My First TheArizonan.com Blog Entry

The headline is, “Arizona’s “Protected” Federal Lands – The Gateway for Illegals“  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Turns out that not only is the left silent on this serious problem, now they want to study it!  Yep.  One man’s trash is another’s research grant.  The National Science Foundation and the University of Michigan are collecting garbage from trash sites along the border.  The Huffungton Post reports, “Since 2008, The Undocumented Migration Project, directed by De Leon, has collected what has become the largest assemblage of migrant artifacts in the country.”

ARTIFACTS?!  Wow.  If you want to call old clothes, backpacks, water bottles, children’s toys and dirty diapers artifacts I would submit that you are severely delusional.

For the rest of the article just follow the link at the top of this entry.  Don’t forget you can comment both here and there.

Thirteen Below

I opened my browser minutes ago and my home page opened up.  It’s the Borealis Webcam Multiview of their web cams scattered about Anchorage, Alaska.  The current temperature at 3:53 a.m. local time just happened to be -13 F, which is also the coldest temperature I have had the pleasure to enjoy.

Enjoy?  Well sure.  I was a teenager and it was a great adventure.  You may disagree if you have lived where it’s regularly colder.  Especially if you’ve had to endure plugging in your car to keep the oil a semi liquid, or shoveling snow for an hour just so you can get out of the driveway only to have the snowplow come by and block your drive again.  That does sound frustrating.

But my story is different.  I was 16 years old and we took a Winter road trip to Grandpa Jones’ ranch in John Day, Oregon.  Shoveling snow was not part of my life.  We were visiting from the Willamette Valley were the rare snow doesn’t stick around long and temperatures rarely fall below the teens above zero.

It was already cold when we left Canby.  In the 20s maybe and so my brothers and sisters and I were dressed warmly as we piled into the van.  It was an evening/night drive to eastern Oregon.  My first clue that this trip was going to be different was when we got into the mountains and ice started forming on the inside of the van windows!  Yes, Dad had the heat on, but it was near zero outside.  We stopped to go to the bathroom in the woods (you can do that in Oregon.  Lots of trees :-) and the wind blew through my jeans like I wasn’t wearing any!  First lesson.  Wear thermals when it’s nothing degrees outside.

We arrived in John Day and went to bed.  The next morning it was get out of bed and feed the cows.  No shower or breakfast first.  The cows get fed at daybreak, which also happens to be the coldest time of the day, even in John Day.  It was perfectly calm and clear and thermometer read -13 F.  A personal best for me that stands to this day.

I bundled up the best I could and I was made to wear a handkerchief over my mouth and nose so I wouldn’t “frost my lungs.”  I doubted then (and now) that that was a real danger at that temperature, but I don’t remember arguing.  Maybe I rolled my eyes.  You know how teenagers are.

I stepped outside into the squeaky snow and man it was cold!  I just gotten up, so there was not much blood circulating in my body yet.  Thankfully it was perfectly still so the wind chill was also -13 (unless you started walking fast).

We got to work.  We loaded the trailer with hay and Grandpa drove the tractor while we peeled flakes off for the cows to enjoy.  The cold was making my nose run and as I inhaled my snot (sorry about the visual) froze in my nose!  It’s like someone crammed cardboard up there!  The condensation from my breath turned the handkerchief into ice.  It was also forcing moisture to exit near my eyes and one of my eyes actually froze shut!  I had to take off a glove and melt the ice off of my eyelashes so I could open my eye again.  (I knew that handkerchief was a silly idea)  Crazy.

We were done before I knew it.  The cows were fed and we went inside to warm up and have a hearty breakfast our own selves.  That afternoon it got up to a toasty 10 degrees.  With sunshine icicles were growing and we went sledding and sliding into, and through, one of the frozen ditches.  FUN!  The whole visit was fun.  Later that Winter I got to return and my Uncle and I hiked up into the John Day Mountains and surprised a bunch of deer.  We also almost got lost in a snow squall, but that’s another story.

I love cold and snow.  Always have.  It’s beautiful and fun.  Of course, I’ve never had to plug in my car or shovel my way to work either…

We all Need a Hero

At least I know I’d like one.  The GoPro Hero2 is an amazing HD camera that comes with a waterproof case and all kinds of mounts.  It would be an amazing camera for time lapse video captured from my deck!

