It's Overwhelming

I have always (er - at least in my adult life) had the utmost respect for certain types of professionals: police officers, firefighters, soldiers, EMT's, nurses, and teachers. And I'm finding even more respect in them.

I've had a great professional opportunity to begin to be involved in the development of some course material related to application security for the local university. That association has led to some other associations which will probably be valuable to me. And during all this, I've been doing a bit of teaching of the courses. I take it pretty seriously and spend a lot of time in "thought" about what I'm going to teach, a lot of time programming so that I have ample realistic examples of the types of flaws and fixes I'm teaching, and a bit of time getting the slides put together.

Last week, when labs began to trickle in, students were asking me if I was taking the lab papers. I refused. It occurred to me that if I grade those, or even have a bit of input into them, I could be impacting somebody's collegiate career (and then their professional career) for the good or the bad.

And now, I'm going to be teaching some basic electricity to some homeschool kids. It's easy when it's just K and I messing around with the learning lab because nobody's educational future is at stake. But on Tuesday, I'm specifically teaching this because it's a fourth grade requirement on the standardized test she's taking. If I teach it well, and she works at it, she'll do well on those portions of the test. But if I do poorly, I could impact her score on a standardized test. The thought of doing poorly really scares me because until Tuesday, I've had no part in her education, but in two hours, I could potentially ruin everything.

As if that wasn't enough, the Bible is *very* clear that teachers of God's word will be held accountable for that which they teach. And this is for good reason. We're not talking about people's grades, test scores, or even careers here. We're talking about things that will impact them for all of eternity - forever. It's no wonder Peter uses some very strong language against false teachers. Fortunately, God is completely in control of people's hearing and understanding, and when necessary confuses the language of false teachers.

Yes, I have an even deeper appreciation of teaching now. From just grading making an impact on college grades, to actually teaching making a real impact on test scores, and to consider the standard to which Bible teachers are held. The adage is wrong that "those who can do; those who can't teach." It should read "those who can do; those who can do with excellence and are quite brave, teach." Teachers, do you take your charge seriously?

Twenty Two Words

I found this site today. twentytwowords.com. Abraham Piper. I like it a lot. John Piper's son. He says much in few words.

KeepassX

This is probably a bit more technical than most of my readership is going to put up with, so if you're not the paranoid type, feel free to skip along.

I'm a security professional by day (and a few nights). I have an abnormally high paranoia level. When people ask me questions, my first thought is always, "What's their angle?" I'm careful to hand payment cards over face-down because security cameras are pretty high-resolution now, and IHOP has cameras over the registers to deter the cashiers from skimming - but who's monitoring the monitors? I don't carry employer-related information in my laptop bag, and don't use a laptop bag embossed with the name of my employer because I don't want my laptop to be a more enticing target than anybody else's. I don't work or talk about work outside the office (generally) because I know that I actually spend time outside the office reading people's laptop screens (in public view), or looking at the stickers on their car trying to figure out as much as I can. I shred pre-approved credit card offers. I use different email addresses for every account I can so that when spam comes, I know where it originated from.

But I have a bit of information to give away that's a little embarrassing to admit as a security professional. One of my accounts got hacked. Er - hardly hacked, but used by somebody else. Password was too easy, and they started using the account for their own benefit. I knew I should have been using a password safe, but at the time it seemed like too much work.

So I took the time and I got all of my passwords (that I could think of) into a password safe. Now, I only know about four passwords - to log into a couple of workstations, and the passphrase to my password database. And because I'm between Mac and Windows, I can't just use Keychain on my Macs. So I keep all my passwords in a keepass database. The windows version is at http://keepass.sf.net. But KeepassX is for Mac and Linux as well, and will open the same database (er - 1.x versions) as Keepass.

Only recently, they added two new features that have been in Keepass for a long time - the workspace can be set to lock automatically after some amount of time, and the unlock dialog actually stays open if you mis-type your passphrase (which I do often).

So if you use KeepassX already, pick up the new version The two new features (that have always been in the Windows version) are worth the effort. But if I had my way, I wouldn't have anything on Windows anymore, and I'd just use Keychain on all my Macs.

They're Here

They're Here, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

For those who follow Mr. At Home's blog to keep up with Mrs. At Home's
family, Grandma and Grandad made it here. Actually, they were in the
state for about 30 minutes, then turned around and went back across
the border to Cracker Barrel.

At Portillo's

At Portillo's, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Portillo's, where we had Chicago-style hot dogs, also had this hanging
up. In 1994, the United Center opened and they hung new banners for
all the championships that the Blackhawks and Bulls had won. So they
auctioned off all the originals from the Chicago Stadium. This is the
original banner they had for the Blackhawks' 1938 Stanley Cup.

Chicago is a far different town than any I've visited before. It's a
blue-collar town, so they're really in love with their sports teams,
even though many are championship drought prone. So it was fun to hear
the stories and when not working talk about the Cubs and Blackhawks,
but it sadly approaches idol worship here.

What are those things in my life that it's okay to enjoy, but I make
into my idols instead? I want my life to be directed by Jesus and His
word, not by my love for my family, my work, technology, success, or
sports. I'm very happy that God has given me things to enjoy, but He
does so in order that I would glorify Him and not the gifts.

