Four Favorite lesser known convenience apps

As the Chief Technology Officer for a PointSource, a business which concentrates in building mobile applications, I often get asked what some of my favorite apps are.  I find people are usually looking for the little known apps which can solve "problems" they don't worry about - in other words convenience apps.  Here are 4 of my favorite recent finds:

MobileDay

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Some people are getting better about formatting phone numbers in your calendar to easily dial in from mobile phone, but no app that I have found makes it easier to dial into conference calls than
MobileDay.  Give MobileDay access to your calendar, and it reads it and creates a big touchable button to dial into the call.  It doesn't matter whether people formatted the call for one click, if they identified the call-in number and passcode it makes life simple.  I wish I would have found MobileDay when I worked at IBM and had 12-15 calls on some days.


Leafsnap

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When outside doing some landscaping, I have several times wondered questions like
"What is this tree?"
"How big will this get?"
"How and when do I prune this?"

Leafsnap has made it easier to figure out what some trees, bushes and shrubs are by taking a leaf, placing it on a white sheet of paper, and taking a photo of the leaf.  Leafsnap then searches its database and gives you lots of info on your new find.



Vivino

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I know less about wines than I'd like and I have a horrible memory for wine names - particularly correlating names with whether or not I liked those wines.  Vivino is the way I have started to try to remember and organize wines.  It allows you to snap a label of the bottle and enter a rating.  Often I have had fix the year, but it hasn't missed a label for me yet.



Untappd

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Similar to Vivino, this helps you remember beers you drank but with more of a social aspect around sharing your favorites.  I haven't found this as useful yet but it is a cool concept for sure.

Time for a Career Checkup

"Do a health and sanity check on your career at least every two years." That is the advice I give many of the people I career mentor and advice that was given to me at an early stage of my career in IBM. It has been almost two years since I did some career introspection and I have no one to blame but myself. But, it was time to start this past May and I thought I would give you some insights as to how I do this health and sanity check.

Step 1:  Review past notes (if you don't have past notes, take good ones this time for next time)
 First, I have gone back and read some of the analysis I did in the past some of which was in public and some of which was in private. About three years ago I decided to make a career shift within IBM and started working towards something new. That something new led to the job I have today. After about a year of pursuing that, I did some analysis in early 2010. First I read through my private notes which started in the January of 2010. Some of these made it into blogs which I thought I would link through here in chronological order:

• Decisions at the Crossroads  -- Introspection and decisions have to be made and the process I was going through to make them.
• Life in the fast lane  -- Sometimes when you have to get out of the fast lane to realize how fast you were going.  I changed jobs and realized how fast I had been going.
• A lot to like about working at IBM -- This was an explanation of my introspection about what I like about my employer. 
• Choosing family over career  -- Discussing the tough choices that fathers like me face every time we check our own fast paced intensive careers and the effects on our families.

Step 2:  Check your resume

People often don't understand this one until they think about it.  Ultimately, you are responsible for your own employment.  Often if you work in the for profit industries, you are only valuable so long as what you contribute to is making the profit that the owners expect.  Corporate loyalty is something that has waned in the past 20 years as we have seen things such as long term pension plans disappear.  That is why you are doing a health check. So, I'll say it again, YOU are responsible for your own employment.    Looking at your resume, answer some of these questions:

• What has recent work added to your resume?
• What have you done outside the workplace to improve your resume?
• What holes do you have in your resume?
• Of the things on your resume, which are you strongest in and which are you weakest in?
• Have you spent enough time in your job to be considered senior and loyal but not institutionalized?

"I’m not staying become a lifer.  [...]  6 years is fine.  12 is getting long unless your company is totally rocking!"  - Mark Suster

Step 3:  Write down everything you like and dislike about your job

But spend more time on the things your like.  Don't get me wrong because I know it is important to get all your thoughts on the table.  However, one can get into the weeds of cynicism and frustration if you do not focus on the positive elements.  The goal of this is not to emotionally get yourself in a bad state.  The goal is to evaluate what you like and dislike without emotion so you can do the proper analysis.  If you have not yet, read my A lot to like about working at IBM article.  This is the focus on the positive.  There is also a negative list of things, which I did not post as to not focus on it.  If you need some help getting your heart set straight about work, I would recommend you listen to this great sermon from Tim Horton. (Also found here:  At 3/4/12, "Work Fit in the Lord" Colossians 3:22-4:1 )

Step 4:  Dream big and work backwards.  Where do you want to be in 10 years, 5 years, 2 years.

