When Fruit Spoils

I've had an interesting ride with Apple. Working with them and their products is not quite as good and easy as the commercials would have you believe. I'm working on my 3rd replacement MacBook Pro.

I received my 2nd replacement in late March. Within two weeks I was calling Apple because the hard drive had 'unregistered' files on it that couldn't be found, but were consuming about 1/3 of the drive. Then, a few weeks later I met with the lead genius at the Apple Genius Bar because of recurring 'kernel panic attacks' (think blue screen of death... only it's black).

Even though the lead genius insisted the problem was my software, Apple eventually decided it was the logic board (Mac-speak for motherboard) and replaced the unit, which I've been using for a couple of weeks now and all is well.

AppleCare
I called today to transfer the extended warranty coverage (Protection Plan) to the new MacBook Pro. I was surprised they were charging me for having the old system for a couple of months while they figured out what was wrong with it! Here's what I learned:

• If you don't buy their Protection Plan, you get 90 days of free unlimited tech support plus one year warranty coverage.
• If you buy their Protection Plan, everything changes! Your warranty doesn't kick in until the Protection Plan runs out (2 years), then the warranty coverage begins-- but you get free unlimited tech support for all three years. That's why they only refund a portion of the Protection Plan even though the request is made within 90 days.

I found that confusing! Am I the only one?

SPAM's Hittin' Hard!

SPAM seems to be on the increase! Have you noticed it too?

We host SPAM filtering for churches and ministries for a flat rate of only $50/month per email server-- regardless of how many users are on their system. Sundays are usually slow SPAM days. But yesterday our Barracuda 600 was hit by more than 132,000 emails, of which under 1,100 were valid! More than a third were unknown users!

The SPAM servers are spitting out tons of junk! How are you protecting your team?

Why Dean's One of My Heroes

Dean Lisenby is one of my heroes. He is a terrific IT guy, and has a heart that is solidly "after God's own heart."

I sent an email to him this morning, and got an auto-response that was wonderful! It said:

I'm out of the office until July 7th attempting to recover from being an email addict. I am enjoying my family and will not respond immediately. I will only be checking email once a day at night, when possible. My 6 year old daughter has made it clear that emails and text messages are not acceptable during family time.

Way to go, Dean! Thanks for prioritizing your family time! That is something you'll never regret.

Dean doesn't take himself too seriously either. When visiting the ACS offices a few years ago, I walked into a dress-up day (was it on Halloween, Dean?). Dean and I took this picture together.


Dean is one of many whom God has graciously allowed me to get to know. I'm thankful for guys like him who lead the way and show what it means to love your God, your family, and those with/for whom you work. Thanks, Dean! And he's a snappy dresser!

Lead on, brother!

A follow-up thought: I consider all who are focused on living the way God wants to be modern-day heroes of the faith. They are those that, as Paul said, others can follow if they want to know what it means to live for Christ. And isn't that what a hero is? Someone we aspire to be like?

First Cars

My first car was a 1966 Buick Wagon Special (like the one in the picture, but mine was midnight blue) that I bought for $150 on 1970. It was a great car that my best friend and I spent hours cleaning and fixing up.

I loved that car. In fact, I still have the license plate from it hanging in my garage!

When our daughter got her driver license last fall, a friend offered to give her a car they no longer needed! It's a light blue 1986 Volvo Wagon. Amanda loves it! She spent a bunch of time cleaning it and caring for it.


Amanda's coming home from her summer mission trip in about a week-- 8 days, 22 hours, and 58 minutes, to be exact! Unfortunately I'll be out of town at the NACBA Conference, so I wanted to do something to welcome her home. I filled her car up at the station with the drive-through car wash and had it washed and waxed too. What a riot! When the power washer went over the car, I found out that the door and window seals leak a LOT! So does the moonroof seal! I got showered!

I sat there thinking about her driving such an old-- yet safe-- car, and realized there may be some wisdom in it... though I can't take credit for it since it was our friend who gave the car to her.

• Young drivers make mistakes sometimes, and so it's nice that her car was not a big investment. If something happens to the car, I'm okay with that.
  
• I think giving her too nice of a car now might set up unreasonable expectations for her future car purchases. If she started at the top of the heap, where would she go from there? That could be tough on her husband to live up to early in their marriage.
  
• Having an older car that needs to be babied a little probably helps to appreciate what it takes to be considered a good steward. The one who is faithful will be given more responsibility.

Am I just trying to justify her driving such an old car? Maybe, but I don't think so... what do you think?

Make Plans for the Fall CITRT @ Seacoast Church!

This semi-annual event has become a highlight for me. It attracts IT Directors and Network Administrators from around the U.S., and the discussion is always good. If there's any way you can make it there. do so! It'll be worth your time, effort, and money! Click here to learn more.

Heroes of the Faith

This morning just after dawn our sixteen year old daughter, Amanda, took off for a thirty-day mission trip. She and a friend from school, Charles, are on their way to AIM's camp for five days, followed by 3-1/2 weeks ministering to natives up the Amazon River!

Amanda and Charles are going to have some incredible experiences that few today can share. They will get to be true servants to people who live in a completely different culture. Their faith in God will grow deeper as they see God work through them, around them, and in them.

True Confessions
I must confess that at first some of my focus was on how fun it'll be to be alone with my wonderful bride! We had six years alone before Amanda, our only child, and grew a terrific friendship. But as the time drew close to Amanda's leaving, I found myself already missing her. She's a terrific person with a magnetic personality. I can't wait for her return!

Click here for reports from The Jungle!

Why Does Everyone Blame the Other Guy?

Have you noticed that too? So often when you talk to someone about technical support, they blame the other guy! It's almost as prevalent rule of life as Murphy's Law!

• I took my Mac in to the Apple "Genius" Bar because of a hardware problem. The lead genius said it must be software. It wasn't.
• A client of ours called their CMS provider, who blamed their woes on the network configuration. It wasn't.

We hear those kind of stories all the time, and it gets tiring. I'm waiting for my car dealer to blame my squeaking brakes on the high cost of gas prices...

Speaking of high gas prices, why is it the politicians can't seem to understand that we're in this situation because their system doesn't allow us to drill our own oil or build refineries? They're blaming it on OPEC, SUVs, and our wasteful lifestyles. While we are wasteful, isn't this crisis artificial since we have enough oil of our own to last us, I heard, for a hundred years or more? Doesn't that place the blame at the politicians' feet for this and also the fact that we're sending so much of our money overseas?

Oh well... it's never our fault, right?