Vacation

Soon, we will begin our drive from the duplex we are renting to Kansas.  Some people would have a Google map showing the planned route and leave the dates up on Facebook and Twitter so all of their friends can see where they are going and how long.  I won't be.  Do you not know that (unless you lock it) anybody can follow you on Twitter, your address is public information on the property appraiser site in your county, not everybody who breaks into homes is to poor to own a computer?

Let's say, for fun, that I Tweet "Heading to the moon this weekend with the family!".  Some people may read "House empty this weekend!".  I just checked, my Twitter profile doesn't have my name in it, but lo and behold, there is a link to my blog... yup, my full name in huge letters at the top (you can't miss it).  Twitter does say that I am in Lehigh Acres, Florida.  A quick Google search reveals that is in Lee County.  The property appraiser website shows my address, an aerial and a photo of the front of my house in seconds!  Imagine if scrolling through my Tweets that last weekend I said "Locks on front door still broken, need to fix that some time".  It doesn't take too many brain cells to determine that my house (if all this was true) is the perfect target this weekend.

PleaseRobMe.com used to compile this information to show how crazy it is to share so much information.  People are still showing their location, talking about broken locks, revealing vacation plans, making public maps on Google, ect.

So, I won't be doing that stuff.  See you in a couple of weeks. :)  Don't worry, my house is empty because we are in the duplex now.  Oh, and the locks are not broken.

Twitter
Facebook
Blog on Facebook


Tweet

Been Busy

As you certainly know, our Habitat for Humanity home has Chinese Drywall.  The last some weeks or so, we have been looking for places to rent, waiting for information, packing, rearranging, and saying goodbye to our house.  During that time we have also done some fun things that I could have written about, I just haven't felt like it.  However, today, I will.

Firstly, my dad and brother are still putting together a few things to sell.  There is no limit to what they can make within their limitations.  Steve has made picture frames recently that are neato.  There is always the Shoe Shine Box which is for sale at Etsy.  Really, if you want something made, you oughta just ask them if they can do it, and how much it would cost.

Bethany and I bought a massive tent!

The floor on this puppy is 10' X 20'.  If you were following this blogs Facebook Page, you would already know that ;).  Steve, John boy and I slept in it last Friday night, the 5th.  It was cold out, but John boy and I shared 4 or 5 blankets and Steve (who slept about 12' away from us!) had a sleeping bag and blanket.  It was great.  Steve and I kept a fire going in his little charcoal grill that sits on the ground.  It was warm off and on.  I didn't take pictures this time...

I am totally going to get Bethany to go camping with me soon.  She said she would love to go, it just may be difficult while she is expecting.  So it may be anywhere from 2 to 12 months from now.  I really want to go to Fisheating Creek.  Bethany really wants to go to the springs near Ocala.  That's two trips right there! If you have a tent and want to go camping, raise your hand... and then comment below.


Hopefully we are moving out of our house this weekend.  I'll let ya know.

Another useful link.  I bought my uncle's CD "Night Jazzmen".  You should listen to samples HERE.

Have A Happy Weekend

Everything I was going to say I have said in the title of this post.  OH! and Happy Leif Erikson Day tomorrow!  Any big plans?  We are planning on cleaning the cars and hanging a screen door. Probably clean the chicken coop, maybe drive around the Ft Myers area stopping at peoples houses without calling first..

That's all... this is post number 99.  Get ready for an wonderful 100th post!

Happy Leif Erikson Day

It turns out, Spongebob didn't make up Leif Erikson day in the episode below. Leif Erikson and the Vikings are said to have discovered America before Columbus.  So, in 1925, President Coolidge recognized this fact. Then in 1963 John Blatnik, a US Representative introduced a bill to observe Leif Erikson Day. The bill was unanimously adopted in 1964. Every president since Lyndon B Johnson have made a proclamation of Leif Erikson Day every year on October 9th.

You heard it here first.

Do not forget to wish everybody a Happy Leif Erikson day this Saturday!

Weekend Fun - Lots of pictures

This Saturday, Bethany, John and I planted some flowers in our little garden next to our front door.

 John boy and Bethany did the planting of the flowers.

