On Thanksgiving 2009

Ah, Thanksgiving. That wonderful respite between Halloween and Christmas, where everyone except the retailers slow down and takes stock of their blessings. (The retailers are simply trying to move their stock.)

We have a lot to be thankful for in the Crandall household. Deena and I are in reasonable health, and we’re both employed. Sure, we’d like a little more in our bank accounts--who doesn’t, right now?--but we have enough. We have friends and family who love us. Life is good, really, when you stop and count your blessings.

We are also thankful that we serve a Risen Lord who loves us as well. He loves us so much He died for us, then rose again. Now that’s something to be thankful for!

Which is really what Thanksgiving is all about. The modern Thanksgiving holiday can trace its origins from a 1621 celebration at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast after a highly successful growing season. This is the event that is generally referred to as the "First Thanksgiving." God blessed the fruits of their labor with enough food to survive the winter. The tradition of giving thanks to God is continued today in various forms. Various religious and spiritual organizations offer services and events on Thanksgiving themes the weekend before, the day of, or the weekend after Thanksgiving. During Thanksgiving Day families and friends usually gather for a large meal or dinner. At home, it is a holiday tradition in many families to begin the Thanksgiving dinner by saying grace; ours (Mine and Deena’s) as well as at both sets of parent’s observes this. Then we eat.

In typically American fashion, we as Americans have managed to turn it into a feast day. (As if we needed an excuse to overeat.) And it’s kind of forgotten by too many people, as it’s hard to sell thankfulness.

What are you thankful for? Look past all the stuff, the large amount of food, the excessive amounts of sports on the tube, the overly fast computer you’re reading this from, and take some time to really think about how God Almighty has blessed you and yours this year. Then take some time to give thanks to God for all your blessings (and not just the food in front of you).

Enjoy your time with your families. We will enjoy the time with ours.

Enough for now.

What is this Blog of which I hear?

I’m taking some time to address some new readers today. Greetings to all my students! Since many of you will have found this by clicking the link next to my name on the MISD Faculty and Staff webpage, a brief introduction to my blog is in order.

This is a personal blog, and not one sponsored by MISD. What that means is what you will find here is mostly random thoughts on things that interest me. These may be Theological, technical, humorous (an example of that is here), geeky, or merely off the wall. (An example of that is here, by the way.)

I update this as I see fit. That means I will update it when I have something to say. Which may be weekly, every couple of days, or there might be a month with nothing new here. (I doubt that, but one never knows.)

If you are expecting this to be deeply religious and devotional... you’re in for a shock. You will learn about my personal life here. Amazing as it may seem to some of you, I don’t simply go to bed after work and sleep all weekend (though I admit It’d be fun to try, sleeping until noon on a Saturday.) I have the same problems you do, and some of the same interests. Much of what I write relates to technology; it stems from being an electrogeek (a title I’ve well earned, by the way) with Christian overtones.

A few of you may wonder why I write what I do. I could say just about anything here, but the truth is (as more than a few of you have found out) I am slightly no...let’s try mildly--no, that’s not right either...hmmm....how about...somewhat...opinionated. That works.

There are plenty of thought provoking, devotional blogs out there. Dr. Frey, President of MISD, writes a really good one; I’ve linked to that off to the right. Skip Moen--our Academic Dean--writes a good one as well, and you’ll find a link to that off to the right too. You really should read those; there’s some deep thoughts there.

I’m not even in their league when it comes to that kind of writing. I am my Father’s son--both my earthly and heavenly fathers--and thus, I write the way I do because of that. My Dad was an Electrical Engineer who taught me to teach myself, and he taught me a lot about electronics and computers. (You can read my eulogy to him here.) Outside of Theology and some music, that’s what I know best. So that’s what I write a lot about.

So enjoy the reading. Take a few minutes and read some of the back posts here. Feel free to post replies to anything you read here.

Just remember who grades your homework.

Enough for now.

MacBook and iPod Update: One Year Out

Well, okay. Not quite a year out; The iPod won’t hit a year until November 13, and the MacBook won’t be a year until November 26.

Background refresher: As has been mentioned before, I’m no stranger to Apple products. My “Intro to the PC” course at LMC was based on the Apple II+ Bell and Howell model, based on the pic in my LMC catalog from the time. I used a Mac while at (what was then called) First Collateral Services from mid 1991 until the end of April 1993, which was thick with them. I survived the transfer from System Six to System Seven. This was a Big Thing. I took two Mac Academy courses on Word and Excel while there. One of my temp jobs for the U of O had me using a Mac for a day.

In real life, however, I had bought into Microsoft bigtime. They had all the programs that I needed to be productive. I used MS Office, MS Money, Windows, MSN Music (the store), MS Picture it!, the whole enchilada. I even had a Hotmail account. I used these for many years (except for the Hotmail account).

