I wanted to take a minute and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving today. I only have about 30 or so readers, at least who use the feedburner feed to read this blog but I thought I would take the time anyway :)

I created this blog back in July 2004 and really didn't start posting to it until April of 2005. At that time and really even now I have not had a set direction for the blog. I have posted anything from personal stuff to work to family to church to technical stuff. I guess what ever crossed my mine at that time is what I posted. Through those years I have met either in real life or just online some good friends. In fact some really great friends who have opened their lives up to me and I hope I have done the same. We have shared our ups and our downs. We have prayed for each other when we needed it and it has been great getting to know these people. Through our connections, covering at least five states, we have shared our thoughts and our dreams. We have helped each other to grow and reach new levels with our walk with God and I can't wait to see where these friendships take me next.

Because of life and me wanting to be a better parent and husband and because of technology like Twitter, this blog has gone dormant. I didn't mean for it to but it just did. I still want to blog but I just need to find a direction for it. Will it be technology? Will it be church? Will it be family? I guess basically at first it was just personal. What ever I was doing or going to do was just what I blogged about. I guess I could continue to go down that road. It could also be for some of the challenges I have in my life right now. I need to lose weight and could always do a weight loss blog. Tips and tricks and status updates but I guess I need to get serious about doing that. I hope to really get on this in the new year. My doctor and I have talked several times about it but I just can't seem to get a handle on it.


11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13 (New International Version)


I know God has a plan for me but I have to start taking the time to making sure I am around to carry out that plan. God has been working on me to slow down and listen. I am sure He is trying to tell me what that plan is but I am just not listening. Maybe getting back to blogging will help in that endeavor or it may just be another tactic to get me to waste time.


Either way I am sure I will get it figured out. But like I said at the start.


Happy Thanksgiving :)

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Questapalooza!

What are you doing Sunday? I am helping out my buddy Paul Clifford by filling in as technical director for one of the segments. Right to Breath, Kutless and Kirk Franklin will be there. If you are not in the Lexington, Ky area, you can watch online. Check out the official website at qpza.com and at Quest Community Church website

dj

Update

Just figured I would post an update. Nothing really going on other than work and life :) Twitter is my main source of updates now. I don't get a lot of time to post on here anymore which is a shame. I need to. I am working on a plan to go to Catalyst this year and along with some of the people that I am going with are studying through a Google group "Walking With God" by John Eldridge. Great book so far.

I feel like he wrote this book just for me so far. It has been an encouragement for me with just the little I have read.

Well, as for the family, Misty and Zach have come down with a stomach bug but are getting better. Last night was rough for them.

Anyway, that's it for now. If you want more frequent updates, follow me here.

dj

Happy Birthday to my Bride :)

 

Just wanted to wish my wife a Happy Birthday today. She is the greatest thing to happen to me. :) Happy Birthday Babe

Tball is over

 


Well the season is over now. After 15 games, we are now 0-15. The team had a lot against them from the start. Three players quit before the first practice which only left 11. So if three can't make it, then the team had to forfeit. Also with fewer players, we couldn't take advantage of the rules that allow extra infielders. Also, some of the teams had players a lot older than ours so they were better.

But the players played great and got better each week. Because of rain outs, we ended up playing the same team three straight games. We played them last in the rotation so they were the last team we were to play during the regular season. Well the first game against them got rained out so they put them at the end of the season. Well they were also the No. 1 seed in the tournament so we had to play them in the first round.

The season has opened my eyes up for some things and some possible new oppurtunities for me at church. More details later :)

Anyway, I am proud of Colby. He has gotten better all season and his hitting has really come around. He hit a 2 rbi double today and may have gotten a triple if he had paid attention to his first base coach. He just paid attention to the bal and hit it sharply to the shortstop and it got by her and into the outfield. He headed to first and didn't see the first base coach motion him to second, by the time the outfielder got the ball into the infield, Colby was to second.

Colby loves Tball and baseball so this is a sport for sure we will see a lot in the future. :)

dj

Steven Curtis Chapman (Cinderella)

By now you have heard of the tragedy that stuck the Steven Curtis Chapman family. I ran across this video through a group on Facebook and it reminded me of the time I get impatient with my boys.

Hopefully I can remember this story and song when the boys are getting on my last nerve and remember how short our time here is.

dj

Wanting to post

I am sitting here watching "The Rookie" and thinking about how one part it reminds me of how I felt one night. Would like to post about it but just can't get into the mood. Maybe tomorrow.

dj

My prayer today

I was doing some searching today for some scripture that matches my thoughts at the moment and ran across Psalms 145 specifically verses 14-20. Must pray more.

