I Appear in I Will Teach You To Be Rich Book Testimonial

I bought Ramit Sethi’s book I Will Teach You To Be Rich early. That gave me access to an insider community that Ramit formed, although I ended up as usual not having as much time to participate as I would have liked.

Prior to the official launch of the book (I bought it on pre-order, and Amazon shipped mine a few weeks early prior to the launch), Ramit asked for pictures of his readers with the book. I managed to sit down within 15 minutes of the deadline, and I decided to do the best I could. I used the camera on my Samsung Epix. The self-portrait mirror wasn’t helping, so I was using the screen reflection of my Epix on my laptop to line up the shot. I took 3 or 4 pictures. None of the pictures of the book under my chin were acceptable, so I held it off to the side and fired off a shot. I then emailed the picture from my Epix to Ramit. I was surprised to see it in the testimonial clip on YouTube.

If you’re looking for advice on personal finance, get this book. Most people are stumbling around in a broke daze, accepting financial advice from other broke people, while nobody seems to want to actually read a book written by somebody who knows how to handle money. This is such a book. You can buy the book from my Amazon affiliate link.

I’m Going to Become a Windows Mobile “Hater”

I’ve decided that I”m going to become a Windows Mobile “Hater”. That will probably seem unreasonable and illogical to many, but so be it.

That does not mean I am going to become a Microsoft “Hater”. I won’t become a mobile device “hater". I won’t become a Windows “Hater”. My “hating” is going to be specifically directed at Windows Mobile. That includes Microsoft’s Windows Mobile team, their “partners”, and the telcos, at least in regards to Windows Mobile.

I am going to become overly critical of the platform to the point where I do NOT recommend it. If you’re considering a Windows Mobile device, please, to preserve your sanity, don’t get one. Get a BlackBerry or an iPhone instead, or just get a plain old dumbphone.

I’ve had several Windows Mobile devices over the years. I’m tired of the same annoyances and performance issues that are common to every device I’ve had. Here is my device history:

Microsoft Shutting Down Encarta? Did Anybody Actually Use It?

Apparently, Microsoft is shutting down Encarta, it’s long-running encyclopedia. I don’t want to be unkind, but I’ve never actually used Encarta. I think I had a computer once that came with Encarta, or it came with another MS Product I had, but I never used it. I think I tried to use it once, but the setup was painful or it asked for money or something and I decided it wasn’t worth my time.

Will you miss Encarta? Will it matter to anybody? Now if Wikipedia went down… I can remember when I used to be able to get away with using Wikipedia as a reference at the University of Phoenix. About halfway through, it wasn’t allowed anymore.

Will Evangelicalism Collapse? If So, Should We Care?

A lot of the Christian and theological blogs I read have been talking lately about some kind of coming collapse of evangelicalism. Stand To Reason’s blog is the latest I’ve read, but also the most reasonable assessment.

I figure that there are two kinds of people in this world:

1)Those who are easily lumped into convenient, pre-defined categories

and

2) Those who aren’t.

I guess among all the convenient, pre-defined labels within Christianity, I would probably be lumped in among the evangelicals. That really doesn’t matter to me. At the end of the age, the only identification that matters is me that of Christian, follower of Christ, or follower of The Way, which is what we were originally called all those years ago. I really don’t care what other labels I fall under, but for convenience I probably fall under that of evangelical.

If Galatians Were Published Today

I like humor. I came across a webpage a while back that I finally got around to reading. It deals with “If Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians was Published in Christianity Today.”

I think the editor’s note at the end is a little pointed, but other than that it’s amusing.

Odometer

TypePad’s mobile client is working for me now, so I can put up small entries more frequently. I got my oil changed yesterday, and my odometer reading was noteable. I drive with the trip counter displayed so I can track how far I’ve gone on a tank of gas, so I only see the odometer reading after maintenance unless I think to check it. I just though this odometer reading was interesting.