But as time went by, I got tired of the constant security issues. MSN Music became Zune.net. MS Money is no longer. I wanted Frontpage...well, it’s gone, too. Vista came out, and everyone I talked to hated the thing. Memory hog, buggy, etc. I had started using Safari about this time last year, as I found it far better (and more stable) than Internet Explorer.

Then came the need for a PDA-like gadget. I was directing one chorus, assistant directing another, juggling two part-time jobs, plus Deena was in a big chorus. There’s a lot of dates I needed to keep track of for various meetings, rehearsals, extra office hours, etc. Plus I needed a calculator that worked. And I wanted another device that had music playing capabilities. Thus, the iPod touch.

The one person I could have used some computer advice from--Dad--sadly was no longer available to ask questions. So I did my homework, and checked everything out. And bought the MacBook. And then discovered that the nice folks from Microsoft had, shall we say nicely, led me astray. My next comment will undoubtedly frost the true Mac believers: Apple isn’t perfect...far from it. There have been a few glitches. But compared to Microsoft...those have been negligible. For example, security is tighter. I don’t have to upload a patch every seven to ten days.

Today: I can do as much on my Mac as I could on my Dell, and I have far less trouble doing it. Pages is actually better than Word, Numbers is slightly better than Excel, and I haven’t played enough with Keynote to compare it adequately to Powerpoint. I still think Safari is a better browser than Internet Explorer, and you can download a Windows version. (I have made it the default browser on my father-in-law’s new HP.) iPhoto is at least equal to Picture It!, and in some cases, better. And since I leave my e-mail on the web, I don’t really know if Mail is any better than Outlook Express (or whatever has replaced it).

The one downside is that I finally did have to get a new wireless printer router. I am now the happy owner of an AirPort Express, acquired May 1. It reads both the PC and the Mac and thus we can both use the printer wirelessly again. (Well, we will when I can figure out the Bonjour/Windows 7 issue.)

So...should everyone go the route I did? Again, I undoubtedly will frost the true Mac believers...but the answer is no. For example, Deena didn’t; she spends too much time in Windows at her job and needs it for her schooling. And since she really likes her mp3 player and it works well for her, why replace it? My mom and my in-laws probably shouldn’t go Mac either; they like what they have, they like what they understand, and who am I to argue? Andy, my very best friend since dirt was young, wants to build his own PC. He has the smarts to do it, too. (I’m actually a bit jealous of that.) I’m guessing that’ll be a Windows job, unless he goes Unix.

**grins**

Everyone else, however, is fair game.

Enough for now.

On Windows 7

So my beautiful and charming bride took advantage of a Best Buy promo: HP Netbook, Laptop, PC, Netgear G-Band router, and Geek Squad install, for $1199. She now has a new laptop AND the new netbook (her dad got the new PC part of it, as well as the new router). All this sounded like a good idea at the time.

My opinion of the netbook is simple: it’s a cute little doorstop. I have textbooks bigger than this. For what it’ll be used for, it’s just fine. And if I’m playing softball and need something to be the first base, we can always use the netbook.

The other units themselves are okay enough, but after having spent the better part of my free time this last two weeks trying to fix the goofs with Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 I am, shall we say, less than impressed. I can see that Windows 7 is better than Vista.

That’s not saying much!

And IE8 is worse than worthless. Of course, since IE8 is built into Windows 7, I don’t really want to try and remove it. Which means I finally had to install Safari on her dad’s computer, as his IE8 crashed more than it ran. Installed Safari, made it the default browser, loaded Adobe Reader, Java, Shockwave, Quicktime, and Flash on it, then took away the IE8 icons from his desktop.

The other major issue is that Deena’s laptop is refusing to print. I have had to delete, then reinstall Bonjour for Windows far too many times (I have an AirPort Express connected to the Printer) so she can print. And even at that, so far I’ve only been successful enough to get two thirds of a page to print before the printer gets fouled up.

This is easy? This is the great Windows upgrade, with “none of the problems that Vista had.” Yeah, right.

Give me a break!

There’s an ad with a four and a half year old child playing with Windows 7. Maybe that’s what I need: a four and a half year old child, because if this is all great and wonderful, I’m just not getting it. The cute child had some “pretty words” for Windows 7. I’m not as cute, and have a few choice words of my own right now--none of which are reprintable, much less fit to say in front of that small child.

Now I admit I like my Mac--that’s a blog that’ll be out soon. Stuff just works with it, and I like that. However, I went into this Windows 7 thing with an open mind. I wanted to believe that this was going to be a better experience. But as I said before, I’m less than impressed. If this was the Windows that was supposed to make me want to come “back to the fold”, it has failed wildly.

So if you’re reading this, and you decide to “upgrade”, save yourself before it’s too late.

Enough for now.