect on an older computer can slow things down, as it takes a lot of work by the CPU to do this. There could also be other issues, as Nitecruzr mentioned on two recent blog posts.

But just in case you’ve been diligently trying to find a snow effect that will work on the new Blogger, and you are willing to try it anyway, below is the code which you will need to paste into a Blogger HTML/Javascript gadet:

You can just put the gadget at the bottom of your sidebar, and don’t give it a title if you want it to be invisible.

Enjoy the snow!

NOTE: Snowstorm is provided under a BSD license.

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T10:43:00.001-08:00

Psalm 100 (NKJV)

¹ Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
² Serve the LORD with gladness;
         Come before His presence with singing.
³ Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
         Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
⁵ For the LORD is good;
         His mercy is everlasting,
         And His truth endures to all generations.

I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving Day!

The Great Train Expo

2011-11-19T21:24:00.001-08:00

Today, the kids and I spent the day at the Great Train Expo at the Puyallup Fair Grounds. It is a huge model train show that has about everything you could possibly think of that has to do with Trains. Our son Aaron had been looking forward to this for weeks, and it finally got here. We had a nice time as we picked out a few new train cars, and Anna bought her first electric train engine too. Here are some pictures that I took with my Android phone, so you can have a little peek.

Anna's Birthday

2011-11-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, today was our baby girl Anna's 7th Birthday. She opened a few presents, and then we took her to her favorite restaurant, Red Robin. Here are a few pictures I thought I'd share.

Halloween Pics

2011-11-01T07:41:00.001-07:00

I hope you all had a nice Halloween, Harvest Festival, or whatever you celebrated last night. Have a nice week!

Just stopping by to say hi!

2011-10-20T13:40:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

I just thought I’d better write something so you know I’m still on here. I try to look at all the blogs I’m following almost everyday, but I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t really had time to post anything worth writing.

I have been back over on the Blogger Help forum answering some questions again though. It’s getting harder to figure out what people are asking sometimes, because you have to figure out whether they are using the new Blogger interface or the old one. Eventually everyone will have switch over, so if you haven’t tried it yet you should give it a look. The new Dynamic templates are kind of cool too, but until they make it possible to add our gadgets and other customizations, I won’t be switching. It is coming though.

I’ve been hoping to get a few nice Fall pictures to post on here, but so far just no time. And speaking of pictures, I am close to using up my free 1GB of photo storage that Picasa gives us, So I am wondering what the rest of you have done when your free photo storage was used up. Did you pay to get more, or are you linking in your photos from somewhere else?

I hope you all have a nice day!

Nice (but hazy) time at at the beach

2011-09-12T00:55:00.001-07:00

We’re back from our nice, but sometimes cool and hazy vacation at Long Beach WA. We spent more time shopping, looking at museums, playing games in the arcade, and eating in restaurants than we did actually doing beach stuff because of the weather. Too bad since it was warm and sunny back here at home.

We did have some sun on Saturday before we went home, so we still managed do do a little kite flying and beach walking. The sand was very difficult to drive in on that day because of all the wind the previous few days, and many cars were getting stuck. Luckily our CRV with it’s all wheel drive did not do so.

We also had a nice time watching all the hotrods and restored classic cars cruising through town as the Rod Run to the End of the World was also going on this weekend. but it did make getting around a little harder too because of all the traffic.

On this trip we stayed at the Adrift Hotel right next to the south end of the boardwalk, as the hotel we used to stay at the other end of town has become run down and needs an update.

The Adrift is a very interesting place as it has recently been remodeled using mostly recycled and reused materials which include: cranberry wood crates, old pipes, sheet metal, and various other pieces of wood. It now has a very unique nautical / green / minimalistic type theme.

It’s great for kids and very pet friendly, but probably would not be for someone looking for a true luxury hotel. Their prices are very good for being right on the beach with a restaurant on the top floor, and the view is great. They also have free DVD movies, free bicycles you can ride, and free wi-fi. The last one is a good thing since our Verizon Wireless data signal does not usually work on the Long Beach peninsula.

It was a nice almost week away, but hopefully a little more sun down there next time. I’ve posted the rest of the pictures in my “Summer 2011” Picasa Web Album here.

The circus is in town!

2011-09-04T23:10:00.001-07:00

We had a great time at the circus tonight. It was a much different show than the one that was here two years ago, but still a lot of fun to watch. No girls shot out of cannons this time, and no tigers, but lots of trained cats, dogs, elephants, and a couple of camels too. During the pre-show party, we even got to pet the circus dogs.

There were also high flying acrobats, a motorcycle on a high wire with an acrobatic girl suspended below it, and girls spinning high in the air hanging only by their hair. And I can’t forget the blind folded kung-fu guy who jumped through a hoop of flaming sword blades. I think that was my favorite part.

If you get a chance to see the circus this year, do it. It’s well worth the ticket price.

Quick Update

2011-08-28T19:59:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

I have been too busy to post much lately. I have been working as a temporary quality assurance supervisor this month, and I haven’t had much energy left to do too much else. I don’t mind it though as it gives me a chance to learn new things and I will probably get to do it again in the near future as this time was mainly for training so I can be a fill-in whenever there is a need.

Today we went to our yearly church picnic. It was very nice as always and I had a chance to talk to a few people for a while. I don’t have a lot of socializing time since I am usually so busy. Our daughter Anna and I had a chance to do a little wading in the lake before they held the baptizing ceremony for those who wanted to be baptized. There were quite a few this time. Definitely a good thing and nice to see in this time of so much bad news in the world.

We will be going on a vacation at the beach soon, so I hope to get some nice pictures to post. It will be the first real vacation for us in over a year and much needed.

I hope you all have a nice and safe week!

House for Sale

2011-08-15T09:41:00.001-07:00

Finally, after more than eight months since my mom passed away, I have got what was my parents house up for sale. With a brand new roof on top, and a nice new paint color on the outside, it looks almost like a new house. This is not the one that my siblings and I grew up in but the one my dad bought when he retired from Boeing about twenty four years ago. It is a nice rambler in the west hill area of Auburn WA in a very nice neighborhood.

Obviously, it is a very bad time to be trying to sell a house right now but a very good time for those that can afford to buy one as prices and interest are both very low. I’m hoping that it will sell before winter as I don’t want to have to worry about taking care of it and paying the bills until next spring when people will be more likely to start house shopping again.

I have posted a few more pictures here if you would like to see them. If you know anyone who might be interested in buying it, please see this page.

I hope you all have a nice week!

Another year older!

2011-07-26T23:47:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

My 54th Birthday was today, but we have sort of been celebrating it for the last few days.Saturday, my kids gave me my own electric train engine so I could play trains with them on my son’s train tracks. He is a big train fan, as well as a car and airplane fan too. He also likes to draw pictures of them, and he is very good at it. We also took a drive around the train yard in Auburn just so we could look at the trains. When we were done, we stopped at 7Eleven and got Slurpees, since it was hot out that day.

Sunday we got together with my brother, sisters, niece, and her little girl, and had a Birthday party at one of my favorite restaurants, Trotter’s down in Auburn. It is a nice family type of place, and also is an ice cream parlor. The perfect place for an ice cream addict like me. The food and service were good, and yes, we had a good time.

