Today, just before I enter 2012 I thought I’d re-hash that post to remind myself why I do what I do.

I need that ….

I need to remind myself.

I need to throw the challenge out there so that others might be challenged too.

So…. without further ado, here’s my 10 (some are a repeat)

1. It is what I’m called to do.

2. As an “armour bearer” my prime role is that of servant. If I’m not serving then I’m not living.

3. I don’t know any other way to be.

4. I love to serve, freely and willingly. This is my ‘pay it forward’.

5. As someone who serves I expect to be “forgotten” until such time as a crisis hits – I have no problem with that. Though sometimes I have to remind myself.

6. It’s not about me – I’m not out to make my name stand out in lights.

7. My mum, may she rest in peace, raised me this way. It’s in my nature and nurture.

8. Doing what I do helps to perfect my craft allowing me to better to do my paid for job.

9. Because I will be rewarded for it – Colossians 3 v 22-24

10. God expects it – Joshua 24 v 15

And a bonus freebie …

1. 11. Because I was asked and my character is such that if I can I will.

- So what about you?

- Why do you do what you do?

- Can you list 5 reasons?

I’d love to see your responses to this, even if it’s as a blog post of your own.

Groundhog Day is a post from: Church Techy

So let’s start off with their own words:

Passing exams required towards getting your CCNA certification is easy, using uCertify’s top rated test Prepkits. Here’s how:

 - Full coverage of exam objectives (updated 2011) including Hardware, Security, Networking, and Operating Systems
- Practice questions that follow the exam pattern
- Comprehensive practice questions modeled on real world scenarios
- Detailed answer explanations for both correct and incorrect answer options
- Chapter by chapter study guide and study notes for exam 640-802, 640-816, and 640-822 not only helps you pass the exam, you actually learn the stuff you are supposed to know!
- Interactive Quizzes

They also state you get a years worth of updates for the price and one other ‘unique’ feature is the ability to ask / interact with other students and / or UCertify staff.

Whilst all this is laudable the reality is that the price is cheap and there is a probably a good reason for this.

Let me clarify by saying that the package could well help you become CCNA certified, but you’re going to need to put in some effort outside of this tool to do so. It is at best a dis-jointed affair that doesn’t guide one through from the basics to the end result. You have to navigate an interface that is not intuitive and doesn’t lead you – as I believe it should.

On top of this, the ‘extras’ I mentioned maybe of some value or not.

I couldn’t find anywhere that stated how often you get updates, just that you are entitled to a year of them. Secondly, in my usage I could see some questions from other users of the prep kit but nowhere did I see any answers from uCertify staff. If that’s to be the case, then they should just remove this feature.

One feature that does appear to work well is their exams and the method of tracking the results and what you need to brush up on. However, even this has a shortcoming in that it doesn’t have any simulation type questions which (it seems to me) are one of the biggest stumbling blocks mosy examinees face.

Ultimately I can’t recommend this product to anybody who is coming at the CCNA cold – and by that I mean with no knowledge or prior experience of the subject. If however, like me, you want to brush up on or take some tests because you need to re-sit the exam (as it’s changed out of all recognition in 3yrs) then this may be worth the $150.

That’s got to be your call.

CCNA Studies is a post from: Church Techy

It took a slight mental shift to see that it wasn’t Twitter and it certainly isn’t Facebook. So I’m thoroughly enjoying it. And now that I’ve taken some time to develop a few friendships I’m finding that the social benefits are coming in a way they never have and probably never will with Twitter.

I’ve detailed before about what I think is wrong with Twitter and I’ve also talked about a typical day  for me on Twitter where I get zero responses to my >20 tweets, replies,RT’s, etc. I’ve found on Google+ that for a following that is a sixth of my Twitter following I can guarantee at least one response every day I bother to post something. That’s a win and a plus for me straight off. I think some of this responsiveness has to come down to Google’s policy on only allowing real names – no hiding behind corporate handles or bizarre nicknames.

Talking of followers, it has probably helped that Google+ is out of beta and mainstream access is allowed. Equally, what has helped is that ‘circle sharing’ has just been switched on. What this allows is for someone to share their carefully crafted circle of people that they’ve taken time to build up without me having to go through the same process again. So I could share my circle of Tang Soo Do martial artists and increase their readership. Equally I have come across some awesome photographers that are inspiring me. I didn’t use Google search for this but merely imported someone else’s circle of pic takers into mine.

Talking of search, then that’s another win for Google+. Any search you can do outside of + can be done within it. Like any social network keeping up can sometimes be problematic. What if someone shared a circle when you were asleep? Well that one’s easy …. type the following into the Google+ search box:

“shared a circle with you”

and suddenly all previously shared circles appear. Know that one particular person shared a circle, then simply add “+their_name” to the end of your search and all the circles they’ve shared appear.

