Revnut

I have had web hosting accounts with a number of web hosting providers over the years. OCS Solutions is by far the best experience I’ve had to date. They are truly a remarkable company. They have an extensive variety of web hosting plans and their servers are rock solid. I currently have a virtual dedicated server account and a shared hosting account with OCS. Both plans have been unbelievably stable and quite fast. One public example of their servers is the Soapadoo web site which is hosted there.

I haven’t yet mentioned the best part of OCS Solutions, that being their customer service. The level of customer service they provide is extremely uncommon today. I have been amazed at what an excellent job they do.

I highly recommend OCS Solutions.

I have the 20 inch iMac with the Intel chip. It is the best designed product I’ve ever owned.

I’m quite surprised how much more productive I am on this machine than I was on a windows box. It took about 3 days to become more productive.

Apple has somehow reached an incredible balance between making a machine that works quite well for an inexperienced computer person while simultaneously pleasing experienced software developers. As a developer, it feels like I can automate everything on this Mac.

I had been resisting getting an Apple as many friends became addicted to Macs over the past few years. I now understand why Apple customers are so passionate and loyal. I actually put an Apple bumper sticker on my car. I’m all in.

The Intel chip means I can run Windows as an application and it’s really fast. So if you’re afraid of leaving the Windows world, this is no longer a valid fear. You can still use your windows, although you’ll find that you really don’t need to. :)

They’re just higher quality machines with a much better operating system. This means they work better. Simple.

This is an excellent DVD. Andy Andrews is able to share VERY useful lessons in a humorous way. I really enjoyed watching it.

I like mine. It performs well and it fits a ton of stuff on it. I’ve got all of our music, the entire audio Bible, audio books, and podcasts.

Podcasts change things. I get to listen to the programs I’m interested in when I want to listen to them. The radio industry must be hurting because of the convenience of podcasts.

I’ve bought a number of bound journals from them. They’re excellent quality. A wonderful business. They make record books, journals, lab books, custom notebooks, etc. They get them delivered very quickly.

See the website.

Doug is an expert mortgage consultant.

I used to live next door to Doug. He always went above and beyond in helping our family even when he’d most likely see no benefit from doing so. He continued to do us favors even after we moved across the country.

If you need a mortgage, Doug can help you. He does excellent work and he handles so many things that other mortgage consultants delegate to their customers.

Getting a mortgage was always a hassle and always seemed to take a ton of time with the paperwork and other nonsense. It wasn’t a hassle working with Doug because he just handled everything.

Also, he showed up at the closing. This was so helpful because he was able to explain the lawyerly jibberish and resolve any paperwork issues when they arose.

I highly recommend Doug. ( doug_linscott @ countrywide.com )

My brother Russ makes these. They’re delicious. I think they’re the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had.

I suspect he doctors them up in some way with some secret ingredients but here’s the Quaker Oats recipe he uses.

Wow. Our family just discovered them. Take green grapes and stick em in the freezer. Delicious.

Why did we buy this? Because we loved the book series.

We’ve enjoyed many of these episodes as a family. They have some similarities to the books but they’re their own thing. Of course the books are better.

There was one episode that I didn’t much care for. In that show, Pa and Ma go on vacation. The episode ends with Mr. Edwards concealing what happened while they were gone and Pa lying about their trip. I’m not sure what they were thinking. There’s no other episode that I know of in which Pa lies.

Of course they ain’t perfect but they’re still worthwhile and enjoyable to watch. Many episodes have triggered some lesson filled discussions with the kids. It’s a good series.

This was a pretty insightful documentary. I highly recommend it. Be warned – this DVD will most likely change your opinion about guns in the home.

Most people know how to administer the heimlich maneuver because we recognize that if someone is choking, we as first responders could save the persons life because the experts won’t be able to get there in time. Same with CPR.

Guns are the same. The police cannot get to you in time. It is not their goal to be our bodyguards. We shouldn’t even want them to be our bodyguards. If they were, we’d need a whole bunch more police officers. We’d need to be a police state in fact. I for one don’t want to become the Soviet Union.

Most folks are against having guns in the home because they think that it’s dangerous for children. More children die by drowning in toilets and bath tubs per year than die by a gun in the home.

This movie really got me thinking about whether I’m living up to my responsibility to protect my family.

Paul is an expert realtor and a man of integrity. He knows so much about real estate and he tirelessly serves his customers. Paul has helped us with a number of real estate transactions and each time he has exceeded our expectations.

If you’re buying or selling a home, Paul is the guy. I can name at least a dozen friends who would say the same things about him. Here is Paul’s Web Site

I would not buy or sell real estate without Paul’s help. I highly recommend him.

This is my mechanic. I highly recommend them. They’re straightforward and they’ve treated me right time after time. They’ve also helped my brother Russ as well.

There were a number of times that I’ve brought cars in and they determined that I shouldn’t have any work done.

They really know what they’re doing and they’re willing to discuss the possibilities for a fix. Their names are Rich and Dave.

Here’s their website. Here they are on the map.

I worked with and for RoleModel for a bunch of years so I’m pretty biased. They do excellent work and they’re people of integrity.

If you’re looking for custom software, a website, or training, they can help. If you’re looking for Java help, I think they’re THE company to talk to. http://rolemodelsoftware.com

Samedis is a web design studio in Chapel Hill, NC. Rich Powell from Samedis designed the layout, look, and feel of this web site. Ain’t it beautiful? I don’t think anyone would use this site if it wasn’t for Samedis.

