brent(inWorship)

Today, is a very overwhelming day. When I am face to face with Easter, it brings on so many emotions.

I am overwhelmed that Jesus loves me.
I am overwhelmed that He lived on this exact same earth.
I am overwhelmed that He wants me to choose Him.
I am overwhelmed that when I screw up, He doesn’t leave my side.
I am overwhelmed that Jesus was killed in my place.
I am overwhelmed that I have kids that Jesus died for a well.

On the flip side…

I am overwhelmed that I do not spend enough time getting closer to Him.
I am overwhelmed that I talk more than I listen.
I am overwhelmed that my passion and time is very often spent doing things that don’t matter.
I am overwhelmed that I am a leader for those around me and I am possibly a bigger screw-up.
I am overwhelmed that my kids watch and listen to everything I do. And I am Jesus for them.
Knowing this, I am overwhelmed that Jesus still died for me. that He still chose me.

It’s a constant circle and yet one that draws me ever closer to Jesus.

Today is no different than last Friday, when it comes to who I am and whose I am. But today, I am reminded that there is none greater, than my Savior. Today, I have an extra sense that God loves me. Today, I know love and I have love to give. Today, I take an extra moment to remember the cross, the blood, and the death that took my place.

Today, I am overwhelmed…

If you are like me, you procrastinate. Especially with taxes. I am one of those that finds a fun place on the 16th to stand in line, so I can get the mail postmarked

However, if I am to wait till the last minute, I want to do it right. This is where my buddy Chad comes into play.

I met Chad this year at the re:create conference. We also had an incredible breakfast at the Pancake Pantry in Downtown Nashville together. That place was incredible! Chad is doing my taxes this year. He is working his magic and I am so happy to entrust this to him.

So, maybe your a procrastinator like me, or maybe you would love a second opinion. If so, Chad is your guy.

Check him out at Lonetree Services!

First, let me say 2 things.

#1 is I take VERY SERIOUSLY, the handling of money over the internet. In my opinion, there is never a time where the customer is not right. The customers money should always be the most important thing for a business like Paypal and should always be protected. If an error has been made by Paypal or even the party themsleves, Paypal should make it right. Period. I do not expect a company to lose money or services based on a customers fraud or neglegience. But, the majority of glitches and errors shoud be accounted for and made right.

#2 the sum I delt with this morning was small $99. Not a large amount compared to others that have been in dispute for thousands. Still. Even if it was only $1, it was money that should have been taken care of and protected.

So, here’s the deal. I hardly ever use Paypal. in fact, if I don’t have to, I never sign in, I just pay for materials and finish the transaction as an anonymous party. Today, I recieved and email from a trusted source. This email gave me a link to Paypal to pay a bill. I clicked on the link and it took me to Paypal. I have always paid with a credit card (this transaction was for our church). It asked if I wanted to pay by card and I clicked yes to continue. This time, however, it asked for me to re-input my information. I checked it out and it looked legit (and was). I re-input my credit card information, confirmed the shipping and billing addresses and clicked the Pay button. There were no other options on this page for payment other than the credit card info I was giving them. The next page confirmed my payment. I then went back to the history page to print out my receipt and I saw this…

I apologize if it is small. What it says is that the $99 was being transferred from my personal bank account and once that was done, an e-check would be sent to the party I was paying.

WHAT?!?! After paying with the credit card, it instead made the transaction with my bank account.

Here’s where it gets good. I immediately called Paypal to report the issue. In total, I was on the phone/hold with them for over an hour. And, I had to call back at one point, becasue they disconnected me while transferring me. After telling them the issue, I was eventually transferred to 2 different people. the final person told me, “I don’t know why you’ve been on the phone so long. We can’t help you”. I was told that there was no way for them to adjust this transaction. I was also told it was my fault. I was told that I selected the check box that said “transfer from bank account” and also selected the drop down menu and the correct bank account number. SERIOUSLY?!?! At this point, I was extremely frustrated. not only had Paypal made a mistake, but they were blaming me for it.

But, it gets better. The bank account it was going to transfer funds from was an old account I had used years ago when I sold Jeep parts. That account didn’t even exist anymore. When I told the Paypal manager this, he got very frustrated and began talking of charges and fraud. He told me that I was trying to steal money from paypal to pay my bill. I COULDN’T BELIEVE THIS!!! He then told me that if that bank account did not prove to be real, that he would open a fraud claim against me and never allow my name or accounts to be used with paypal transactions. At this point, I just sat with my jaw open. Then he tells me, the only way to make it right is to give him appropriate bank account information, that we can then verify and use for this transaction. Obviously, I did this as I did not want my church or church accounts to be in jeopardy.

I was given NO SOLUTION. Told it was MY FAULT Told that this transaction is in effect and can NOT BE ADJUSTED OR CANCELED. Then, the transaction WAS ADJUSTED so that the money would be taken out of the correct bank account. Does this seem wrong to you???

