Who Are My Pets?

In my house there are two cats:  The imfamous SweetPete whom I adopted when I married my lovely wife (he’s actually hers) and Peanut, the one I brought into the relationship!

Stay tuned for more updates on the zainy lives of the ones who really run this house!

Coming Music

FYI, soon I will be posting some recordings of my harmonica and guitar (sometimes even together).  One of my joys in life is music so I’m going to endeavor to share this joy with you!  Stay tuned for this, they are coming!

Keeping Your Kids Safe Online

I have already given some pointers about how to stay safe on the ”Wild Wild Web” but today I want to give some tips specifically forkeeping children safe on the Internet.  We know that the Internet is a very huge source of information.  I see it as an unending source of knowledge and to hinder the use or the knowledge of such a tool would be almost crippling.  I know that sounds strong but, if you think about it, almost anything you want to research is on there.  Don’t get me wrong, the library is still a very necessary tool and should not be replaced but supplement.  I am saying the Internet is valuable.

The reason I bring it up is that the fear of the dangers the Internet can move parents to totally cut any connection.  Well, I would like to give some safety tips in order to keep your child safe while utilizing such a tool:

1.  Be Involved!

Be involved in your child’s life!  Create an atmosphere that you child can come to you and talk to you about things that happen and what they learn.  Ask them questions.  Accompany them.  Share with them.  The next point is imperative to doing this:

2.  Learn All You Can

Are you ever faced with the problem of your kids knowing more about computers and the Internet than you do?  This is a very common problem.  It is often difficult to know what your kids may be up to if they know how to keep things out of reach for you.  Well, the bad news is that this may never change.  It’s just the way it is!  I was a teen when the Internet became mainstream (mid-90’s) so I kind of grew up learning about it as it developed, but as fast as the Internet changes, I find it almost impossible to find the time to keep up with EVERYTHING the web has to offer.  Someone a few years older may find it even more difficult because PC’s weren’t really around while growing up.  We need to do our best to keep up with the times.  We need to learn about “Myspace” and “Facebook” and whatever new tech comes out.  We need to learn what sites our kids visit.  A good filtering program can help us with this:

3.  Filter, Filter, Filter

Find a good filtering program and then don’t totally rely on it.  Let me explain the benefits and then explain the dangers of solely relying on it.  A good filtering program will give you the flexibility to block such content as language, nudity, violence, and dangerous sites containing viruses and such.  A good filtering program will also log such things as sites visited, attempts to disable, time spent, etc.  The program I use will even let you designate the hours to allow access to the Internet.  The tools are almost invaluable to keeping your children safe.  My advice would be to be open with your kids about what is being filtered and logged.  Explain to them the importance of accountability in everyone’s life, even adults.  Another good idea would be for each parent to come up with and memorize half of the password.  This way the children will know that the parents are being held accountable AND that any changes to be made are known and approved of by both.  The filtering software I use is K9 Web Protection.  All this being said, you should not rely totally on a software program.  The involvement of parents is imparative.  Besides, sometimes software fails and you want to be involved in case it does.

4.  Limit Time

Another great use for K9 Web Protection is the ability to limit internet use to setup time frames.  You have the control to set specific times the kids are allowed to be online.  As useful as the internet is, moderation is key!  The temptation would be for children to constantly be online.  Well, the temptation does not stop with children, does it?  You can set it so the only time the internet can be accessed is when people are around.  There is a need to limit time spent and software can’t replace the parents but it can HELP.

5.  Social Networking Standards

Social networking is huge right now.  If it’s not big in your home, believe me, it probably is in the homes of the kids’ friends.  Oh, and it’s HUGE in the homes of preditors!  What we have here are two specific ways the social networking sites can be dangerous: your kids’s expression and misbehavior, and an inlet for preditors into the lives of your kids.  I remember reading about a year ago some articles by prominant Christian authors about the dangers of Myspace.  Many of the dangers are real and they are present on other sites too.  What we end up with is minors expressing themselves on their pages in ways they would never dream of in public OR in front of their parents.  Obviously if a child is expressing themself in an undesireable way, there are other issues that need to be dealt with.  However social networking sites become dangerous because such expression ends up in public.  Also, preditors go where they can find victims without supervision and believe me they know about the opportunities that the internet afford!

