About Me

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Damascus, Oregon, United States
I absolutely love anything that plugs in! My iPhone may just be an extension of my body. Networking, business, Christ, serving the community, husbandry, fatherhood, friends, and my amazing family are all that keep me ticking!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Back, back, back it up!

Recently I have been working to back up all of our data that my wife and I have. From pictures to videos, copies of bills, and school documents, it seems that more of our valuables reside in digital form than on paper. I have a special hard drive that I replicate our entire of life onto. It seems we have taken more pictures (new baby) in the past two months than we have in the last few years. It's more important than ever to back these important documents up.

A few days ago I thought that maybe I was going overboard with backing our data up. One thing I focused on in particular was my phone. I live and die by that thing. I send emails, tweet, store/take photos and videos, and even blog from it! I make it a regular practice to plug it in and send my photos and data to multiple places a few times a week.

Today my security blanket (phone) crashed. Yes it's possible for the wonderful iPhone 4 to crash folks! Even with my obsessive backing up, I still managed to lose a fee texts, pictures, and songs. This just goes to show that you can't ever be too careful!

So make it a regular part of your life. Back up your data with inexpensive programs like iTunes and Carbonite. It may not seem worth it at the time, but you'll thank yourself when, and I do mean when, your hardware crashes.




-Andy

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Using a Mac in a Windows Environment

Ok I did it. I went against all who do business (other than graphic design and music) and purchased a Mac. Not only did I make this leap some months ago, I pitched all that is Microsoft in my home. Those of you who know me and what I do in business may be asking, "How are you doing this?" Well, with the incorporation of Intel processors in Macs these days, it is virtually effortless to use Windows on a Mac. And no, I'm not just talking about running the parallels application. I
Taking about running a full blown virtual desktop that sits within my beautiful Mac GUII. I run ShoreTel Call Manager and all those pesky MS dependent apps that won't be caught dead on a Mac! Granted, I'm doing this with a Citrix back end and tons of engineering time behind it. But in today's market, it's becoming more and more feasible to deploy this type of environment.


-Andy

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

His Master Plan

God Is putting something big together, I just know it. Lately I have been going through a lot of challenges and refining in my patience. I also have had many spiritually strong friends come into my life and I cannot wait to see what He has in store. I will keep you all posted!


-Andy

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Criends/Frustomers

Customers who turn into good friends are rare. So rare in fact, I only have a couple of them. What's the secret? Not too sure yet, only been doin' this for half a decade. My guess is that it is based on a foundation of mutual respect. Most of my customers I have little in common with. Come to think of it, most of my friends I have little in common with. I try to keep a diverse group of loyal companions whom I trust and respect for their own skills, strengths, beliefs, and yes...flaws. So here's to you Mr. Customer-Friend, you know who you are and I'm blessed to have you as one of the few!


-Andy

Monday, February 14, 2011

Random Thought

When God is changing your character, let him. It means the one you have is defective.


-Andy

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Diet

Yesterday I started the first diet that I have ever done. Yeah I know, if you know me you'll probably say what I've been hearing since I committed to this diet; "You don't need to diet! You have nothing to lose!" the truth is, I don't have a lot to lose so let me explain...

My wife and I just welcomed the biggest blessing into our lives. Six weeks ago we had a healthy baby boy, Graham Andrew. One of my Christmas gifts to my wife was to get her the meal plan for the Medifast diet. We had not met a person who did it and lost less than 40 lbs. It is virtually a miracle diet.

A few months back I started having trouble fitting into my work/dress pants and shirts. Now I am a very active person, run frequently, and am very conscious of what I eat. I am convinced it was just a combination of my age/metabolism and my newly sedentary lifestyle with a new baby.

This being said, I decided to go on the diet with my wife. This is of course a dual purpose endeavor. Aside from wanting to shed some Christmas weight, I am a firm believer in the proactive support of your spouse. Saying you support someone is not supporting them, it is just saying you do. The best way for us to succeed at this diet is for US to both do it together. This way, she won't be eating her "lean and green" dinner while I eat a whole plate of tacos!

So men, or women, when your spouse comes to you and says they need your support through something, work on putting yourself in their shoes and bearing the burden along side them. You might just end up a better person, with a smaller waistline.

Random Thought

If you don't remember the last time you apologized, you have some serious work to do in the character development department.


-Andy