At this point, I will never use Paypal again. the minute my transaction is complete, I will be deleting my account…

Last week Apple gave us some big news. New upgraded software for the iPhone and iTouch. I was a little disappointed when they announced that it would not be available till June. But then I found out they were releasing a copy to those in the developer program. I was happy again

So, what’s the big deal? Well, if the software lives up to Apple’s billing, it is the single greatest upgrade for the iPhone since the addition of 3g. Here’s what they are saying it will offer…

-copy/paste
-MMS Messaging (including sharing contacts via MMS or Email)
-Full phone search
-Landscape keyboard in all apple apps that use the keyboard (Mail, Messaging, Notes and others)
-Bluetooth support for device like stereo headphones
-Notes now sync between your computer and the iPhone

These are just a few of the big ones. Some of the features we’ve waited too long to use. Along with these features, that are visible on the iPhone, are many that are not visible as of yet. Apple made sure to upgrade the way apps can be built and how they can be integrated into your iPhone. In other words, applications will be able to do a lot more to connect us to the world around us. It will be interesting to see how software creators take advantage of it.

So what are my initial thought?

#1 This is definitely a Beta software and not ready for public release. It is slow and has lots of little bugs. Also, many of my apps don’t work completely or at all. You all know how much I love PixelPipe. It doesn’t work in 3.0. But I mentioned this to them and they told me they are going to get on it. It should be said that, it is to be expected that many 3rd party applications will have issues. They have all been created to work in the older software environment. Now that 3.o is available to them, they can use it to upgrade their products so that they will be ready for the official release of 3.0.

#2 I really love the search feature. Didn’t think I would, but I find it very handy. There is a complete page on the home screen devoted to it. It searches your entire iPhone database to find exactly what your looking for. Very nice.

#3 I love the little touches. There are so many little redesigns. Every time I open another app, I see something new. It’s like a daily gift party. I like the addition of “locations” under all calls sent or received. This also appears on any popup or screen that references your contacts.

#4 I love the “invite” feature in the calendar. The calendar is a little more Google’esque with that feature.

#5 You can turn off “repeat alerts”!!!! If your an iPhone user, this one is a big deal. When you are notified of a new message, a popup screen appears. In the old software, it would continue to notify you every 5 minutes that you had not checked it. It could get a little annoying, especially if you had multiple messages and no time to look through them all. Well, in 3.0 you can shut it off!

#6 Copy and Paste. This has been the most asked for feature on the iPhone. I am surprised it took this long to get it. It works nicely. It works in any app making use of text input.

Select a location to copy, then hit select

Select the content to copy, then hit copy

Select the location to paste your content, then hit paste

And, there you go...

#7 There are a whole bunch of things, like tethering and video that were not addressed in this upgrade. I have no idea why. My assumption is that both of those additions would lead to a possible data issue with AT&T. Maybe the whole “weak link” in this process is not Apple, but AT&T. I would definitely subscribe to that theory! To support my theory, Beta 3.0 does not allow MMS messaging yet. AT&T hasn’t turned it on…

Anyway, this writeup is by no means complete. There is not enough space. So, I thought I’d take the next couple of weeks and highlight a feature. Tell you my thoughts about it and maybe some of you can teach us some things as well.

So, are you trying out the beta? Are you looking forward to this upgrade? Are you disappointed?

Maybe you just don’t care

Saw this on a blog this AM.

Just change the dates to 2007, 2008 and 2009 and there ya have it. Haha!!!

The other day I saw this posted on Twitter.

Scenes from the recession…

I looked through the pictures and agreed with the poster. Sad. I know that some of the hardest economic times are hitting people right now. I won’t compare this economic time to others, all I can say is for those living through it now, there has never been anything worse. I live in Oregon. the unemployment rate is above 10% right now. the worst it has been since 1983. I’m 38 and I wasn’t even in the job force in 83′.

Here’s a thought though. As I look through these pictures, the issue of jobs comes up, but the overwhelming pictures to me, are the ones that show the halt to industry. Building houses, roads, cities. I believe this economic trial is necessary. Why do I say that? I think our world, especially us in the USA, have completely lost our minds when it comes to spending money. I know we can yell at politicians and greedy corporations, but we have to look inward at ourselves. We waste everything…especially money.

If I was to say that we should grow our own food, make our own clothes and walk, would you think I am crazy? Why would you think that? Is there some sort of standard that we have placed on our lives that says we have to have ______ (fill in the blank). I think that we live under unhealthy an unrealistic standards.

Now, I am not pointing fingers. I am laying myself out there. I know I have overspent and abused money. I know I have placed things into my life that cause me to rely on things and unhealthy standards.

So, how do I change it. How do we change it? Well, I am personally sick and tired of “who is to blame”. That’s pointless and speaks of entitlement.We need to get our perspective back. For some it may be about the house or the car or the clothes. For others it’s about the food or entertainment or travel. Whatever it is, we need to own up to it and make it right.