I worked on Monday, but I took today off for my Birthday. My wife and kids and I took a trip to Sumner and went to a place that I have been wanting to go to for a while, Branks BBQ. They have catered food twice to my location at Boeing and it was great. The food today was no different. They even gave us desert as part of the meal.

After that we did some site seeing around Sumner, and wound up going the The Old Cannery furniture store. It is a huge place that’s almost more like a museum than a store. Of course the best thing is that they have big model trains running overhead, and also a big train display in the children’s furniture section, where you can push buttons to make all the trains go. This is the first time that I have been there in years, and we ran out of time to see everything since they were closing, so we’ll have to make another trip there again one day.

A pretty nice extended Birthday, but back to work again tomorrow!

Testimony: A Gideon-Placed Bible Puts A Rock & Roll Star On A Path To Salvation

2011-07-15T10:48:00.001-07:00

Today, over on the Gideon’s blog, they have shared the story of how rock star Tommy James became a Christian after reading the Gideon Bible in a hotel room while he was on tour years ago. Since Tommy James and the Shondells were one of my favorite groups while I was growing up, and I also became a Christian after reading a Gideon Bible in a hotel room, I thought I would share this post. It’s a pretty interesting story to those of us who can relate, and have a connection to the true and living God.

Back online with a new monitor!

2011-07-08T23:30:00.000-07:00

After being offline for a week due to an expired computer monitor, today we received the new one that I ordered from amazon.com. So far, it is great! It's an LED 22 inch widescreen with built in speakers in the back. Kind of gives us a whole new perspective while looking at the web after using a normal width one for several years.

The picture is very bright ( I had to turn it down some) and beautiful. The sound from the speakers isn't great, but just fine for normal computer uses. The wider screen doesn't leave much space for external speakers on our computer desk, but I may hook some up again later. Because it is an LED monitor , it should use less electricity and hopefully not burn out like the last one for a long time to come.

So far, I would highly recommend this one to anyone looking for a reasonably priced new monitor.

Blogger name change

2011-07-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

It looks like Blogger and Picasa my soon have new names. See this article for the details.

I am writing this from work as my computer monitor at home is dead. I hope to get a new one soon! :-)

Updated! Blogger may not be getting a new name after all. See this newer article.

Google’s New Social Network

2011-06-29T00:38:00.001-07:00

Google has unveiled their new “Google +” social network. Their last attempt to compete with facebook, “Google Buzz” was a big failure. They might have a better chance with this new, well thought out one.

It has several different features including “Circles” which lets you share different things with different people. There are more videos and more info on the page about this project.

I guess only time will tell if this turns out to be the social success that Google hopes it will be.

Trying out Twitter

2011-06-25T10:33:00.001-07:00

OK, so I’m a little late in the game for this compared to some people, but a few days ago I decided to set up a Twitter account and give it a try, just to see if I thought it was worth using. Although it’s a lot different than Blogger and takes some getting used to, so far I can say that I already like it a lot more than facebook. Of course that doesn’t take too much as I really don’t care much for facebook.

I’ve been looking through Twitter’s help page so that I can try to figure out how this all works. It seems pretty simple overall, and there are not a ton of settings to worry about. I also like the fact that they let you somewhat customize the way your profile page looks. And they are in the process of implementing their own built in photo uploading feature, powered by Photobucket.

So, I’m just wondering, how many of you here on Blogger also use Twitter, and what do you think of it?

A nice day off

2011-06-17T12:56:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, yesterday I took off from work so I could go to our daughter Anna’s gymnastic performance. I haven’t been able to go to any of her classes because I am at work at that time, so tonight was parent’s night to watch while the kids did their routines, and then were given certificates afterward. I tried to get some indoor pictures, but they didn’t come out well, so I just posted this picture of her holding her certificate outside the building instead.

Before we went to the gymnastics show, our son Aaron and I went over to work at my parents now almost empty house, to continue trying to get it ready to sell. We stopped at Home Depot on the way to pickup an electrical outlet cover since one was missing over there.

On the way back, we stopped at Aaron’s favorite antique and collectibles store, and found a small electric train set on sale for $30. We brought it home and he set it up on the floor on top of a blanket. He loves both trains and Hot Wheels cars. I don’t know which one he likes more, but that’s where most of his money goes. It was a pretty nice day, and now back to work today and off again tomorrow for the weekend!

Yard Cleanup

2011-05-28T20:16:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

Last weekend we had an estate sale over at my mom’s house and got rid of most of the stuff. Today the kids and I went over there and started working on the overgrown and dead bushes in the yard. We will soon be getting a new roof put on and probably a paint job too, as we’re trying to get things ready so we can put the house up for sale. there’s still a lot to do but we’re doing the best we can. I’ll probably try and do more tomorrow.

I hope you all are having a nice weekend!

Arrow of Light Ceremony

2011-05-20T23:46:00.001-07:00

Today we were out at the Lions Club Camp, as our son Aaron received his “Arrow of Light” award, signifying that he has crossed over from being a WEBELO and become a real Boy Scout. Here are a few pictures I took while we were there.

Northwest Railway Museum

2011-05-17T23:20:00.001-07:00

Today we had a great day at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie Washington with our son Aaron’s scout troop. Our family has been there before a few times, but it has been about six years since our last visit.

The weather was beautiful as we toured the station and looked at the old trains. We then took a train ride which included a gorgeous view looking way down at Snoqualmie falls.

After that we went to look at the shops across the street, and stopped in the candy store and restaurant to have a bite to eat. I think all of these pictures which I took on my Android phone pretty much tell the story. This place is definitely worth the time to check out if you like trains and train history.

Finally, a nice day!

2011-05-01T20:58:00.001-07:00

After many days of lousy weather, today we had a beautiful day. After church while my wife went to a baby shower, I took the kids over to my deceased parents house to get some things done, as well as play hit the wiffle ball in the back yard. It’s the first time that we have really done very much over there since my mom died in December, with the exception of a little time spent getting rid of a few things.

It was actually a nice time and not as depressing as the last time I was there. The kids and I also spent some time looking at some of the older pictures still over there which were taken while both of my parents were still alive. My siblings and I will soon be having an estate sale to try and get rid of most of the furniture and a lot of the other stuff still there.

It is a nice house which my dad bought when he retired from Boeing almost 24 years ago. He has now been gone close to 10 years and my mom had lived there alone since then. I did notice that there are more things that need to fixed than I thought, and I’m hoping that I can sell it more of less as is, because I just want all this probate stuff to be over with so I can get back it my already too busy normal life.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Gerry

News Story – A girl from our church was shot on freeway

2011-04-29T23:33:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, a 15 year old girl named Olivia who goes to our church was shot while riding home from a concert that was being held there. She was very lucky as the bullet passed thru her face and came out behind her ear without causing a life threatening injury.

The shooting was done from a freeway overpass and the person who did it has not been caught. You can read the whole news story here , and watch the video to see her talk about it.

I’m very glad that she is going to be OK, and I think it’s sad that you can’t go anywhere and feel safe anymore.