Here is my first UStream broadcast from my phone:

Just Do It

Nike has something there, but that is the final step of the process. Almost always before we do, we ponder. Even before that we have to have the idea to act on in the first place. Sometimes the time between having an idea and acting is a split second! Often in those cases you can end up getting in trouble.

So where am I going with this? New Year’s Resolutions, of course. It’s great that I want to get back into shape, lose weight and get organized. (notice I didn’t say get reorganized :-) That’s where the process starts. Deciding to do something, coming up with a plan of action and ultimately acting. Just doing it. Unfortunately I am all too familiar with thinking about a thing and thinking about a thing and thinking about a thing but not acting. Funny how things don’t change until our actions change!

It’s Biblical too. Proverbs 14:23 says:
In all labor there is profit,
But idle chatter leads only to poverty.

The key word here is idle. If you are thinking about something, that is the first step, but don’t let it stop there. Even if it’s years and years that you have been pondering, chances are it’s not too late to act.

Different actions spring from different thinking, so don’t discount that. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you’ve been thinking about getting back into shape, but haven’t acted yet. You are on the right track! The next step is to drive yourself to a track and actually run around it.

Me? My boss got me involved with a group at his church that is gradually working up to running a 5k in March. The first workout was Thursday and we are meeting again this morning in just an hour or so. The workout is pretty easy to start. (but turned out to be harder in action then it looked on paper) After a 5 minute brisk warm up walk it was 60 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of walking. Lather rinse and repeat for 20 minutes. Not bad. The workouts gradually increase the running component so that by mid March we are running for 28 minutes and ready for the 5k.

I’m really excited about it. Even though I have run a few 5k’s before, that was in the early 90s! I used to jog almost everyday in 1999 and 2000. I had worked up to 4 to 6 miles almost everyday and was in my best shape since high school. A knee surgery and 10 years later (and 40 pounds later) it’s almost like starting over.

The important thing is I am starting and with a goal in mind. Now, if I could just get someone to wash my car and clean this apartment.

Mom’s Assorted Dried Fruit

A couple of visits ago (and probably a couple of years ago too) to see the Mom she was telling me about how she was dehydrating some food and how the dried fruit was turning out really tasty.  She was describing them to me and I got an idea.  What if we did an ad campaign?  I busted out the MacBook Pro and started messing around in Garage Band.  We had sooo much fun writing and producing these!  Here’s what we came up with.  Get yours today!

Mom’s Assorted Dried Fruit:

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Mom’s Apple Tudes Dude:

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Mom’s Banana Chips:

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Mom’s Dried Pineapple Chunks:

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Mom’s Dried Strawberry:

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Mom’s Peach Drops:

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Mom’s Plum Plunges:

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Create and Sell Your Own Calendar Online

Like I did!

It’s no secret that I have a serious photography addiction.  With sunrises and sunsets as beautiful as they are around here it’s hard to resist.  The perils of living in a target rich environment I suppose.  As a result I have all these pictures.  What to do?

Over the last couple of years I have been playing around with Zazzle.com.  I have a little store there with some of my pictures on coffee mugs and mouse pads.  I’ve sold a few and it’s pretty neat to see some of the great scenes I capture around here on a mug.  My favorite is the “God Is Amazing” mug with a great shot of Pusch Peak after a storm.  The other is a mug that screams Valentine’s Day gift.  The, “Life is Better Shared” mug features two hummingbirds enjoying a sunrise lit breakfast together.  Aw.

I’ve had a couple of friends asking when I was going to have a calendar for sale.  Well today I finally went through my pictures and have published two calendars you can buy at my Zazzle store.  The Oro Valley 2012 Calendar and the HummingbirdFeederCam.com 2012 Calendar.  The cost is kinda high though.  Almost $21! and I only make $2 of that.  Calendars are half price today at Zazzle, so you might could grab one for $10.50 plus shipping.  I’ve sold a couple so far today!

Still, $21 is kinda high for a calendar.  I don’t care how much you like me :-)  So, I was looking around for a better solution and I found it.  A quick web search landed me at Lulu.com.  I remember my Mom telling me about it.  A site mainly dedicated to self publishing authors, but they also have a slick tool for creating calendars.  Here’s what I came up with.  My self published TonightsSunset.com 2012 Calendar:

Best part is I can offer it to you for $15.99 and I make almost $3. I call that a win win.  Order up a couple today and tell your friends.  2012 is only a week away!