They do incredible work and they have customers in North Carolina and elsewhere. Check out their remarkable portfolio.

If you want a well designed, usable, and pretty web site I highly recommend Samedis Design. They also do a bunch of other things you might be interested in such as branding, identity, brochures, mailers, business cards, letterhead design, CD cover artwork, poster design, and t-shirt design.

For you developers out there, Rich gets it. He knows exactly how to use CSS, and he plays very well with developers. I’ve really enjoyed working with him.

This was a pretty good movie starring Mel Gibson. I enjoyed it.

This is a wonderful web site. Steve Pavlina has written a number of life changing articles. I think he’s impacting people. He’s certainly impacted me. I wonder if Soapbox would exist if I hadn’t read some of his motivational articles.

Steve’s spiritual beliefs don’t correspond to my own. He would be the first to say that he’s not a Christian. This means that we have fundamentally different worldviews. Even so, I’ve still learned a ton from him in the areas of personal development, efficiency, goal setting, and polyphasic sleep. I’m grateful that he’s been willing to share so many of the things he’s learned. If you’re looking to improve yourself in some way, Steve’s web site can help.

I really disliked this movie. What was Disney thinking?

What value is there in having my kids watch a movie about a jealous uncle who kills his brother and tries to kill his nephew?

The young lion cub (Simba) is the main character and he’s the one that kids relate the most to. Most of the things Simba does in the movie are wrong, wrong, wrong. He lies to his mom, disobeys his dad, deceives that bird, etc. I’m not saying that a character doing the wrong things in a movie makes the movie bad. It’s just that in this movie, there’s no delineation between right and wrong. Anything goes. It seems that it’s just becoming normal for children’s movies to have frequent occurrences of lying and deception seen as normal and ok.

Then there’s the witch doctor scene calling up a ghost of Simba’s father. Can this children’s movie be more unbiblical?

I’m having trouble finding a redeeming quality of this film.

I think their return policy is annoying. Only store credit if the box is opened? Nuts. I’m not a fan.

I still bought 2 monitors from there because they were SO cheap. I wonder if I’ll regret it.

UPDATE: I regret it. They won’t send me my rebate check. I’ve talked to them, mailed them stuff, faxed them stuff, jumped through their hoops, gotten them to verbally say they’ll send it. They don’t send the rebate. TOTAL SCAM.

An excellent book by David Allen. The subtitle is The Art of Stress Free Productivity.

I was pretty disorganized before reading this book. I’d forget to do things, I kept to-do lists everywhere, and I’d be juggling a million balls in my head trying not to forget anything.

After reading this book, I’d describe myself as pretty organized. The book taught me a logical yet flexible system. I now know what I need to do to ensure that items are captured by my system so that I can stop juggling them in my head. MUCH lower stress this way.

I never really understood why piles on my desk would continuously grow without bounds. I no longer have any piles. This book also motivated me to completely redo our filing cabinet. We actually burned 3 drawers full of stuff. Much simpler now.

This book affects how I process information and it affects the decisions I make every day.

Another excellent book by Andy Andrews. This guy is an amazing author. I always learn things by reading his books. I think I will buy anything he makes.

What an excellent series of books. Kelly read the entire series to me and the kids. I originally thought it was a series for girls but I was wrong. They’re wonderful. After the kids would go to sleep, I’d read ahead. Kell eventually convinced me that this was a dirty habit.

There are stories of survival, farming, hunting, faith, and family. My daughter Madeline (7 years old) and son Gavin (5 years old) both got a TON out of these books. They loved them. It was wonderful to see the times that Laura (the author) chose to do the right thing and resisted the evident temptation to go the wrong route.

I highly recommend this series of books.

If you think Christianity is bogus, I’d bet that this book by Lee Strobel would be quite interesting to you. It certainly was to me.

It’s pretty difficult to read this book and not have the thought, “hmmmm… perhaps the Bible is true.”

Not many copies of this book by Mark Fisher are in print. Therefore it can be pretty steep. It’s worth the price. Lotsa lessons in this book.

Wow. Excellent book by Andy Andrews. A ton of lessons in this engrossing book. I have enjoyed every single book Andy Andrews has written. He’s very encouraging and motivational. HIGHLY recommended.

What an excellent movie starring Mel Gibson. I greatly enjoyed this film.

Dave Ramsey has taught me that so many of my preconceived notions about personal finance were so wrong. Debt really is dumb. If you have any debt, this book can help you eliminate it and bring more peace to your life.

This book made me realize that the world is in the dark about how money works. A friend described the book as the red pill (allusion to the Matrix).

This book completely changed how we spend our money and how we budget for things. It’s an outstanding book.

My favorite political columnist. His articles are so logical. Here’s an archive of articles.

UPDATE: He’s no longer my favorite columnist. I agree with him about many economic issues like gouging. It now seems to me that Sowell blames so much on Democrats and fails to recognize how little difference there really is between Democrats and Republicans. Sowell seems ok with government getting bigger and more powerful, especially for preemptively invading other nations.

In addition, if he’s a student of economics, why isn’t he talking about the Austrian school? Why isn’t he talking about the problems with having the federal reserve? Why no mention of the inflation tax?

Lesson filled entertaining book by Andy Andrews. This guy is amazing.

This is my favorite Bible. It’s thin yet the words are large. It’s well made.