14 The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. ;
15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. ;
16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. ;
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. ;
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. ;
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. ;
20 The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. ;
Psalms 145:14-20 (NIV)

dj

Prayer request

Just wanted to drop a note in real quick for some prayer. There are some decisions I need to make in the next couple of weeks to months. Don't want to go into a lot of detail right now. God knows what I am contemplating so just ask for God's wisdom in my decisions. Thanks.

dj

A whole lot of shaking going on

What woke you up on Friday morning? This is what woke me up.

Story in the Herald Leader

dj

Is this a bad thing?

I was reading through my RSS feeds today and ran across this AP story which is from the Courier Journal in Louisville, Ky. Here is another story on the matter from the Herald Leader out of Lexington.

I have student loans myself and I wish I didn't. I wish I had bucked up while in college and just worked for the money. I have those things hanging over my head for who knows how long. My wife is the same way. So we have one huge loan know that will probably take longer to pay off than our house. How sad is that. Personal finance is not being thought in our schools and that needs to change.

I wish I had learn more about it growing up and maybe I wouldn't be in the money mess I am in now. I hope I can pass better information to our boys so when they get to college either they already have it paid for or they work to help pay for it.

dj

Rough week

Well after a good week off for spring break, this week wasn't as good. Our van needs a tune up and we knew that while we were on break. We were headed back to Misty's hometown to see her best friend from high school who just had a baby and the van started missing. We pulled over to a auto parts store where someone came out and ran the diags on it which showed a cylinder misfiring. So back home since we didn't want to get out far from home with it.

Well the first couple of days I spend trying to figure out if I could change the spark plugs myself. After some research, I still don't know if I can or not but now that is not the main automobile problem I am having. I was taking Colby to tball practice on Wednesday and while stopping for some traffic and a stop light, we were rear ended. Long story short, the insurance company is coming to get my truck on Monday to see if it it totaled or not. So I may be car shopping in the future. Right now I have a rental which is a whole other story. I may go into it tomorrow. It will depend on what happens in the morning when I talk to the insurance company again.

dj

Spring Break

So I am on vacation and taking a break from a lot of stuff including Twitter :) So I should be back next week. Have a great one everyone.

Happy Birthday to me and several of my Twitter friends

Well today is my birthday and thanks to the internet and especially Twitter, I have found several others sharing my birthday.

So Happy Birthday also to:
@waynesutton
@sabbypar
@spanner_banana
@SilkCharm
@danefergan
@dearbarbz
@blackjack69n
@madmotive
@SunShyn
@blastStu
@webjungle
@cybner

Thanks to @waynesutton for compiling the list :)

Happy Birthday to us !!!! :)


dj

Untangle Gateway

Any Untangle Gateway users out there? We have been trying to test it for a couple of weeks now and every time we put it into production, our network traffic comes to a stop. We have a good set of hardware to run it on but nothing.

dj

Snow fun

100_1409
Originally uploaded by dljordaneku.

We finally got our big snow for the winter. We got about 4 inches on our back deck while areas to the north and west got well over a foot. We like to get one big snow each year so the boys can go out and play. And now we have it so bring on Spring time :)

dj

Daily Tweets

Well I guess I am going to be like Jason and turn off the daily tweets to my blog. It's not worth it. The only issue is that I can't get logged back into the service that I use to submit the tweets back to my blog. The thing I can do is to change the email address I can use to submit a post to my blog. I guess that service will have to deal with it.

I used an OpenID login for it and now it is not taking the login. At least I think that is the login I used :O Anyway, I guess I will just have to try later to get logged in to turn it off.

dj

Tweets for Today

• 00:09 Tweets for Today: 00:25 Tweets for Today: 00:08 Tweets for Today: 00:35 Tweets for Today: 00:08 Tweet.. tinyurl.com/2zkv7p #
• 08:37 I am tired and have a sinus headache. Not a fun day so far. #
• 09:40 @tracep: I didn't even notice that reference. #
• 10:12 @waynesutton: good luck. let us know how it goes :) #
• 10:35 @jimwalton: isn't IT always right? :) #
• 14:48 @jimwalton: and the world would be a lot better off if everyone realized that :) #
• 15:06 @mufan96: do you have an address for Rob Bell's podcast? #
• 15:35 @tracep: congratulations on getting the campus up and running :) #
• 16:08 @jimwalton: :( :( :( #
• 16:15 time to go home and rest. Might make it to church tonight. :) #
• 17:33 @jimwalton: I understand dude. Gotta give it time ;) #
• 19:03 Does tech move to fast for libraries or do they just not try? #
• 21:29 Just hanging with Misty while she watches Wifeswap. Man that family needs help. #