I won’t be dropping Facebook as that is purely a family and people I physically know thing to me – and yes, I do know over 300 and more.

Twitter on the other hand is somewhere I can take or leave.

I do have some relationships I’ve fostered on there, but they are very much in the minority and not enough to guarantee my long term use of Twitter.

That said, Google+ could be just another fad and I’ll be writing about its demise in a few years – but for once I think Google have hit pay dirt and I’m not the only one saying that.

• What’s your take?

My Take on Google+ is a post from: Church Techy

I like the general colour scheme but the layout was (is) driving me batty. Also I didn’t like the coloured ball that was part of the header.

But as you can see the second side column is gone – there is still some work to do to bend the CSS to my end desires and for that I have to thank my eldest son Owen. I also want to have thetext in the post area spread across more of the page which will be another challenge to my son but most of all I wanted a logo all of my own. No more flaky coloured ball.

So I give you:

• What do you guys think?
• Is it appropriate for the blog?

I like it and big shout out to my designer – Paul Adiyanto who has done a great job at coming up with something from my vague directions and ramblings.

Playing is a post from: Church Techy

It is basically an electronic bracelet similar in size to a Livestrong band that is linked with an app on a smartphone or similar.

So why call it lifestyle jewellery then? Simply because this offers a way to track ones lifestyle. Using sophisticated sensors it will track movement, sleep patterns, etc and then transfer this data to the app. In the app one then enters your dietary intake and in linking this to your habits it becomes like a lifestyle coach that can advise on exercise, food intake and sleep.

Admittedly this isn’t the first wearable, functional jewellery (cf. the Fitbit for example) but Jawbone’s VP of Product Management, Travis Bogard says “There are other devices but they are bulky and unattractive and people aren’t comfortable wearing them. So we made one that you don’t really notice. We’ve gotten used to people wearing things that blend in. It’s one of the biggest breakthroughs. It’s much smaller than most of the existing devices and truly the intersection between wearability and design and solves a technical problem.”

The Jawbone UP is due to be released later this year.

And I for one am keen to see at what price it comes in at.

Lifestyle Jewellery is a post from: Church Techy

But this time around I’m not renewing it. It hasn’t pointed at anything for a couple of years now and I have come up with no alternative use for it either – so it’s time to let it go.

redandthewolf.co.uk

It was fun whilst you lasted but your usefulness has ended.

You are almost 10yrs old as a domain, but time to shuffle off.

You mark both an amazing event – Spiltwine’s ** version of “Red and the Wolf” and a time of extreme sadness & joy when our pastors wife went to meet our maker.

I thank you for your service, but now it’s time to let go.

Farewell.

** Spiltwine was the name of the drama group that I co-founded and led for 17yrs with my best friend Jeff Grist.

Should anybody want it prior to it becoming publicly available – I think it works out at 76 days before it is seen as for sale again – then drop me a line and for the current price of a .co.uk domain I’ll transfer it to your hosters tag.

Saying Goodbye is a post from: Church Techy

Strictly speaking you could say I was the victim as it was my debit cards that were taken.

The short version of the story is that a thief took 2 x debit cards, my photo drivers ID and my gym membership card. These were very specifically targeted and my other cards (including credit) along with physical cash were left alone. The thief (possibly more than one) then set about bold as brass walking into the two banks and withdrawing £4,100 (approx $5000) in one afternoon. Fortunately the banks saw it as fraud and quickly re-instated our accounts and credit levels, etc …

The reason for the re-telling of this(on a technical blog) is that the only place the thief could have got the cards was from my wallet which was sat inside a locked locker and the key for that padlock was hanging round my neck.

And for those of you questioning how, let me just say that several people I know that work  for the local police have said it isn’t the first time they’ve heard a similar story to mine. And since telling my friends on facebook a number have said they also know of others this has happened to.

What this does do is remind me that in the connected world in which we live then the only good security is one where the attacker can’t get anywhere near your data.

Even then you need to take additional precautions.

For my part the gym coffee shop will never get any more of my cash because I no longer take my wallet.

Physical Security is a post from: Church Techy

Specifically when did you last look into what your spiritual gift strengths are?

Well then how about using one of these free, online tools for helping you narrow down what they are and ultimately help you decide what you can do with them:

• Elmer Towns Spiritual Gifts Questionairre
• Building Church.net’s Gifted2Serve
• Church Growths Spiritual Analysis

Spiritual Gifts is a post from: Church Techy