Henry Will 4

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Climbing Tree

In Ocean Grove NJ, there is a Climbing Tree in the park. Recently one of my friends told me that his daughter was showing him how high she could climb. I guess that when I heard that story, I combined it with my recent experience of walking my own daughter down the isle on her wedding day. It made me think about how we as parents want our children to grow, so I thought of this prayer:

The Climbing Tree

Lord, help our children to grow.
We know our work is to let them go.
Just like they climb high in the Climbing Tree,
Help us to encourage them to be on their own and to set them free.
We want them to climb, higher, higher in their lives;
So that they will be even closer to you.
And, as they move farther from us and hopefully nearer to you
We ask you to keep them safe as they grow,
Just as we stand ready to help at the base of the tree below.
Help them to know that in their lives,
You're also right there beside them too, to help them as they go.
Lord, we thank you that as they learn what you want them to be;
We can still see them, in your arms, holding them up, just like the tree.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Notes from the Mentoring Conference call this past week

This past week, a good friend of mine, Ron Hadley, spoke on Mentoring on the PMlessonsLearned.com conference call I host.
The presentation is available at PMlessonsLearned.com (see the link for "Files and Presentations"). The recording is now available for the next few weeks by phone (for the phone number and access code for the phone recording see details on top left of PMlessonsLearned.com - It will be available until the next conference call on June 3rd) and the MP3 and other recordings will be available on-line in the next few weeks (see the link for archives on the website at PMlessonsLearned.com).

Here are my notes from the call:

With Mentoring, go slow before you go fast
Many people concentrate on "Who" to be mentored by before they concentrate on "What" to be mentored about. Take the time to plan the "What" first. Start with the goal in mind.
Mentoring is a way to develop, so what are you trying to develop?
Discuss strategies that are outside your comfort zone to be put into practice before the next meeting. This will push you to grow.
An important value of mentoring: Mentoring builds relationships which works at the need to build "purpose at work" which builds retention of your best people.
Start with a one year commitment, you can always keep going if it works well. This will set a goal and it isn't too long to commit to.
Ron suggests that it's best to find someone in your company/organization but from another department. This will help you to learn to navigate your organization.
Ron recommends that you make an agreement at the start of the mentoring.
Types of mentoring: one on one or group mentoring. Group mentoring is starting to grow in use. The group presents and issue, brainstorms solutions and then at the meeting the following month they discuss how they handled it.
It is best to have written goals for mentoring
What should your mentoring work on? Try to get a 360 degree assessment. If you can't get one at work, then ask people what you should work on.
Ron said one of the best lessons he learned from his mentor was that he was always bringing his lunch and eating alone, but the mentor told him he should never eat lunch alone. (note: I (Henry) suggest the book "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi)
When asked what the best format is for a meeting with your mentor, Ron suggested: Review the progress of the last meeting's action items and discuss what needs to be done to move forward (discuss next steps and action items) for the next meeting. Ron suggests that mentoring meetings should be once a month and should last about 1 to 1.5 hours.
Where to find a mentor? Ask at work (ask your manager first), church, and/or other organizations you belong to (PMlessonsLearned.com or your local PMI Chapter for example)

I hope you think about getting a mentor!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Free Twitter reposting and tweet Scheduling Applications and Tools

The group I founded, PMlessonsLearned.com, has a twitter account (@PMlessons). We're looking for a way to schedule "tweets" in advance.

Here are some links I found helpful:

Slide presentation with good comparisons of a bunch of free tools:
http://www.slideshare.net/theduffyagency/090930-8-prd-twit-scheduler-pz-sh
And the blog post relating to this slide presentation:
http://blog.theduffyagency.com/methodical_madness/2009/09/index.html
Covers: Tweet-U-Later.com, Twaitter, Dynamic Tweets, Twit Robot, Future Tweets, Social OOmph, Twuffer

Blog post on 6 twitter tools that schedule tweets for later:
http://shegeeks.net/6-twitter-tools-that-schedule-tweets-for-later/
Covers: Twuffer, Futuretweets, Twaitter, twit Robot, Hootsuite, Cotweet

http://understandyourniche.com/twitter/twitter-tools-to-schedule-tweet
Covers: Tweet Later, Future Tweets, Tweet Deck, Twuffer, Easy Tweets (paid), TwitResponse,
Hoot Suite

http://inspirationfeed.com/design/2010/05/18-tools-for-scheduling-future-tweets/

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2010/05/18-twitter-tools-for-scheduling-future-tweets-and-improving-your-social-networking.html

http://internet.suite101.com/article.cfm/6_free_tweet_schedulers

http://inspirationfeed.com/design/2010/05/18-tools-for-scheduling-future-tweets/

http://holywebmaker.com/my-favorite-twitter-tools-588

Others:
http://seesmic.com/

I liked hootsuite and socialoomph so googled a comparison:

http://www.simmons.edu/reconnect/2009/09/social-oomph-vs-hootsuite-which-is-better-for-you-to-manage-your-twitter-communications.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Should-I-Use-Social-Oomph-Or-Hootsuite-For-Automation?&id=3884622

