Follow the Christ!

I just returned from our 3-day "Follow the Christ!" district convention in Gainesville, FL. What a weekend! The program was packed full of useful counsel and timely reminders. Here are a few things I came away with:

1. Less TV, more personal study - One speaker, British by birth, said they used to call TV "the idiot's lantern." I'm the worst about plopping down in front of the tube and forgetting about all the other stuff I should be doing. I'm resolved to watch only the shows/games I have to see from now on. I expect the increased study to be manifest in better preaching and teaching ability.
   
2. Be more bold and fearless as a Witness - The speaker we had from Bethel made one powerful statement: "Everyone outside this arena will die, unless someone gets their attention." Too often I have held back out of shyness or timidity. I have to do better.
3. Reach out to others in the congregation - I'm a nice guy, but I definitely tend to be an introvert. I need to be more outgoing, more helpful, more personable, and more approachable. There are many excellent examples of brothers with those qualities in my congregation, and I plan on imitating them more fully in the future.

There was also an overwhelming theme that the end is closer than we think. There was a lot of emphasis on creating circumstances in your life that let you pioneer, whether you are a young person getting out of high school, or a family head with a full-time job. I'm not going to speculate on specific time frames for the end, but the point came through loud and clear: higher education, promotions, retirement benefits, these things are going to be worthless very, very soon.

I'm all for security...

...but what I'm experiencing today is just ridiculous. I'm trying to display an image in the html page created by our Windows Foms application. Sounds simple enough, right? The first few times it failed, I figured maybe I wasn't providing the correct path to the image, which will reside in the same directory as our application.

After several more failed attempts, I was still seeing the little red X that indicates a missing image. I right-clicked on the image and copied the path, then pasted that path in a new IE window. Same result. When I pasted the path in a new Firefox window, things got interesting: the image showed up. So I have the right path, but why isn't IE showing me the image?

My next test was to open Windows explorer and browse to the folder containing the image. I also open a new IE window. I then dragged the image from the explorer window into IE and, once again, the image would not display. What gives?!

I've been Googling all afternoon looking for a reason. I found out this is actually a "feature" of IE7. They actually did this on purpose! There is a workaround which involves creating a new registry key to opt-out of this feature, but I've yet to get that to work. If anyone has a suggestion, email me: martin-at-wittersworld-dot-com.

Update: It turns out that this feature blocks the display of images that have been saved to your hard drive from a source such as the internet or an e-mail. Overkill if you ask me....

Super Bowl XLI

This is always a bittersweet time of year for me. On the one hand, it's Super Bowl week, and we've got all the hoopla that surrounds the biggest game of the year: the parties, the commercials, the crowning of a champion, etc. But at the same time, I can't help but lament the fact that there's only one game left before football season is over. And no, the Pro Bowl doesn't count.

This year's game has some interesting matchups that should make for an entertaining. It's got the league's best offense against one if the best defenses. We've got a Jekyll and Hyde quarterback (Rex Grossman) against a Jekyll and Hyde defense (the Colts).

I really have no idea what to expect when the 2-week pre-game show ends Sunday night. We could get a nip and tuck defensive battle where both teams struggle on offense and force mistakes with their defense. This type of game would seem to favor the Bears, who could easily get Peyton Manning rattle and pick him off two or three times. Controlling the ball and momentum is key , and the Bears have the weapons to do it.

If the game turns into a shootout, the Colts have the advantage. They've shown all season long that they can put points on the board. And they showed last week against the Patriots that they can do so in the most pressure-packed situations. Of course they haven't had to do it against a defense like the Bears. Even if the Bears are successful in bottling up the Colts running game, can they contain Peyton Manning and his stable of talented receivers?

All that said, it's time to go on the record with my prediction. I think the Bears can win, but I just don't see it happening. After the big win against the Patriots, the Colts are riding a wave of confidence. For some teams, that might be a dangerous thing. But something tells me Peyton and the gang are not going to have a let down. Instead I think they are going to get off to a fast start and put immense pressure on Grossman and the Bear's offense. Then look for Dwight Freeney and the Colt's secondary to disrupt the passing game and really turn this into a lopsided game. Truthfully, the halftime show with Prince will conclude the entertainment portion of the evening. Final score: Colts 39, Bears 16.

SLDC Hell

A friend referred me to this article on Code Project detailing the folly of the many Software Development Life Cycles that exist in the industry today. It's a good read.

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/SDLC_HELL.asp

Daily text on the web

One way I get a daily serving of spiritual food is through the booklet "Examining the Scriptures Daily" (published by Jehovah's Witnesses). Considering the daily text in the morning is a great way to start off each day with a spiritual thought, something I can meditate on throughout the day or discuss with family and friends.

For a while, I've been hosting a Google gadget that displays the daily text and can be used in a Google home page or blog. You can see my gadget here. (Update: I am no longer hosting my gadget.)

Today I stumbled on a blog that offers the same information in a different format. Check it out.

I think its great that these tools are out there to make the information more accessible to anyone with a spiritual interest.