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My kids have been on spring break all week. Being out of school with time on her hands... my daughter, Emilee, made a Spring Break Gift for me. (kind of like a birthday or Christmas gift) 
So, knowing that my daughter loves to draw and create things... I could hardly wait to see what she had done for her loving and caring dad. I open it. She quickly tells me it is a game. It's called "pin the tail game".
(I used to call it pin the tail on the donkey) 
I was all cool with that until what came out of her mouth next.... "Dad... that face is a picture of you." 
Not sure what to think... Anyone for a game of pin the tail on a Reeder?
 As many of you may already know, Susanne and I surrendered to God's call to ministry last March. We have been fervently praying for God's will in our lives, and for His guidance in the next step(s) we should be taking in obedience to accomplish His will.
After much prayer, we have decided to sell our home. We have had a burden on our hearts for over a year now concerning financial freedom (thanks Joe), and while we have made great strides in getting there, we feel that this will be a BIG STEP towards finally making it happen! We know that God is in control, and we have already found a home that is going to be a step of faith. We are trusting that God will sell our house quickly and He can make it happen! Buy purchasing this home, we will accomplish two things...we will be DEBT FREE except for a mortgage (which by the way will be a little more than half of what we are currently paying) and we will also be fulfilling a dream of being "out in the country" on a few acres of land.  Please pray for favor with the owners of this property (a sister and two brothers selling their mother's home) and for God's perfect plan to be accomplished. We have not listed our house with a realtor because financially that would be a bit of a set back, so we are trying to sell it on our own.
We have constructed a website at www.2121TwinBridge.com for potential buyers to view, and we have made printable flyers to distribute. If you know of anyone that would be interested in buying our house, please let them know. Otherwise, please pray that the house will sell quickly and that we will be able to accomplish our financial goals.
Thank you all so much for praying, and for being wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who we can turn to in our trials, laugh with in our joys, weep with in our sorrows, and celebrate with in our successes. We cannot imagine doing this "thing" called life without you all!!!
 Talk about perfect timing. I went to Best Buy during lunch after eating Chick-fil-a.
Yes... I love eating at that place. I walked in and there on the shelf... A pretty white box with the word "Wii" written on it. I grabbed it so fast someone probably thought I was stealing it... After talking with the nice sales person, she said they got a shipment of 28 yesterday. By the time she came in to work this morning, there were only 17. I bought mine at 1:07 PM, and it was the last one on the shelf. Now, I gotta get off the bloggin and get to playing some tennis!!!
Since Page and Dean have been telling me about how much they enjoy their Wii gaming systems... I really want one now. Susanne and I were kid-less this weekend to celebrate our anniversary (Nine Years). We had a great idea on a way to spend our time, we could get a Wii. For the kids of course... We decided to take a trip to Wal-Mart... Sold Out... Huh... that was not supposed to happen.. But we were determined... Off to Chick-fil-a to get some milkshakes and a phone book. (Side note: they have the best milkshakes in the world!) Susanne called everywhere in Florence... No Wii in Florence??? That is crazy!!! We had to settle for a milkshake. The story does not stop there... Sunday, after our nap... Susanne woke up with a cute little song to tell about our adventures. Check out the full story here. Make sure your sound is on to get the full effect. I now know what married people do with out kids...  BTW: This was my first adventure with a webcam and YouTube.
Thanks Bill! Which Star Wars character are you? Looks like I am Qui-Gon Jinn!!! "Qui Gon Jinn was perhaps the greatest Jedi alive, a commanding presence at Council, a strong and brave warrior who refused to be intimidated by even the most daunting challenge and a good and kind man." — Obi Wan Kenobi 
(Warning... there are a few strong words in the quiz)
There is a cool feature with Google Reader that I recently started using.
They provide a way to share your favorite read items (in your massive blog roll) with others.
While reading blog entries in Reader, simply click the share link and Reader will add it to your shared list.
There are two ways to make this list visible to others.
- You can integrate into your very own blog (For an example, visit the site and look on the left at section titled: What's Chris Reading).
- There is also an RSS Feed.
I got Page hooked on Reader, how about you?