Resurrection Sunday

2011-04-23T00:54:00.001-07:00

Matthew 28:1-28:20 (NKJV)

Mat 28:1
Now after the Sabbath, as the first [day] of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

Mat 28:2
And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

Mat 28:3
His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

Mat 28:4
And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead [men].

Mat 28:5
But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

Mat 28:6
"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Mat 28:7
"And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."

Mat 28:8
So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

Mat 28:9
And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

Mat 28:10
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go [and] tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."

Mat 28:11
Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.

Mat 28:12
When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,

Mat 28:13
saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him [away] while we slept.'

Mat 28:14
"And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure."

Mat 28:15
So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

Mat 28:16
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.

Mat 28:17
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

Mat 28:18
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

Mat 28:19
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Mat 28:20
"teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, [even] to the end of the age." Amen.

A little flight line sunshine

2011-04-22T01:20:00.001-07:00

At least we had some sunshine for a little while this afternoon before it started to rain again, so I stopped and took this picture up on the hill overlooking where I work . It didn’t really rain all that much today, and the next couple of days are supposed to be nicer. I hope we are starting a new trend that will last a while as I’m totally ready for Summer to come.

Good Friday

2011-04-20T01:41:00.001-07:00

Matthew 27:45-27:54 (NKJV)

Mat 27:45
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.

Mat 27:46
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" [fn]

Mat 27:47
Some of those who stood there, when they heard [that], said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!"

Mat 27:48
Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled [it] with sour wine and put [it] on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.

Mat 27:49
The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him."

Mat 27:50
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

Mat 27:51
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,

Mat 27:52
and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

Mat 27:53
and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Mat 27:54
So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

Anna’s First Lost Tooth

2011-04-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

Last night our baby girl, who is now almost 6 and 1/2 years old, lost her first baby tooth. She had been waiting for this to happen, and was so exited because now the tooth fairy could come and give her some money for it. She got 3 big dollars. I took this picture with my Droid X so I could share it with you.

I hope you have a nice day!

Palm Sunday

2011-04-17T00:18:00.001-07:00

Ever since I have been a Christian, Palm Sunday has always been something special to me, because one of the first churches I went to used to put big palm leaves on the floor of the aisles on that day. The church we go to now doesn’t really do anything different for this day, and I kind of miss it.

Here is the event that we are celebrating, taken from Matthew chapter 21 in the Bible.

Matthew 21:1-11 (New King James Version)

The Triumphal Entry

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose [them] and bring [them] to Me.

"And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

"Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.' "

So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.

They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set [Him] on them.

And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread [them] on the road.

Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed [is] He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"

So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

Click here if you would like to read the rest of the chapter.

I hope you have a nice Palm Sunday!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2011-04-15T00:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

It seems more like November than April here in the Seattle area where I live. I got rained on and my fingers were freezing while I was out inspecting an airplane again tonight. So many of these days lately are like this.

After the cold crummy winter we had this year, I hope we are going to have a nice warm Summer. I can hardly wait for it, and what's left of Spring, if we ever get one.

I changed the theme of my blog to a stormy one because it fits my mood right now. As soon as the weather shapes up, I'll change it to a warmer weather one.

I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Space Shuttle Trainer

2011-04-13T10:55:00.001-07:00

OK, so we were a little disappointed that Seattle’s Museum of Flight won’t get a real retired space shuttle, it will be getting the full sized space shuttle training replica. According to the News, people will actually be able to go inside of it and sit in the flight deck. That won’t be the case with the real retired shuttles, so from an educational view, this one will actually be better.

Our son Aaron loves going to the Flight Museum and is really looking forward to seeing this. It hasn’t been announced as to when it will arrive, since it is still being used for training in Houston right now, except that it will probably be early next year.

It should be worth looking at for anyone who likes stuff related to aviation or space flight.

The most important message of all

2011-03-20T09:12:00.001-07:00

Daily Promises
Blue Letter Bible
March 20, 2011

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:15-16)

The promise of salvation is offered to those who simply believe. Eternal life is the gift to the believer who places their trust in Jesus Christ, God's one and only son.

This has been brought to you by the following ministries:
Blue Letter Bible
Sowing Circle

For email subscription, click here.

Follow by Email

2011-03-16T23:52:00.001-07:00

Today, Blogger has finally added a much requested feature, “Follow by Email.” Before, you had to sign up for a FeedBurner account to put this gadget on your blog. Now you can add it right from the “add a gadget” page. Following by email allows people to get your updates right in their email. You can see more info on this new feature, here on Blogger Buzz.

Blogger also recently announced, that coming soon will be a brand new modern Dashboard, as well as a new feature called “Related Posts & Media”, which will replace the current “Next Blog” button that is currently on our Blogger Navbars. And Blogger promises even more new features still to come in 2011.

I’m really looking forward to using all of these new features, How about you?

Jeremiah 31:3 (from BLB Daily Promises)

2011-03-13T15:30:00.001-07:00

Daily Promises
Blue Letter Bible
March 13, 2011

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, [saying], Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. (Jeremiah 31:3)

My Prayer: O Lord, I am so undeserving of Your love! Thank You for drawing me to You and giving me Your gift of salvation! Thank You so much, Lord, for loving me with an everlasting love. Teach me, Lord, to love others the way You love me.

This has been brought to you by the following ministries:
Blue Letter Bible
Sowing Circle

for email subscription, click here.

More Blogger Features Coming Soon?

2011-03-11T00:46:00.001-08:00

In case you didn’t see the latest edition of Blogger Buzz, The Blogger Team said that “the future of Blogger is bright.” And that they will “soon be making some very exiting announcements.” Sounds like good news to me. Anyone have any guesses as to what they might announce?

Windy Night

2011-03-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Excuse my absence from blogging lately, as I have been very busy. It is very windy here on the flightline tonight. Mostly just trying to stay inside. The News says that some places are getting wind gusts higher than 50 MPH. I can believe it. This should blow over by tomorrow.

I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Gerry :-)

Snow Day

2011-02-24T11:10:00.001-08:00

Well, the snow came and is now on it’s way out. At least there was enough for the kids to have fun outside playing in it. But freezing temps are coming tonight. Should make driving interesting.

I hope you all have a nice day!

More Snow Coming

2011-02-23T00:25:00.001-08:00

And I kind of thought we might be done with this stuff for this year. But tonight we have a winter storm warning for the Seattle area, and we already had a few flakes and some hail and sleet come down earlier today.

I like to watch the snow come down and see the kids get to play in it, but I was really hoping we were heading for an early Spring. Driving around this area with all it’s hills, along with all the people who don’t really know how to drive in it, makes it risky to be out on the road. I’ll have to see if I make it in to work tomorrow or not. If I don’t, I have plenty of things to do at home.

I hope you all have a nice day!

