"It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams." - Reagan
Today I had reasonably long conversations with 5 different sales people: John, Tony, Michelle, Wade, Aaron.
I now have some very formal opinions about sales and tech support positions.
John, Tony, and Michelle all work for Paymentech. All three of these people were pleasant, kind, and generally helpful. It did take a few phone calls to get the information that I needed, but I didn't mind because the waits were very short and the people were pleasant enough.
Wade works for Authorize.Net. When I called, I asked for pricing for their payment gateway. He gave me straight up answers to all my questions.
Aaron works for another company (which will remain nameless as I have not used their product and do not want to speak ill of them for just a couple sales calls). My experience with Aaron was a little, one sided. He was extremely helpful in the area of education concerning payment gateway, which was nice. After the education time was over, things went a little down hill. It took me about 5 minutes to get to the price. Once I got there, it was rather steep (at least it wasn't in my price range).
Perhaps I reacted to the price, or maybe it was my mention of using Authorize.Net. From that point on I heard nothing but the accolades of the product he was selling. He encouraged me to call Authorize.Net back to ask them more questions. I did. I then called him back and gave him the info. My comparitive shopping was not to his liking. "Well if you don't care about your transactions..." and "That's not the prices they quoted yesterday. Did you ask him to give it to you in writing?"
It was a little overwhelming since I only intended on getting a price quote. After the "brow-beating" I decided that I would take my "risks" with Authorize.Net.
Wade, my dear friend at Authorize.Net has sent me the sign up form. Sorry Aaron.
I just watched the trailer for another hero movie coming out this November. It's called Mater and Commander: the far side of the world. I don't know much about it except what I learned from the trailer.
It seems to be primarily focused on courage. It seems that most of the conflict deals with endurance, commitment, and leadership rather than good guy vs. bad guy.
I would like to find out more, but I thought I'd let you all know about it for those who follow the film industry.
New day.
Lots to do.
Many ideas.
No room on my desk.
Some on the floor.
The whiteboards there.
Need to put nails in concrete.
Later.
New morning.
Full of promise.
Full of drowsyness and English Breakfast Tea.
Some oatmeal too.
Nice and cold outside as well me thinks.
CSS guru found on page simplebits.com.
Need to be a guru myself.
Just in what God's given me.
No need to covet.
Too much to do now.
"Iron sharpening iron."
Today I will glorify Him.
It's happened again. Almost a two weeks have gone by and I haven't blogged.
How do these other bloggers do it? What does it take to keep up with everything one has to do in one's life? Is there any end in sight for the vain and vexing daily events we all should enjoy?
To many questions. For now, suffice it to say that since I think the entire time I'm walking (and working) then I should use every spare moment to jot my ideas down. Blog or paper.
Since I will never have the answers to every problem, I will do my best to blog. Hopefully, my snippets of thought will foster other synapses to ping, fingers to tingle, and blogging to happen. In that way, Lord willing, we will inspire each other.
There have to be more Christians writing, dreaming, creating. Since it is better to produce than complain, I have written this entry with more to follow.
Fact: there's nothing to do online.
Fact: I want to change that.
Fact: time to write, create, dream, produce.
Work is a God given opportunity to for man to be like their Creator. For the Christian, it is the opportunity to show His Love and to Live it out in how we work, what we do, and who we inspire with it.
Carpe diem,
corum DEO.
John Collins, a former New Yorker and owner of the e-ink blog gives his perspective of September 11th, 2001.
e-ink: An unwanted anniversary
Have you ever had one of those moments when you know you being cared for by the Creator of the World? I think it must be akin to the feeling that Elijah's servant had when the Lord opened his eyes so that he could see the heavenly army.
I just enjoyed such a revelation.
I finished my work at Bob Jones University recently. I have worked there for the past nine or ten years. For most of those years I have been dreaming about creating my own business.
Over the past few years I've been creeping closer and closer to doing just that. Today, is my first full day of work for myself. That sentence, however, seems heretical now that I know what's really happening.
I'm not working for myself. I'm work for the Loving Creator of the Universe.
Of course I've "known" that, but knowing is often very different from experiencing or even understanding.
The revelation of God's Love for us is most evident when everything (for at least a moment) comes together. We understand our purpose, we see His hand in events of the past, we feel His presence in the last few moments, and know that His care will be there in the future even when we don't feel it.