Looks like socialoomph.com might be the place to start.
I won't get to this for a while, so please give your input!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Please comment on my draft outline for a presentation on PMOs

On June 22, 2010 I'm scheduled to present at my company on my experience dealing with starting up a PMOs. I hope to also present this on a future PMlessonsLearned.com call.

I would appreciate your thoughts and comments on this outline. Also, what do you think of the title: PMO's that Go!

Draft Outline:

Title: PMO’s that Go!
Speaking Date: June 22, 2010
Target Date to send out draft outline for comments: May 19, 2010
Target date for comments back on Draft outline: May 21, 2010
Target date to send out Draft Slides: May 26, 2010
Target date for comments back on Draft Slides: June 2, 2010
Final Slides Due: June 7, 2010
Speaker: Henry Will

• Goals of Presentation
o Provide Lessons Learned to increase effectiveness of other PMOs
o Provide a roadmap for anyone starting a new PMO
• Introduction
o overview of material to be covered
o Poll audience to find out where they are and where they are going
PMO involvement
• PMO reports to them
• Lead a PMO
• On PMO team
• Report to PMO
• Just want to know more about PMOs
• Story: Historical
o Organization was purchased by IBM
o PM maturity was weak:
Few standard processes, No written processes. Very little of anything documented
Not much planning, most executing
Very little tracking
Some people would say this is agile (it’s not!)
o How the PMO was “born”
Corporate compliance became an issue
• First Steps:
o Forming the PMO: What type of PMO are we? (picture from PMO Community)
o Hot Focus: Fix Compliance Issues (picture: Fire and fire extinguisher)
o Analysis:
Stakeholder Assessment
PM Maturity Assessment
o Charter
Contents of charter
• Value Proposition
• Scope / Out of Scope
• Stakeholders
• Plans / Priorities
• Success factors
• Organization Chart
• Digging out (picture: we’re in a deep hole that we need to dig out of)
o Tricks used while fighting “Red Tape” and on Wild Goose Chases
Defining priorities each week
Daily focus – what will provide the most value?
Followup using Lotus notes
o Being Honest in reporting
• Digging in (picture: getting our hands dirty, getting to work)
o Communications
Newsletter
Monthly Focus
o Standardized Reporting
Track what you want to improve
Metrics: facts are our friends
Dashboards and Risk Action Issue Log
o Grow the team
Resources
• Added a PMO representative for new contracts/clients
• Off-shore resources
Techniques
• G.R.O.W. model
• Monthly Focus
• Weekly meetings
o Mentors
o Changing the Culture
Drop off in Lunch and Learn Attendance
Heart of Change
• Sense of Urgency
o Process Execution Validation (PEV)
• Future Plans
o Show Graph of compliance Vs Best Practices
Compliance will move toward steady state and then Best practice work will be able to move ahead:
o Best Practices
Selling / Emotional Quotient
Process Improvement
Standard reporting
• Financial
• Resource Management
Communications
• Lessons Learned
PM Proficiency
PM Maturity
Templates
PM Career Development
Tools
• Recap (And Q&A)
• Reference
o Tools:
Mindmap: Freemind
o Mentoring
o Book(s)
Heart of Change
Getting things Done
EQ
o My blog, contact info, etc.

Please provide your comments right here on the blog. Thanks!

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Happy Easter! We Will be Resurrected too!

Our pastor this morning talked about how confused the believers were on the day of the first Easter: the day that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

He remarked that none of them had ever seen a resurrection before. It was difficult for them to believe and understand what had happened at first and for a while thereafter.

He told the story of a professional sailor whom he knows. When the sailor is at sea, he misses home. Yet, when the sailor is at home he feels the call of the sea. When he is on land he is pulled to the sea and the smell of the salt air and the breeze. But, when he is at sea, it just doesn't seem as good as he remembered it. He talked about how the Christian life has confusion and is not all perfect. We still sin and at times we still doubt. We all have our battles we are fighting.