Here is the HummingbirdFeederCam.com 2012 Calendar:

Sylmar Earthquake

I was born in L.A. at a young age (as I like to say) and we lived in Lawndale, California until I was in 3rd grade.  Spending the first 8 years of my life in south-central L.A. meant I got to experience a lot of things.  I don’t remember it being a particularly rough neighborhood, except I do remember a friend of mine got punched in the face because he had a sissy bar on his bike that said, “Sock it to me!”  I tried to warn him :-)

Anyway, one of the cool things about being in Los Angeles was the earthquakes.  You never knew when they were going to hit, but they were pretty fun.  I remember one afternoon in particular.  The water in the fish tank started to slosh and the light above the dining room table started to sway.  We all rushed outside.  Not because we were in danger, we just did.  What I saw next was so cool.  As I looked down the street, it looked like the whole earth was rolling like the ocean!  It kinda made me dizzy.  It didn’t last very long and it wasn’t particularly strong.  Just a rolling quake gently moving through the neighborhood.

Fast forward to February of 1971.  It was 1 minute after 6am.  I had just gone to the bathroom and was crawling back into the top bunk.  As soon as my head hit the pillow the quake hit L.A.  It started out with a shimmer, but was full on shaking in seconds.  Being on the top bunk, it was quite a ride!  Everything in the room was shaking violently and it was noisy.  Stuff falling off the walls, etc.  Then I noticed something extraordinary and I’ve never experienced it since (and hope I never do again).  There was a dimension of sound.  As far as my ears could hear there was a rumble and a roar.  It must be how Hollywood was inspired to create surround sound, but there’s nothing like the reality!

I don’t know how long the quake lasted and I don’t remember being scared, but chances are I was.  My brother Chris was in the bottom bunk and slept through the whole thing!  As the morning progressed we started hearing the damage reports.  No real damage at our house and minor damage in the neighborhood.  I remember we were upset that we still had school.  Some of the windows were cracked and in our classroom a portable book shelf had slid across the room dumping it’s contents.

Further north closer to the epicenter in Sylmar, California it was a real disaster.  An overpass had collapsed on a truck killing the driver.  The worst of it was a V.A. Hospital had collapsed killing around 50 people.  Governor Reagan declared a state of emergency.  The USGS put the magnitude at a 6.6 on the Richter Scale.  Major quake indeed and one I will never forget.

The small quakes really are fun!  It’s the big ones that will really shake you up and could kill you if you are in the wrong place in the wrong time.

Is Your Cell Phone Company Spying On You?

They say no, but it looks like they have the means to watch and save everything you do, say and surf on a Droid smart phone.  Trevor Eckhart is a developer for Droid phones and found a hidden program on an HTC Droid called Carrier IQ.  What Carrier IQ does is log everything you do on your phone, even if it’s encrypted.  He busted this story wide open by exposing just what Carrier IQ is capable of in this rather lengthy and revealing YouTube video:

As the article in Gizmodo states, start at about 9:00 minutes in to watch Carrier IQ in action.

So who is infected with this intended spyware?  Apparently anyone with a decently modern Droid smart phone.  It appears that some iPhones may have the program, but it is easily neutered.  This appears to be an Android phone issue and it looks like it’s some of the cell phone companies that are asking manufacturers to install Carrier IQ.  Apparently not everyone is affected (more like infected).  From a c/net article:

HTC Android devices have no on-off switch for Carrier IQ, while Samsung devices do, but it is not easily accessible or pointed out to users, he said.

Because customers do not give explicit permission for this data collection and don’t even know this software is on their phones, and they can’t opt out of it, Eckhart says it is a clear privacy violation. He likens Carrier IQ to malware.

“Carrier IQ is rootkit software,” he wrote in his report. “It listens on the phones for commands contained in ‘tasking profiles’ sent a number of ways and returns whatever ‘metric’ was asked for.”

The test Eckhart shows in his video was being done with a phone manufactured by HTC.  Just so happens I bought an HTC Evo 4G just a few weeks ago.  I am not to happy with this at all.  No reasonable person would expect that their cell phone provider would give themselves the secret ability to track every single thing you do on your phone.  To say it is outrageous is an understatement!

My carrier is Sprint.  What do they have to say for themselves?

