Meme-a-Go-Go

Kev at SKOS has tagged me with a double shot of meme. First is a “To Do List” meme describing five things on my “to do” list for this week that are not work related.

Five Things to Do On a Wireless Mac When Wi-Fi Is Not Available

Laptops with Wi-Fi capability have made our lives much easier and have made our digital lives much more portable. We can check our email, surf the web, purchase and download music or video content, play online games, that is, IF a Wi-Fi connection is available. That is the proverbial clincher. There are many businesses which provide free Wi-Fi (such as Starbucks and even Krystal!), but public Wi-Fi connectivity can not yet boast ubiquity. So what do you do when you are stuck waiting in a doctor’s office, a restaurant, a barber shop, a mall, etc. with your Macbook, Macbook Pro, iBook or Powerbook with no Wi-Fi to speak of?

Thankfully you are not left without some source of entertainment. Some of these options you may have to plan ahead for but others come right on your Mac.

Working From Home

Due to a delay in the securing of a new contract by my company (it should be inked by this summer), my place of work is attempting to curb some of its operating expenses by pre-approving all vacation time. Basically this means that if you have any available time and you would like to take it, then it is all approved. Legally a company can not force it’s employees to take time off so really all our managers can do is offer us the opportunity. But of course little convincing was needed. This announcement was made last Thursday and Friday the office seemed rather empty.

So I decided I would treat myself to a Monday off. Here I am at home relaxing with my wife (who just returned from Vida Nueva last night). Actually I use the term “relaxing” loosely since our day ended up being shopping for a few small items we have been needing and going to see the film I Am Legend at the dollar theater.  Then we came home and watched some classic television online (thanks to the Video on Demand services of CBS and NBC).  All in all a great day off.

This day has made me wish even more that I could find a good work-at-home job.  That (or owning a business) would be a dream come true.

Josh H.

Destructive Prosperity: A Smack Down On Incorrect Doctrine

There is a new gospel that is pervading modern Christianity. Pastor David Curtis of Berean Bible church calls it a “destructive gospel”. The prosperity/name-it-and-claim-it gospel has become big money. This is the false gospel that tickles ears and makes folks feel good about going to church because they know that they are going to hear about all the earthly treasures they are storing up. They are taught that God is poised to pour out these rich earthly treasures on them the moment they say it or believe or claim it.

“Christian” Music, “Christian” Artists…We Should All Be “Christians”

Prior to the spring of 2000, it was very easy for me to find music I liked. I pretty much like anything with distorted guitars or a solo somewhere or other. I owned close to a hundred CD’s ranging from Aerosmith to Filter, from Metallica to Pearl Jam, from Pink Floyd to Smashing Pumpkins. But during my 1999/2000 year of college I began to realize I was not a happy person. In fact I felt downright depressed all of the time. And just ask Lyndsay, it is hard to be around a person like that. One day I was feeling very unhappy and I began to pray and then I began to cry. It was an illuminating experience. I believe I was shown something about myself that day. Music had always been a huge part of my life and often songs could express how I was feeling better than my speaking the words. That is still the case in many respects. That day I thought for the first time that perhaps the music I listened to was having a negative effect on me. Before I go any further, let me alay your fears: this post is not about the so-called evils of secular music nor do I believe that in order to be a good Christian you must give up secular music. I am just telling my story (as Aslan would probably say this is my story, not yours). So in 2000 I gave up listening to secular music.

Using GIMP Image Editing With Leopard

I just love the Open Source community. Not only are there tons of great free applications out there but also there are so many folks who have figured out different tips and tricks for using and customizing those apps.

Here’s a case-in-point from a recent experience of mine. When I was still running Mac OS X Panther on my Mac Mini, I needed to be able to edit and create new images for the different stuff I do here at The Smoak House. My editor of choice (since I could not afford Photoshop) was GIMP. It is an open source (i.e. free) image editor that is very much like Photoshop. It has suited me well. But alas, all good things must come to an end. When I and thousands of other Mac users upgraded to Mac OS X Leopard in 2007 many of us were shocked and dismayed that GIMP does not run on Leopard. And to this day it still does not.

I began to seek out other Photoshop alternatives but none of the other free ones could touch GIMP much less Photoshop. I had resolved myself to the fact that I would be stuck buying something. I tried out Iris by NoLobe, which is not out yet because it is still in beta. But I could try out the beta version of it and even pre-order the real version for only $39. But after using Iris for a while it is clear that it is not what I am looking for. So I decided to search around on the internet to see if there was any news that GIMP might be soon coming to Leopard. Enter Wilber Loves Apple. WLA is an open source group that has developed a Leopard-compatible build of GIMP. I was so pleased to find out about this website. And not only do they offer their improvements to GIMP but their forums are full of tips and video tutorials that will help folks like me learn GIMP even better (because right now I can only do basic stuff when it comes to image editing).

The open source community has come through for me again and I am eager to get back to creating images to use on my website. My hearty thanks to Wilber Loves Apple.

Josh H.