The Blue Letter Bible Blog

2011-02-20T00:09:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

If you’re not familiar with The Blue Letter Bible, it is a great online resource for reading and studying the Bible. They are now publishing The Blue Letter Bible Blog, which will be updated every weekday. Here are some of the features:

Tips and tools to maximize the fruitfulness of your study at Blue Letter Bible
Regular news updates about Blue Letter Bible’s ministry
Biblical commentaries, devotionals, and other resources
Regular articles on theology and doctrine
Articles highlighting martyrs, missionaries, and theologians (past and present)
Cultural commentary from a Biblical perspective
Links to ‘the best of the best’ content from other ministry websites that we find helpful
Book giveaways and other fun gifts from our ministry

It’s nice to see a sound Christian ministry like this giving us something worth reading daily. Unlike the Bible Gateway, which is now owned by Zondervan and also has a blog, The Blue Letter Bible is a true non-profit ministry which exists only to serve the body of Christ, not to make money.

So take a look at their blog, if you would like to see something new worth reading.

5 tips for using Blogger on your Android phone

2011-02-18T09:31:00.001-08:00

This was posted yesterday on the Google Mobile Blog. Since I am both a Blogger and Android fan, I decided to repost it for anyone who might be interested.

5 tips for using Blogger on your Android phone

Thursday, February 17, 2011 | 11:01 AM

Earlier this month, we announced the first version of the Blogger app for Android on the Blogger Buzz blog. Today, we’d like to share some tips on how you can use the Blogger app to quickly publish posts when you’re on the go.

1. Attach photos as you compose

Take photos using your phone’s camera and instantly add them to your post while you draft. You can also insert photos from your phone’s gallery, all within the Blogger app.
2. Include your current location
With your phone’s GPS, you can let your readers know where you’re blogging from by selecting your current location, no additional typing needed.

3. Share to Blogger
Share videos, products, photos, links and other interesting things you would like to include in your blog via the share button that’s available in many apps, including Google Maps for mobile, YouTube, and your web browser. After you share an item to your Blogger, it will be inserted into new post that’s automatically created for you so that start can composing right away.

4. Switch across multiple Blogger accounts
If you’re an author of more than one blog, you can easily switch between your different accounts by tapping on the orange arrow next to the title of your blog. That way, you can publish articles for each of your blogs to keep your all of your readers up to date.

5. Keep track of published posts and saved drafts
See what you’ve composed in an easy to read list by tapping the list icon located on the top right-hand corner.

We hope that you enjoyed these blogging tips. If you haven’t done so already, you can download the free Blogger app for Android 2.1+ devices from Android Market or scan the QR code below. As always, we would love to hear what you think so please feel free to share your thoughts with us through our feedback form.

Happy blogging!

Posted by Shaun Seo, Product Manager, Blogger

Heaven is for Real

2011-02-17T23:47:00.001-08:00

I came across this story on Google News tonight, and I thought it was worth sharing. The book mentioned is available here on christianbook.com, or here on amazon.com. I’m going to order one.

Beautiful

2011-02-14T23:14:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, the worship team at our church did a song that I had never heard before, but I really liked a lot. After the service, I asked the worship leader where it came from. It turned out to be a Phil Wickham song from a couple of years ago. Phil is the brother of Evan Wickham, and the son of John Wickham, all of whom are worship leaders involved in Calvary Chapel churches in California. If you would like to know more about Phil and his music, here is his home page: http://philwickham.com/ I’ve shared his song “Beautiful” here for you to listen to.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

2011-02-13T00:10:00.001-08:00

I Hope you all have a nice one!

Angry Birds

2011-02-12T22:24:00.001-08:00

I don’t have a lot of time to play video games, but I have to admit that this popular smartphone game is lots of fun to play and very addicting. I had been reading things about it on the tech news pages and I thought I would download it and give it a try.

It’s been less than a week since I started playing it, but it’s quickly become my favorite game and my kids are now playing it too. It seems like they are better at this stuff then I am, but I guess that only makes sense since they are growing up in the computer and smartphone age, where as this stuff didn’t exist when I was their age.

You have to have a smartphone such as the iPhone or an Android phone to play this game, but if you don’t, you can watch the video below to get an idea of what it looks like. But in a nutshell, (or eggshell) it’s about birds who are angry and seeking revenge against some evil green pigs who have stolen their eggs. The birds each have different special abilities that they use as they try to fight against the pigs. As you go up through each higher level of the game, the pigs are in a new different shelter which is built to protect them as the birds get catapulted by a slingshot device to try and knock it down.

It’s a fun game to play if you ever have the chance to try it.

On the road again!

2011-02-06T15:29:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone!

We are on the road right now, on our way back from Portland Oregon, after going down there to spend a few days visiting my wife Marilyn's friends and relatives. She is originally from there, so we try to go down at least once a year.

We like to stay at the Lloyd Center Residence Inn. It's a nice place with good prices and free breakfast, you can't beat it.

Here is a picture of our kids that I took on the way down, in front of a restaurant that we like called "Country Cousin." It has a farm theme with real chickens in a little coop out front.

I hope you all have a nice Sunday!

Posted via Blogaway on Android

Official Blogger Android App

2011-02-03T23:37:00.001-08:00

Sometimes wishes do come true. After just having written a post a few days ago about the 3rd party Blogger Android apps that are available, because the official one still hadn’t been released yet, Today on Blogger Buzz they announcement was made that the Blogger Android app is here. I have spent a little time testing it, and honestly, so far I like it, but don’t see much difference between it and the two best 3rd party ones, Blogger-droid and Blogaway. I expect that many more features will be added to it in the future though, and I always feel a little safer using something from the original company that made the program. If you didn’t see today’s Blogger Buzz announcement, here is the whole post below:

Introducing Blogger Android App

Posted by Vinay Sekhri
Have you ever wanted to write up a quick blog post on the go? Now there is an easy way to do this on your Android phone! We are excited to announce our first version of the Blogger Android App. Using the app you can easily compose a post, attach a photo that you just took with your phone, and either save it as a local draft for later or immediately publish it to your blog. If you are an Android user, you can start using the Blogger app today by downloading it for free from the Android Market.

Feature highlights

Multiple accounts and blogs: You can easily switch between different accounts and blogs that you have author rights to. Simply choose your account and blog and you are all set to go.

Write and save/publish: You can write a post, assign labels, and then either save it as a draft or immediately publish it. Saving as draft is handy if you need to wait until you have Internet connectivity.

Photos from camera and gallery: If you see something interesting, you can take a photo directly from the app and include it in the blog post. You can also browse your gallery to include the ones you like.

Sharing to Blogger from gallery or browser: Blogger is one of the available sharing options. If you come across a photo in the gallery, or a website while browsing, you can share the content to the Blogger app directly from the sharing menu.

Share location: You can share your location by activating the location bar and selecting the correct location. This information will be included in your post.

View saved/published posts: By switching to the List View, you can view all your drafts and published posts that you wrote using the app. By performing a long-press on a published post you can invoke a menu that includes the option to view your post in a browser.

We hope you enjoy the app. As always, we would love to hear what you think so please feel free to share your thoughts with us through our feedback form. (Note: this app is available only on Android devices but we are working toward supporting other smartphone platforms to allow more of our users to easily post to Blogger on the go.)

Happy Blogging!

Tunein Radio

2011-02-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

Along with "Blogaway", with which I wrote this post, I have also been using another Android app that I really like. This one is called "Tunein Radio", and today I found out that I can now listen to my very favorite online Christian radio station, "AllWorship.com" on it. One of my other favorite stations, "SmoothJazz.com" is now available there as well.