FaceBook Applications

I’m sitting on the couch with my wife “discussing” FaceBook applications. Honestly, I’ve never gotten the point to these things. It takes more time to accept the requests than it seems worth to me. She just sent me a “coffee”. Actually, it’s a picture of a Starbucks beverage. I said it would have meant more to me if she’d brewed a pot and poured me a cup of the real stuff. She asked what kind of wine I’d like, and I said whatever we have in the house. She asked what kind of desert I’d like, and I said whatever we have in the house again.

At least it’s giving us some time together. I took my Redfly out to write this blog post.

Honestly, I don’t get the point to most of these FaceBook requests. I like FaceBook for the most part. I’ve seen several bloggers shut down their FaceBook and Twitter profiles. I keep mine up so people can find me, and so I can interact with other people. I’ve recently enjoyed trading comments back and forth with a Navy buddy from my first ship. I like leaving comments on other people’s statuses, and I like when people leave comments on mine. All (or most) of my Twitter posts go to FaceBook. I sometimes forget that. But for the life of me, I can’t understand the point to trading coffees, San Antonio Spurs waves (some of my high school friends are on FaceBook), and giving plants and deserts and KFC and Krispy Crème donuts. I don’t get it. It seems to take longer to deal with this stuff than it’s worth.

My wife logged onto my account and she’s going through 40 some requests and “gifts”. That’s a relief for me. Maybe I’ll let her handle it for me.

If none of this makes sense, it’s almost 11 PM EST. I’m almost never up this late.

Book Review: I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse by Michael Franzese

I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse is the latest book I’m reviewing as part of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program. I’ve greatly enjoyed a chance to take part in this program. This is also the first book I’ve read as part of Thomas Nelson’s new Nelson Free program, which gives you multiple formats of the same book. I had the hard copy, .pdf and MobiPocket, and I have the audiobook on my iPod. Amazing, and exciting. I hope this catches on with other publishers. I was able to work through the eBook during some extra time at work, and finish up with the hardcopy this evening.

I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse is written by Michael Franzese, a former mob boss. The book is subtitled “Insider Business Tips from a Former Mob Boss”. Thomas Nelson’s product page for the book is here. I think the product page is a little bit off. It lists a page count of 224. There are 155 numbered pages. I count between 160 and 164, depending on whether the thicker paper pages at the front and back count for page numbers. The book is listed on Amazon for $16.55. It was an amazingly fast read. I’m not the world’s fastest reader, yet this book took me two sittings in one afternoon.

Microsoft’s New Advertising Campaign

As I was going through my RSS feeds in Google Reader this morning, I found this. It’s interesting. I watched the video as well. Microsoft has a new advertising campaign in which they find people shopping for new laptops, let them set a budget, follow them around with a camera crew and then apparently paying for the laptop. The “Laptop Hunter” sets his or her own budget. The video featured in the first blog entry shows a woman who set her budget at under $1000.

I wonder if I could be part of this campaign. I need a new laptop. My laptop died on me. It’ll still boot up, but there’s no telling how long until it goes down. I think it has a short in one of the USB ports. In any case, I need to figure out what I need to do to be part of this campaign. I’ll go on camera and talk about how I like Windows Vista, which is true, in exchange for a laptop and my 15 seconds of fame.

I left a comment asking what it takes to be part of the project. I wonder where they draw their participants from?

Saved By My Own Post

A few months back, I posted how changing one setting fixed a multitude of problems on my Samsung Epix. On Sunday, my Epix (my 2nd one) died on me. I had to get a warranty replacement, which arrived yesterday. While setting up, I ran into all kinds of instability issues which had me ready to call AT&T’s warranty department and tell them that this warranty replacement would not be acceptable.

Then I remembered this post, in which I posted how unchecking ClearType fixed a lot of problems on my Epix. I went into the menu, and sure enough. ClearType was selected right out of the box. I unchecked it, and I don’t believe I’ve had to reboot since.