idano Blog Network

dsmasters: The wife and I are at the movies to see Public Enemies.

From the Network

dsmasters: FYI – I have my iPhone 3G up for sale on Craigslist. Includes Warranty and unused 3GS Accessories – http://bit.ly/106CE2

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Today we got some much needed rain here in the Austin area. In the last few weeks the weather has been in the high 90’s if not the low 100’s. I was not only thankful that the rain cooled the area off but also because I got to see if my installation of an attic vent went correctly. It did as there were no leaks .

At the end of last summer I noticed that our attic storage area would get really hot and muggy, more then it was outside. In looking around I found that there was not adequate ventilation between the storage area and the rest of the attic where there were more vents. The storage area did have 2 vents but they were at waist level. If you bent down to that level you could feel the difference in temperature as it was cooler. I concluded that an additional vent was in order and should be placed at the highest point to allow proper ventilation.

I bought the vent and sealant to install it several months back but was really hesitant about cutting a hole in my roof. I did some searching around and found a video on how to do it which made my feel more confident. Here is the video:

After seeing how easy it was for them to install I set out last week to install it myself.

The install ended up being a whole lot easier then I anticipated. What was interesting about doing the install was that I did it in the morning when it wasn’t that hot, but when I cut the hole in the roof I could feel air coming out. I guess even with minimum heat that area need more ventilation. I ended up using at least half of the tube of sealant to seal everything up as my main concern was that water would leak through the vent.

Later in the day I went into the attic storage area to see if there was any difference in the 100 degree heat. While it was not cool in there it was not any more warm then the lower section of the attic which was the goal. We now had proper airflow! That coupled with today’s rain test makes me feel really good about my roof cutting abilities.

Thanks This Old House!

Cami House, DIY Projects, From the Network

Over 2 years ago I wrote a post on this blog on how I was stepping out and getting involved in church again. The ministry that I had volunteered for was the media ministry. I went to a meeting and even sat up in the media booth during a service to see how to operate their system for the projector.

I thought I was ready but it just wasn’t time.

The service that I sat in was the first and only service that I did anything in regard to the media ministry. I am not exactly sure why things did not work out, but I think there were still some areas in my life that God still needed to work on. It was kind of weird not being involved but I think you need to learn how to receive as a Christian and walk the walk before you can minster. So that is what I did. During that time my wife and I attended a couple of small groups so we still had fellowship and got to know people in the church. We are still involved with the small groups today.

Over the last six months due to some personal circumstances I saw the need to spend more time with God personally and began to do so. During that time I read the book Caught Between A Dream and A Job and am currently reading The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? In both of these books they talk about how God has a plan for your life and how you were created for a purpose. I believe both of these things and set out to see what it is that God has to do for me here on earth.

There are a couple of ways that I am seeking God in order to find out my purpose.

The first is that I am trying to spend time with Him daily and work on the areas that He shows me to work on. The bible says that if I draw close to Him that He will draw close to me. I figure the closer that I am to Him the more likely I am going to get a glimpse of what He has created me for.

The second thing that I am doing is opening myself to be used by Him at church. Before it was difficult with the kids and having to sit through services by myself and/or have my wife be by herself. This time around the church is a little more flexible in that you can tell them when you are available to work. My wife and I chose the same schedule for availability for Wednesdays every other week. We may be working in different ministries but we will still be able to be in service together in the weeks that we are not working. That works much better for us.

I also requested information on another ministry that is outside of regular services times. I will have to see what the commitment for that one is before I can say whether I can be involved in it.

I think things are different this time around because I do not feel compelled to get involved out of habit. I am getting involved because I desire to. I want to do my part no matter how small to make my church a better place so that hopefully others can get closer to God. We will see how it goes.

Christian Living, Church, From the Network, Ministry

dsmasters: @JPLosier I was watching that today too. Didn’t cry though.

From the Network

I have loved AT&T U-verse from day one. I I have loved my 3 iPhones. today the two have come together in a match made in heaven via the U-Verse iPhone app.

The U-verse iPhone app allows you to control your U-Verse DVR from your iPhone from anywhere. You can see your scheduled recordings, set new recordings, browse the TV listings, and search for shows and/or channels. Basically it has all the functionality that you have via your TV for your DVR on your iPhone. Pretty cool.

This will really come in handy when remembering that I want to see a particular show but am not near my TV to schedule it.

No related posts.

Blog, From the Network, iPhone

dsmasters: : AT&T Comes Out with Their U-Verse iPhone App http://bit.ly/wfeYq

From the Network

dsmasters: Woot! iPhone now has a AT&T U-Verse app. Downloading and trying now. http://bit.ly/xGVMN

From the Network

I have been slowly updating the sites that run WordPress over the last week or so and have started to really love WordPress 2.8. The reason for this sudden burst of affection are a couple of new features that version 2.8 introduced.

The first feature that I really like is the ability to upload themes and plugins via the WordPress interface. This has eliminated the need to break out Dreamweaver or another FTP program to get something uploaded to a site.  That is significant because I usually download plugins and/or themes to my desktop. If I have to upload either of them with FTP I have to put them in a particular folder and hopefully I already have the FTP info entered into my program. If not then I need to go through those steps. With the web based upload feature I can quickly upload in a few steps.

The other feature that I like is the built in code editing for themes and plugins. I know this feature has been around for a while but 2.8 added code highlighting. This makes it much easier to find and edit small items without having to break out an FTP program and code editor.