You don't need a radio nearby when you have this app on your phone, as their web page claims you can get over 30,000 FM & AM stations while using it.

It's also available for the iPhone and BlackBerry too. So like their slogan says, Tune into the future of radio!

Posted via Blogaway on Android

Going Mobile

2011-01-31T21:57:00.001-08:00

While I was very happy to see Blogger come out last month with their new mobile templates, I am still disappointed that they haven’t yet come out with an official Blogger app for Android phones. After all, they are both made by the same company, Google. But until they do, at least there are a few 3rd party apps available on the Android Marketplace for this purpose. Over the last few days, I have been testing them out, and I think I have chosen one called “Blogaway” as my favorite. While it is pretty limited in what it can do compared to posting on a computer, it is still a pretty neat app. Here is what it say’s about it on it’s own website:

Blogaway for Android

A simple blogger client for your Android phone that helps you blog on the go. Blogaway works with blogs hosted on blogspot.com. Blogaway supports almost everything that you need to post a simple blog with images, links and videos. It works with blogs hosted on blogspot as well as on custom domains. You can also read blogs of your favorite authors right inside Blogaway.
Here are a few features that make Blogaway a great blogging tool for your mobile. And we are continuously adding more.
- Multiple accounts/blogs support- Posts with images(single), videos(single), links, tags etc
- Add your favorite blogs to Blogaway
- Read/post comments on blogs
- Share your post's URL through multiple channels
- Geotag your posts
* For uploading pictures, you need to activate Picasa
** For uploading videos, you need to activate Youtube

I am hoping that the developer will soon get back to updating this app, as he has said on his blog that he has been too busy lately to do it. There is also a newer version in beta called “Blogaway Lite”, but I’ve tried it and it is too buggy to use.

Now that I have an Android phone, I plan on writing some of my future blog posts on it instead of the computer. So for now, Blogaway will help me do that.

Happy Blogging!

Goodbye Buttons

2011-01-23T00:04:00.001-08:00

This morning my wife went to feed our cat “Buttons” and found out that he had died. She had gotten him when he was a kitten and he was now fifteen years old. He used to be a huge fat cat, but as he was now very old, he had become thinner and weaker the last few years.

Our kids didn’t find out about him until tonight, and to say they were upset would be an understatement. They really loved that cat as he had been with them ever since they were born.

It isn’t easy to lose a pet.

Pinewood Derby 2011

2011-01-22T20:32:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

I decided to to give my Droid X camera a tryout during my son Aaron’s Pinewood Derby competition. This is his third and last time for this as next year he will be a full fledged boy scout and they don’t have it.

I am definitely on a learning curve with this camera on my new phone, as some of the pictures I took leave a lot to be desired. It has eight megapixels and autofocus with a dual LED flash, but I found that most of the pictures turned out too dark and didn’t really have great color. After I manually selected to turn on the flash, the pictures got somewhat better, so I only included a few of the best for this post.

Aaron didn’t win the race, but we all had a good time and my wife Marilyn did a great job as the MC, as she is the leader of his WEBELOS den.

How much should we share online?

2011-01-17T12:08:00.001-08:00

I was reminded again today by my Daily Bible Verse email (which I posted below), that we need to be careful about what we share online. I read this right after I had just got finished reading an article on Google’s News page about how some facebook apps might get a hold of people’s addresses and phone numbers and use them to send out advertising.

So we have to consider the question, how much should we share online? On a blog, if it is public, we know that everything we post will be shared. But on facebook, with all it’s confusing settings, it’s sometimes hard to know who has access to what. I have never been a big facebook fan, but I do like blogging. So I think it’s best to be cautious with what we post anywhere on the web so we don’t have to regret it later.

What do you think?

Proverbs 2:11 – Discretion will protect you

Posted: 16 Jan 2011 10:15 PM PST

Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. – Proverbs 2:11

This proverb can be a pillar of sanity in a day of hundreds of Facebook friends and Twitter followers. As much as these medias call connections friends, we can’t be all things to all people. Discretion protects us by giving us permission to have boundaries about how much people SHOULD know about us. Saying “no” to the demands of an information age can be an act of courage. We all need people that we can open up to, but the Scripture tells us to choose those people wisely. This understanding will guard you from the anxieties of too much information given to too many people.
Today’s commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org

Psalm 19

2011-01-17T00:51:00.001-08:00

I’ve decided to go back to my old Psalm 19 theme for a while, and I thought I’d post the whole Psalm while I was at it since it has always been one of my favorites.

I hope you all have a nice week!

Psalm 19 (New International Version, ©2010)

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
   like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
   and makes its circuit to the other;
   nothing is deprived of its warmth.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect,
   refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
   making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right,
   giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
   giving light to the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure,
   enduring forever.
The decrees of the LORD are firm,
   and all of them are righteous.

¹⁰ They are more precious than gold,
   than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
   than honey from the honeycomb.
¹¹ By them your servant is warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can discern their own errors?
   Forgive my hidden faults.
¹³ Keep your servant also from willful sins;
   may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
   innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Smooth Jazz Radio

2011-01-06T00:28:00.001-08:00

Yesterday when I was driving to work and I turned on my radio, I was very sad to find out that Seattle’s only Smooth Jazz station had been turned into another Pop / Rock sounding station. I often listened to it when I was driving, and sometimes at home in the morning while I was getting ready for work. It was also playing at work on the radios some times as a lot of people liked it. It was very relaxing to listen to and was usually what turned on if I wanted to hear something other than the Christian stations.

The info on the web said that stations playing this kind of music were switching to other formats because a new ratings system run by Arbitron showed that not enough people were listening to them anymore. I find that hard to believe since I know so many people that like this kind of music. I think the station owners are just looking for a younger audience because they think there is more money to be made that way. Pretty sad for all of us that listened to it for so many years.

There are still some Smooth Jazz stations that can be heard over the internet or on smart phones by using music apps such as Pandora or TuneIn Radio. I guess that’s what I’ll have to do from now on when I want to hear relaxing music. Oh well…

Droid X Does!

2011-01-03T22:17:00.001-08:00

Here are some Android observations I have made, after a couple of weeks of playing with my new Droid X phone. I would have to agree with the “Droid Does” slogan. This thing does so much that it takes a while just to get a handle on all that it can do.

For starters, it’s great for Gmail, as it gives me an audio notification every time I get a new message. That means, every time someone writes a comment on my blog or on my facebook page, it lets me know because I have those notifications sent to my email. It’s not too bad for writing a new email message either. But like other things on a touch screen, it just takes a little practice.

It’s also great for looking at the web, including Blogger blogs. If someone has enabled the new Blogger mobile template feature on their blog, it will automatically open up in the mobile version. You can also look at Blogger blogs in the normal computer mode, and you will see all the sections laid out with their features working, including slideshows and YouTube videos. Last night I even went to a blog which had a Playlist gadget, and the music actually started playing. Having said all this, it takes considerably longer for the blog page to fully load when it is in this mode. Most other sites work great on the Android browser too, including the mobile versions of both The Blue Letter Bible and The Bible Gateway. I plan on using these to get caught up on my Bible reading when I have down time anywhere.