Now that you have looked into your resume and your current job, its time to dream big.  It can be a big reset, but what do you want to do in 10 years?  Do not settle in your 10 year plans.  Where should you be in 5 years to get to your 10 year plan?  Then where strategically should you be in 2 years?

When you are doing this, keep in mind that the more detailed your plans and dreams the more unachievable they could be.  Think slogan, not short story.  If your 10 year goal is to "make executive" or "own my own business," it will simplify your focus and help your goals become more achievable.  If you make your goals too extensive, you can lose focus.

You do not have to be 100% certain as to your goals.  You could be 51% certain.  You could be 99% certain.  The idea is to conclude this is where you want to go.  Time, experience, and execution will determine the your real path.  And, you review this every year or two in order adjust your goals and execution path.

Step 5:  Create an actionable plan to make your 2 year goal and Commit to execute it

"Vision without Execution is Hallucination."  This is a quote heard in IBM  attributed to Steve Mills and I have seen it play out time and time again.  Build an execution plan to drive towards the vision of where you want to be.

• What is your resume missing to make your 2 year plan?
• What are ways you can improve yourself outside of the workplace?
• What can you change in your workplace to improve the climate?
• How can you become a better employee?

Commit to your plan and execute it.  Do not assume all open doors are the right doors to walk through and all closed doors will not open.  I personally commit to these plans through prayer.  I continually ask God to help show me the right way and close the wrong ways.  If I hit a closed door, I begin to review my plans  and expectations again.  Some closed doors are meant to be opened - even if you have to put your shoulder into it to get it open.  Do not get discouraged too quickly.

Stop PIPA

My letter to our NC state Senators based on the PROTECT IP Act:

Senator Burr and Hagan,

As a technology professional who works at IBM in North Carolina I appreciate the importance of intellectual property. In fact, in 2011 I filed the most patent applications in IBM in the state of North Carolina and as you may know, IBM leads the US and world in patents issued every year for the past 19 years. I do not write this representing IBM however but instead representing myself as your constituent. So let me share my thoughts with you which do not represent my company.

Protecting intellectual property is a large concern of mine. I want to be able to innovate freely and protect those innovations which are difficult discover. I was very interested to read the PROTECT IP Act but once I did, I was appalled. The full text of what I read was from Senator Leahy's website here: http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-PROTECTIPAct.pdf

While it is important to protect intellectual property, it is not worth opening the door to censorship this great. It is my understanding that the text in this bill will allow those with the most lawyers and deepest pockets to potentially demand that free speech be censored from the American people. This Act alone is not worth the worldwide damage it could cause to the cause of freedom of speech. In fact, there is no intellectual property that is worth the loss of freedom of speech.

Furthermore, in a worldwide economy, censorship in the United States of the Internet alone will do little to stop the bleeding of our intellectual property into products and services abroad. Foreigners may still freely access and share another's intellectual property regardless of whether the US people can see it. It has more potential to hinder US innovation due to less information being available and more legal troubles being possible within the US. For example, individuals and institutions overseas may choose to stop publishing materials such as research papers to sites available within the US because of legal fears.

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose the PROTECT IP Act. These bills will risk censoring the American Internet, ultimately stifle innovation, and provide a way for limiting freedom of speech worldwide.

Thanks,
Erik Burckart

Read more about this issue at these places:
Google's site about the issue
Stop American Censorship
Fight for the Future

Reflecting on 2011

I write this on December 31, 2011 with about 8 hours left to go in 2011. Its been an amazing year and I was thinking about trying to recap this great year.

The year started with a flurry as our family bought a new house in the beginning of February and moved at the end of February. This is the third house Heather and I have lived in and second the kids have lived in. Our new home was a foreclosure, 2 miles and 1 stop sign away from our old house within Bedford at Falls River. We got a contract on our old house in April and it sold at the beginning of June.