 John boy mostly watching and dieing to help.

I dug the holes, added the potting soil and watered.

John boy played in the dirt.

Here is John boy and Bethany working hard.

The flowers are all planted here.  Five of them.

 I added Cypress mulch.

 3 bags of mulch.

Raking mulch.

John boy lost interest in the garden eventually and started hitting his golf clubs on the post hole digger.

Violently.

Then he helped me move mulch around.

The curious chickens came for a couple of seconds, to make sure we were doing it right.

Too many pictures (53 to be exact).

The inspector game to make sure everything was up to snuff.

She gave us the approval and went back to the backyard.

Our pet bunny!

 Finished.

After planting, John boy and I played a round of golf.

To make things fair, I used John boy's clubs.

A good day.

Quick Post

Two newly discovered blogs to look at.

Book Shelf
Charlie L. Mitchell

Book Shelf has one post, encourage him to keep posting!
Charlie L. Mitchell has posts to read.  I linked to "Civilized?" because I like it.

That is all for now.

Shark

How neato is this... thing.  You can get it at Patch Together.  If you are looking for something to get John boy for Christmas, well, you don't have to look any farther.  This shark is 7 foot tall.  Free USA ground shipping!  It is so cool.  It's like a 30 pound sleeping bag, or a giant shark pillow, or an awesome photo opportunity.  Our new kitten would love it.  We could have videos of little Misty coming out of the belly of a shark.  So much fun.

There is nothing like this on Amazon.  That's a shame.

Random 03-02-2010

2010 Band of Bloggers

I've been trying to see how many people you can attract to different things online by using free online social things like Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Linkedin and so on.  Here is a list of places you can find me.

• LinkedIn
• FaceBook
• Twitter
• Google Reader
• Google Profile
• BackYardChickens
• Google Wave JeStoneIV
• Google Books
• Picassa
• Flickr
• TweetMeMe

I think there is more, but I went through my bookmarks and didn't see anything else.  Right now I am focusing on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Reader and TweetMeMe.  I prefer using Google products because everything Google is linked together.  From Google Reader you can see my profile, from my profile you can see Google Buzz and Reader, from there you can find my blog and my Picassa albums, it's a giant web of social stuff.

So, look me up.  I am hoping to make better use of Google Wave.  I was following a "Wave" about using Wave in Christian Churches.  There were people in there discussing Wave not only nationwide but worldwide.  Talking about how massive Google Wave is already in it's childhood and how many people may curiously put into their search bar "Bible" or "Christian" just to see what they can learn from Google Wave because they don't really want to go to a church and talk to strangers about Christ even though that is what they are doing in Wave.  

iGive Founders

02-18-2010

Here is what is going on around me these days.  The chickens are doing well.  We have five Rhode Island Reds who are about 8 to 10 weeks from laying eggs.  We have battled dogs and raccoons by making the coop and run more secure.  We attached electric wire and filled in weak spots with tougher chicken wire.  Our loss of chickens has been 11.

John boy is learning more and more each day.  We are trying to teach him how to use his potty.  He likes to sit on it every now and then, but he hasn't gotten the timing right yet I guess.  He always asks to sing "Holy" after devotions each night.  That is "Holy Holy Holy".  It is an awesome song, but we want him to learn others.  We sing "Holy Holy Holy", "It Is Well", "The Gospel Song" (as recommended), "The Doxology" and... I think that is all.  You can still add song recommendations in the comments.  OH, we got him a used swing set that is awesome.  It needs some paint and some wood, but it is usable.  I think I have slid down the slide 10 to 15 times and John boy keeps saying "come on".  Good times.  He loves the chickens too.  He holds them when I let him, and they eat out of his hand sometimes, he chases them and says "poke".

Bethany is being the best wife a man can ask for.  Our house is clean and at the perfect tempature, dinner is always ready at the perfect time, she always looks her best which I believe is the best and I couldn't be happier.

We have had at least 3 people call about the motorcycle this week.  Two are probably going to show up this weekend and one offered to buy it but at a lot less than I would like to sell it.