These two features have reduced the time that it takes me to do small edits and I am truly gratefully for them.

No related posts.

Blog, From the Network, WordPress, WordPress 2.8, WordPress Plug-ins, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes

dsmasters: : Why I Really Like WordPress 2.8 http://bit.ly/2qKRXI

From the Network

I was going to wait until my birthday in July but the wife gave the go ahead to get my new Iphone 3GS this morning – so I did. I was fortunate to get to the AT&T store near me when I did because the place had a constant stream of people and there were only around 10 iPhones left when I got mine. I had called all the nearby Best Buy’s but they were all out.

The main reason for getting the new iPhone 3GS was the video camera. A while back I had Jailbroken my iPhone 3G and installed the iPhone Video Recorder on it but at 15 frames per second it was not that usable. I really wanted something that I could keep in my pocket so I could capture cool things that the kids were doing. I had considered getting a Flip camera but that was just another thing I would have to lug around with me.

One thing that pushed me to buy today was that I took a look at some of the videos that people had uploaded from their 3GS phones this morning. The quality was better then I expected especially for outdoor videos. Indoor quality still leaves something to be desired but it does on every camera.

I ended up with the 32GB version since the 16GB ones were sold out. What I feel that I get for $100 is the ability to put my entire 10GB+ iPhone library on my phone which I think is pretty cool. That leaves room for a ton of apps and several movies.

I will be playing with the video camera over the next few days and post some videos.

Related posts:

1. iPhone Firmware 3.0 Installed and I’m Liking It
2. Fail: iPhone 3.0 Activation Servers Down :-(
3. WordPress Releases Blogging Client for the iPhone

Apple, Blog, From the Network, iPhone, iPhone 3GS

dsmasters: : iPhone 3GS - I Got MY New Baby http://bit.ly/fd6ib

From the Network

dsmasters: Off to see Year 1 with the misses. Yep, ditching work today to buy iPhones and watch movies.

From the Network

dsmasters: Woot! Got my 32GB iPhone 3GS. Video is cool as well as the updated Google maps with a compass. Getting ready to put my 3G on Craigslist.

From the Network

dsmasters: At the AT&T Store. They are out of 16Gb phones but have 32Gb ones. Called Best Buy and Walmart and they are completely out.

From the Network

dsmasters: Off to go get my iPhone 3GS. I got the OK from purchasing (the wife). Yeah!

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dsmasters: Just saw Terminator Salvation, another great movie.

From the Network

It took a few hours but I finally got through to the authentication servers to update my iPhone to the 3.0 firmware. The process took about 15 minutes total and went without a hitch.

The first thing that I noticed when starting up was the new Voice Memos icon on my home screen. I have been using Evernote for text and voice memos for a while now so I am not quite sure how useable this will be for me. The only advantage I can see that it has over Evernote is that Evernote limits you to a 5 minutes for your voice notes while the new native app seems to have no limit. You can pause your voice note and then email it when you are done where I suppose you could add text notes to it as well. We will have to see if it gets used.

The next thing that I checked out was the app store to see if there were any updates for any of my apps. I know that the WordPress iPhone app version 3.0 has been submitted to the app store but unfortunately did not show up. What did show up were updates to Evernote, Showtimes, and Enigmo. I selected to update them all and they seemed to get stuck on my menu page with all three apps saying “Installing”. After several minutes of waiting for this to clear itself I went back into the app store and then was presented with a message that I had to agree to the new Terms of Service for the app store. That took another couple minutes and then my apps were updating. Note – The Evernote update is awesome – lots of cool new stuff.

From there I decided to check out how the camera was doing since I heard that there were updates there. Sure enough my camera started up much quicker and when I pressed the shutter button it actually took the picture right then as opposed to waiting a second or two! Also the pictures seems to be clearer but the true test will be when I try to snap some pics of the kids later on (Kids are true test of any camera!).

I then decided to see how Safari was doing with its updates. It seemed to be snapper which was nice. While browsing a page I remembered that copy and past was available and decided to try it out. It was actually much easier to use then I had anticipated. I easily selected a paragraph of text and then brought it over to my notepad and pasted it. After that I went back to Safari and coped a URL and successfully pasted inside on my WordPress app. It wasn’t even their new version and it worked! Awesome.

Finally I checked out the Spotlight search function but could not think of anything to search for. I am sure it will come in handy down the road.

All-in-all I would say that the iPhone 3.0 firmware is great, especially for being free. I am still planning on upgrading to the 3GS in the next month or so though. The main reason is for the video camera. I will be checking it out at the Apple store when it comes out to make sure that it is good quality and then hopefully scoop one up for my birthday.

Great job Apple! Just buy a new activation server though please…

Related posts:

1. New Blogging Tool – Evernote on My iPhone
2. Fail: iPhone 3.0 Activation Servers Down :-(
3. Playing With the WordPress iPhone 1.2 App

App Store, Blog, Camera, Copy, Firmware 3.0, From the Network, Paste, Spotlight, Voice Memo, Voice Notes, iPhone

dsmasters: : iPhone Firmware 3.0 Installed and I'm Liking It http://bit.ly/owiyA

From the Network

dsmasters: Yeah! My iPhone is actually updating to 3.0 now! It only took 3 hours of not connecting to the activation server.

From the Network