Tech Wednesdy is back!  Well for now.  It has been a long time since I got my iPhone.  So long that the warranty has actually gone out on it.  So with that in mind I decided to jailbreak it.  Jailbreakng an iPhone simply allows you to do whatever you want with it.

You can put whatever third-pary programs you want on it.  You can access the OS.  You easily add new ring tones.  It is a beautiful thing.  But the most beautiful thing about it was using Pwnage Tool.  Pwnage Tool made what could be a headache of a process really simple.

I love my iPhone, but I love it even more now.  My favorite thing is the ability to do video with my phone now.  One of the first programs I installed was Qik.  It’s a program that allows you to do live video from your phone.  I’m loving it!!!!!!

If you have an iPhone and you aren’t worried about voiding your warranty, I highly recomend jailbreaking it.  If you decide to, use this guide.  It was really helpful and walked me through the process step-by-step (and it didn’t even have Suzanne Somers).

Now I know most of you don’t care, but I’m totally geeking today. I have totally loved my iPhone since I got it about a year ago. But I’ve never really been able to figure out how to easily write posts with it.

Today changed all that. With the release of the iPhone 2.0 software, WordPress was able to create an app to write posts with my iPhone. In fact this is actually from my iPhone.

Whether you have an iPhone or not (of a blog), you have to admit that is pretty cool.

photo by: moriza

We are almost two weeks into the Lent season now. I’m sorry for the delay on this last post in my Lent series. Things haven’t allowed me to sit down and write it. But for those who have been waiting patiently (and I guess the impatient ones too), here is the final post.
Once again, I’m not the most generous person you’ll ever meet (that’s probably why this list is shorter than the other ones). I don’t even like to share candy. But I’ve realized my short comings and here are some things that I’ve learned that help me to be a little more generous with my time and money.

1. Make it a priority
   You’re not going to do it until you make it a priority. As I said in another post, I learned this from a wise friend when I was in college.

   I had a moment of enlightenment when I was in college. I was a poor college student (which for some is a load of crap statement…but that is another blog), and I went out to eat with a group guys. At the end of the meal, an older gentleman in the group paid for the meal. I remember telling him how I wish I could do the same. And he responded in the kindest of words, “If you aren’t generous when you have nothing, then you won’t be generous when you have everything.”

   You have to make being generous a priority in your life. There are too many other shinny things that will take center stage if you don’t (this comes from the guy with the iPhone…I know about shinny things taking center stage…and I’m still learning). Make it a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly task to look for ways to be more generous in your life.

2. Have a budget
   You won’t know what to give until you know what you have. This works for both your money and your time. For your money, you should have a budget for every month. This takes away the excuse of saying, “I just don’t have any money to give.” You don’t have money to be generous with because you don’t plan.
   When Shannon and I first started budgeting, it was like I got a raise. Before we budgeted, we just tried to keep an eye on our checking account and when it got to low we stopped spending (don’t judge you know you do the same thing). When we started budgeting, we were finally able to plan. We were able to make our money work for us instead of the opposite (check out DaveRamsey.com for more information on budgets).
   You also need to budget your time. Some of us don’t have time to serve our fellow man because we never have any extra time. I’ll give you a tip…there is no such thing as “extra” time. There are 24 hours in a day and that is all you have. Just like you’re pay check only has a set amount of money, your life only has a set amount of time. You have to budget your time wisely so you serve those around you (check out ZenHabits.net for more information on budgeting your time).
3. Give first
   This is has two implications. You can take the idea of biblical “first fruits.” This was the commandment given by God that everything that you received (animals, harvest, children, ect.), the first of it was to be given to God. The top line of your budget should have a line for a certain percentage of your money that you want to give away. When you get paid you should automatically take that percentage of money out of your check to give away. No questions. No ifs, ands, or buts. Just do it. Then budget the rest to live off. If you don’t do this…you’ll just make excuses and never be generous with the money you have. This will teach you to be generous.
   The other implication is if you have the option to serve someone or to do something else with the “free” time in your life, serve. Give of yourself first. Generosity now has the priority. So skip the basketball game and go do a generous act.
4. Have a separate checking account
   This is a little trick that Shannon and learned when we weren’t part of a local church for awhile. We didn’t have a place that we could write a check to for a weekly tithe. So we opened up another checking account and we transferred a percentage of our pay checks into the account every time we got paid. Then we knew we could use this account to be generous whenever the opportunity presented itself without having to worry about whether we were using money that was needed to pay the bills.
   When we started going to City on a Hill we started giving our tithe to them. We still transfer the money into the account so we don’t get it mixed up with the rest of the money we have, but we enjoyed having the freedom of the extra checking account so much that we transfer an additional amount of money into it every month so we can be generous when the opportunities present themselves.
5. Give first ask questions later
   Now this might sound like I’m say to give money to anyone on the street who asks you for it (in fact I would say not to do that…give them food, clothing, bottled water, a cup of coffee…but don’t give them money. Read “Under the Overpass” to see why). What I’m saying is that my tendency and I know some of your’s tendency is to ask the question “Why?”. Why should I be generous with my time and money. The reality of it is that I can’t answer that question truly. I could give you scripture. I could give you stories in my own life. I could paint a picture of a vision of bringing heaven to earth. But you won’t get it.
   You won’t get it until you take a homeless guy across the street to Arby’s for lunch. You won’t get it until you mow your elderly neighbor’s yard for them without them asking or paying you. You won’t get it until you help your wife’s single-mother-coworker pay her rent. You won’t get it until you pay for lunch for you and your friends knowing that you might not be able to eat dinner.
   If you decide that you aren’t going to be generous until you understand why, you’ll never be generous. The reality is you need to give first and then ask questions, because by giving you’ll find the answers.

