Archive for 'prayer requests'
Well you know how it goes, you goto a wedding and you meet people, at first I thought the only people I would talk to were a older couple I walked in at the same time as, but then I saw a former Awaken Model and said hello to her, saw 2 other folks I knew from High School, but the one kept avoiding eye contact, so I left him be, the other was part of the wedding, so she had a bit more on her mind.
But the reception is where I got to sit down with the wedding photographer and chit-chat shop a little, talk about weddings and such, and just have a nice conversation, and we got talking about a website for her, and she had some fun ideas which I think I can put together! So part of my plan this week is to see what I can do in some mock-ups with things (already have an idea in mind) but this sort of job can be ‘affordable’ but not cheap as the words “photography” & “easy to update” & just a dash of “no one else said it’d be easy” - its do-able, some tweakage, and some custom programming to make things work on the “easy to update” field, but the display of things seems fairly easy in my mind.
Which brings me to job options, server stuff, has me a tad burnt. Don’t get me a wrong, it’s my job, and I have some good bits of hardware and software - but the stress in that avenue has gotten to me over the years - now granted it has it’s upside (major boost to prayer life) 
- but especially with trying to have a full personal life, the servers bit can put a damper on a night out - sucks to say “Hey guys, I have to go.” and the night just got started, but I have good friends - and they understand (or at least seem to) - but I am thinking of pushing on the devel end of things a bit more, working on programming code, so I can say go sit at Starbucks and code for a few hours a day, and then level out the rest with photography on weekends and such.
I dunno, but I’d appreciate prayers on the matter - this year has already been the jump in sales, and such I expected it to be, but I’d love to travel and such, but without a full-time staff, then thats a tuff one, but prayers are appreciated, I may just be over-think and just tired in general, but sometimes I wonder what else I can do to move forward on other areas of my life a bit - but such is my evening getting my brain clear, and I think I am going to go find something to eat now that it has cooled down a bit, or maybe crash out while the crashing is good. Night All. Have a Good Monday.
Ah what to do today, the week has shaped up fairly nicely - made some progress on a few projects, gotten some much needed sleep/rest - trying to swing back into things a bit, got a server blip fixed up this morning, which I started working on yesterday, silly software licensing - but thats fixed and working now - so one thing off the list.
So what to do today? Already hit a few mini-support issues, and sorting thru some mail, but my big task for the day is to try and get things finally organized around here, which means finishing the project of my room, I do have some other “business” work to do - but I’ll get that in throughout the day, just want to get my bed setup, table out, coffee table in, and hopefully by middle of next week the TV tuner in BfP ready to go, thus TV in my room again.
So I suppose it’s time to get to it, say a prayer for my brother and sister - both have job related stuff today, so prayers are appreciated. Have a good Thursday!
Some would say to keep my mouth shut on this, and not “stir things up” and that the risk of a lawsuit is a bad thing for “slander” or “defiling someone’s character” but in this instance, I can safely say:
“Suck it.” (going to love hearing that one in court!)
Over the last few days some things have transpired at a place I used to work, let’s call the place something out there so no one can figure it out, let’s call it CMCentral or CMC for short (see how clever I am) - but before one can go into that arena and say “Why do you care?” lets rewind a bit to when I worked for CMC - like several other “Christian” businesses your job was more “ministry” than “work”, when you were asked to do something more, it was for “the ministry” not the “job”, the site owner, and again being clever here - we’ll call him Sean or “Sean.v.T” for short (seems longer, but it just looks that way.) is a nice enough guy you’d want to help him, and you feel part of something, you want to see it do well, so you go above and beyond.
In my own history for CMC I helped out sometimes getting wrapped up in things and missed a wedding setting up a chat for Mercy Me, wrote software that a YEAR after the fact was nit-picked to death, and in the end due to extreme difference in opinions on the “best” way to do something, we parted ways and my time suddenly freed up greatly, allowing me to swing back into full tilt on my own business and workings - so not a bad end for me, and after a few months Sean.v.T and I worked on some projects as by the great advice of at the time senior editor let’s call him BdG (Simple, clean, its short enough), I picked up some side jobs here and there doing software updates, and server moves etc. so a good end to the story for the most part, right?
Well fastfwd back to the the happenings of late, BdG is outed as editor of CMC, to me a position that was really more of a burden to him vs. a blessing, granted CMC can open some doors to media contacts, but at what price? Some of you can say “Sean is a ________” you can say he’s wrong, and in a lot of ways you’d be right, and in some you’d be wrong - don’t get me wrong, I think here Sean has a lot of splainin to do - goes without saying, it was handled poorly, and a post not to JUST the forum, but on the main site, needs to be done - I don’t care how “un-professional” that might look, were human, companies are run by humans and humans make mistakes, and in good faith I think the new editor should make an apology as well, I don’t know her, but I highly doubt she meant this on purpose, but a simple apology is not too much to ask.