He made the point that we too, just like Christs followers that first Easter, have lots of questions and we don't need to wait until we have them all answered or until our doubts are all removed to become believers. Jesus takes us just as we are. He said we can bring all our "baggage" with us on the journey of faith.

After church, I was talking with some men about the sermon and mentioned "I don't know about you, but when I go on a vacation, I bring my baggage with me!" We all laughed.

There is so much truth in this. Life has it's ups and downs, but still we have hope. The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope because if we accept him as Lord and Savior, we also have the promise of the resurrection for us!

My wife and I went to the cemetery today. All I could think about is Matthew 27:53 and Thessalonians 4:16! Yay Jesus!

Thessalonians 4:16 (NIV): For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.Thessalonians 4:16 (NIV): For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Matthew 27: 50- 54 (NIV)

50: And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

51: At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52: The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53: They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.... See More

54: When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

Lord, Thank you that your resurrection shows us that we too will be resurrected if only we trust in you and give our lives to you. Romans 10:9-10

Do you believe?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

God works in Mysterious ways

God works in Mysterious ways!

Apparently, this line came from an old hymn.

But I can see how God has worked, just in the past 24 hours.

I was wondering how I could be at the office to start a new person I hired while at the same time getting dad out of the hospital.

Then there was a weekend storm. It rained for many days (not 40, but many).

We saw the usual flooding, but a bit more pronounced.

I just happened to power up my work laptop to get a phone number (for a benefit at work that allows us to get help for elder care). I thought, well, while I'm in here, I might as well check my email. And, there was an email that the power was off at the office and we should work from home!

God works in Mysterious ways!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Difficult times

Wow! What a week (or two) it's been!

We attended 3 wakes and a funeral (sounds like a movie title) the week before last and into last weekend
This past week, my dad went in the hospital for a skin condition (he's coming home today)
This past Saturday, Ocean Grove (where I'm a trustee) had a big fire (see links below)
Also, on Saturday, a church in the next town had an explosion (link)
We had a record rainfall for days resulting in my Aunt's foundation collapsing under her house... flooding, trees, and power-lines down all around (as of Saturday 323,000 in New Jersey without power, dozen's of thousands without power in NY)
Power is out today in the area where my office is (92,000 without power in Bergen County NJ with news that power may not be restored until Wed/Thurs)
I heard that there are trees and power lines down near the office - it looks like a disaster area
One of the people from work in Fort Lee NJ (by the cliffs near the Hudson river across from New York City) told me cars were moved in the parking lot from the high winds
Flooding with roads closed all around
Where my daughter works, they are being told to boil their water (note: if you are in a similar situation, keep in mind that I don't think a water filter will filter out bacteria, so do boil the water when they tell you to)
Not to mention the Haiti and Chile earthquakes in recent weeks

Yet, with all going on in my personal life and all these storm related issues, I keep remembering the word that the Lord has had for me lately:

John 16:33 Jesus said (My paraphrase) "In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world"
And, the scripture written on the wall at the Hospital my dad is in: Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will SUSTAIN you.

So, be of good cheer in the midst of it all, God is in control!

Links to Ocean Grove fire:

Saturday, February 13, 2010

My Car Turned 150,000 Miles Today

My Champagne Colored 2000 Chrysler Concorde turned 150,000 miles today!

I pulled over and took this close-up photo:

You can see that I have a sticker on my dash that says "Not about me." This is a reference to the book "The Purpose Driven Life" ( you can read the first seven chapters at the link to the book). The author starts the book by making the point that the purpose of life is bigger than us, it's about God. I have these "Not about me" stickers in other places too. They are great reminders to me in my life of following Christ. They remind me that instead of focusing on me, I need to focus on him and how big, great, loving, mighty, powerful, overcoming, and saving he is.

I bought this car new in April 2000, so it will soon celebrate it's 10th birthday.

It's been a good car without much maintenance required. The original battery died just last week. Car batteries usually last only about 6 years or so and this one lasted almost 10!

Here's some good advice on how to get your car to last past 150,000 miles:
http://cars.about.com/od/adviceforowners/a/ag_livepast100k.htm

We've given names to most of our cars, but this one has yet to be named. I just haven't been able to think of a name for it. Any suggestions?

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

I experieced today the depths of our recession

Today, the depths of our recession hit home for me.

We had about 2 to 3 inches of snow overnight and I set out to shovel. We usually pitch in to help two neighbors with their shoveling (our neighbors also help them).

You've probably seen teenagers walking around your neighborhood looking for a few extra dollars in return for shoveling your snow.