The Bean Part II

The Bean Part II, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

I didn't know a good way to shoot Flat K, Flat M and Flat L at the
bean, so I put them on the ground and then shot their reflection in
the bean. So this shot is of the bean, the girls, and the ground

The Bean Part I

The Bean Part I, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

It's a colossal bean, but a Chicago native doesn't even know what kind
of bean or what the meaning is.

Chicago dog

Chicago dog, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

After.

Chicago dog

Chicago dog, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Before.

Best Shot

Best Shot, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Lots of great shots today.

More details later, but tomorrow night Phil and I are going to see the
Blackhawks. Before the game, a ceremony for Stan Mikita and Bobby
Hull. I am so amped. Wayne Gretzky wouldn't wear 9 because that was
Bobby Hull's sweater number. That's how great Hull was.

Yum!

Yum!, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Of course, it didn't even come close to *my* lasagne. And that doesn't
even come close to my dear sister's lasagne.

My Travel Companions

My Travel Companions, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

In case I've not introduced them, these are my travel companions. From
left to right: Flat K, Flat L, Flat M, and Earl (who is not flat)

Membership has its Privileges

Membership has its Privileges, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

On my first trip to EA, Nick made mention at some point that he was a
member of the Marco Polo Club. All during the trip, Nick got us into
exclusive clubs, preferential treatment at the hotel, and managed to
get one of our team out of prison when the teammate exclaimed, "I know
Nick, and he's a member of the Marco Polo Club!"

From that day, I've made it my life ambition to one day be a member
of that illustrious bunch. I will not rest until I too can get people
out of prison because of my club membership.

In my quest to become a member of the Marco Polo Club, I was awarded
member status with the Super 8 Motels Semi-Frequent Travelers club.
And it's a good thing. Otherwise, I'd have to pay .11 USD per sip of
the fine water here.

Flat K Eats Peanuts...er....Pretzels

Flat K Eats Peanuts...er....Pretzels, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Flat L Drinks my OJ

Flat L Drinks my OJ, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

On the plane

On the plane, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Well, Flat M, Flat K, and Flat L all made it on the plane safely (and
so did I)

Unfortunately, no free rides were to be had this time around, but the
girls are all safely tucked away in my book. I'll bring them out for a
snack later on the ride.

Waiting...

Waiting..., originally uploaded by wstranathan.

To know me is to know I like to be punctual. So after clearing
security, finding an ATM, scrubbing up, and finding my gate, I'm still
here 35 minutes before my flight boards. So Flat K, Flat L, and Flat M
are all here waiting with me. Now let's hope the flight is extra full
and I can hang back for the next flight and get a free ticket out of it.

Punch Brothers: Punch

The other day, I heard about Punch Brothers for the first time. They're all virtuosi of their respective instruments in bluegrass. But if you know anything about bluegrass, while challenging technically to play, it's not very challenging to listen to. It's kinda' known as a three-chord format.

Punch Brothers play bluegrass - it's real bluegrass, but with key changes, time changes, and tempo changes. I *highly* recommend checking them out, either at http://www.punchbrothers.com/, and if you like what you hear there, pick up their CD here.

Flat L and Flat K

Flat L and Flat K, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

humzOo - web sites that taste like cake

humzOo is the project of my friend Denny Deaton and the very talented Dave Heinzel, who is not my friend. That's not to say Dave is not a nice guy, or that if I actually knew him we wouldn't get on just swimmingly. I just don't know him.

Anyhow, about humzOo. humzOo is a site where you can make your own site. You can use it to build a photo pool and a blog, but the whole aim of it is to be uber easy and uber sexy. If you have a Mac, for 99 USD a year (!) you can have the uber easy, but the uber sexy is up to you. humzOo, on the other hand, is less than 99 USD a year. More like 0 USD a year, unless you want to be a Humdinger for 25 USD per year (which is still less than 99 USD a year (!) )

Anyhow, gratz and greetz to Denny and Dave. I like the layouts, but I don't know if I'll be moving there just yet - I'm becoming a junky for some of the integration I get here, although it just doesn't look as nice (and it doesn't get any peepz any propz).

What a Glorious Day!

What a Glorious Day!, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

An Interview with Ben Zobrist

Of course, jump over to Challies to see the interview.

To know me is to know I'm a fan of baseball. So when Tim Challies has an interview with a major-league player, I have to read the whole thing. And I wasn't disappointed.

Of course, you can read the whole thing for yourself. Of all the things he said, the one that impressed me the most was one of his most brief answers. When asked how we can pray for Christian athletes, his response wasn't that they would get to spend more time with their families (though, it's important), or that they'd be superstars (although, he does talk about doing his job with excellence). No - his very first prayer request is that we pray that Christian athletes not fall into idolatry. I read this both ways - that Christian athletes wouldn't idolize the sport or their own ability, and that they wouldn't allow others to idolize them. And that's certainly the area I need the most prayer, too. Indeed, I assume that God put that commandment first for a reason:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:2-3

I'm happy to see that in professional baseball there's a Christian who is so very well grounded. His prayer requests are mine - I'm prideful and want people to recognize my work. I find it difficult to do my job with excellence to bring Him glory, yet end up hogging glory for myself. And I'm also really happy to see his reading list - actual theology is in there.

Speaking of which, I'm going to go crack open Vintage Jesus myself.