We also became members at our new church, Harvest Bible Chapel North Raleigh, in February. Heather and I spent over 8 years at our previous church before being called to Harvest, a small church plant in our area. We have been active members and have enjoyed serving and having fellowship in the church ever since. If you are in Raleigh, come check us out at Fox Road Elementary School at 10 AM.

In April we went outside Jacksonville Florida with Heather's extended family. The girls had a blast and it was warm enough to spend most of the time on the beach. We also celebrated Maddie's 3rd birthday that month. Maddie's 3rd birthday was a ladybug party at our house.

In May, my mother (aka Oma) visited over mother's day weekend and that was very exciting. Then towards the end of May we watched our friends 4 yr old twin girls and Heather and I got to experience being outnumbered 2:1. They were great and luckily we were smart enough to expect if we had another two for it to be that easy. :-) Their stay lasted two weeks and afterward we celebrated a belated 8 year anniversary date.

We had a couple fun trips this summer including going to Figure Eight Island near Wilmington NC and going to Maine. Here are some great pictures of our trip to Figure Eight. We enjoyed that trip with Heather's family at the end of June. In early August, we flew up to Maine to visit with my family. This trip was Maddie's first flight and the girls did great. We enjoyed picking blueberries, riding on the lake, and having a sea adventure with Diver Ed.

In September, Anna started preschool for the first time going three days a week. She really loved it and has is looking forward to winter break being over. We also started finishing our attic in September. As part of that work, we cut the cord and got rid of cable. We are enjoying a cable-less household now. We capped off October by having a very small Alice in Wonderland girls only 5th birthday party for Anna.

2011 sadly didn't pass without some significant losses as well. We mourned the passing of Heather's best friend's father, Jeff, and a last grandparent, Maw-maw. These two family members will be missed and we have been praying for our whole extended family who have felt the effects throughout the holidays.

This fall/winter we also had great visits from my dad (Opa) as well as Oma, my sister, brother in law, and niece. This combined with seeing lots of Heather's family for Thanksgiving at our house and Christmas at their houses made for a great end of the year.

We are preparing for a fun new year in Raleigh, have enrolled Anna in school for the fall and Maddie in preschool for the fall, and are embarking on new adventures all over the place. For our extended friends and family, we hope that our 2012 adventures will include you.

Yee-haw - we are free of cable...

We had Windstream here on Friday to have internet and a *gasp* landline phone installed. Today I drove down to Time Warners place, stood in line behind about 20 people canceling cable (many took Black Friday specials from DirecTV and Dish), and then cancelled our cable completely. Just like that, we saved over $60/month off our cable bill (which was a "promotion" rate.)

What will we miss? I will miss ESPN, although Windstream gives me ESPN3 access. Anna and Maddie will miss the Disney channel. Heather will miss HGTV. We all will miss the DVR. I will miss the speed of Time Warner's internet connection. Windstream, while faster than the AT&T DSL I had one year ago, is still significantly slower than Time Warner (see image below).


What I won't miss? Shelling out an extra $60/mo for the above services. We won't miss the abysmal customer service. I won't miss the crappy VoIP service Time Warner provided. I won't miss the worse excuse for HD I have ever seen. I won't miss having to call every year or 6 months to get a promotion rate because their normal rates are so high.

Windstream commits to not change their prices by saying if they start offering higher bandwidth, you can choose to pay more ot get it. But it won't keep increasing on you. There is no promotion rate I have to fight for yearly. Amazing!

The kids are taking it well. In the last couple of days they were choosing to watch TV on the antenna rather than the recordings off the DVR. They have been excited to watch PBS Kids and Tri-state Christian Television's Family channel.

Still have not yet signed up for Netflix or Hulu Plus..that is still to come.

What channels do we get?

The common question I get is what channels do you get. My TV says it found 49 channels but only is showing 24. Here is the list of channels, each of which comes through great. Two of these don't come from the south side of my house, where my omnidirectional antenna is installed. Those are ION (47.1) and TCT (30.1). PBS (WUNC) mostly comes from the west rather than east and comes in fine.