Well today, I saw three grown men walking around with snow shovels! That's when it hit me. It's come to that point! Men who are looking for work to support their families are now to the point of need that they also do snow shoveling.

I paid them to finish the shoveling for one of the neighbors while I finished off our 125+ foot sidewalk around our corner. I thought it was good to see people willing to work for an honest pay. When they were done we paid them. I asked them where they were from. "Mexico" was their answer. I sent them off with a hearty "Dios Te Bendiga" and said "Thank you and God Bless you!" to them.

I continued on to finish the driveway shoveling for our neighbor who is almost 90 years old now. He and his wife have been in the neighborhood here for more than 60 years; they were the first owners of their home when this development was built in the 1950s. They're Jewish and have great stories to tell about the war. He said it's his back that gives him pain. I told him we'd pray for him. It was great to hear the birds singing while I shoveled and prayed.

Maybe you'll pray for him too. And, while we're at it, let's take the time to say a prayer or two for the many people looking for work.

Dios Te Bendiga!

Friday, January 08, 2010

Who's Special?

Our son just went back to college today. We miss him already.

The other night, while having one of our last meals together before he went back to school, he got
the "Special Plate."

Yes, we have a "Special Plate" that is different from all the others. We put it out at one of the settings on the dinner table at our home to let someone know they're special! It's a blue Churchill Willow plate.

So, I said to my son: "Wow! You're the special one tonight!"

I remarked about how it was humorous when sat down to eat at our friend's house because they use the same Willow plates at every place setting. Their family also has a special plate they use and we know other other families that do too.

As a matter of fact, my wife makes it a point of using our fine china for everyone at the table when we celebrate a birthday, so that everyone is special!

I was thinking the other night about applying this "Special Treatment" to two areas of life that are special to me: my efforts to follow Jesus Christ and in my career as a project manager.

As a Christ follower, I want to take the time to treat people special. John 3:16 says that God loves the whole world. I want to keep asking myself: am I showing God's love to others? I've been working at trying to be "in the moment" and to spend time with the people I'm with, while I'm with them, to make them feel special.

As a Project Manager, I want to think about the people on my team. Am I complementing them and helping them to know how valued they are? Am I giving them the positive and specific feedback they need in order to feel appreciated?

So, who's special to you?

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Happy New Year! Goals and Planning

Talking with some of our friends the other day, we were talking about setting goals and planning for the new year.

I try to set goals at the beginning of the year. I try to keep them S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely).

When I was younger, I didn't like to set goals because I wanted God to be able to direct me. I figured he should set my goals.

Now, I realize, I need something to work toward. Some of our friends don'set goals, they like to be open to the Lord's leading. I can see that. I think it depends on your personality. For me, I need the structure and the goals.

I was just reading about goal setting the other day and my take away is that they need to be measurable. For example, I need to set a goal for my weight (something I'm currently working on) with a target date. As a Project Manager Professional (PMP) this fits right in with my regular practice: setting dates with measurable goals!

If you're the type to set goals, I'll provide you with some ideas here of the areas I set goals in:

1. Spiritual: What are the goals in my spiritual walk. In 2010, my goal is to "walk with the Lord" just as Enoch walked with the Lord. I want to continually be walking with God. For me, this also includes praying constantly and reading through the Bible.

2. Emotional: Goals for relationships and for my own emotional health. This includes what I want to do for those around me (family, friends, work colleagues) and for my own health.

3. Physical: This is were exercise and diet come into play.

4. Financial: How can we make better use of the funds that God has sent our way? What do we want to contribute to? What and how will we save? Spend? I also work with my wife to take a financial snapshot and do some financial planning.

5. Development/Career: What will I do to learn more about my career? What learning? What books? Courses?

6. House and Home Goals: What do I plan to accomplish in the house this year?

Keep in mind, that I still want God to set my goals. He is far better to direct my paths. So, I ask him for his leading, guidance, and wisdom. I am flexible and open to his leading. If he wants to re-arrange my goals, I listen for him to lead me.

There is a church nearby that is doing 3 sessions on Completing a Personal Life Development Plan. They will be covering our gifts, setting 1 and 5 year plans, as well as much of the areas I outlined above. I'm hoping to attend and maybe I'll post more.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Yes, Virginia, There is a Savior!

Yes, Virginia, There is a Savior!

Perhaps you've heard the story about the little girl who asked if there was a Santa Claus. The answer was published in the newspaper with the famous line, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus!" (links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_Virginia,_there_is_a_Santa_Claus and http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/)

Just like that little girl who had a big concern at Christmas, we have concerns, too!