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Tweets for Today

• 00:25 Tweets for Today: 00:08 Tweets for Today: 00:35 Tweets for Today: 00:08 Tweets for Today: 09:40 @jimw.. tinyurl.com/37vac8 #
• 08:16 Trying to see what I can break in Active Directory today :) #
• 08:57 @jimwalton: so did you say Hey look kids, there's Big Ben, and there's Parliament, everytime you went around? :) #
• 10:35 @waynesutton: another note, automated weather forecast and weather alerts :) #
• 11:20 @jimwalton: I don't know if it is the fact that I have gtalk running on my BB also. Maybe it get confused but I usually gets messages on ... #
• 11:25 @jimwalton: maybe. I don't know. it does it sometimes when I am only logged into one place though. weird. #
• 11:30 @jimwalton: yea yea yea. :P #
• 12:16 @waynesutton: here are my stats. tweetstats.com/graphs/dljordaneku #
• 12:51 @jimwalton: be afraid. be very afraid. :) and run :) #
• 13:48 @waynesutton: did you buy my a moleskin ;) #
• 13:51 @waynesutton: LOL #
• 13:59 @tonysteward: I use it some. I have it syncing my google calendar to outlook so I can sync to my Treo. #
• 14:01 @tonysteward: yes, plus it gives me one place to keep my contacts in case something happens to outlook. #
• 14:25 @tonysteward: @jimwalton: I use IM all the time. just make sure you watch where you are logged in at. #
• 14:29 @jimwalton: I usually turn off my IM program here at work but sometimes IM still acts flaky. @tonysteward: just be aware :) #
• 14:30 @tonysteward: what I mean is that I use gtalk for mine and will be logged in at work, my BB and at home at the same time. #
• 14:31 @tonysteward: ok. I see what you are saying now. mis read :) #
• 15:50 Preparing to go home for dinner before my men's group tonight. #
• 15:59 What should I listen to on the way home. Dave Ramsey or Perry Noble :) #
• 16:13 I guess its perry :) #
• 18:15 Twitxr is not taking my photo by email. #

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Tweets for Today

• 00:08 Tweets for Today: 00:35 Tweets for Today: 00:08 Tweets for Today: 09:40 @jimwalton: we have spicework.. tinyurl.com/26uwt4 #
• 11:56 First Google reader and now Bloglines. My blog numbers are down again today. Bloglines not showing up in Feedburner. #
• 12:06 @waynesutton: what time? #
• 13:41 @waynesutton: deliver breaking news to followers or announce upcoming specials. #
• 17:54 @jimwalton: I think fire mountain is owned by Ryans. :) #
• 18:28 @waynesutton: i dont know if i will be on at 7. just letting you know #
• 18:29 Not getting via gtalk on I'm again. :( #
• 18:36 ok. gtalk finally started working again. weird. :) #
• 18:49 weird stuff. one minute it works and the next it doesn't. #
• 19:30 @jasonfalls: I seen that the other day. #
• 19:45 @waynesutton: did you need some help with something tonight? #
• 19:50 @waynesutton: ok #
• 20:40 does snaptweet just post your latest photo? #
• 22:09 @jasonpowell: yes they are. especially the laptop boxes :) #

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Tweets for Today

• 00:35 Tweets for Today: 00:08 Tweets for Today: 09:40 @jimwalton: we have spiceworks running here but haven.. tinyurl.com/ypjllg #
• 06:45 Good morning all:) three services on tap this morning. #
• 08:15 Have a great Sunday everyone. Let's win some souls for Christ. #
• 08:52 @tpmorgan: can't wait to hear it on the podcast. #
• 13:22 Services done. Headed home to find some lunch. #
• 16:30 @jimwalton: just seen your ? It was good. Had a young crew but most know what they r doing. #
• 17:21 arrgghh not getting twitter by IM again. help Twitter. #
• 19:39 @jimwalton @thetechnodiva: you two are not going to pass :) #
• 19:59 bad production on Foxsports on the NASCAR race. they left a graphic in and it covered up what they wanted to show #
• 20:11 @jimwalton: I don't know. I think you can always go back and borrow the video and watch it at home for makeup work :) #
• 20:14 @jasonfalls: Nope. you are not. :) #
• 21:18 Oh well. Nascar should be done for the night. #

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Tweets for Today

• 00:08 Tweets for Today: 09:40 @jimwalton: we have spiceworks running here but haven't had the time to play .. tinyurl.com/33957c #
• 10:43 @jasonfalls: congrats on 1000 subscribers :) #
• 11:45 @jasonfalls: I seen your twit about it :) #
• 11:46 Just finished picking up some painting supplies and now to lunch with the fam #
• 12:11 @jasonfalls @jimwalton: opps you are right. Sorry jason :( #
• 15:13 In pre production meeting with producer. #
• 16:21 Getting ready for rehearshal. #
• 17:23 Rehearshal done. Fisrt service starts in about 7 minutes. #
• 18:26 @jimwalton: have fun. #
• 19:21 Service and posr production done. Time to go home and rest for thre more. #
• 20:11 Resting at home. Have three more services in the morning. #
• 20:58 @jasonfalls: is there an owner of the board other than the mod? #