I do this Truth little justice with this entry, but I had to write something to tell anyone who reads this that:
There is a Loving, Creator God who so passionately Loves your soul that He cares for you every need from beginning to end. He does "above and beyond all that we ask or think." His greatness is past finding out. We exist for His glory and nothing else.
Boxes and Arrows is an online Information Architector e-zine that I read occasionally. In wandering around the site I found an article about their early days. Reading this (and admirring their site) is actually what started the idea of turning ourpeace.net into an e-zine.
I'm beginning to pray about ourpeace.net more fervently. I'd love for anyone interested in helping us with ourpeace.net to take a look at this article: Welcome to Boxes and Arrows. I figure if a few people can get excited enough about IA, a few Christians could get excited enough to build a web site about knowing True Peace. Sound good? 8o)
Pragmatism has been inflicted upon web designers seeking standards compliance. If we seek to implement the open standards set forth by the various standards groups (particularly the W3C), our efforts are cut short by slow moving, monolithic, corporations who care little for the progress of technology and only for the revenue they might generate or the market they may claim.
It is thus that we are forced to make concessions for last years technology. It's time the world upgraded. Here are three options:
All of these browsers are based on the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine. Gecko is as close to full standards compliance as you will find on the web.
These project represent the future of the web. There is still hope. 8o)
Laziness now means more work later.
I'm currently reaping the benefits of the later half of that sentence.
Now to keep others from enjoying the same experience.
Back to the grind...
This eating, breathing, walking, sneazing, dreaming, Loving, living, working, praying, talking, reading, writing thing we've been doing all day is Life. It's just that.
Eternal consequence? Certainly.
Vain as catching wind? Definitely.
Vexing? Often.
If we Live for Christ, it makes since, it fits, it works, we thrive, we enjoy, we dream, we Live.
Everything under the sun is vanity and vexation of spirit. Outside of Christ. Inside of Him there is Life and "that more abundantly."
"This is the urgency: Live!" - Gwendolyn Brooks
Carpe diem
corum DEO!
There are those days when production on something goes clipping along and then all of a sudden WHAM! you hit this previously imperceptible blockade (a.k.a. a glass ceiling). Your options now are to either head the other way or beginning looking for (or developing) a glass cutter.
Glass ceilings. These too are vanity and vexation of spirit.
In seeking to live out the motto Carpe diem Corum DEO, I am seeking ways to Live Christ using the gifts He has given me.
Almost two years ago, some friends of mine and I began a "tract" site called ourpeace.net. It's still up and running. I'm afraid it hasn't changed much in the last couple of years. I have learned a lot more about web publishing since the project's early days, and so I'm ready (armed with a richer focus and more fervent Love for my Savior) to build a site to His glory and for the spread of His Gospel.
What I need now is help...
I know many of you who occasion this blog when wandering the web are seasoned writers and/or bloggers. OurPeace.net needs to be more than a static tract that we hope people find, and that they might just read. I think as active Ambassadors for Christ we could provide the web community with a Peace focused e-zine that would give them a Christ-centered view of the World.
I have a blog set up on BensFriends.com for the ourpeace blog. Currently, there's nothing there, but that will change with your help.
Beyond writers, we are going to need translators, dreamers, cheerleaders, prayer warriors, and evangelists.
Last time we endeavored to do this I set the deadline to short and frustrated us all (sorry folks). This time, I'm giving us until the beginning of August. I would like it to be ready by the beginning of the fall semester for most schools.
Even if your not interested in any of the afore mentioned occupations, please comment with ideas and suggestions that we might be able to implement. We'll need all the help from the Body that we can get.
Carpe diem
Corum DEO.
"Now is the time..." I've pondered life long enough and the conclusion I've come to is that life under the sun is filled with vanity and vexation of spirit (special thanks to Solomon for writing this down). 8o)
Two objectives remain:
His commandments are just these two things:
These have been broad, nebulous concepts to me until very recently. Love, for anyone, is made up of actions that express that Love. It takes more than thoughts, and it even takes more than words. It takes life. All of it.
The Call to Action is this:
Carpe diem
Corum DEO
(Seize the day for God).
Today we have been given all that we need to succeed in the tasks we're given.
We have enough joy,
enough sadness,
enough pleasure,
enough pain,
enough strength,
enough weakness,
enough sun,
enough rain.
With Christ providing all that we need, we have only to Live out what He asks.