What are our concerns at Christmas time? Maybe choosing the right gift? Or getting invited to parties (the right parties)? Busyness? Being ready for Christmas?

I know I've had some of these concerns. I know I haven't felt ready. I haven't felt like it's Christmas yet.

In all the hustle and bustle, when will it feel like Christmas? Among all of this crazy preparation, when will Jesus show up? When will I have the "epiphany"?

Talking to someone other day, I asked if they were ready for Christmas. They said they weren't ready for Christmas. What surprised me was that this was a ten-year-old! Even children feel they are not ready for Christmas, let alone us adults!

So, I thought I should write a new headline in the newspaper, for everyone young and old alike, titled:

Yes, Virginia, There is a Savior!

Christmas is not so much about buying gifts, it's about the greatest gift! God loved us all so much that he gave his only Son! That son later died for us to give us eternal life! That's what the true Christmas is all about! (John 3:16)

So, let's be ready! He will show up! He will break through! Listen! He is knocking at the door of your heart now! Let Him in!

(add a comment below and tell us what your concerns are at Christmas and how Jesus broke through for you!)

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Are You in Transition?

I know a bunch of people in "transition" at this time. In other words, they're out of a job.
In all cases, it's not due to their lack of productivity, but due to so many companies cutting costs in this economy.

Today I talked with someone and gave him some thoughts about some ideas for job searching. He asked me to send him an email about it. So, I've put my thoughts here so that other can take advantage of these ideas too.

Networking:

Networking is the number one way that people find jobs. Here are some ideas of how to get started.

International Networking group: Empowering Todays Professionals: etpnetwork.com - Rod Colon, a good friend, mentor, and past career coach founded this group. Look for great articles and if you join the ETP network (nominal fee) you gain access to great networking meetings, newsletter, phone calls, and more!
Jibberjobber.com - Jason Alba (his website has great info too) created this jibberjobber.com website to track your career. In addition to the tracking tool, it has lots of free information in the blog, library and more. Here's a recent article on his blog titled "Where to Find Network Contacts" - he also hosts free

Places to Look for Jobs:

Follow Job Angels on Twitter
Build a network for yourself in linkedin.com

Books I suggest you read right away:

"Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi - this will teach you how to network with ease. I hear his new book "Who's Got Your Back" is also very good.
"How to Win Friends and Influence People" - This book will teach you principles on how to win a job, win a career, and more than that, how to be a great friend to people. Written by Dale Carnegie decades ago, you can pick the book up for very little money, but you'll find great value in it.
"Rites of Passage" by John Lucht - This book has great information for the job search, including one great lesson I learned about interviewing: Whenever asked a question, only speak for two minutes.
Vega Consulting - Kim Shand and Maggie DaRonco have been great help to me personally and others in our PMlessonsLearned.com group. They will be especially helpful to you if you're in I.T., but if you want any general job search or career information they are there to help. They believe, like Zig Ziglar says, that if they keep giving to others it will come back to them.

If you're in New Jersey, you can also take advantage of these opportunities:

The Breakfast Club of New Jersey: I've not been to this group, but have heard great reviews of it.
Dover Professional Services Group (PSG: doverpsg.com): This group is open to all professionals who are in the NJ Unemployment system. I am a past member and found the group very helpful. I highly recommend it.

I hope to add more information in this post soon, so keep stopping back!

Friday, December 04, 2009

Thank God for Glasses!

My friend, Amechi, got me started a few weeks before Thanksgiving this year on posting something that I'm thankful for every day on Facebook. I've continued this practice past Thanksgiving. Who knows when I'll run out of things to be thankful for!

Well, today I decided that I'll post tomorrow about how thankful I am for glasses! I don't see well without glasses, so I'm very thankful for them!

Today I went for a checkup with the eye doctor. We had to dilate my eyes. Well, when I came out of there (I hadn't got my sunglasses out of the car yet), I passed the UPS lady who was going into the building. She was such a bright light in the sun that I couldn't even look at her! And they wear brown uniforms that aren't all that bright!

I can still picture how bright she was. It reminded me of the dazzling brightness of the transfigured Jesus (Luke 9:28-35) and the resurrected Jesus as he appeared to Paul (Acts 9). I can only imagine how bright he was and how difficult it must have been to look at him.

I saw star-bursts coming off every glint of light. There were star-bursts of lights shining off the cars and off the Rockaway River. In a way it was beautiful, yet it made it difficult to see.

I couldn't help but think about the wonder of how God created us. If it were not for the exact functioning of the iris in our eye to regulate how much light comes in, we might see things too brightly (or too dim) all of the time!