I would say to those of you who are truly though wasting your breath on the forums @ CMC spend your energies elsewhere, while I wish I could say “keep up the posts, Sean will break soon!” bottom line is Sean see’s CMC as a fore front in Christian music, and I don’t deny the site has a big following, and does a lot of things, and with a presence in TN it has a closer hook up to many Christian artists compared to other websites of a similar nature - but prove that the site is powered by the people, support BdG’s site and help promote it, heck if it needs its own server due to growth, I’m happy to stand behind it and make it happen, I’m that Crazy.
Brenton is not only a client of mine, but I do consider him a friend - we have done business, worked side by side @ CMC during my final time there - but while my leaving was one of a quiet breeze (I was the man behind the curtain), BdG’s will be felt for a while, but I applaud those of you who have really put out a real sense of caring here for BdG, threads like:
- Here’s My Feedback
- Sean, Step Up Or Step Aside
- The Changes At Cmcentral
While some of those are actually deleted, I read through them before I de-admin’d myself (people started to think I worked there again), you guys are awesome - but I encourage each of you, link to TRuDatMusic on MySpace, your blogs, your websites, add it to your signature, put the word out, and help it truly become a “web power” that commands the same if not more level of respect like that of CMC.
Life goes on in the end, and I’d encourage any of you who have media contacts or know someone in a Christian group, set them setup with BdG @ GMA Week, I know some of you who read this know folks, heck I know a few, and I’ll be sending out an email or two, maybe even a phone call or two if I can be awake at a normal hour but there it is, support TRuDat - and with that, I am going to call it a night - but above and beyond anything else, keep both sides in prayer. Night!
So taxes just got insanely more easy - one W9 said they weren’t sending one, the other has sent nothing nor returned calls - so moving forward, but the remainder is just tally work, but not too hard, getting my LaserJet 1000 up and running on the Parallels XP install tomorrow to print some base #’s and get the process rolling, should be done by Friday, enter the info into the tax app on my parent’s computer, and I should be good to print, write a check or two, and move forward.
I have a wedding to goto this month, 2 friends from my old Gym are getting married, I think I am supposed to take a date to weddings, but I think I’m going to take my camera (it almost takes up a seat on it’s own) but I need to buy a pair of pants if I am going to go to take pictures so I don’t blind folks with my legs - plus compared to a compact point-n-shoot camera, my camera isn’t exactly SMALL
A big hello to Fluxar Studios who recently discovered by blog - well as I know Windows Users and Mac users are viewing, I’ll say hello to the Windows guy I know who uses Firefox (Hi Sam) and to the Mac Guy who uses Safari (Hi Ryan) - for those of you unfamiliar with Fluxar it’s owned by my buddy kMan, I do some work on their servers, help out on Misc. projects on occasion, they are all great folks minus that Ryan kid (j/k - I love you Ryan, but in a manly viking sort of way) - Ryan has vowed to read all my posts since 2002, hopefully it’ll give him some insight to my insanity.
Had a good phone call with a friend tonight, and hope my babbling made some sense, just really wish there was more I could do to help, but in the end, some choices in life must be made by one’s self - and while I know my friend will see through all his current problems, just wish there was more comfort in my words, or something I could say to make it all okay, and the blinders be lifted from the mess now to see into the future and see what life can hold not just the negative / depressing element of life right now - but healing takes time, keep my friend in your prayers, he can definitely use em.
Well I think I am going to fire up the MBP (which needs a name), turn on the media rig with a movie, but there is only 1 thing left to mention - tonight I reached Pro Status on Wii Sports in Boxing! BooYah! Good workout, did 6 rounds in a row, and took out 4 of the guys in the first round (muwhahaha) - have a Good Thursday Folks. Off to a night of my usual insanity!
Well I just got back from my Sister’s house, went over with my cousin to play some Wii, and followed it up with Starwars Risk (Go Rebel Alliance!) - and then headed back to my Cousin’s car so she could drive home to her parents house - but a relaxing evening!
Today was.. well short really. I really had a “relaxing” Friday, aka I slept, and slept good. Worked on projects between naps, but everything I had planned, went out the window and I just was tired and slept - when I woke up this afternoon for the final time, I took mom and dad out to dinner, then more or less went to beth’s - but all in all a good day, which means someone’s birthday present (which isn’t anything too special ($10,000,000 dollars in cash and prizes)) will hafta wait till Monday or tomorrow at some point, time will tell.