Now I'm listening to Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisper on Blog Talk Radio.  It's interesting.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidkineugene/ / CC BY 2.0
iGive Founders

Testing 1 2 3...

iGive Founders

Short Story

Turns out that our van is in need of an alternator.  Fine, I bought one.  However, funny story.

I went to the website of two very popular Auto Parts Stores whom I will not name to protect the innocent.  I will call them AA and DA.  Found what I needed on the DA website and it cost a lot of money.  Found the same part on the AA website and found that it was over $50 cheaper.  I call AA and they tell me that I have to go in and order it and it will be that price once I return the old alternator.  Okay, that's what I'll do.

Lunch time comes around and I look at Google Maps to find AA and see it is by Sunshine Boulevard.  I head out.  I drive and see Sunshine coming up and look around, there is the Auto Parts Store.  I pull in.  They look up the part, hey it's in stock...  All right!  I don't have to come back tomorrow.  Here is the price.  Seems a bit high, but they did tell me I would have to order it and I don't, so maybe they told me the wrong price also.  Wrong!


I get into my car and look up... I'm at DA.  What???  I zipped back to work, pulled up Google Maps and find out that AA and DA are pretty close to one another by Sunshine Boulevard.  I tell the story to Bethany right quickly and get back in the car and head to to the counter of DA ready to return the alternator and head to AA and get the good price.
DA Rep: "What's the problem?"
Me: "I need to return this."
DA Rep: "Okay, how come?"
Me: "It's cheaper at AA." (I find being honest and direct is best always)
DA Rep: "Really? We can match the price" (Manager walks by)
DA Rep to Manager: "This guy says AA price is 50 bucks cheaper."
Manager: "How much do they have it for?"
Me: "$109."
Manager to DA Rep: "Give it to him for $100. We can't be beat by AA"

I save 10 bucks by going to the wrong store and then trying to return it.  Nice.  The moral of the story?  Shop around and then go to your favorite store and tell them their competitions prices and see what happens.  Might not work every time, but if it doesn't work, walk out and go to the cheaper guy.

In Other News:
I have a Buell Blast for sale and a charcoal grill for sale.  Asking a lot less for the bike now...

Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipbitnar/ / CC BY 2.0

iGive Founders

Random 01-25-10

Every morning, right before I head off to work, I open the little door that keeps unwanted guests out of the chicken coop during the night.  Then I open the giant door and change the water and check the feeder to be sure they have enough food for a while.  The above video shows the chickens getting out for their morning exercise and beginning their day of hunting for food, bathing in dust, battling for leadership roles, running to the best place to rest and avoiding any hawks that may fly over.

It has become evident in the recent weeks that we probably have 4 roosters who will serve to be served on plates.  Roosters are noisy and do not lay eggs...  That means we have 6 hens which is the exact number we wanted.  They tend to lay every 26 hours or so, so that should be somewhere around 3 dozen fresh eggs every week.  Chicken Information Here <----- you must have Google Wave.  Sorry.

This morning I had opportunity to talk to a coworker about the future and stuff.  He mentioned some smart guy that has a book and movie about the future of the world and how we will have technology that will make it possible to live 'forever' by the year 2040.  This is done be either cloning your body and having nano-bytes that can copy your 'information' in your brain and body and then transfer that 'data' into the new body (or anything else you would like to use) and you would continue your life from there.  It was all very interesting and after another coworker is done with the book, I may glance through it.  The book is a little anti-"religious" in that the guy believes that religions will deny his proclamations because religions have to have death in them in order to corner the market (or some language like that).  That doesn't bother me because he is free to be wrong.

I would be scarred to death to live forever, and here is why.  I think I would rather die than be here when the Lord returns.  I don't know all the details, but I have a weak stomach when out of my comfort zone, or during times of change, so I think I would be sick for as long as it takes from the Lord returning and me getting a new body.  Actually, I am a little bit escathologely (spell check failed) challenged.  Who knows, maybe I'll be called to a mission where it would benefit everybody to live a few hundred years or so.  If that is God's will, He can make it so without our technological advances... so, there ya go.

I am currently listening to Secrets by Marion Meadows on Pandora.  Click Here to listen to the station I have created.  It's fun, easy... free.

In Other News:
Is that my son in the dryer???

IGive Founders