Last post for a while

I'm going to be on some small islands for the next couple of weeks south of Singapore so I will be out of contact. For more information see my last newsletter. I'll be back August 4th. Check back then, or shortly thereafter, for my trip experiences!

New browsing experience

I have helped many people recently because their computers are slowing down and they are getting more and more ads. I'm going to tell you what I always tell them. Internet Explorer (The big blue E you click on to start the "internet") is not secure and allows people to install spyware and adware programs on your computer without you even knowing about it. Don't believe me? Try this:

Download and run the following programs:
Ad-aware
Spybot: Search and Destroy

These programs will tell you how much bad software you already have installed. It will also remove it for you. Note that Norton, Macaffee and other Anti-Virus companies cannot block them because they aren't viruses. How do you keep them from coming back? You can keep running Ad-aware and Spybot and hope that stops the programs. You can keep closing all thos annoying pop-up windows, or you can switch to Mozilla Firefox!

Why would you want to switch?
1. No more pop-ups
2. No more spyware and adware
3. No more Ads on websites
4. Less security holes
5. Tab browsing (realy cool, check it out)
6. Cooler webpages (standard support)
7. It's free

The Department of Homeland Security even is recommending that people switch!

For more information on why you would want to switch, Switch to Firefox

Newsletter 12

The latest newsletter is out. Check it out at Newsletter 12

Meetings, meetings, meetings

Over the last several days our group that is going to the Sea Tribe Islands has been meeting almost every day. It has been good to get people together again before the trip as we have been spread out for the last month or so around the world. We have been finishing up details and plans and bonding as a team. I'm going to send out a newsletter very soon to detail the trip and tell you how you can pray.

MS Paintball

I went out and played paintball with the middle school students who are studying english over the summer. There were only two adults there, me being one of them. I'm trying to learn to humble myself and not always have to win, to make it funner for those I play with. I found this really difficult due to the fact that the other person has a high powered gun that really hurts when they shoot you. I'd like to say I was able to take a shot for their enjoyment but I didn't. We had a lot of fun and all the students were a little suprised at how hard it is and how much the balls hurt when they hit you. The worst injuries were a bloody head (just slightly), a direct shot to the ear (one of the worst places to get hit) and a couple of neck shots.

Goodbye to my friend

A good friend of mine from College was killed about a week ago in an accident on a lake. His catamaran hit a high power line and he was thrown into the water. Jonathan Barr was a exceptional man with tons of energy, a passion for life and an overwhelming love for God. We will miss you Jon.
Site dedicated to Jon Barr

Merry Christmas! (okay a little early)

It is good to think ahead though, especially when you are traveling internationally. I am now booked on a flight to Dallas in December. My family will be having a reunion this Christmas in Dallas. We haven't really been together since my brother's wedding 3 years ago. It will be good to spend some time together again. My last two Christmasses were spent alone on a beach. The first was in Bali 100 miles from the nearest person I knew and the last one was in Phi Phi Island in Thailand with 3 friends. Hopefully I'll have pictures from that trip up soon. Anyways... It will be good to see the family for christmas again.

Here is the flight plan:
December 18th, 6pm
Jakarta->Singapore->Japan->Minneapolis->Dallas

Returning Jan 7
Dallas->Minneapolis->Japan->Singapore->Jakarta

Spiffy new site

If you can read this than you can see my new site. It is quite a bit better than the last one. I have changed the entire look and feel, added daily news and comments (via blogger) and updated much of the information. I have also gotten rid of a few sections that I don't think anyone ever looked at. I still need to do a few more things to get it working. I need to move it into my domain, write a couple more chapters in my autobiography and add some recent photo albums. I'm going to keep this news site pretty up to date this time. Last time it was too difficult to update regularly. Much easier this time.

Keeping my head down

There were a couple of bombs that went off yesterday in Bandung. This has been a problem from time to time here but they are always pretty small and no one gets hurt. I'm fine and everyone else is fine. People say it was more smoke than anything.

When I go back to the US many people ask me about how dangerous it is here. My response is usually that it is not more dangerous than living in many other places. The vast majority of the people here are very friendly and helpful. There are a handful of people that want to hurt others but that is true anywhere you are. Here they don't really target westerners since there are so few in the city. Everyone who has visited has said they feel really safe while they are here. All of the people in our neighborhood look after us and some became very upset when the Bali bombing happened and took it as their responsibility to guard us. God can use any situation for good so I'm not worried about what will happen. This doesn't mean I live reclessly but I don't have to worry.

For now... still keeping my head down in faith.

New Phone

My old phone got stolen on a small ferry so I bought a new one. It is a Sony Ericsson T630. Pretty nice phone. It has WAP internet (still don't have it working). It also has bluetooth. I bought a little USB bluetooth connector for my laptop but I have yet to get it working together. All these cool bells and whistles have tons of potential but they are harder than heck to get working. I'll keep putzing and see what happens.

Update: I have Outlook Sync working now

My trip cancelled

I had been planning a trip to Fordate island in Maluku this week but it has been cancelled. I was going to visit my friends, the Marshall's. In order to get there though I would have had to travel through Ambon which is restriced to travel. I needed to get a Surat Jalan (Travel Certificate) from the police before I could go but I wasn't able to do that in time. I'm still headed out on the BIC Youth Tour on the 23rd of July.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I'm sure no one is reading this yet but I hope to keep it fairly up to date. I plan to post news items in my life, things I find interesting and any plans I have. I also have a regular newletter I send out with all the recent updates. For now, enjoy...