But keep praying for my friend, things with him are pretty much a rock bottom, and he could really use your prayers, as could his wife & kids, wish I could say more, but thats not something thats “public” knowledge and I do know some folks read this who know him, so not much to put out there, but God knows the needs there!
Anywhoo - good week overall, hopefully a relaxing weekend, a good easter Sunday, and then some time with the kiddo! Woohoo! but for now, I think I am going to curl up on the couch, and take a nap, or shower, couch, then nap - so many choices so little time 
Well my Treo is getting worse, suddenly I only am able to keep a charge about a day, even with just moderate use, the battery just DRAINS away 
sad to have that happen, but it’s getting along in age, I have however told myself no more purchases for a while, I really want/need to get the budget caught up, pay down some cards I used for the business, and get things going on FH/TN a bit more so I can get things happy and running smoothly.
In other news, half of my project down, and got maybe another 1-2 hours tacked on, which is a nice bit of money towards paying down cards/taxes/etc. so pretty jazzed about that - but a good day, got some rest and dealt with customer issues, even got to go into the office and help get Sam and Courtney’s new workstations setup on the Scalix server again - all went very smooth - called and wished Ms. Rosie a happy birthday, as she is the newest member of the 27’s club, Courtney ages this week however she will remain 25 for a second year
Possibly heading out of town a little this week, going up into the mountains a bit to do some shooting (camera) so might be fun, I really wish I had some money to spare for a lens or two, would be awesome to have a bigger camera bag and extra battery too - but on that end I am looking at possibly setting up a little store for selling my photos, found a few places that will do large printing for me (20×30 prints) - and I know a guy who does framing - so I could offer a complete printed solution end to end and my main hard work would be shipping or delivering it - so I am trying to do some pricing ideas in the long run where I don’t spend every ounce of the sale on paying for the prints and what not, and actually walk away with $50-$100 per print (would be nice) - who knows!
Anywhoo - that’s all I have for right now, I think I am going to throw a DVD in to have as noise and re-arrange the room a bit, may actually start by moving the iMac desk so it’s in it’s final place (aka flip 90 degrees) but then its some clean up, putting the new LCD in place (doing a test run) and waiting for tomorrow to come as the remainder of the parts for my Media Rig & my Uncle’s workstation all comes in, so should be goooood stuff. So have a nice night folks, thanks for stopping by - a note to friends I host, I may be moving you guys to another server, I know I know, I’ve set it off and on for years, but I may really do it this time One last thing (yes my brain is only mildly scattered) keep my friend kMan in your prayers - some personal life stuff, can’t post a lot on it, but I’d appreciate your prayers for him.
I have never been a skilled writer - my blog is really just a place to vent, put my thoughts down on digital paper so to speak - take what’s bouncing around in my brain, and give it somewhere else to live for 5 minutes as I convert a hazy thought into a sentence that makes sense to me, no one else probably, and lately my brain has had a lot to say, this past Friday was one of the better days - amazing that behind a camera my brain is off. I am concentrating on the moment, the shots, the area around me, its not my room, it’s not the office, it’s not a restaurant, it’s outdoors, its open air, its a breath of fresh air.
Over the last year while I have worked, researched, and tested new hosting ideas out, I have fallen back in love with 2 things in my life, music and art - my two real escapes anymore, either here @ the iMac plunk’n away at the piano, or out on a FotoFriday snapping some shots of nature, driving previously my Neon and now my Cobalt off-road where I should really have a truck lol - but I find joy in these things, I find peace and joy apart from the stresses of the day, the week, etc.
The last 2 weeks folks have told me to do what I am good at, to be a System Administrator, and while I do a fair job, and know a lot of computer stuff as one friend said “You know computers very well, that’s a gift, that’s a talent” and I am not doubting that, but going back to the big things that bring me joy, the things that helped me growing up to release, relax, music - pounding what must of seemed like nonsense to my parents on the piano, going on choral trips singing in massive churches/concert halls, that was good stuff, and now with Photography its another release - now if I just had a swimming pool, I’d be set, 25 laps, I’d be perfect
I honestly don’t know what the future holds for me right now, as much as I would like to say with the great hyperactive brain that I have it all figured out, I don’t - but I do think I am going to hide out for a bit, not entirely, but really take some time to do some things around the house, get my disaster area room cleaned up, get my taxes done and finished, and spend some time on me, getting myself in order before I go off trying to save the world.
So here’s to a week of me - I’ll still be on IM, email, cell will be on, and I imagine I’ll be going out some to get some air now and again, but just some things which need to be taken care of, who knows, with a few of these things out of the way the rest will start to fall into place. Prayers are appreciated, I wish I could say exactly what’s going on with me, but I have no real idea, something is changing, hopefully for the better. Take care all.