All of that being said, should you just ban your children from the use of such sites (K9 can do this for you)?  If you as a parent sees this as necessary, by all means, be my guest.  You can definitely save a lot of fuss by going that route.  However, if there is a certain set of standards set up, socail networking sites can be safe.  Most sites have settings that can keep just anyone from seeing your profile, make it so comments are moderated by the user before they are public, friends are agreed apon before being added, etc.  Certain peices of information should not be shared publically:  address, phone number, email address, parents’ names, birthdays, whether parents are home, whether the home is empty, etc.  Most of this may seem obvious but when a stranger is befriending you and you begin to trust him/her, they can begin asking questions to get the info they need.  Parents NEED to be involved in this aspect of the kids’ lives.  Know every friend on their lists!  In fact, be one of the friends on their lists! There should be no secrets here.  The child may not like it but this is too important!  Talk to your kids about social networking standards and then be there to protect them!

6.  Teach Your Children Good Internet Practices.

I won’t go into much detail here but I just did a post about staying safe on the internet; you can refer to that for further help.

7.  Get The Internet Out of the Child’s Bedroom!

Move the computer into a public place in the home, immediately!! In fact I would say the same thing about the television and cable.  Wondering what you child is be exposed to?  Well, make accountability a bit easier by bringing everything into the light.  Less temptation and more information.  They may “hate” you now, but they will love you later!

8.  Rules About Strangers In the Real World Apply On the Internet

Many of the rules that apply to strangers in the real world apply online.  Check out this site for some good safety tips concerning strangers: http://www.itsamomsworld.com/strangersafety.html

9.  Teach Them How Much and What Type of Information is Appropriate To Share

Children need to understand that any information shared online can be used to hurt them.  I already touched this when talking about social networking sites, but it deserves and honorable mention!  Teach them to be vague and to never share personal information.  In fact, teach them what personal information is!

10.  Instill a Healthy Fear

In this case, fear, reverence, and respect for the dangers on the internet is healthy!  Talk to them about the reasons you are so strict with them about the computer and the internet.  Have them put themselves in your shoes as their parent so they can see how you’d feel if anything ever happened to them!  Fear shouldn’t imobilize us motivate us to do what is best.

That is the 10 ways to keep your kids safer online.  It is possible I missed something so if I did, feel free to comment!

Staying Safe In The Wild Wild Web

I know that sometimes it is scary on the Internet, especially when we hear all of the horror stories about bank accounts being hacked, viruses rendering computers useless, porn popping up out of nowhere, and so on.  Maybe even you have a story of something terrible happening to you or someone you love online.  Well, don’t worry, we’ve all had to deal with the troubles of the untamed web.  I’ve got a few pointers that you may or may not already know but may help you avoid some of that trouble:

1.  Get anti-virus

2.  Get a filter

There are free internet filters out there and I’ve downloaded and tried K-9 Web Protection and I love it!  It has many filtering options including possibly dangerous sites!  For you parents, it has many options to help you monitor the time and the places visited so you can teach your kids accountability and the importance of it.

3.  Keep OS updated

Your operating system may need periodical updates that patch known security holes.  You should definitely keep up with that!

4.  Keep antivirus updated

I mentioned antivirus programs already but I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping them updated!  Most antivirus programs, including the two I have mentioned, make it possible to schedule regular updates and scanning.  Take advantage of this!

5.  Learn to recognize questionable sites

Keep your eyes peeled for sites that may have unnecessary risks involved with visiting them.  One good piece of advice is covered in the next point:

6.  Stay off adult and hacking-related sites

This point should be an obvious one!  Neither of them are run by individuals with your family’s safety at the forefront of their minds!  Sites involved with teaching hacking techniques are ALWAYS at risk for infecting your computer!  If you have K-9 Internet Protection installed and running correctly, it should keep you from stumbling accross one of these anyhow.