4.1 PBS WUNC
4.2 WUNC Kids
4.3 WUNC EX
5.1 CBS WRAL
5.2 THIS?
11.1 ABC WTVD
11.2 ?
11.3 ?
17.1 NBC WNCN
17.2 ?
17.3 ?
22.1 CW WLFL
22.2 Country music
28.1 WRDC my ROC
28.2 The Cool TV
30.1 Tri-state Christian Television
30.2 different Tri-state Christian Television
30.3 Tri-state Christian Television Family
30.4 Spanish Tri-state Christian Television
47.1 WRPX ION
47.2 ION Kids
47.3 ION Life
50.1 Fox WRAZ
50.2 Me TV

Channels I am not getting which TV Fool says I may are:
24.1 W24CP
40.1 Univision
44.1 WZGS
64.1 W64CN
68.1 W68BK

Another interesting nuance is when I go to a channel like 25.1 which is another PBS (WUNK-TV), my TV takes me to 4.1 (WUNC-TV). So I don't know if that counts that as I am getting 25.1. If so, this would account for the channels it says I am getting but I am not actually getting.

Change of plans for getting rid of cable

To review the steps we have done to get rid of cable as outlined when we were Preparing to cut cable

COMPLETED: Step 1: Run a coax cable line and power outlet in the attic on the southeast corner of my house. I used TV Fool to determine the right place in my house to run this line for an in attic antenna.

COMPLETED: Step 2: Install an in attic amplified antenna to pick up local HD stations. I am currently looking at the Terk FDTVO Antenna.

CHANGED/COMPLETED: Step 3: Instead of buying an $80 HD Roku box - I've decided to purchase one of the Cyber Monday deals on Blu-ray players which also support Netflix and Hulu Plus.

SCHEDULED: Step 4: Switch from Internet, Phone, and TV from my cable provider to Internet and Phone from Windstream.

Step 5: Sign up for Hulu Plus and Netflix.

Antenna based TV is great!

Happy Thanksgiving y'all. As we prepare to cut cable...I installed a Terk FDTVO in the attic this Thanksgiving break. As I said last time, first I did an address check at TV Fool. It gave me an in depth listing of all the TV Channels available from my house through a small antenna, an attic mounted antenna, and a roof mounted antenna. The graph for my house looks like this:


Based on this, I needed to aim the antenna south, either slightly southeast or slightly southwest. I bought the Terk FDTVO because its multi-directional and pointing in one direction, we can get both the channels in the southeast and southwest directions. So, finding the southern most corner of the house, the Terk FDTVO took about 15-20 minutes to install. From the Terk there is a 10 ft coax cable line, then it plugs into the amplifier provided with the Terk, then it runs from the 3rd floor to the crawlspace and back up to the first floor to my cable splitters. I found the 3 cable lines we used in the house and attached those lines into the splitter with the antenna as the input.

(My phone shown for size perspective)

After turning my TV to over the air rather than cable, My TV found 49 local channels. The Terk worked great. I turned on the LSU v Arkansas game and it looked great.


That is a HD picture with quality better than Time Warner Cable for sure.

Preparing to cut the cable...

I am preparing to cut the cable in our house. Here is my plan.

Step 1: Run a coax cable line and power outlet in the attic on the southeast corner of my house. I used TV Fool to determine the right place in my house to run this line for an in attic antenna.

COMPLETE

Step 2: Install an in attic amplified antenna to pick up local HD stations. I am currently looking at the Terk FDTVO Antenna.

Step 3: Purchase and install two Roku boxes. Right now I am aiming for the Roku 2

Step 4: Switch from Internet, Phone, and TV from my cable provider to Internet and Phone from Windstream.

Step 5: Sign up for Hulu Plus and Netflix.

So, step 2 is next. Total, this takes our bill from $126 (discounted rate) to around $90 per month standard rate with an initial cost around $250 for step 1-5. I'll try to keep tabs on this project out here on my blog.

Fried Apple Crepes

After eating the best breakfast of my life at The Depot American Diner in Chicago, I was determined to bring home something like their apple pancake recipe. Not wanting to make a full copy of their recipe, I made up my own recipe for similar awesome taste with a slightly different context- we made it for dessert!