So when I was waiting in line for Obama the other day, I looked over at my friend and noticed that his iPhone was hanging from his belt loop. He had just recently went to MacWorld (the punk) and picked up a new item called the Hangman. Now I’ve tried a few different carrying cases since I’ve gotten my iPhone, but I must say this is the coolest one that I’ve seen so far. The best part is that it works with any iPodish product.

It actually connects to the dock part of the iPhone/iPod. Then the other side connects to a belt loop or anything else that you would want to connect it to. It also has a built in feature to help wrap up the extra slack from you head phones. Very nice. Right now I’m broke. But I plan on getting one soon…if I can’t steal one first.

It has been a few months since Shannon and I got our iPhones. I must say….THEY STILL ROCK!!!! Yes I have become a complete sell-out for Apple. I would buy Apple underwear if they existed (especially since the kind I like are no longer made…there’s nothing harder than finding a new brand of underwear). The iPhone has completely changed my life.We use our iPhones all the time. The main features being email, maps, and searching the internet. I always have my email with me now. I love having the ability to respond to someone’s question right there on the spot.I don’t know how many times the google maps feature has kept me from driving around aimlessly for hours looking for a customer or a friend’s address. And I love being able to look up the answers to random questions right there on the spot. “How many ounces are in a pound?” “Does ExpressJet fly to Austin?” “How old is Barrak Obama?”If I didn’t have my iPhone, I would just be making stuff up like I use to. But now I actually know the answers.(So you’re wondering why doesn’t he use the phone feature…I do. We just get really bad service at our house…So I would rather text.)

We’re having a baby!!!! Let me answer all the basic questions first:

Due Date: June 6th 2008
Shannon is at 8 weeks
Yes it was planned
Yes we are excited
If it’s a girl we are calling her Addison
If it’s a boy we are calling him Asa
Shannon is having morning sickness, but she is doing fine
Shannon isn’t having really any cravings. She just has some foods she doesn’t like.
We’ve known for a few weeks now, but wanted to tell everyone after we had our first Dr. visit.

We went and had the ultrasound today and it was really cool. I think today was one of the first times that it sunk in. It still hasn’t completely sunk in yet. But I’m pretty sure it will once I’m changing diapers. The best part was getting to see his/her heart beat (we’re to early in pregnancy to hear it). The baby is 1.6 cm long and basically a little blob at this point. But it’s still pretty cool. I’m going to have to clean some crap out of my wallet now so I can fit baby pictures in the there…or I could just put it on my iPhone. I think I’ll go with the latter (I wonder if Apple make baby toys…if not they need to).

It is official. As of last Saturday (Sept. 29), Shannon and I are now the proud owners of iPhones. If you don’t know what an iPhone is, then disregard this blog seeing to the fact that you are probable surfing the internet on your Tandy computer using your telephone modem. For the rest of you, we have been drooling maybe even coveting the iPhone since it’s announcement back in January. We’ve been plotting and planning to get one. There was even thoughts of selling our dog (Cali), but those thoughts quickly passed. Just recently, we finished a two year (roughly) excursion to get out of debt. This coincided with the price drop of the iPhone. We of course saw this as a sign from God that we needed to buy our iPhones and quickly purchased them as soon as we saved up the money (I don’t care if I could cook a hot dog…I’m not going back into debt for any phone).

So far I must say that it has surpassed all my expectations. One of my favorite features is Google maps. Cause I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to know where the nearest car parts place is while I’m sitting at home in front of my computer. I need to know while my battery is dead, and I’m stuck in a stupid parking lot. I’ve used this feature at least twice a day (for real reasons and not just to play around with) since we’ve gotten the phones.We were already on AT&T. So, it wasn’t really a hard decision to make (although we get really bad reception at home. I think the only complaint that I have with it is…ummm….well…there has to be one….I’ll get back to you on this one. I just have to say that I really love this phone. And I don’t know how I could have lived life without it…until they come out with the next generation.