7.  Don’t download something that you don’t know much about (do research)

There are many free games and computer programs out there but not all come with some kind of a cost!  Many come with nifty packages of spy-ware and worse!  Make sure you know what you are downloading.  Do some research and see what others are saying about the site and its downloads.  If your pop-ups are going crazy, think about some possible programs or games you’ve recently downloaded and uninstall them to see if the problem is fixed.  Learn how to DO RESEARCH!

8.  Be careful with strangers

I don’t care how friendly they are or how professional the site seems, BE CAREFUL!  Don’t give out any personal information WHATSOEVER in chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, you name it!  Potential predators OR hackers can use any little peice of information against you!  Check out his site for some more safety tips with strangers: http://www.stayingsafeonline.com/Social%20Networking.htm

9.  Be vague on non-important forms

There are contact forms on many sites and blogs.  There are forms to be filled out for almost any free service offered online.  Be vague with personal information.  I may give the city and state but never my actual address and I usually give the weatherman’s phone number if it’s not important.  I don’t even give my full last name if I don’t think it’s needed.  All of that is on a need-to-know basis!

Many of these points are probably known but sometimes it’s easy to forget.  Many issues we have with our computers and our identity can be avoided with a little forethought.  And yes, sometimes we need to learn from experience, but why if we don’t have to!

Say tuned because soon I will be writing a post more specifically geared toward child safety online!

Anything I may have missed?  Post a comment or two!

Helping the Hopeless

Acts 3:1-10

The other day I was checking out the new website design of the Utica Rescue Mission and I came accross the page giving some tips as to how someone could help a homeless person.  The tips, as it turns out, contained some good advice such as:

• Never give cash to a homeless person
• Tak to the person with respect
• Share God’s love…
• Take precautions for your own safety

There were more than that but my point is that often times when someone is confronted with a homeless person, the temptation is to ignor them, judge them, or be confused as to how to help.

Anyways, as I read the bullets, the Lord reminded me of the confrontation in Acts chapter 3 where Peter and John came accross a beggar asking for money.  I’ve done junior church lessons and sermons on this passage but while reading it this time, the Lord reminded me that we are to do the same thing.  Now I know that we may not be able to heal all of the hurts in people’s lives, but we can reach out and share God’s love!

Notice in verse 2 that the man was asking alms which means he was looking for money.  Could he have used money?  I’m sure.  However, the money would be a short term answer to his problems.  God wanted something for the man that would change him forever!  God wanted to touch Him.

So how do we reach out and touch someone?  First, we need to not ignor the needy (verse 4).  Next, we need to look beyond the immediate answers and seek to meet the real needs (verse 6).

I love this passage because of the outcome!  Many of us want to go out and share Christ with others, knock on doors and share the Gospel message.  What a great thing to want to do.  Notice that Peter had the opportunity to share the Gospel, but not until after reaching out and touching the man.

Basically my point is, we can tell people until we are blue in the face that we care about their eternal destiny BUT if we can’t SHOW that we care, the message may just fall on deaf ears.

This business of touching others is not an easy one!  When the numbers on the church bus are down, it certainly is a lot easier in the Sunday School classes, but when we go out and be with the people, and seek out their needs and try to meet them, the opportunities to change lives abound!

Fullfilling the Great Commission is not as easy as it seems, but the blessings are certainly worth the effort!  Don’t just preach, but reach out and touch someone with the love of God today!

Reach THEN Preach!

Stickman Tees Galore!

 
 

 
 
Stickman Runs For Office

 
 
Stickman Takes Balet

 
 
Stickman Leads a Cheer

 
 
stickman_goes fishing

“Instructable” Project

I’ve been poking around instructables.com and have been enjoying the site.  I’ve decided to choose an instructable and DIM (do it myself) and and take a video of myself doing it!  For my first one, I wanted to find one that doesn’t seem all that involved and that doesn’t require too many items.  I’ve found what I want to try: “How to Make a Cheap Multitouch Pad.” 