So, I'm thankful to the Lord for how I am wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). I'm thankful that he gave someone the idea to invent eyeglasses and he gave all those other people ideas to make so many improvements to eyeglasses! Why, I haven't had to use a paper clip to fix my glasses for years!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I Accidentally Deleted My Digital Camera video picture files!

Here's my latest story:

I played my guitar for the first time at the Ocean Grove NJ Crosstown Acoustic Cafe Coffee House the other night. Our good friend, Nancy, took some great videos with my digital camera.

At home, I connected the camera and started copying the files to my computer.

Later on, I stopped by the computer and it looked like it was done, so I deleted the files from the camera. To my surprise, two of the longer videos (the two I wanted the most, of course) were not there! It seems that it must have still been in the middle of copying them when I deleted them. Oh, No!

Well, my daughter brought over my son-in-law's USB reader for my SD High Capacity (HC) card (mine didn't work for these new HC type). It allowed me to read it like a disk drive. It was mapped to K: now on my computer.

A friend at work, Prentice, told me about Pandora Recover, a free program that finds and restores deleted files. (Note: don't take more pictures after accidentally deleting something until after you use this program, otherwise the new photos you take might write over the remnants of what's left of the old pictures or videos).

Pandora Recover worked quickly and easily. I got my files back quickly!
http://download.cnet.com/Pandora-Recovery/3000-2094_4-10694796.html

It says it works for USB drives, hard drives, etc. and finds pictures, videos, and other types of files too!

I first scanned the version that I downloaded with Norton Anti-virus before I installed it and Norton Anti-virus said there were no viruses in it. However, you might want to scan it yourself. Also, you may want to skip the optional install of the cnet tool bar.

The tool worked very well for me!

Monday, November 23, 2009

How to make a Travel box and ideas for Car Games

Ideas for Car Games

We've had fun making a "Travel Box" for family and friends when they are taking a long car trip. We just take a box and put a bunch of things wrapped in comics or paper lunch bags.

Label these things with messages like:
* open on the way home after lunch
* Open after 100 miles
* Open after you go through 2 states
* Open after you see the first sign for Florida
* Open after you see the first sign for your Destination (College, State, Town)
* Open after you see the first Palm Tree
* Open when you stop for gas
* Open if you feel silly (or it could read "tired" or "bored") in Georgia
* When you see a license plate from such and such a state

Some silly examples are:
* Open this when you're feeling nuts (wrap up some nuts)
* Open this when you're feeling silly (Silly Putty or Silly String)
* Open when it gets dark (light sticks)
* Open when you're thirsty or hot and tired of driving (Wonka Fun Dip / Lik-m-aids) (or Nik-L-Nip bottles)
* When you need a morning snack (granola bars)
* When you're bored (Wooly Willy - we bought one at 5 Below)
* When you hear a rock song on the radio (Pop Rocks candy)
* When you're low on cash (100 Grand Candy bar)
* When you see an animal (Cow Tails candy)

You can also pack the box with other things:
* Jokes
* Car Bingo (look for the signs or license plates)
* Comics section from the newspaper

We also put some envelopes with game ideas written on them (sometimes with statements like above)
* Song Fest - Take a well known song (like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and change the words to a silly song or a christian Song
* Open when you need encouragement - put Bible verses or nice words of blessings or the little encouragement cards you get at the Christian Bookstore

You can also put a card in there with a list of the things they need to find/do/reach in order to open the items.

Here are a few websites that I also found helpful:

http://www.momsminivan.com
http://www.momsminivan.com/printables.html
http://www.classroomjr.com/category/worksheets/printable-mad-libs/
http://travelwithkids.about.com/cs/printgames/a/gamesprint.htm
http://www.airlinecreditcards.com/travelhacker/27-free-games-to-keep-your-kids-entertained-on-a-road-trip/
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/list/top10/121613/article.html

String Games: http://alysion.org/figures/main.htm
Mad Libs: http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/madlibs/

What ideas do you have? Please leave a comment!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Twitter for beginners

This is for Bill who wanted to know about Twitter and for others who are curious.

What is Twitter?

What is it? Twitter is a online service you can sign up for. It's free to use.
What does it do? It allows people to send out short messages (140 characters or less) to anyone and everyone who wants to read them. It works like texting on a cell phone, but it get's sent out and anyone can read it, like a broadcast. You can also "follow" someone's broadcasts (called "tweets"). If you send out "tweets," some people might decide to "follow" you (in other words, they will read your "tweets" in their account.
What are the benefits? You can read information from other people (like the news headlines, or your favorite author, or a friend). You can let people know about you, like what you're doing, or the story you want to tell, or information you want to share.