His Love constrains us. He will keep us focused. He will teach us as a Loving Father. He will not give us stones if we ask for bread. Our God shall supply all our needs.
So for today, I will live for Christ.
Today, I will Love.
Today, I will pray.
Today, I will live.
Today, dream
Today, act.
Today, walk.
Today, run.
That in nothing I should be ashamed.
Carpe diem
Corum DEO.
Sometimes inspiration comes in waves. You find yourself overwhelmed by ideas. You become excited, almost agitated (because of course you can't follow the inspiration right then).
Then there are those other times...
The not-so-happy-times.
The times when you look at a stack of undone projects and your mind wings its way through your entire earthly history enumerating all the things you've never done.
They add up,
and fast.
I want to work out my inspiration.
I want to see things come to fruition.
I have a propensity for being defeatist when it comes to undone work.
I'm not completely sure what the remedy is for this predicament.
I'm sure it involves humility.
I'm sure I've got to get my focus of myself and my projects, and put them on Someone eternal.
I'm sure it needs to happen this morning.
"On April 22, 1993, a group of students at the University of Illinois released a piece of computer code designed to get information from various public networks." from news.com's Mother of Invention article.
As the browser world appoaches adolescences there is a growing need for standardization. The standardization of the browser has been inhibited by the bully of every information technology school yard, Microsoft.
In 1995 Microsoft set out to become number one in the browser market. Seven years later, they've succeeded (but at great cost to the industry and the consumer).
More on all this later. For now, check out Upstarts: Evolution creates second wave from CNET's News.com.
While cleaning out my desk at work today I found a piece of paper which had a short paragraph scratched on it. The text was written in reference to the bjup.com site I designed and maintained a few years back.
"It's all in 'what we want to do.' If we are going to sell products online, then that needs to be our focus. If we are going to position ourselves as a Christian Education "portal," then let's do that. In summary: if we are going to be on the web we must have a focus."
Focus.
I haven't blogged much about the war. I may in the future. For now I want to provide a link to someone who has.
I'm not sure why this has happened exactly, but it would seem that the Christian community (at least the facet I'm familiar with) has been sitting on its hands for a while. I don't want to cast any disparaging remarks on anyone or any organization. I know that we are each responsible for our individual actions and that God's plan is being worked out no matter what.
That said, I think it's time for some more action. I know there are projects all over the place wanting to do all sorts of things. I'm not convinced that we need more "projects", but I'm pretty sure we need more people or rather more of the people we have.
I've never been a big fan of quantity over quality (especailly not in the venue). We have people, we have projects, but we waste our time.
I'd like to issue a call to all who read this blog: do something. More than that: Carpe diem Corum DEO! Which being interpreted means, Seize the day for God! It needs to happen... ...now!
That said, I'm back to the grind. That's what the Lord has given me to do right now, and I want to do it passionately and fervently. Feel free to comment on this blog, and perhaps we can get some spirited discussion going. 8o)
Oh, and here are some links that inspired me to start this entry:
Disclaimer: I don't condone or agree completely with everything you read on these sites. I simply provide them as examples of people who are "doing."
"Redeem the time, because the days are evil."
The Sematic Web came into the public consciousness through the publications of this article: Scientific American: The Semantic Web.
Communication (auditory and visual) is the method through which ideas are expressed and propagated through the general consciousness of humanity. (duh!) 8o)
...or at least the stream of web information.
I find it exciting to look back over a web wander and think of how I got to where I am now (which in this case is writing this blog). Today, it started out by updating OmniGraffle. OmniGraffle is a handy dandy, Mac OS X application for flow charting. Anyway, here's the stream that I followed to get to writing this blog.
OmniGraffle update
Began looking at the new objects available
Found one named Garrett IA
Followed the "About Garrett IA..." link in OmniGraffle
Read the "Elements of User Experience" PDF
Wondered what "Tuftean" meant
Searched Google, dictionary.com, and m-w.com
Found many pages that use the word, but none that link to its full meaning
Found out that "Tuftean" means basically "in the style of Edward Tufte."
Found his web site http://www.edwardtufte.com/
Decided that I'd wandered far enough to justify a blog.
So that's how I got to this blog. 8o) I also learned a ton about Information Architecture and it's various subdivisions a long the way.
Dave and John,
I haven't forgotten about your comments. I will reply to them in the not so distant future. 8o)
The comments were great, and have got me thinking more deeply about the whole field and the changes that need to be made to technology for the sake of the user.