Burckart's Fried Apple Crepes
Makes: 7 crepes
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time needed start to finish: 1 hour, 30 mins (lots of down time between)

Fried Apple slices
At least one hour before making the crepes, you must prep the apples.
Ingredients:
7 slices of Granny Smith (or your favorite) apple (fatter is better, 1 large apple would be sufficient)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp sugar

Instructions:
1) Slice the apple from side to side with thin but full slices. Cut out the core on each slice.
2) Fill a 2 qt pot halfway with water, bring water to boiling.
3) Put apple slices in the boiling water. Add cinnamon and sugar to water.
4) Boil for 10 minutes on medium-low
5) Lay apples out on plate to cool and dry



Crepe batter:
Ingredients:
1 c white wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp honey

Instructions:
1) In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and the eggs.
2) Gradually whisk in the milk and water.
3) Add the salt, butter, and honey
4) Beat until smooth.

Making the fried apple crepes:

Instructions:
1) Heat a griddle over medium heat
2) Place a fried apple slice in the center of the griddle
3) Flip the apple after one minute
4) Pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter in the center of the apple. Batter should cover the center of the slice, the top, and flow to each side.
5) Cook for about 2 minutes til golden brown. Flip, cook the other side for about 2 minutes also.
6) Serve hot.


In pictures:
Step 2:

Step 4:

Step 5:
It will be time to flip when the crepe doesn't look liquidy around the sides of the apple:


Step 6:




We ate our first time spoils with powdered sugar and whipped creme.

To find The Depot, we used the Flavor Town USA site dedicated to the Food network show, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Here is the show we used to find The Depot:


Finally, I should note that the great apple we used came from yesterday's delivery to our doorstep from The Produce Box. Great apple, great dessert!

What is this about a Rapture?

If you haven't heard, some people are calling for there to be a day of judgement and Rapture tomorrow with the world ending on October 21st. This is a date predicted by Harold Camping, a man who also predicted the date wrongly in 1994. This is so widely discussed in the news, I thought it might be helpful to shed a light on what the bible REALLY says for those that read my blog.

First, on false prophets: (1)

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 (ESV)
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'-- when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

So, if a man claims to have some prophecy and it doesn't come true, ignore that prophet. Camping in fact may not be a false prophet(2) (depending on your definition of a prophet) but I believe he is at least teaching against God's word and therefore it makes him a false teacher and I believe the same should be said of a false teacher of God's word.

Second, on whether we can know the day and time:

Mark 13:32-36 (ESV) - also in Matthew 24 and Luke 21.
"But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning-- lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
Acts 1:6-8 (ESV)
So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

So, Jesus says multiple times that you cannot know when. In fact, He does not know, only God the Father knows. How then do these people who claim to be Jesus's followers ignore His words as recorded?

Third, what about judgement? (3)

God is holy so He has to be just and punish your sin (Isaiah 59:1-2, Romans 3:23-24).
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus

He did punish your sin, He inflicted your penalty on His sinless Son (Isaiah 53:4-5, 1 Peter 3:18).

We can receive this forgiveness of our sin alone by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23, 10:9, Ephesians 2:8-9).
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.

We can walk in newness of life which is based on faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:4, Titus 2:11-14, 1 Peter 2:2-5).

So, we will be judged but for those who put their faith in Christ, there is grace through the blood shed by Jesus on the cross and hope in His triumph over death in the resurrection.

Finally, what about the end times in the bible? (3)

The end times will get tougher – its important to make a decision and get strong in your faith now (Mark 13 - also Luke 21 and Matthew 24)

Expect more earthquakes, famines, and wars (Mark 13:7-8).
And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

Jesus will rescue His own (Mark 13:26-27).
"At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

There will be an end of this time and until then wars, earthquakes, and famines will increase in frequency. Jesus will rescue those who are His own. Just as the apostles looked forward to the second coming of Jesus so do the followers of Jesus today when the world will exit its birth pains, tribulations will be complete, and we enter into eternity with a Glorious and Holy Lord. Until that day (which we don't know) we hope and pray that all will join us in our belief. We respond with the final words in the book of Revelation, "Come, Lord Jesus."


(1) Adapted from Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries
(2) Harold Camping False prohet? by RC Sproul. Ligonier Ministries
(3) Adapted from Pastor Mike Willis, Harvest Bible Chapel North Raleigh

So your team lost the Super Bowl...