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Tweets for Today

• 09:40 @jimwalton: we have spiceworks running here but haven't had the time to play with it. to many other irons in the fire :) #
• 10:08 @jimwalton: yea, I know but we need to rename some machines still and make sure the admin info are the same on all of them #
• 10:54 humm. getting hungry. what should I have for lunch? #
• 13:09 just finished lunch. Chinese #
• 13:11 now I need a nap #
• 13:55 @waynesutton: those look good. Can I have one :) #
• 14:19 @jimwalton: is that all it was? #
• 14:34 sad that I missed coffee with Greg ;) #
• 15:02 Downloading latest podcast from Newspring, FlatIrons and Fellowship. #
• 15:02 Downloading latest podcast from Newspring, FlatIrons and Fellowship. And oh yea, Willow Creek. #
• 15:44 @waynesutton: I think I have found some software and instructions to make my photo from sunday into a 3d image :) #
• 15:55 @waynesutton: yea. :) I will try and work on it over the weekend. :) #
• 16:02 Time to go home and see what is going on tonight. I'm directing at church this weekend so the weekend is packed. :) #
• 18:36 @waynesutton: I am so close on the 3d image :( #
• 18:55 Twitter NASCAR entry :) - photo at twitxr.com/dljordaneku/updates/5841 #
• 18:56 @jimwalton: enjoy the evening :) #
• 19:46 Missing twits by im again :( hoping this post will fix it. #
• 19:47 @waynesutton: good seats huh. New nascar pic uploaded. #
• 19:55 @waynesutton: try this twitxr.com/image/5841/th/ #
• 19:59 @thetechnodiva: I found a template and software online. Will post links later. #
• 20:06 @waynesutton: np. Enjoy the game :) #

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Twitter

I guess one reason I haven't blogged a lot lately is Twitter. Basically Twitter is a service that ask what you are doing and you have 140 character to answer. People follow you and when you submit a response, those people get that sent to them. You can use various third part applications to use Twitter as well as instant message. I personally use Gtalk for it so I can follow by using my Blackberry. But you can also just use the web by logging into Twitter's website.

You can follow me here. So what are you doing? Remember, you only have 140 characters :)
dj

OpenID and blog

Well, we will see if I have this setup correctly or not. But I set up Twitterfeed for my blog to see if it will send out my blog updates. Here we go :)
dj

Church podcasting made easy

Wow, I must be getting back into this blogging thing :) Anyway, I was rummaging around the Joomla extensions site tonight and ran across this one. From the website

This component will manage mp3 sermons for churches on a Joomla website. It has an integrated Flash MP3 Player and supports iTunes integration, RSS feeds and the use of videos (.FLV).

I haven't used it so your mileage may vary but if you have a church website using Joomla, then this should be worth looking into.

Directing

This weekend was my scheduled weekend to work production at church. I was scheduled to be the technical director, you know, push the right buttons when the director tells you to push them. The key word is was. I get there and on the staff tells me that I am directing. Ok. If I had known, I would have showed up for the producers meeting with the director and the assistant director. It was an interesting service to direct as it was kind of broken up in different pieces. Not your normal music then announcements and then message. No, the message was broken up into four parts with music mixed in with it.

Everything went ok. It wasn't my first time directing but I was told I was going to be placed into the mix for directors after the next month or so. I got a lot of good tips from the staff member that technical directed for me. I have a lot to learn but it was fun and I can't wait to learn more. So, if you have any directing tips, pass them along :)

dj

Finances and taxes

Yuck. I'm tired already of taxes. Ok not really. I guess having a small income and three kids pays off sometimes ;) But really, it's time to start really getting our finances under control so hopefully this year I can get better organized and play a better role in our money. Misty pays the bills and handles pretty much everything but hopefully I can take that over this year.

A friend of mine is going to give me an old version of some finance software he has. He gets the newest version each year when he buys his tax software so that frees up the older version :) Hopefully I can jump in with that and take over our finances and mange it instead of it manging us.

I guess one good thing is that Dave Ramsey is coming to our church in March for two nights and I am going to be working production for at least one if not both nights. We have taking his Financial Peace University but it's always good to get a refresher and some additional motivation.

Anyway, here is hoping 2008 will be the year we beat the financial monster. :)

dj

Just upset

I just want to ask why people have to say stuff about people when they don't have a clue :( Just asking.