Stay tuned because I will undoubtedly post the video and some pictures once done!  “This should be interesting” is the phrase that keeps running through my mind!

Fast Food Ranting, Once Again!

Well, tonight my wife and I were out working and we found ourselves with thirst.  So we decided to go throught the drive through at Wendy’s to grab a few drinks.  That all sounded good, but we forgot that nothing is really all that fast at our local Wendy’s in the evenings and the usual line of cars was there waiting for us.  So we did what any self-respecting couple would, we drove a block down to KFC for our drinks.  It was at this point that we were confronted with the embarrassing situation of trying not to laugh loud enough for the employee on the other side of the speaker to hear us.  Why?  Here is how the conversation went:

• Employee:  “Can I take your order?”  (two retorts could have fit here: “Where would you take it?” and “No, I’d rather you guess my order and hope you’re right!”  I know, I know, they have to ask)
• Me:  “Yes, we would like a small Sierra Mist and a medium Diet Pepsi.”
• Employee:  “Um, we don’t have small, the drinks start at medium.”  (it was at this point that we were trying to muffle the laughter)
• Me:  “Really?”
• Employee:  “Yes, sir.  Would you like two mediums then?”
• Me:  “No, um, make that a medium and a large.”
• Employee:  “OK, which drink do you want which size?”  (do the math?)

The conversation eventually came to an end and we drove forward for our order.  As we did so, a question came to our minds and subsequently to our lips: “What does medium actually mean?  Doesn’t it have something to do with being in the middle?”  Well, according to my research, Webster seems to have thought so.  “Medium” definitely does NOT belong at the beginning of the drink size index.

Just another interaction with fast food.  When will we ever learn that the food isn’t good for us anyhow?

Can You Digg It?

In this ever changing world we call the internet and social networking we find new things popping up all the time.  I know that Digg.com has been around for awhile but I haven’t really taken the time to check it out until now.  I think it looks pretty cool so I’m going to get involved!  Here’s the “low-down” on what Digg.com does and can offer:

• You can “discover and share content from anywhere on the web”
• “Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users”
• “Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images to Podcasts — is submitted by our community (that would be you)”
• Digg relys on their community (you) to determine what content on the web is popular
• You can submit articles you find interesting and that you think others will, too
• You can vote on articles you like or dislike

Let me know what you think!  In fact, check out the “ShareThis” link at the bottom of all of my posts and you’ll find Digg on the list.  Feel free to “Digg” any article of mine that you find worthy!

Forward Grandcentral.com Voicemails to Two Email Addresses

Awhile back I obtained a Grandcentral.com phone number and I’ve loved the service ever since!  My wife and I can receive phone calls on either our cell phone or our home phone or even both if need be!  We can listen to voicemails as they are being left!  We can forward calls from one phone to the other!  Plus much, much more!  One of the only issue we came accross is that even though the voice mails are so conveniently sent to our email box, we only had the option of having them sent to one email box.  Well, We each have our own email and would love to have them sent to both.  Well, we figured it out!

If you remember my last two posts about email filtering: My Email’s Being Filtered and More About Email Filtering, and were able to figure filtering out, you can have your voice mails sent to two emails!  Here’s how I did it:

1. First of all, I happened to have an email account in three different services: Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail.  I generally use my Hotmail account so I used that one for the final destination for the voice messages.  I chose to have Grandcentral send the vaoicemails to my Gmail account.
2. I then set up a filter to send all emails from “voicemail@grandcentral.com” to my Hotmail box
3. Then I set up a second filter to send all emails from “voicemail@grandcentral.com” to my wife’s Yahoo mail box

Now, whenever we miss a call and someone leaves us a message, Grandcentral sends the message to my Gmail account which takes care of forwarding it to the final two email boxes!  Cool, huh?

If you don’t have a Grandcentral number yet, I think you’d like it, but as far as I know it is still a “private beta service” and are closed to new testers!  I guess I was blessed and slipped in when they were still looking ofr testers