First of all, congratulations to the Green Bay Packers and their fans...especially to my cousins Amy and Hiter who were fans for years before this season. I hope you win many more Super Bowls but not at the expense of the Steelers again. :-) For those that don't know, I am a huge sports fan. I cheer on my Steelers, Pitt Panthers, Penguins, and even Pirates whenever I can. I am most seriously a Steelers fan and love to cheer them on. After they just lost the Super Bowl, the common question is, "Are you disappointed?" That's a good question, so let's analyze it a bit more.

When I was younger when the Steelers lost I would be downtrodden for weeks. My family knew and expected me to be short, moping, easy to anger and lots of other things like I had just lost my best friend. Years ago I gained some perspective, some eternal perspective, and things changed. In fact when I went to the Super Bowl in Tampa to cheer on my Steelers in 2009 and they blew a lead and were losing late in the fourth quarter, I turned to my pal John and said "Even if they lose here this was worth it." What was worth it you might ask? The time spent with a friend, the adventure of traveling to Tampa, and the fun of cheering on my Pittsburgh Steelers. They won so no Steelers fan was disappointed. But this year they lost, so am I disappointed?

I decided to start by looking up the word disappointed. In the dictionary it was defined as "being sad because something failed to fulfill one's hopes." Well, then of course I am not disappointed. Sure, I want my team to win. I even will say that I hope they win. But my hopes aren't really tied up in a football game. There are much more serious matters that my hopes are tied up in. Life or death matters.

In my life I found myself hopeless for a while. I spent time meandering through life doing what I pleased me and what I realized is that each step I took down that path was a step farther away from what is now my eternal hope. Doing what I thought pleased me moved me further from God and the further I moved away from God the more miserable I truly was. The sin that I thought was pleasing me was really just making me more miserable. While I might have instantaneous pleasure in the moment, my lack of love and hope was really making me more miserable even if only seen when looking at my entire day, week, month, or year. What I didn't know is it was far worse than I knew - my life and lifestyle was leading me down a path to eternal separation from God. Thankfully we all have an opportunity to course correct and put our hopes, love, and desire in God through Christ crucified. I did this and my life has changed. I consistently feel God's love and have eternal hopes in Christ.

So, friends, I am not disappointed in the Steelers loss because even if they had won, it wouldn't have changed the things that really matter in my life. I am more concerned about another battle - a battle for the eternal lives of my friends and family. I worry that they will miss the opportunity to put their faith in Christ and live an eternal life with peace and love in their hearts. My hope is in Christ and I pray that my loved ones will also know Him.

Oh, and I think Troy Polamalu would approve this message. ;-)

Great photographer - great experience

This year's Christmas card will feature photos by the very talented Jessica Porter. I wanted to just sing her praises and recommend her for all of our friends who are looking for a local kid-friendly photographer who provides high quality digital pictures with the rights to those photos..which is the thing I was desiring months ago. Jessica also did a wonderful time with the kids and was able to get many quality shots of the girls. These aren't even the best pictures - we are saving those for the Christmas card. ;-)

Church change...

Just a quick not on one of the big things that have changed for us - we decided to leave our old church. This was very difficult for us to do. We have been at one church for over 8 years - members for the past 7 years. We met at this church. Our kids were dedicated at the church. We know many people in the church and we have a great small group. The church has a pretty open and agreeable** theological stance, good leadership, good children's ministries, and lots of great ministries which help so many people. The church gives over 60% of their collected giving to ministries locally and across the globe and is almost debt free so they can give even more. It is a great church and we were comfortable there.

Why are we leaving? Because we are convinced that the Holy Spirit has been urging us to consistently for the past 12 months and maybe as many as 4 years ago. What are we hearing? "Leave what is comfortable. Seek a smaller discipleship oriented church. Find ways to better serve Me. Look to magnify Me to those I place in your path. Avoid consumerism and don't settle."

We blindly followed that and decided to leave our church over labor day weekend not knowing where we would go. We stopped going to that church completely. We were able to look at over 50 churches thanks to how people have put their beliefs and sermons online these days. That was great but it still was a difficult decision. Through online searching, we were able to compare our beliefs (and theology), look at church vision, and listen to sermons very quickly - and through that process we narrowed our church selection down to 3 churches. We went to the first one who was the front runner and it was clear we were in the right place. That place is Harvest Bible Chapel North Raleigh.

Interested in hearing more about Harvest? Check out the 9.19.2010 sermhere about the vision of Harvest. My favorite sermon thus far has been Mike's sermon on 10.3.2010 around Mark 10.