A Sprint spokesman provided a general statement about the use of Carrier IQ, but did not provide comment to follow-up questions about whether customers know about the data collection and why they can’t opt out. Here is the Sprint statement:

“Carrier IQ provides information that allows Sprint, and other carriers that use it, to analyze our network performance and identify where we should be improving service. We also use the data to understand device performance so we can figure out when issues are occurring. We collect enough information to understand the customer experience with devices on our network and how to address any connection problems, but we do not and cannot look at the contents of messages, photos, videos, etc., using this tool. The information collected is not sold and we don’t provide a direct feed of this data to anyone outside of Sprint.

Sprint maintains a serious commitment to respecting and protecting the privacy and security of each customer’s personally identifiable information and other customer data. A key element of this involves communicating with our customers about our information privacy practices. The Sprint privacy policy makes it clear we collect information that includes how a device is functioning and how it is being used. Carrier IQ is an integral part of the Sprint service.”

Bull-ony.  Eckhart has clearly demonstrated the potential Carrier IQ has to spy on customers.  If it’s no big deal then why install the software in secret and why make it so powerful?  While it may not be practical for Sprint to spy on all of its customers all the time, they certainly have given themselves the ability to track and watch any of their customers they like.  Eckhart asks the questions, what are phone companies doing with this information?  and how long is it being stored?

HTC admits to installing the software for some of their customers like Sprint, and HTC is trying to pass the buck.  From another c/net article:

Smartphone manufacturer HTC went further, telling All Things D that Carrier IQ is “required on devices by a number of U.S. carriers,” and suggesting that users contact carriers directly for more information.

While I guess HTC could claim that they don’t know the specific opt-in or opt-out practices by individual carriers like Sprint and AT&T (both admit to using Carrier IQ, Verizon denies using it) I feel like HTC has some responsibility to its customers here.  HTC should have recognized the power of this software and blown the whistle on this.  While HTC may not have the ability to track customers themselves, they have secretly handed that ability to providers like Sprint and AT&T.  I wonder if someone inside the company raised these issues and was told to be quiet, or work elsewhere?

So.  Now what?  I still need to take the time to call and yell at Sprint and HTC.  I am not happy about this and I feel like an appropriate remedy would be for them to provide me with a “virus” free phone.  Whether that means a new (and “clean”) HTC Evo 4G or an iPhone.  Here’s where it gets messy.  I bought my phone through a promotion at Best Buy.  Sprint and HTC would have to make the proper compensations to Best Buy as well as me, their supposed valued customer.

The other track to justice is perhaps more encouraging.  Senator Al Franken from Minnesota (and Saturday Night Live fame) is already taking up this issue.

Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat who heads a Senate panel on privacy, sent a letter (PDF) today to Carrier IQ asking pointed questions, including what data are logged, what data are transmitted, and whether the company believes its software complies with federal privacy laws that prohibit wiretapping. Franken asked for a response by December 14.

Sprint, AT&T, HTC and others have a lot of answering to do.  If there are millions of Sprint customers who deserve a new phone then I suppose Sprint will wait to be sued and try to minimize their damage.  I’m hoping that Sprint will fix this by providing me a new phone or I guess I’ll have to wait and join the class action lawsuit that is sure to come.

Learning to Be Content

Philippians 4:10-12

¹⁰ How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. ¹¹ Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹² I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.  (NLT) (emphasis mine)

It has been an exceedingly tough year and a half for me.  I have wrestled with many things and I have wrestled with God about many things.  The biggest challenges for me have been trying to find goals to aim myself toward and the other has been even tougher.  Being broke.  So broke that I was spending even more money that I didn’t have on late fees on late rent and insufficient fund fees to the bank (automatic withdrawals to pay bills is not always wise!).

There have been some extraordinary occurrences in the past 18 months as well.  Successes and challenges in the political arena and extraordinary success with some of my videos.  I even had one story make it on Glenn Beck!  Amazing!  And even though all of that notoriety is fun, it doesn’t pay.  I am trusting that it is all leading somewhere, but in the meantime it was discouraging to be on national TV but at the same time having to walk to work because I couldn’t afford gas for my car.

But God has been showing me some amazing things in the middle of all this struggle for money and goals.  The main message has been, quit struggling, trust and wait.  To say that is not easy is an understatement.  How can you not struggle when you feel like you are a chunk of taffy in a taffy machine?!  The best answer to that has been in the period of my want and need God has shown up in many extraordinary ways.

The biggest and best is the way he has used my friends and family to help support and encourage me!  Especially some dear friends of mine who hired me to do work, fed me when I was hungry and spoke life and encouragement when inside I felt like I was dying.  God Himself is constantly reminding me that He is with me, that He hasn’t forgotten me and that He has a wonderful plan for my life.  Just trust, wait and be thankful.