If you have Messenger, this may be for you. You can now help raise money for charity.
It is called "I'm", which is short for "I'm Making a Difference"
From the live.com website.
"Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes"
You simply have to add a special code to your display name in Messenger. That simple.
I am supporting the American Red Cross, but there are other options.
***Windows Live Messenger 8.1 is required
Bring a little sanity back in your life. If you are anything like me, you are wide open these days.
Between the kids, wife, and my schedules, we have actually had to schedule a family night. Every Thursday night is our family night. No one... NO ONE... is to schedule anything for that night.
What about the other days and nights? My wife and I are very involved with our church, each serving in different capacities. I do a few side projects from time to time. Susanne sells Mary Kay; she has her facial appointments, and meetings. Emilee has piano & gymnastics. Jacob has T-Ball. Sam has "mom time." Get the point??
So, how do we keep it all straight? I could install Exchange Server and setup a group calendar... but I think that would be over-kill. Plus, my boss has already called me a geek.
Yesterday I was reading Brad Abrams' blog and he mentioned Cozi.
Cozi... sounds relaxing.
This is a website that allows all of our schedules to merge into one. So, when Susanne goes to schedule a meeting for the second Tuesday night of the month, she will now see that I already have a Pee Dee Area .NET user group meeting.
It also has a grocery list for when I run out of shampoo, I can add it so Susanne can know to get it next time she goes out. There is also a neat little message sender that allows easy way to send emails or phone text messages.
Anyway, it is a very nice and fast application (and FREE). And for the techy audience; They have it setup as a website, Click-Once windows application, or even a mobile application (which would allow Susanne to pull the grocery list at the store).
We've already started using it, and I think it will be a big help to our family.
I saw a presentation that showed Virtual Earth integration yesterday...
(Yes, I got my free copy of Office 2007 and Groove)
So...
I wanted to give maps.live.com another shot; so I pull up my house.
The RED line points to my house.
Now, let's look at Google Maps
(I tried to crop at same locations in the neighborhood)
Microsoft still has a way to go!!!
You can even make out my fence and see the swing set in the back yard.
 Time flys!!! My oldest child, only girl, is now seven.
She is a true blessing to me and I love her very much. She makes me so proud with her grades and the way she "plays" little momma to the two younger brothers. (A dad gets to brag on his children from time to time) She navigates on the kid's laptop pretty well. She can login using her domain user account, type documents in Word, print coloring book pages, and browse the internet. She went to the Veggie Tales website yesterday and sent me two e-cards!!! She uses the family email address for now. I guess soon I will be creating her very own email account... Then next, her own blog... Happy Birthday Emilee!!!
 If you ever wanted to create your own photomosaic, here is your chance. A flickr or yahoo account is needed.
http://start.mosaickr.com/ Incase you are not familiar with the term... A Photomosaic is a picture made up of smaller pictures. For example, my Yoda photomosaic has hundreds of pictures from Star Wars Episodes IV, V, and VI.
Superhero: Green Lantern
| Green Lantern |
|
80% |
| Superman |
|
75% |
| Spider-Man |
|
45% |
| Supergirl |
|
45% |
| Wonder Woman |
|
45% |
| Robin |
|
45% |
| Hulk |
|
45% |
| Batman |
|
40% |
| Iron Man |
|
40% |
| The Flash |
|
35% |
| Catwoman |
|
30% | |
Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.
 |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
Super Villain:Lex Luthor
| Lex Luthor |
|
69% |
| Dr. Doom |
|
66% |
| Apocalypse |
|
56% |
| Magneto |
|
44% |
| Green Goblin |
|
44% |
| Kingpin |
|
44% |
| The Joker |
|
42% |
| Juggernaut |
|
40% |
| Riddler |
|
33% |
| Dark Phoenix |
|
31% |
| Mystique |
|
28% |
| Mr. Freeze |
|
28% |
| Venom |
|
21% |
| Poison Ivy |
|
21% |
| Catwoman |
|
14% |
| Two-Face |
|
4% | |
A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!
 | Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test
I hate the email game where you receive 99 interesting items about a person, from everyone in your address book...