Suggestions for how to phase in your use of Twitter

Setup an account (details below) It's easy and Free!
Follow what's going on for a while - you can just do this for a few hours, days, months, years...
Find people to follow
Observe RT, @, #FollowFridays (more on this below)
Find out about Hashtags - maybe make one of your own (more on this below)
Then, Dive in and start posting messages

Setting up a Twitter Account

Web - The basic account is set up so you can use it with the web. After getting an account, you just login and use it. You can look at posts of those you follow, search for people, and post your own "tweets"
Phone - You can also set up tweeter to send and receive messages using your phone

Suggestions for newbies

Follow first before starting to send out "tweets"
Look around at who other people are following, click on those people to see what they are "tweeting" about and then follow them if you like what you see. You can always stop following or follow anyone as much as you want, whenever you want.

Following

What it means to have followers - People who "follow" you will see your posts on their "home" page. Usually people follow you to see what you're posting ("Tweeting") about, or because they want you to follow them. You'll see many organizations try to follow you because they want you to follow them. It's your choice though.
How to follow someone - You can follow anyone by searching for them or by clicking on their icon in someone else's "following" list and then once you see that feed, there will be a link/button near the top left that allows you to "follow" them
Examples of people to follow: @nytimes (news headlines, you can click on a link to get to the details of the news), @zondervan (gives bible quotes). You can also search for famous people (entertainers, politicians, etc.) or authors, etc. You may like to track packages using twitter (see http://www.usetrackthis.com)

How to find people and topics

Once you set up an account, there is a "find people" link at the top to search for people to follow
You can also find people by clicking on anyone in your list of people who follow you or who you follow and then look at the list and click on them to see who they follow or who follows them. Whenever you see someone you like, just click on the "follow" button to follow them.

How to use Twitter to send messages (Tweet)

How to "Tweet": Just click on "home" and then type something in the "What are you doing?" box. Then click on "update." You're "tweet" will then be viewable by anyone following you or looking at your profile.
Short URLs (links) - If you want to send a link in your "tweet" you will find that shorter links will fit better in the 140 character limitation for "tweets." You can shorten your link (called a URL in tech-speak) by going to bit.ly (no .com here, just http://bit.ly), entering the URL (link with the http:// on the beginning) and clicking "shorten." You will get a shortened link that is something like http://bit.ly/9dwZb which should be shorter so it uses up less space in your 140 character "tweet"

Twitter commands

DM: You'll like to know that you can also DM (Direct Message) someone if they are following you (this is like sending an email to that person). Nobody but you and that other person will see these messages.
@: and you can also send a message to someone that everyone can see by putting @ with their name (like @henrywill) in the message. This allows that person to see what you sent them, but so will everyone else.
You can also mark tweets as favorites (see the link to the right of the tweet posting). You can look at favorites later (and others can also look at your favortites)

Special Twitter text (#, RT, @ replies, DM, etc.)

# is a special character in "tweets," see the information in the section below about "hashtags"
RT = Re-tweet. This is used when someone takes someone's message and decides it is good enough to send to their followers. Example: you see someone post a message, like "Johndoe: Free fries at "Joe's Cafe" this Saturday!" You would like your friends to know about it, so you send out a retweet "RT @JohnDoe: Free fries at "Joe's Cafe" this Saturday!" - You just add the "RT @" to the beginning of JohnDoe's message. You can also add your own text at the end if you want. Note: you'll notice, if you want people to retweet your messages, you need to keep them short enough so they can add the "RT @" and your Twitter name to your message and still fit within the 140 character "tweet" limit.
@ - as explained before, this is a way to send a message to someone, but allow others to see it. Example: if your friend "SusieSmith" tweets "John, did you get to "Joe's Cafe" for the free fries this past Saturday?" you can reply with "@SusieSmith yes, Joe's Cafe fries are the best, even if they weren't free!" - everyone, including @SusieSmith can see this. (note: if you don't want others to see your reply, use DM)

Special Twitter hashtags (#FollowFriday, hashtag.org,etc)

By putting a # in front of some special keyword text, it allows people to search for that keyword. For example, #PM allows people to search for #PM as a keyword (called a hashtag because the # is known as a hashtag in addition to a pound sign). You can search on all types of subjects in twitter to see what people are saying about that subject. Look at the bottom right of your home page to see the "trending topics" of which hashtags people are using. You can also find a list of hashtags and graphs of how much they're used at http://hashtags.org
One popular hashtag is #followfriday or #fridayfollow - people use this hashtag on Fridays with a list of people they think it would be good for their followers to follow. It's a good way to find out about people to follow.
You can find other popular hashtags at hashtag.org

Getting followers

How to get followers: First find people you like to follow, many will follow you back. You can also ask people you know to follow you.
Good practice when someone follows you - It's best to thank your new followers, tell them what "tweets" you like to read or what you're intersted in, and/or what you like to tweet about.

