blog.stuco.me

Churches I have worked with in the past have an undocumented policy of not granting volunteers and interns (who work with church data) personalized network accounts and church email addresses. Rather, each ministry is assigned a generic volunteer account and email. If there are multiple volunteers, they must share. From the SysAdmin viewpoint, I agree with this solely on the premise that volunteer turnover is generally higher than an employee and the administration of adding and deleting accounts is greater. But, what about liability and accountability? Even though the church does background checks and matches giftedness to available opportunities, why don't we assigned personalized email addresses? This might even be a business administration or legal question. Lately, I've experienced that church employees who recruit the volunteers expect them to be granted a 'firstname.lastname@somechurch.org' email address and seem to take offense when I suggest the generic method....

Man, what happened to me? I haven't posted a thing in over 4 days! Yup, vacation's over, my almost 500 emails since returning have been processed and the wave of life is calming down. Time to kick it into a higher gear :)

Something I thought about while traveling and has really captured my heart as if for the very first time... Whether I am blessed with riches from Heaven, or stripped of all I own; Whether I enjoy a long and healthy life, or suffer agony from painful disease; Whether my friends lift me higher, or my enemies plot against me; Whether my legacy be blessed, or my name be cursed; The Master's purpose is to draw me closer to Him, And through me, make His love and glory known to others. To Know Him and Make Him Known - That is my purpose. Amen.

Next to Microsoft , Dell is a Church Tech's best friend (unless anyone knows of something better). We decided to take a more scenic way home, which means a later E.T.A. at the homestead.

After 3 days away from home and 39 well-spent hours at Westin's La Cantera (our favorite Hill Country Hangout), we're packing up and heading home. I've learned some things on this vacation: here's a list of 10 of them in no particular order. Coppertone Sport continuous Spray SPF30 does not work. Unless is comes out of a squeeze bottle like mayonnaise, don't trust it. The Hospitality Industry can be a good model for churches in how they connect with people. Souvenir shops sell the same junk since I was a kid and yet we still buy them. The junk, not the shops. Whatever you plan on spending on vacation, it's not enough. San Antonio seriously lacks a visible, from the highway Starbucks presence. Come on guys, where are you hiding them? No matter how good the vacation is, it's always good to be back home. Car DVD Player With Two 7" LCD Screens at Wal-Mart - enough said. An omelet covered in hot sauce is a good thing. God's majesty, grace and love su...

If you've ever traveled on I-35 anywhere near Texas, then you have almost certainly seen the signs for the Natural Bridge Caverns (200, 300 or 400 miles to go). Well after seeing these signs myself for almost 25 years, I finally went. It's hard not to think about God's great handiwork when you look upon the (super)natural formations. That's our second son, Trevor, striking the casual pose.

Despite the earlier rain, The Shamu Adventure got the whole family in awesome spirits!

Less than 24 hours ago, we called an Emergency Family Meeting and told the kids we were going to Sea World . Had a nice drive to Austin last night, stayed over at a Holiday Inn and now, we're back on I-35 to San Antonio. Mom is at the helm and plugged into the iPod; Kids are plugged into a DVD; Dad is blogging at 75 mph. "Ooh, look Kids, another water tower!"

Jim Walton raised an interesting discussion among the voices in my head when he recently posted about his wife, Mary , asking the question "What is IT?" The initial response was that "IT" is a very vague and generalized field involving the "T" - Technology. But what about the "I" - Information? What does Information Technology really mean?? Merriam-Webster Online defines Information as the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence. Technology is derived from the Greek word technologia, meaning the systematic (or logical) treatment of an art or skill. From this, I interpret Information Technology as systematically transmitting and receiving knowledge or intelligence. Looking at the IT chain from the inside out chain, you can see that Network Engineers, Systems Engineers, Database Administrators, Application Developers, Desktop Support, and the Help Desk are all involved in Information Technology. Most of the time, I get so caught u...

Some "one man" IT guys can do it all, but when it comes to pulling cable, I'm out! It just is not my skill. I like to solve problems, figure out how software works and research new ways that technology can make our lives better. I even like building computers with my bare hands. But those folks that get up in the ceiling tiles day after day, traipsing through buildings trying to locate cables and punching down the silly things - GOD LOVE ALL OF YOU! I'm in desperate need of your time and skills, because as I have proven to myself time after time after time, I am not a cable guy.

... I might need professional help. Although these weren't all mine, two of them were and I hit the ground running this morning. I'm actually "on vacation" from my day job, but my personal to-do list is off the charts. Oh, and don't think for a second that "daddy time" is being sacrificed. Yesterday, we drove north to Oklahoma and spend the afternoon swimming at Turner Falls and this evening, after supper, we tried to find a park to play at, but ended up getting lost in Cedar Hill . What fun! I love vacations. Even though you there's not much physical rest, you get the stuff done that really matters.