Feel free to comment again with any more questions/thoughts. I am listening. 8o)
If there were an error catching, request processing, "redirect" script in the root of the web server, then all requests could be edited for their "correctness".
What if there were a web publishing system that wouldn't let you delete pages. One could "remove" pages, but not without giving a reason for it's removal (to be displayed to the user) and (if appropriate) a place for the user to go instead.
It would also be ideal for the system to keep a log of changes, so that the site owner (or possibly even users) could link to a page from the past.
We've created machines that can "remember" things for us, even protect us from ourselves, but we let our own short comings cascade into their existence as well as hamper ours.
I have this strange notion that web sites should improve ones life. The possibilities for making this happen are endless.
I'm confident that our current attempts are hindered by bad design and poor organization. If we can overcome those two barriers, we may be one step closer to being able to live with technology instead of living for it.
You'll understand this best if you have spent hours trying to get any computer, web site, or piece of software to perform what in theory (and according to marketing) should be an easy task.
Ponder that, and then comment... ...please. 8o)
...on Information Architecture.
The Definition of Information Architecture by Semantic Studios
The Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture has a list of 25 theses of information architecture. It's pretty concise and hopefully will help many of you understand my passion for information a little better. 8o)
Some of my favorite theses are 3, 6, 11, 15, and 17.
18 describes a problem I have that many of you have noted in the past. "You can't just be happy with the way something is designed can you? (said in Love of course)" 8o)
Consider this little blog to be an implementation of number 25. 8o) I hope all of this helps you understand me a little better. 8o)
When you take a test and you succeed you can expect there to be another test. When you play a game and you beat a level you move onto a harder level not an easier one. Why, then, do we expect things in life to get easier with each problem solved or lessoned learned? Perhaps we just forget that the tests get harder from here. If everything got easier instead of harder, we'd become weaker not stronger.
In a recent conversation I've been having on a Cocoon developer's mailing list I was describing some of the troubles I've been running into with the site I'm currently building at work.
Jeff Turner's reply to my frustration:
"Humans, there's your problem. Upgrade to a species more tolerant of complexity, and everything will be fine."
This would most assuradly solve the problem. 8o) I suppose, though, that one this earth I'll have to be content with trying to make life as easy and managable for frail humanity as possible.
Now back to attempting to do just that. 8o)
I'm currently backing up my hard drive at work. As the ever too slow process of copying files continues on it's merry way, I began to consider my file "organization." It's logical... ...to a point.
I have a folder called "projects". Inside that folder, I have three folders call "completed", "current", and "dropped". Each with contents appropriate to their names... ...at least to a point. I often find that I have projects in my current folder that have been dropped or completed, or I find projects in the completed and dropped folder that have been brought back into the queue to be current again.
Beyond that I noticed that I have tons of folders with seemingly descriptive names that are only as descriptive as what I remember about thos names.
Then it hit me. The Epiphany of the day! What if I had stored a ton of information in the folders about each of these projects! That would be the day... I could have stored who the project was for, when they wanted it, the tasks I needed to do, how many of those I had done, what was left to be done, when did they cancel the project (if they did), and maybe even a short description of what all is involved.
Tons of information that would be very useful if...
But alas, the information didn't get stored. I wonder why? Was I in a hurry? Did I have other projects waiting to be done? Was the process of collecting that information too insurmountable at the time? Would I have done it if the method of gathering it had been better?
I'm not really sure. 8o) I would like to have the opportunity to try though. 8o)
I know some ways to solve the problem. Now to the implementation, but more on that later. 8o)
And new bloggers too I hope. 8o)
I'd like to write a quick thought about something I found back on December 12, 2001. It should have been my motto for this year and the year. Instead it became a lost text file named "life verse.txt" on an old computer of mine.
The verse reads:
"In all labor there is profit,
But mere talk leads only to poverty."
It comes from Proverbs 14:23. I write it hear now as a reminder to myself and hopefully as a thought for others.
I have many ideas, hopes, and dreams. These ideas, hopes, and dreams are no longer "merely" a want, but a need.
"To whom much is given, much more shall be required."
I'd like to ask all of you to make a new year's resolution for me. Please, don't let me forget Proverbs 14:23. Please don't let me just talk about my ideas. Ask me how I'll get them done, ask me to write out the plan for you, to tell you what exactly it will take and how exactly I'm going to.