Great uses of Twitter

I mentioned earlier about how to track packages in twitter, but there are new uses of twitter coming on line all the time. Twitter can also be used to update your status in facebook and to read news headlines, jokes and more. Read the followers and following lists of some people you follow or who follow you to find good ideas. Let me know of any good ones you like in the comments of my blogpost here.

References:

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Twitter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=player_embedded
http://www.usetrackthis.com (track packages via twitter)
9 Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted http://tinyurl.com/nx7wna

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Five R's of Dealing with Temptation

I was listening to a copy of one of Lloyd Pulley's presentations the other day. He speaks on a show called "Bridging the Gap." He gave this list of the Five R's for Dealing with Temptation.

The Five R's for Dealing with Temptation:

1. R: Remember: Remember who you are. You are the Salt and Light. Matthew 5:13
2. R: Realize: Realize the cost of yielding to temptation and the Reward for not giving in Romans 6:23
3. R: Ruthless: Be Ruthless with your flesh - Make to provision for your flesh to sin - Matthew 5:29
4. R: Renew: Renew your mind Romans 12:2
5. R: Rely on His Grace: His grace teaches us to say "No."

Psalm 138:6

He also said we should get busy!
Spurgeon said: Some Temptations come to the industrious, but ALL temptation comes to the idle

I hope this encourages you to overcome temptation!

Barre Chords, Minor and m7 Chords on the Guitar

I've been learning new things on the guitar this summer and thought I'd post about them.

Barre Chords, sometimes called Bar Chords, allow you to move the same Chord "shape" up the guitar to another fret and form a new chord.

Keep in mind that each Fret is a half step. So, good examples are that the E chord, moved up 1 fret (you need to bar the 1st fret then to do the equivalent of moving up the Nut, the place where the strings go over the top part of the guitar neck) forms the F chord! (Because in half steps, the scale is A, A#, B, C, C#,D, D#, E, F, F#,G, G#, ...)
If you move it up 2 frets from the Nut, it would be the F# chord.

Also, the A chord, moved up 2 frets becomes the B chord!

The guitarforbeginners website shows what I'm explaining with a little animation.

Minor Chords
I also learned how to easily form Minor Chords from the E and A chords.
When the highest string (the highest frequency, the one closest to the floor) being held down is moved down one fret towards the Nut, a half step (to the minor 3rd), the chord becomes a Minor chord.

So, if you take the A chord and move your finger on the B string one fret lower (toward the Nut) you'll have an A minor chord.

For the E chord, you move your finger on the G string (actually playing a G#) down a half step (1 fret) which in this case is the nut (or an "open" string) to get Em (E minor)!

Am7 and Em7:
To get these minor chords to be minor 7th chords, just remove the 2nd finger (counting from the side of the neck furthest from the floor) so an open string is played.

So, to change the Am to Am7, lift your finger on the G string.
To change the Em to Em7, lift your finger on the D string (you'll only have one finger left, it will be on the A string 2nd fret (playing a B)

The same is true for the A7 and E7 chords.

If you look at some chord diagrams, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Guitar with a Capo

Did you know that Capo is short for Capodastra?
Neither did I until I started reading up on the Capo to figure out what some of my friends (who are guitar teachers) were trying to teach me about Capos.

Here are some websites that teach about Capos on guitars. Some of them have tables that you can print. You'll find that they each have a different way of expressing the table of the use of Capos. The basic idea though is back to the "Capo Triangle" that one of my friend/instructors told me about, it has 3 "sides" which are: The Key of the Chord, The chord shape (and where the Capo is), and the root note of the chord.

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/capo.html
http://www.cyberfret.com/misc-wisdom/capo/page5.php
http://www.cyberfret.com/misc-wisdom/capo/transposition-chart.htm
http://www.5min.com/Video/Learn-To-Play-Guitar-Using-A-Capo-Part-1-31245935
http://topguitartraining.com/index.php?key=how_to_use_a_guitar_capo.php
http://guitarwebapp.com/pdf/capopos.pdf

And for those who want to go beyond, there's chord transposition with some music theory here:
http://www.abclearnguitar.com/transpose.html