Odds and Ends

When the music fades, and all is stripped away And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself is not what You have required
You search much deeper within through the way things appear
    -Matt Redman, The Heart of Worship

I haven't posted anything for a while, so I thought it was definately time to say something. It's worth noting I finally got laptop's Linux install working nicely. I've had the unit for a year and a half, but I just had never taken the time to move all of my useful files and settings over to my Linux installation. Now I can carry my e-mail with me, and if I get my Winmodem working in Linux - I can check it while off of my normal LAN connection.

Ah fun! Mandrake Linux 8.2 is suppose to be out this week too, so I'll probably put that on both of my machines. The release candidate is very polished, and is one of the first Linux releases that I've run that you think “Hmm… this looks business-like.” Mandrake has really concentrated on making a distro that finally seems to be not only technically, but also aesthetically ready for business, I would say. I did a review of a beta version of MDK 8.2 last month, so if I've piqued your interested, check it out here.

Projects and Photos

It has been a little while since I last posted, so I thought I should say something. I forgot to mention in my posting from the sixth that I passed the one year mark of using Linux on the desktop! I had been using Linux prior to that, but March 6th of 2001 was when I finally couldn't take it any longer, and moved over to Linux for day-to-day stuff like e-mail, web browsing, and programming.

Also noteworthy, I uploaded some photos from the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, although I think it is worth waiting to post a link until I get my APS photos returned (that should be tomorrow). Anyway, if anyone even actually wants to see the photos, they should appear tomorrow.

Oh, my friend Dennis Powell (a.k.a. dep) has started a nice new Linux site called LinuxandMain.com - it looks really great. I'd recommend you go over there and take a look after you finish reading my journal entry.

Well, I really should get some work done. I'm suppose to get some web design done today, but I'd really rather work on one of the other projects I have going at the moment. Oh well…

OpenMoz, OpenMoz, what to do with OpenMoz...

I've wrapped myself up in a universe again
and let the darkness quell my matchflame confidence
and unwillingly I hide the lever I must find
to release the deep the tears withheld inside
but i can't explain I can't explain
I can't make sense of the things I'm saying
    —Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer), I Can't Explain

…ah, yes, I'm working on that part of web site development I always do worst at. I'm trying to figure out what to add to the front page of the OpenMoz web site (such as a graphic) that would make it more interesting once text is also added. Hrm… I'm sure I'll think of something, but what?

Feeling Uplifted

I'm diving in I'm going deep in over my head I want to be caught in the rush lost in the flow in over my head I want to go
the river's deep the river's wide the river's water is alive
so sink or swim I'm diving in
   — Steven Curtis Chapman, Dive

What a refreshing day it has been. Dive seems like an appropriate song for a day like today. As I noted before I am tired, but at the same time I feel more energetic then usual. The Prayer Breakfast was a refreshing change of pace, and the whole day was finished off with a great Lenten sermon by Pastor Walter. Being the witty guy he is, Pastor Walter found a very good way to interweave his looking into time shares with the way the merchants where taking advantage of the gentiles in the gentile's court of the Temple in Jerusalem (Mark 11:15). I guess all the merchants got jobs as time share sales people after being thrown out of the temple. Wanna buy some swamp land?

Ah, what a day. I think this was exactly the kind of dive I needed.

Mayor's Prayer Breakfast.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now can see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

   —Amazing Grace

I'm tired. That's probably not the way you'd expect a “Very happy” mood post to start, but hey - I want to keep things interesting. Anyway, I went down to the 26th Annual St. Louis Mayor's Prayer Breakfast. I had to get going at 5:00 am, early for me, which explains why I'm a bit tired, but it was certainly worth it. Approximately 4,000 people gathered at the event to hear from Mayor Francis Slay, County Executive George “Buzz” Westfall, Zip Rzeppa (former sports anchor at a local TV station and president of Goodwill Enterprises), and the main star of the day - Kurt Warner, quarterback of the St. Louis Rams.

As most people who know American football (and even some like me that don't) know, Kurt is an outspoken Christian with a perfect “fairy tale” rise to the top spot on the Rams. Warner provided a great speech comparing the steps that brought him to faith in Christ to the steps that brought him to be a three time Most Valuable Player in the NFL. In both cases he ended up doing something other than he had wanted - and benefited greatly because of that.

Before I keep blabing on, I'll just say again it was really great. This Mayor's Prayer Breakfast is the largest, and longest consecutive sell-out event of its kind in the USA. Very impressive. I will post photos once I get the digital ones uploaded, and the APS ones developed.

PHPNuke != Good Software

Everytime I think I've got PHPNuke working on Open for Business it seems to do something new to remind me this isn't the best CMS in the world. For the obvious reasons, I don't want to reveal the current problem, but I will say this - I'm going to work up to switching to PostNuke. I'm sure there are better CMSes than PostNuke too, however it seems to offer the best upgrade path from PHPNuke.

Good Meetings

When I look into Your eyes
I see the love that died for me
When I look into Your eyes
I see the hope that I will be a faithful child
Following close behind
Following ever blinded
To the things that should not move me Saying to my soul
fix your eyes on Jesus
Saying to my soul
fix your eyes on Jesus
Fix your eyes on Jesus
  —Twila Paris, Fix Your Eyes

Well the meetings went well, with a duration of about two and a half hours. I got the job to work on our stain glass window tour, it needs some serious help. They are beautiful windows (picked in a book as one of the 80 best in America), but our tour certainly is not. Hopefully that can be fixed though.

We also worked on our small group program, our visitor bulletin, and our reach out caller program (probably the main point of the night). The Reach Out Callers will deliver jam (which we “tested” tonight) to visitors to St. Paul's. Anyway, all in all a very productive, and fun night of meetings.

Stuff to do...

Anyway, I've been spending some time working on another long overdue project lately - OpenMoz. OM will eventually (hopefully sooner, rather than later) provide an Open Directory system - something that the Open Directory Project's name has been begging for ever since it's orgins as GnuHoo. I've come up with a design for the OM site that is exactly what I was aiming for, although I'm waiting for Ciaran to come on to see what he thinks.

Another project is in the back of my mind these days. I need to get some graphics done for the BibleTime project preferably within about two and a half weeks. I've been rather slow in getting previous graphic work done for them, so I need to be on time this time. We'll see how that goes.

It is a somewhat sad day though. It appears my good e-friend Jerry Kreps has terminated his internet account, as he had mentioned he was planning to on CS-FSLUG last week. So, anyway, it wasn't a shock, but none the less, I didn't enjoy seeing my message bounce back. Hopefully I will hear from Jerry again some day - he will definately be missed.

Anyway, on a happy note, it's Administrative Night at Church which means I get to have some fun on the Evangelism committee. Call me strange, but I love being on committees.

Hiya!

My friend Ciaran Hamilton gave me this nice script, waddya think?