Thanks and Happy New Year. 8o)
Information is power if it's stored properly.
In recent days I have discovered that I have developed (or been given) a love for information. It all started when I began doing web design when I was 14. In those early days I was more concerned with the presentation of my page than with the informaton it contained. During my first web design project I found the advantages of keeping my content and design seperate. That seperation is now fundamental in how I think about building web sites.
I found out later that the concept I had grown to love was called "Seperation of Concerns." There are actually three "concerns" when building interfaces: logic, content, and design. The goal is to keep each of them as seperate as possible.
In my early efforts I had tried linking the concerns together in the least obtrusive way I could think of. This was a start, but far off from what it needed to be.
Then I found Cocoon. The Cocoon project added a "management" piece to the SoC paradigm. This allowed the storage of the relationships between the concerns to be built outside of themselves.
There is still more work to be done in this field, but it has potential to change the way we think about information and its presentation.
Abe Stratton (a friend of mine from the BritTeam this summer) asked me a few questions about the mission team we went on together this summer. I thought that some of you may be considering going on a team this summer and would like to see how the Lord can use it in your life. I hope my answers to his questions may help you in your decision making.
In listening to the text of Othello during a recent rehearsal, I noticed an underlying thought that lead Othello astray.
Faith is alluded to early on in the play. Brabantio finds out at the beginning of the play that his daughter, Desdemona, has eloped with Othello the Moor. Near the end of a council at the Senate, Brabantio tells Othello to be aware that what Desdemona has done was deceptive. He says that if she could have deceived her own father, she may well deceive her husband.
From that point, Othello's faith begins to be undermined by Iago. Othello gradually loses his faith in his wife, and replaces the faith with a need for "ocular proof." Little of what Othello sees is actually an evil that is meant toward either himself or his wife. However, due to Iago's schemes, Othello sees everything through a mind full of doubt instead of through a mind of steadfast face.
By the end of the play, Othello's faith has decayed past repair. He becomes so obsessed with the need for proof that it in turn destroys him beyond repair. He loses all faith, and cannot bring himself to believe anything his wife begs him to believe. In the end, his faithless mind drives him to rid the world of the "evil" Desdemona.
A lack of faith destroys. How often we look for "ocular proof" of things that our eyes may never see. Many things that we do see, we mistake for things either better or worse than they are.
Faith is greater than we think.
Well, it's almost been a year. The nation is buzzing with memorial services, news broadcasts, and slightly increased patriotism. It may be just a national holiday to some, but I think it will remind some people of how short life really is.
Some friends of mine and I have created a web site called OurPeace.net. It is essentially an online tract. We started the project shortly after the 9/11 tradgedy. If you know of anyone who might be helped by the information on the site, feel free to send them the address (http://www.ourpeace.net/). Also, if you have any suggestions, feel free to send me those as well.
Pray that the Lord will use us all this next week.
Life doesn't ever stop. Maybe that's been obvious to everyone else, but it just now seems to be sinking in for me. School's starting again. This year that means preparing to teach, getting ready for plays, balancing freelance opportunities with personal life, and still trying to catch up with some of my larger dreams. The only thing I can figure is that one just has to keep moving.
Ecclesiasties says that "All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." Life never stops.
Well, that's where I'm at. Amazed at how much there is to be done, and stunned by how little time there is to do it.
I know that all of you are busy as well. I would like to hear from all of you. If any of you are interested in having a blog like this to keep "everyone" up to date on what you're doing, please send me an e-mail ([email protected]).
Let's be in prayer for each other over these next few weeks as I know most of us are getting ready for school and readjusting or adjusting to the school year.
Keep the faith.
I've been back from the U.K. for over two weeks now, and I'm just now finding time to update BensFriends.com. I apologize for the delay.
Things are going well here. I'm working 40 hours a week at Web Tech, and doing freelance on the side. Last week I taught a class for New Beginnings called "Getting Your School on the Internet." Outside of my teaching too quickly I think it went well.
My room is still in chaos, but I'm digging through it slowly. I'm doing my best to optimize my assets, but I can't seem to find the time. 8o) It's a vicious cycle.
Now that I'm back, I'd like to see who's interested in having thier own blog on BensFriends.com. I hope to expand the site this year to add discussion boards and perhaps an on-line private address book for all of us.
If you're interested in having your own blog, please let me know ([email protected]).