Lately I feel like I am turning the corner.  I am still struggling with my finances, but at least my rent and car payments are now on time.  I’ll take that victory.  My dear friends are now like family.  Another great gift.  My family is closer then ever.  And I am learning to be content with less.  Granted I still haven’t arrived, but as I struggle less and trust God more I continue to see and feel Him encouraging me.  I have learned so much in the last year and a half.  Lessons that will serve me well in the future.  The blessing of friends and family and God’s Love are more precious then a winning lottery ticket.

“Things” are coming a bit more into focus for me.  I am blessed to be a blessing even if that has nothing to do with cash on hand and for that I am thankful.  Still waiting on some things, but wrestling less with God and trusting Him more.  After all, He has the master plan!

Passionately Christian

Yesterday I wrote a little bit of why I am a “Passionate Conservative.”  I could have gone on, but I don’t have hours to write and you don’t have hours to read.  Bottom line is I believe that Conservative Principles when applied in a Representative Republic give individuals the best chance to be the best they can be.  As individuals prosper, the entire society is lifted up.  Indeed the results have been dramatic for the entire planet!

This morning I want to talk a little bit about why I am passionately Christian.  Bottom line is Jesus gave up Heaven so God could have a friendship with me and you!  In other words, God died so that when you die you don’t have to really die!  You can live with Him forever!

The only requirement to qualify for Heaven?  Believe in your heart that Christ died in your place and paid for your sins and on the third day rose from the dead.  Believe that in your heart and confess it with your mouth.  That’s it!  Romans 10:9 & 10.  You then exchange your earthly sin for His absolute righteousness.

Now as simple as that sounds, we all resist.  Well, most of us.  I do know a couple of wonderful people who have been Christians as long as they remember, but for most of us we decided that “having fun” in our youth was more important then being called “Jesus Freaks.”  Of course the fun lead to heartache and sometimes disease.  While we might be “good people” we are all pretty selfish by nature.  Of course God was still drawing us to Him and eventually we responded and accepted His wonderful gift of salvation.  If you haven’t and are alive enough to read this then there is still time.

For me it started in Sunday School at the First Conservative Baptist Church of Canby.  I was maybe 8 or 9 and our Sunday School Teacher was showing me in the Bible that God talked about springs in the bottom of the ocean.  Springs that scientists were just barely discovering thousands of years later.  That was enough for me to accept Jesus into my heart.  I still remember the joy I felt as I prayed and in my minds eye I saw light bursting from my heart!  It was pretty cool.

But.  I eventually stopped going to church and eventually started living more and more for my own desires.  That included increasing drug and alcohol use as a teenager and young adult.  I even shared a drug needle to inject some cocaine into my arm.  I only tried it 2 or 3 times in a one week period when I was about 20 years old, but I ended up paying a high price for the temporary rush the cocaine gave me.

I found out much later that I had Hepatitis C.  The worse kind too.  It was also about that time that God drew me back to him.  I started going to church, got baptized and started reading my Bible.  During worship at church I would cry out to God and also actually cry as He was healing my heart.  The folks around me at church probably thought I was a troubled man, but I didn’t care.  God was working while I was in His presence.

It was during one of those times that I heard God say in my heart about my Hepatitis C, “I’m going to take this from you.”  It was a word I clung to during the difficult one year of combination drug therapy.  I lost a lot of weight and some hair.  Food lost it’s flavor and I had suicidal thoughts.  All side effects of the drugs, but I hung on because I had God’s promise!

Sure enough, after a year of treatments I was Hepatitis C free!  And still am today.  That was 10 years ago.  Since then I have left my TV career and have served in a few ministries.  Mission Odessa, Family Life Radio and Teen Challenge of Arizona along with some churches along the way.  I don’t know if I will stay working in ministries as a job the rest of my life, but I do plan on ministering the rest of my life!  God has shown me a lot in His Word and through experiences with Him that I have to share.  It’s too important.  I don’t always live as I should and God doesn’t just give me what I want, but I know that He is always with me and He always gets me through.

If you want more evidence that God is who He says He is, check out this blog entry from a couple of years ago.  Stars really do sing, just like God said they do thousands of years ago!

If you don’t know Jesus and you are still alive, it’s not too late.  To say that it is awesome to know the God who created the Universe as a personal friend and Father is an understatement!

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