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** So long as you don't have strong convictions that one specific theology MUST be preached

Credit Freezes for North Carolinians

Back in May of 2008, I was lamenting the fact that credit freezes would cost us $30/person or $120 for our family of 4. What I failed to notice last October was that our North Carolina General Assembly made the necessary changes to the Identity Theft Protection Act of 2005 in order to make it free online (with exceptions below) to get a credit freeze. Here is the page from the NC Department of Justice to explain what the advantages to getting a freeze are.

With freezes, thaws (temporary unfreezes), and removal being free...this seems like a no brainer. Before I was wondering if this is worth $120 for my family plus $10 every time I had to remove the freeze. Now, all those barriers have been removed. I can't believe it took me 10 months to learn of this.

Credit Freezes are always free for those over 62 years old, have been the victim of identity theft, or are the spouse of an identity theft victim. For the rest of us, here are the fees:

• Place, Thaw, or Remove a Credit Freeze online: FREE
  
• Place a Credit Freeze by phone or mail: up to $3
  
• Thaw or Remove a Credit Freeze by phone or mail: FREE
  

Here is Clark Howard's guide to credit freezes with all the links to freeze your credit.

Here is the actual text from the actual law passed by the NC general assembly:

A consumer reporting agency shall not charge a fee to put a security freeze in place, remove a freeze, or lift a freeze pursuant to subsection (d) or (j) of this section, provided that any such request is made electronically. If a request to put a security freeze in place is made by telephone or by mail, a consumer reporting agency may charge a fee to a consumer not to exceed three dollars ($3.00), except that a consumer reporting agency may not charge any fee to a consumer over the age of 62, to a victim of identity theft who has submitted a copy of a valid investigative or incident report or complaint with a law enforcement agency about the unlawful use of the victim's identifying information by another person, or to the victim's spouse. A consumer reporting agency shall not charge an additional fee to a consumer who requests to temporarily lift for a specific period of time or to a specific third party, reinstate, or remove a security freeze.

Do credit cards steal from the poor and give to the rich?

Here is an interesting read for the day, the idea that credit cards steal from the rich and give to the poor. The idea is that everything nowadays has a built in uplift in the price to pay for the 2% credit card service fee. That amount is likely less than 2%. The idea is that the richest folks of those consumers paying that uplift have rewards cards; cash-back, airline mileage, points, etc.

Well, if the richest are getting back some of their uplifted price what are the poorest doing? According to these folks they are paying the uplifted prices with cash, debit cards, or maybe credit cards without rewards. If that is the case, they are paying the uplift without any reward.

Let's work an example. If the uplift at a given grocery store is 1%, for every $100 spent there $1 was set aside for the credit card processing. If the richest folks bought $50 of that and the poorest folks bought the other $50. $1 (2%) of the $50 the richest people spent goes to the credit processing company, $0.50 (1% uplift) was what the richest folks were charged and $0.75 (1.5%) of that will go back into the wallets of those richest folks. Meanwhile, the poorest people paid the $0.50 more than they should have since they didn't pay with credit cards. This means that $0.25 of the poorest people's money went into the richest people's pockets according the people that are bringing up this question.

So, if you agree this is what is happening what do you do? You realistically have two options, keep rewards cards or take a moral stand and drop the rewards card which causes you to pay to those that have rewards cards. The system is deeply established already which is part of the problem here.

I am thinking that maybe a good medium is to keep the rewards card and donate half of the rewards to charities which focus on lower income individuals.

Free Exercise Program - Fixing our drainage problem

For the past couple of years its been getting worse and worse and its finally on the top of my list of things to fix now that it is washing away our backyard. We have a major water drainage problem at my house.

Rewind 5 years ago when we bought the house. There were bushes lining the driveway and 2 big trees around the bottom of the driveway / bottom of the deck. After those bushes died and the trees were deemed dangerous to our home, we removed them around 3 years ago.