I haven’t had too much time to try out the 8 megapixel camera yet, but I think it should take pretty good pictures once I get better at using it. I plan on taking most of my future blog pics with it, so time will tell. It can take HD video too, so one day I will have to try it out. I guess I’m just not into video as much as some people though, as photo’s are just easier to deal with.

There are plenty of apps you can download too, and a lot of them are free. I downloaded one called “TuneIn Radio.” It lets you connect to all the local radio stations in your area. So now I can listen to the Seattle Christian station “Spirit 105.3” on my phone. It’s a pretty good station, but my very favorite Christian music station is the online “AllWorship.com” Praise & Worship Stream. So far I haven’t found any way to make this play on my Droid X, as it normally requires an MP3 or Windows Media Player gadget. I haven’t given up on it yet though and will keep looking for an app that might work for it.

Most important, the Droid X even works great a a phone. It has very good sound quality, both through the ear speaker as well as in speakerphone mode. It also has an easy to use on screen dial pad, and a very good contact list which shows a person’s phone number and has a link to their email address, if you happen to have it in your phone. And in spite of it’s large size, holding it during a call is really not bad at all. I had doubts about buying it for this reason, but I chose to get it anyway because of it’s big screen, and now I’m glad I did.

There are many other features on it too, including Texting, GPS navigation from Google Maps, and of course a music player for downloaded music. If you would like to see how it works for yourself, you can view this YouTube video made by Verizon Wireless.

Happy New Year everyone!

2010-12-31T00:03:00.001-08:00

John 10:27-28

2010-12-30T10:13:00.001-08:00

Here is today’s Daily Bible Promise from the Blue Letter Bible, which I receive in my email every morning. I liked it and decided to share it. If you would like to sign up to receive these too, just click here.

Daily Promises

Blue Letter Bible
December 30, 2010

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

If we are truly believers in Christ, then we will also be followers of Him. Because we believe in and follow Jesus, we will live eternally in heaven with Him. Once we have been saved, no one can take away our salvation!

Amen!

Droid Test

2010-12-28T21:45:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

This is a posting test from my new Droid X cell phone. I had to type this in HTML mode to make it work. I'll be writing more about this phone later.

Have a nice night!

Gerry

The Gideons Blog

2010-12-27T21:18:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

I’m glad to see that my favorite Christian organization is now publishing their own blog, as well as their own official Facebook, and Twitter pages. I was wondering when they were going to get around to doing this, as many other ministries are now communicating their updates to their followers this way.

I have long supported what The Gideons are doing, as I myself became a Christian twenty one years ago after repeatedly reading The Gideons Bible during my hotel stays at the beach. They have been spreading God’s word around the world since 1908, and have brought hope to countless hopeless.

There is a lot more info on their website, including the same Bible Helps that you will find in the front of their Bible. This is the feature that really got me reading it in the first place. At the time, I was burned out on my current lifestyle of hanging out in the bars, and I was hoping that there was more meaning to life than what I was currently experiencing. I found it there in God’s word. Others have too.

This is what The Gideons are all about.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T01:15:00.001-08:00

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11 KJV)

I hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas!

Anna as Mary

2010-12-20T00:16:00.001-08:00

Today we got to watch our daughter Anna in our church’s Children’s Christmas musical. She had to perform in it three times this weekend. It was called "Arrest These Merry Gentlemen" and was a take-off on the old Dragnet television show. Along with singing in the choir, Anna also got to play Mary, holding baby Jesus in her arms. It was a very wonderful play and my favorite of all the one’s that they have ever done. I’m not just saying that because our baby girl was in it, but it didn’t hurt.

Blogger’s New mobile templates

2010-12-18T00:02:00.001-08:00

Today on Blogger in Draft, Blogger announced that they have released their new mobile templates, so your blog can now look better when viewed on a smart phone. I really like this idea, as my wife and I are getting ready to buy new Google / Android phones as soon as we have time. I plan on viewing Blogger a lot on mine, and spending less time on the computer. Below is the whole story for you to read:

Friday, December 17, 2010

New mobile templates for reading on the go

Filed under: mobile

Posted by Jiho Han, Software Engineer
We know many of you like to view blog posts on your smartphones. However, it can be difficult at times because of the small screen size. This is why we are excited to announce our first launch of mobile templates! Initially available as opt-in functionality on Blogger in Draft, mobile templates will re-format your blogs for smartphones to enhance your readers’ viewing experience. In order to activate mobile templates, simply go to Dashboard > Settings > Email & Mobile tab, enable the mobile template option and then save settings.

Feature highlights

Preview: Get a glimpse of what your blog will look like by clicking on the Mobile Preview button. You can also see it on your smartphone by scanning the QR-code to the right of the options.
Automatic redirection: All opted-in blogs will automatically be redirected to the mobile view when accessed from a smartphone*.
Template support: We are initially supporting 6 variants of the Simple template and 6 variants of the Awesome template. If you have used one of these 12 templates through our Template Designer, your mobile view will be rendered in the same style as your desktop view (other template variants will be rendered as Simple). Some gadgets are also supported**.

Mobile ads: Mobile AdSense ads will be displayed at the top of the post pages and at the bottom of the index page if the blog has an AdSense gadget or inline blog ads.

Comments and videos: You will be able to make comments and watch videos.

We hope you enjoy the improved mobile experience. As always, we would love to hear from you so please feel free to tell us what you think through our feedback form.
*WebKit-based mobile browsers are supported for our initial launch.
**Supported gadgets/elements in this launch: Header, Blog, Profile, AdSense, Attribution.

Posted by Shaun Seo at 9:47 AM

A Christmas Greeting from Tim Hawkins

2010-12-16T10:54:00.001-08:00

Ex-Spacers Hangout

2010-12-16T00:50:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

Since I have been trying out my blog over at WordPress, I saw that Technogran has made a place for former users of Windows Live Spaces to find each other. It is called “Spaced Out! Ex-Spacers Hangout.” While it is hosted on WordPress, you can also list your Blogger blog or other sites there as well. So spread the word, so more of us Ex-Spacers can blog together again.

Happy blogging!

12-11-10 Update

2010-12-11T21:30:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

My Mom’s funeral was today, and it was a very nice Christian style service, with her pastor officiating. I think she would have really liked it. Afterwards we had a reception with food, right down the hall in the same building at the funeral home. Everyone got to visit for a while before they went home. I got to see some people I haven’t seen in years. It was really a nice time, almost more like a party than a funeral. But then again, if you know where you are going when you die, you do have a reason to celebrate. This life is temporary, but the next one is eternal. If you don’t know where you will spend eternity, please click here.

I hope you have a nice Sunday.

Gerry

My Mom is in Heaven

2010-12-04T19:11:00.001-08:00

This morning my Mom went to Heaven to be with my Dad. She will never be sick or in pain again. She was a wonderful Mom, Grandma, and Great Grandma. We were wonderfully blessed to have her. She will be greatly missed by us all.