I almost never read them (unless they are some my lovely wife)
But, I like this idea. Over the past couple of days, I have enjoyed reading people's blogs telling 5 things I did not know about them.
In most cases, I do not know the people (personally) I read, so it gives a great clue to who they really are. Thanks Shawn Twain Wildermuth and Clemens Vasters for the motivation.
- I was born and raised in Lancaster, SC. My dad purchased our first computer; 486 SX25 with 2 MB of RAM. He let me learn and experiment (Gotta tweak that autoexec.bat and config.sys) on the computer. When it would get to the point that it would not boot anymore, dad would take it to the professionals and let them fix it (and let me watch them do it). Thanks dad for the patience and money spent. It was a memory I will never forget and always cherish. I still enjoy learning things about computers and technology.
- I love to listen to good music. I listen to mostly Christian Rock. My favorite bands are: Project 86, Thousand Foot Krutch, Red, Family Force 5, Flyleaf, and Mat Kearney.
- My first professional speaking engagement was June 13th, 2006 at the Pee Dee Area .NET Users Group. I spoke on T-SQL coding practices and a few performance "food for thoughts." I was co-founder of the group with buddies Page Brooks and Chris Craft.
- Growing up, I wanted to be an Air Force Fighter Pilot. Then I found out I did not have 20/20 vision, loved to draw, and was good at math; so my desire changed to become an architect. Once dad got me a computer (see above), my desire changed once again. I wanted to do something with computers!!! That something is project planning, database design, and application development.
- I love researching my genealogy. I have collected 50,000+ cousins and relatives in my database. Primary surnames researching: Reeder, Pressley, Baucom, Long, Ferguson, Polk, Whitley, Estridge, Strickland, Allen, and Blackmon.
Now, you have read my five things... So...
Tag goes to: Susanne Reeder, Chris Craft, Page Brooks, Josh Wyse, and Dean Lisenby.
Man... The day has finally arrived... My Preacher, Howard Allen, is blogging. He can now minister to potentially millions of people and not just the 800-900 members of South Florence Baptist Church. (New web site coming soon) This brightens my day!!!
We have an IT Department scavenger hunt today. Four teams consisting of 3-4 employees will be competing. It will be a timed event and a speeding ticket will disqualify the team. My Team consists of: Will "Parents Just Don't Understand" Smith
James "007 Bond" Munn
Josh "Mr. Coffee" Lockhart
Chris "The Weekly" Reeder I will let you know how we place. Should be a great team building experience. Watch out other teams... The "Live Wires" are on the loose!!!
 I had to share this...
I found a site where I can make bumper stickers. So... I made one... StupidProgrammer.com $4.95 for the sticker including shipping... It made my wife laugh so it was well worth it. Then when I actually stuck on my truck... Well... that caused yet another chuckle. You can notice in the reflection of my dirty truck (free advertising for Ford), a picture of me using my new Pocket PC phone to take the picture.
My first day at my new job started with something rather interesting... I could really feel the love...
I was escorted to my new home away from home and well... here are some pictures...
  
Some items worth special observation:
- Duct Tape & Sharpie name plate
- Metal chair with no cushion
- PC that is ducktaped together
- OLD... did I say Old CRT monitor proped up with some cardboard and old CD Drive
- Missing keys on keyboard
- Mouse that the wire was spliced and taped back together
- Paper cup to hold pens
- PINK paper clips
- Last but not least... Windows 3.1 Background
Thank you for making my first day special!!!
Well, it's official. My last day with Taylor Data Systems was Friday, November 17. It was a very emotional day for me. After working there for 9 years, I felt like I was definitely closing a very important chapter of my life. My boss was very gracious to have a luncheon in my honor, and invite my wife and kids. While I believe that God has called me elsewhere, there will always be a big piece of my heart at TDS. Thanks to Dave Taylor and to all my fellow coworkers for sharing the experience with me. It's on to ACS Technologies from here! I am very excited about this new leaf that has turned over in my life. God opened the door, and in faith, I am walking through it. I know it is going to be a great step for me and I can't wait to get started.
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