In the past 3 years now, the water draining off the driveway has watches away sod and soil. Now it is extending itself further into the backyard. Now its time to take action that I should have taken several years ago. Here is a picture the morning after a rain storm:


As we have been evaluating options, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time during the big rain storm on Thursday to watch the water flow. I know where it flows and where it is a problem now. I was able to talk to a friend, Mike, who helps fix these problems and I think I now know how to do it. I have a ton of information about french drains, infiltration drains/basins, dry wells, tortuousity, and permeable pavers in my head. Now its time for action. Next weekend I think I will begin the big dig (assuming the phone, cable, and electric company marks their lines early in the week).

Now, who wants to join me and get some exercise?

In Debt? Dave Ramsey coming to Raleigh

If you are in debt or your are struggling to manage your finances, Dave Ramsey is coming to Raleigh for his Total Money Makeover event. Those who read this blog know that we follow the teachings as learned through Crown Financial Ministries. Dave's plan is an offshoot of that plan and his one size fits all plan is great for anyone struggling with debt or finances.

If you don't know how you will dig out of your mess or need a plan and encouragement to do so, please consider going....based on the many people I know who have gotten out of debt on Dave's plan - I think you will be blessed by it.

Twist on daily cost of debt - the giving possibility

When thinking about how to chronicle life in the future, I decided to peruse the blogosphere for for debt free living blogs. I found this interesting blog not about living debt free (yet) but about achieving freedom from debt called Debt Free Adventures...which just so happened to be one of the site names I had thought of...

All that intro to bring you to an interesting blog that Matt wrote here entitled How Much Our Debt Costs where he records that his debt costs $37/day. This took me back to a comment by a friend that stated that he paid roughly $10,000 in interest and was able to get about $3200 back on that through state and local tax deductions. What that made me realize is that $10,000 in interest is about $27.40/day or $18.63/day if you count the money saved on taxes.

Whats amazing is that if you took that $10,000 you could sponsor 25 kids all year long, deduct the money on your taxes, and still have extra money in your pocket. Is anyone else amazed by that? Have you figured out how much your debt costs and what you would or could do with that? What else could you be doing with $25/day or whatever your daily cost of debt is?

Paying off your mortgage will lower your credit score

A while back I was researching what happens when you pay off your mortgage. One of the things I stumbled on was this helpful blog in which the author shares his experience that his FICO credit score went down based on paying off his mortgage:

I’m no FICO credit score expert, but my understanding is that the decrease occurred because I no longer have any installment loans. Apparently their algorithms aren’t smart enough to distinguish between people who’ve never had an installment loan and people who’ve had one, never made a late payment, and paid it off within the past month.

Is it that their algorithms aren't smart enough or are they working as designed? Dave Ramsey calls the FICO credit score two things:

The I Love Debt Score

The "I've been kissing the bank's butt on a regular basis" score

That's right, its probably working as designed. Someone who pays off their mortgage isn't as good as someone who will pay interest on debt consistently to a bank. Its common sense and business wise for the bank. But how should consumers react?

I am writing this quick blog because I think people should know about this and be outraged. We should be outraged because your credit score is being used for other things while the algorithm is written for the bank's customer evaluation purposes. That is the most outrageous part of this. Insurance companies and (reportedly) some employers will look at it to determine the risk of an individual. The good news is that some insurance agencies don't use the raw credit score. From my insurance company's website on "insurance scoring":

How does an insurance score differ from a financial credit score?
When evaluating a person’s credit information to determine an insurance score, an insurer only considers those items from credit reports that are relevant to insurance loss potential. Both an insurance score and a credit score are derived from the same thing: a credit report; but they are distinctly different.

The main difference between an insurance score and a credit score is that insurance scores do not take into account a consumer’s income. Unlike a mortgage company, an insurance company is not assessing a customer’s credit-worthiness and therefore doesn’t consider income. Instead, an insurance company only considers those items on a credit report that will indicate future loss potential.

We recognize that people sometimes face difficult circumstances in their lives such as job loss, medical bills or divorce. When we consider an applicant’s insurance score, an isolated instance of a late payment will not have a significant impact on your eligibility. We are looking at long-term patterns and overall responsible use of credit.

Similarly, applicants who use cash for purchases or who don’t have established credit will not be scored negatively.

We should demand anyone aside from banks never use the credit score. If they use the credit report, so be it. But Should paying off your house make you more risky to insurance companies or employers? No! The only reason paying off you house makes you more risky is that you can, to a certain extent, do more of what you please. ;-)