Thanks and update

2010-11-26T00:24:00.001-08:00

I want to thank everyone on Blogger and facebook for all of the prayers and well wishes for my mom, and for us. My brother and I visited her for a while on Thanksgiving day. She was sleeping and did not respond to us talking to her, but earlier in the day, she did open her eyes for one of the nurses, and tried to write yes or no on a piece of paper when asked if she felt pain in different parts of her body. The doctor said she hadn’t gotten any worse, so we are still waiting to see what happens in the next couple of days. Time will tell.

Later in the day, my family got together with both of my sisters and my niece at the Black Angus Steakhouse for Thanksgiving dinner. This is one of my mom’s favorite places, and she had wanted to go there. They served a full turkey dinner with all the fixings, and it was very good. This was not the first time we have been there on Thanksgiving, but it has been a few years. It was a very nice night, all things considered.

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving too.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

2010-11-24T20:14:00.001-08:00

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day weekend!

Stay warm.

A Very Hard Night

2010-11-23T22:06:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

Last night, on top of wondering if I was going to make it home from work through the snow OK, I received phone call from my sister-in-law, letting me know that my mom had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance after suffering what appeared to be a major stroke.

Because of the snow, I couldn’t make to the hospital to see her last night, but today, both of my sisters, my niece, my brother, and I, all managed to go and visit her. She was not responsive while we were there.

The doctor confirmed that it was a major stroke caused by a blood clot which had moved from her heart up to her brain. If she survives, she will never be fully functional again. The next few days will be crucial as to what happens to her.

Prayers are welcome.

A Little Chilly

2010-11-21T23:49:00.001-08:00

It is definitely getting a little chilly out on the flight line now. Snow was falling as I was driving home from work tonight. I don’t expect that we will get too much accumulation this time around, but I have a feeling we will be seeing more soon. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold and windy, so that should be fun.

Although I like the snow, I’m glad that I work in the office area at my desk most of the time now. After eleven and a half years of working outside, being a team leader is a nice job to have.

I hope you all have a nice week!

Happy 6th Birthday Anna

2010-11-07T20:48:00.001-08:00

Our daughter Anna is now 6 years old. She wanted to have a party with some of her friends and our extended family, so we gave her one on Saturday in the cabana at my sister’s condo. And today we took her to her favorite restaurant, Red Robin, and invited some other friends to meet us there.

I think Anna likes to go there to play the games, as much as she likes the food they serve. She was served her free ice cream sundae while the staff sang their happy birthday song.

She received a lot of presents this weekend, including the one that she wanted most, a Pillow Pet panda bear. That one came from us, and she likes to take it wherever she goes.

It was a very nice birthday weekend for our baby girl.

Fall Back This Weekend

2010-11-05T11:23:00.001-07:00

As I looked at the Google News this morning, I saw that once again it’s time for most people to set their clocks back an hour this weekend. As a person who works out on the flight line on swing shift, it just means that soon it will start getting dark at around 4:30 PM instead of later.

I personally wish that they would just leave it as Daylight Savings Time all year round so that we wouldn’t have to spend so much time in the dark. I find that I am happier in the Spring and Summer, and sometimes more depressed in the Winter because of the gloomy Seattle weather. I do kind of like it when it snows though, except for the driving.

So, what do you think? Should they leave it like it is, or have Daylight Savings Time all year round?

Have a Happy Halloween weekend!

2010-10-29T16:16:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

I took today off from work and stayed home with our daughter Anna, who seems to be fighting a bug of some kind. Mostly we watched old television shows on our computer, starting with the classic “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” I posted it here, via hulu.com for you to watch if you want to.

We will all be going to our church’s Harvest Festival tonight, as long as Anna feels good enough. I hope you all have a Happy Halloween, Harvest Festival, All Saints Day, or what ever you celebrate this weekend, if anything.

Gerry

How to stop following a blog on Blogger

2010-10-23T21:19:00.001-07:00

On your Dashboard page, click on the "Manage" button at the bottom of your Reading List. When the "Manage Blogs I'm Following" page opens up, click on the "Settings" link across from the title of the blog that you want to stop following. A box will open so that you can log into "Google Friend Connect." This is necessary because Blogger's Following feature is powered by it. Next, click on the "Settings" link again and a new window will open where you can click on the "Stop following this site" link. It will then ask you to confirm your choice or cancel it. You can always chose to follow this site again later if you change your mind.

I hope this cleared up how to do this for anyone who was still wondering.

How to block Followers on Blogger

2010-10-23T01:50:00.001-07:00

Every now and then it's a good idea to take a good look at the people who are publicly following your blog. That is, those who’s profile pictures are showing on your Followers gadget. If you find a Follower who has an inappropriate profile picture, or who's blogs or links are not something that you would want your other Followers to come across, then you simply need to block that Follower to remove them from your site. You can’t stop someone from following your blog privately as long as it is set for public viewing, but here's how you can block the Followers that you can see:

On your Dashboard page, click on the number of Followers, just to the right of your blog's title. A box with a list of all of the Followers of that blog will open up. Click on the profile picture of the Follower that you want to block, and another box will open in which one of the options is to "Block this user." click on it, and then confirm your choice. That's all there is to it. If you change your mind later you can also go back in and choose to “Unblock this user.”

As the question on how to do this has frequently shown up on the Blogger Help Forum, I hope this post will be helpful to anyone who has been looking for the answer.

The Blogger Team

2010-10-21T10:22:00.001-07:00

It’s nice to see that the Blogger Team are real people, and not just someone that you read about on The Blogger Help Forum. If you haven’t already looked at the latest post on Blogger Buzz and seen this picture, here they are, with Blogger program manager Chang Kim wearing the blue shirt. I think that there are actually more of them, but these are the ones that were at the BlogWorld Expo.

I wish I could have gone to this as I think it would have been interesting to see people who work in the industry, as well as other bloggers.

It’s nice to know that there is someone actually listening to what Blogger’s users have to say, and who are continuing to try and make Blogger even better.

If you have any suggestions for them, or you would like to vote on other people’s suggestions, you can do that here.

Happy Blogging!

Today’s Daily Promise

2010-10-18T23:38:00.001-07:00

Here is today’s Blue Letter Bible Daily Promise, which I received in my email. I liked it and thought I would share it. If you would like to subscribe to these, just click here. You can also read them online at the Blue Letter Bible on this page.

Daily Promises
Blue Letter Bible
October 18, 2010

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

My Prayer: Father, I am so grateful for all Your splendid majesty and mercy! Thank You for dying on the cross and suffering my consequences. Yet more than anything, thank You for conquering death that I may be with you forever and ever! Help me to keep focused on You. May I never look right or left, but continue to faithfully walk on Your holy path. Continue to guide me in all my ways!

Amen!

Eye update

2010-10-15T00:26:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

I had another visit at the eye surgeon today. This time I had green iodine dye injected into my arm while having pictures taken of my eyes at the same time. The bright flashes of light hurt more than the needle did. This was done so they could see the veins in my retinas.

I also took another vision test, which I passed. But my left eye still isn’t quite as clear as the other one because of the retinal membrane that I have in it. I still see some mild distortions, and a slight haze when looking at bright lights. The good news is that my retina is actually less swelled than it was last time.

So, I won’t be having surgery, at least for now. It would be an elective surgery at this point, and I doubt if my insurance would pay for it anyway. I’m going to try some eye-drops that were prescribed for me instead, which might help keep the retinal swelling down. The swelling is caused by the membrane pulling on the retina. The membrane itself might stay the same, or it could get worse, effecting my vision even more.

