Missionary Convention

Last Sunday evening Missionary Convention started at GBS. The series of sessions and workshops ended today at noon. Over the course of the past few days we heard from a number of missionaries from around the world.

The featured speaker was Harmon Schmelzenbach who treated us with his stories of the Power of the Gospel to transform lives for the better in Africa where he grew up and spent most of his life.

Bioluminescent Fungi

In other words, glowing mushrooms, found recently in Brazil... Details in this article from NG. (external link to NationalGeographic.com)

Photo from: NationalGeographic.com

Treatise about USB Flash Drive security

Do you have a USB Flash Drive (otherwise known as thumb drive, USB key, etc)? If so, in my opinion this post could potentially save you some future anguish if it's ever lost or misplaced.


I own a 512 MB USB Flash Drive which I use regularly. On it I store much important (and personal) information. Recently, I thought (thankfully, only thought) it had been lost or stolen. Since that event, I have taken the following steps to secure my drive in case it ever does actually escape my possession.

1. Used the built-in encryption software from SanDisk to secure my "sensitive" data (financial records, business invoices, etc). This is to prevent any dishonest individual who may find my device from using the information for nefarious purposes.


2. Created an unencrypted text file in the main directory. This file contains my contact information (temp & permanent physical addresses and e-mail & website addresses) in addition to a reward notice. This file is for any honest person who may find and want to return the device.


3. Now carry the drive in my wallet to minimize the risk of loss.

USB Flash Drives are great for moving and storing data, but also can allow a large amount of data to disappear from your hands or appear in the wrong hands.

Missions Booth Time-Lapse

I finally took the time this morning to put together the time-lapse photos of our Missions Booth construction. You can download the 43 second WMV clip by right-clicking the link below and choosing "Save Target As..."

Missions Booth Time-Lapse (1.2 MB download)

Enjoy!

Fall In The Forest

More photos from this afternoon in Mt. Airy Forest.

Restaurante Mexican

Last evening, a group of us from GBS went to Fontova's, a restaurant in Convington serving homemade Mexican food. Good stuff!

Photo by: Alona H.

Internet Explorer 7 Final

Microsoft has released the final version of its new IE7 browser. I've used two beta editions and most recently the RC1 of this version of IE and like many of the new features.

Free download from Microsoft here (external link to Microsoft.com)

All logos and graphics are trademarks of their respective owners.

Good Quotes Day

So far today I have heard several good quotes in class. Here are two:

Quoted by Dr. A. Philip Brown in Advanced Homiletics:

"Good intentions pave the road to hell"

Quoted by Mr. Miles in Principles/Problems of Missions:

"The heart of the matter is the heart"

Lifespan of Recordable Media

I recently read this article in PC World's AnswerLine column with interest. As someone who relies on CD/DVD backup for photos, documents, and video, the expected lifespan of recordable media concerns me. Although there seems to be some conflicting opinions on the issue, this article sheds some additional light:

Answer Line: Will My CD-R and DVD+R Discs Still Run in 10 Years? (external link to PCWorld.com)

GBS Group to Ukraine

This afternoon a group of six people from GBS, including four students, left on a 9-day journey to Ukraine... May God bless them and make them a blessing on this trip!

Construction Destruction

Friday night, once the Homecoming crowd departed from the gym after 11pm, we started dismantling the booth. After taking four long evenings of work to build, the booth took only about 15 minutes to tear to the ground! Removing nails to salvage the 2x4s, hauling the rest of the materials to the trash, and final clean up was finally finished just after 1am. Our Homecoming Missions Booth project was done!

More photos

GBS Homecoming '06

Friday, October 13, 2006

More photos here!

Construction Completed

Digital Model

Physical Booth

After many hours of work our digital model became a reality on the GBS gym floor! A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the booth happen...

.

Update: More construction photos added to album

Continued Construction

Here is the Google SketchUp model of our homecoming booth for the missions department. Last evening, we made significant construction progress. A big thank you to everyone who came down to help out!

Created in SketchUp by: Shane M. & Malcolm D.

Photos from last evening

Construction Has Started

This evening Shane and I (along with Phil & Tim for part of the time) spent a several hours starting construction on the Missions Department Booth for the GBS Homecoming this weekend. The concept has been alive in several forms for a couple of weeks; most recently before today as a 3D model drawn using Google SketchUp. To see the digital model now beginning to turn into the physical form is quite satisfying!


Day 1 Construction Progress:

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

To my fellow Canadians...

Image created using: CoolText.com

Afternoon Hike

Today a group of us from GBS went up to Mount Airy Forest where we spent a pleasant couple of hours hiking in the woods. In my opinion, it was "perfect" fall day for a hike; cloudless and cool!

Update: More photos

Photo by: Self-timer on my camera :)

Rapid Memory Delivery

This afternoon the replacement RAM for laptop arrived! The tech said it would probably be Tuesday before it came; however it was actually shipped over-night from TN. Good going HP!

Memory Loss

No, not me...my computer! Last evening I returned from supper to find my computer unable to boot into Windows. I'll spare you the details, but contrary to what HP Tech Support consistently told me throughout the evening, I finally convinced them this morning that I indeed had a hardware issue! Here is the little piece of RAM that caused me so far to spend 5+ hours with my laptop last evening and this morning:

I just talked to HP Canada, and they are shipping me out new RAM under warrenty. So, for now, I will content myself to run with only 1 gig of RAM... :-)

RyanWatters.com

I have recently become friends with Ryan, a fellow student here at GBS . He enjoys photography and has some great photos posted on his website:

RyanWatters.com

Congrats on the new .com domain name Ryan!

Fast Death

Now that's moving!

"A 17-year-old Windsor-area girl is dead after the jet-powered dragster she was driving crashed at nearly 500 kilometres an hour."

Girl, 17, dies as jet-powered car crashes (external link to cbc.ca)

Congrats Titus & Cherie!

Titus & Cherie - September 30, 2006
Congratulations!

Photo by: Bonnie Donaldson

Foreign Food Friday

This past Friday evening a group of us went out to eat at a little Mediterranean (Lebanese food) restaurant.

L-R: Alona, Alisa, Kristen, Micah, Malcolm, Elizabeth