I just had to pull off the freeway to snap this spectacular shot in Arlington, TX. My home is in the next town north - Euless. Our God is an awesome God!

... or maybe a hit on his blog. I came across Gary's blog through Terry's site and I really dig his writing style. It's easy to read and very amusing. Almost as if I'm chatting with the Mad Babbler face-to-face. Anyway, my purpose for introducing you to Gary is to get you to visit him, say "Hi" and generate some hit count statistics. You see, Gary and some of his mates from the office are trying to out-do each other in the blog ratings and Mr. Storch is their measure of blogging greatness. That's why I'm here to add fuel to a very friendly fire :) Go Gary, Go Gary, Go-Go Go Gary!!

Todd Cochrane of the Geek News Central Podcast and author of the book Podcasting recently gave a 45-minute talk at a Brown Bag Lunch on how to start your own podcast. It's a very good primer and covers how to produce a podcast on budget while effectively keeping your home life healthy. Todd goes over audio equipment, software, computer hardware, blog hosts, web hosting services and RSS. It's an end-to-end introduction to the exploding world of "take it with you" media. Todd lives in Hawaii with his wife and four children. You can download the audio in MP3 here .

In a later blog post that will explain why, I will find myself, at the end of the week, without my trusty Tablet PC - forever :( And so begins the agony of shopping for a new one. I say agony because for me, striking the right balance between price, power, options, battery life, and weight is very time consuming and reading reviews (often conflicting) gives me a headache. I didn't use my Toshiba Portege 3505 as a tablet very much, but when I did it was VERY handy and now Toshiba has a multitude of tablets that are just as much in price as a regular laptop. Also, the brand was really reliable (or was I just lucky?). But wait, I'm talking myself into a purchase without considering the cool new technology that's come out since I was last in the market (that's what reading Engadget and Gizmodo will do for you).

When I came across Mark's blog , I instantly saw his passion for music and worship. Then as I delved deeper into his posts, I noticed that he draws every topic and thought back to the central truths of the Bible. Oh he doesn't only blog on spiritual or church matters, no, he shares about movies, music, marriage, etc., and brings each post back around to the Kingdom of Heaven. Also, down the margin of his site, Mark references (with artwork) books he's reading, his favorite albums, show's that he TiVos and so on. If Relevant Magazine were to build a blog, this is how I would imagine it. Fantastic stuff, Mark.

Thanks to the gang at This Week in Tech for their podcast discussion about wi-fi liabilities. Although nothing was resolved in the discussion, it definitely lays a good foundation for numerous blog conversations. Ready? Here we go. THE WIND-UP : I have a nice strong Buffalo router at the north end of my home and the same brand access point acting as a repeater at the south end, thus nicely blanketing my home in an 'Excellent' wi-fi signal. THE PITCH : It is also unprotected. That's right - no WEP/WPA encryption and broadcasting its presence to anyone who wants to get on my information super-fly-way. Now, after you've pick yourself up off the floor, I must tell you that I live pretty deep in an established neighborhood and I believe the probability of Internet hackers breaking in to the network is greater than some mega-geek sitting in his/her car right outside my home lifting my Quicken data. Besides, all of my PC's are firewalled and protected, so I have no res...

One of the blogs I've found in my travels is Humble Reflection by Jud Stone . His writing just puts me in the right mood and the reflections of God's blessings in his life causes me to "humbly reflect" on the Lord's goodness throughout my own pilgrimage. As I was reading through his posts, I saw that we share another bond - we are both fathers to boys and we desire for God's character to flow through us and be permanently grafted in them. Jud, I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Sir.

It's true. Now that I've ripped all of our CDs into iTunes (including the Kids' CDs) and subsequently onto the iPod, I find that my wife uses it almost as much as me. In the morning, she's blasting music from it onto the kitchen radio. If she's going somewhere by herself, "Babe, where's the iPod?". In the family van on the weekends, she's spinning the clickwheel like a veteran DJ flippin' the wax. Don't get me wrong, I am not bitter in the least. Rather, I am totally jazzed that she "gets it". Now, I'm saving my pennies to buy her a "shePod". By the way, I don't think my darling would be using the iPod nearly as much if it weren't for the Griffin iTrip (er, weTrip?). It's a definite must-have accessory.

The past few days, I've been tied up in Blog Diving! Don't worry, you're not missing out on the latest craze. It's just a name I made up for "diving" into the comments on blogs I have subscribed to and finding many other bloggers who share my interests and subscribing to them. I am building quite a healthy subscription list of folks, especially in Church IT, that I never knew existed. This week, I'll be dedicating one post per day to the new blogs I've found.