I have another appointment in about six weeks to see how my eye is doing. We’ll reevaluate it then.

Thanks for all your prayers!

Daily Bible Reading Program

2010-10-11T07:08:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

I’ve decide to use the Blue Letter Bible’s online reading plan to help me get back into the habit of daily Bible reading. They have several plans to choose from, and it’s a really neat system. You set up your own profile by putting in your name and password, and then choose the plan you want and which version of the Bible you want to read. Not only does it help you keep track of where you left off, but there are study tools that you can use if you want to do more then just read. You can even listen to the audio version of your chapters if you want to. This might come in handy if I do end up having my eye surgery and need time for my vision to recover.

The plan I chose is the two year version of the Old testament and New Testament together. That way I won’t have to read more than three chapters a day since I usually have only so much time to do anything because of having to go to work. I think using this more structured kind of high tech plan will help me stay on track with my reading this time.

The Blue Letter Bible also allows you to choose to have devotional readings sent to your email everyday. I am now getting the “Daily Promises” one. There is also a mobile version of the Blue Letter Bible that you can read on your cell phone if you go to http:// m.blb.org on your mobile browser.

If you have never used the Blue Letter Bible, you might want to check it out. It’s worth looking at.

Airline Collectibles Show

2010-10-09T22:18:00.001-07:00

This morning I took our son Aaron to the Seattle Airline Collectibles show at the Museum of Flight. Although he is more into cars now days than planes and trains, he still likes them too and really wanted to go to this show. We went once before a few years ago, but haven’t made it back again until now.

There were a lot of airplane models and other airline memorabilia for sale. Most of what was there this year was kind of expensive, but Aaron managed to find a used die-cast model of an older TWA airplane that he wanted which cost five dollars, and also a few little toy airline vehicles that only cost me a couple of bucks.

It was a nice way to spend the morning of my first day off from work in two weeks.

How much web time is too much?

2010-10-09T00:19:00.001-07:00

After reading today's The Daily Bible Verse reading, (see it below) I had to ask myself, how much web time is too much? And would I be better off spending more of it reading the Bible instead. I have to be honest and admit that other than the verse of the day / daily devotional type of stuff, I haven't really been reading it very much lately. I use to read it a lot and have read through it all more than once over the years.

I work forty hours a week plus usually at least one weekend a month, and sometimes more. So with work and family and all, it's not like I'm on the computer all the time, and I don't really have too much time for hobbies and so forth. But I think I need to get back to doing a daily reading of at least a couple of chapters every day.

Blogging is great, but for a Christian, the Bible must come first. It is our spiritual food, and without it we will wither.

Psalm 119:37 – preserve my life according to your word

Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. – Psalm 119:37

This Scripture has more importance in our day than ever. How we guide our eyes in a visual age makes all the difference to the wellbeing of our souls. Worthless things surround us. The sensuality of this culture is so obvious that it doesn’t need much explanation. But there are many worthless things that are not so obvious. How many hours have we wasted on the internet? Look at our habits when we have a television remote in our hand. What did it take to get to the 42nd level in that video game? Many times the key to cultivating the best in us does not occur during the work week, but how we handle our leisure time. To make God’s words a priority during our down time will preserve our lives from worthless distractions.

Today’s commentary by:

Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org

Microsoft is shutting down “Spaces” and partnering with WordPress

2010-09-28T01:32:00.001-07:00

It comes as no real surprise to me, as the handwriting has been on the wall for over two years now, but today Microsoft finally told the truth about Windows Live Spaces and said it will be eliminated and a migration tool made available so people could move their blogs over to WordPress. Any new blogs set up through Windows Live will also now be on WordPress. Read the whole announcement here, and also see the WordPress welcome page.

All things considered, I think this is a good move for them as they said they don’t want to continue to invest in a competing blog service. I just wish they would have been more upfront with people and announced this way sooner as it would have saved hard core “Spacers” a lot of grief. I think it also would have made more sense as they have lost a lot of people to Blogger and other services ever since the “Wave 3” upgrade when they started scaling things back on “Spaces.”

Not everything on someone’s “Space” can be migrated to WordPress. The theme, guestbooks, and lists can not be migrated. Just something to be aware of when considering the move. On the plus side, Your old “Spaces” URL will be redirected to your new blog so people can find it. For messenger users, you will be able to have notifications sent to all your messenger friends whenever you update your WordPress blog.

I have mixed feelings about this whole thing as “Spaces” is where I first wrote anything online and I’m sad to see it go. On the other hand, all the waiting and guessing is over for those of us who diligently used it and considered it our home on the web. I myself will not be moving to WordPress as I find Blogger to be more similar to Spaces then WordPress and I especially like the “Followers / Friend Connect” gadget which you can display on your blog. This is a feature which WordPress does not have but should, if they really want to be considered a social blogging service.

Happy Blogging!

A day at the Fair

2010-09-24T00:32:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

Yesterday my wife Marilyn took our kids, Aaron and Anna to the Puyallup Fair while I was at work. I didn’t mind missing it too much this year as I have gone the last few years and it is always pretty much the same. I did miss being there with our kids but there’s always next year.

They didn’t do any rides this year as the lines were too long and they mostly wanted to see all the animals and do a little shopping. There was a purse my wife had been wanting to buy there, so since Monday was her birthday I told her just to go ahead and get it as a present from me. the kids both bought a couple of things too.

Later they stopped and ate some Krusty Pups and some Cotton Candy, and picked up some Scones to bring home. That was it for this year. There are a few more pictures from it in my “My Pix 2010” photo album, which is featured in my slideshow.

I hope you had a nice week!

Gerry

Using your own picture for your blog’s background

2010-09-10T11:44:00.001-07:00

Just in case you haven’t already heard, you can now use your own picture for your blog’s background. This feature is now out of Blogger in Draft and available on Blogger’s new Template Designer. For more info, check out the latest addition of Blogger Buzz. Just one more great new feature from Blogger.

Happy Blogging!

A short trip to Alki

2010-09-07T00:26:00.001-07:00

Since this was my last day off from work for the weekend, I decided to take my family out for a drive around west Seattle’s Alki point, since our kids had never been there. I used to hang out here a lot more when I was a little younger and still single and I was living in Burien for a while. It’s a shorter drive from there than it is from where we live now.

If you have never been there, you can see the downtown Seattle waterfront from first part of the drive as you head west on Harbor Avenue. It’s really a nice view, especially at night. There is a nice restaurant named Salty’s in that area. Further along, you come to the beach area which has a long sidewalk along it for walkers and skaters. There are also several restaurants in this area, and as you keep going farther around the bend, you see mainly houses and condos.

We drove quite a way around just to look, and got out of the car a couple of times so the kids could see the water up close. But then we turned around and headed back the other way so we could stop and have lunch at Spud Fish & Chips. That was part of the plan from the beginning and although it was pretty busy there we managed to get table upstairs so we could look at the beach while we ate our food. It was a very nice trip and we plan on going back again when the weather is a little nicer so we can all take a walk on the beach next time