Jon Stewart has a new book coming out on September 20. If you like Stewart, but don't like the convenience of television, then you'll want this book. Amazon.com has an exclusive interview with some funny moments.

Amazon.com: Is there one standout issue, and why does it make a difference? What are the most crucial issues?

Stewart: The precise details as to what level of heroism John Kerry exhibited in Vietnam should be the only issue determining the outcome of this election. Were his actions truly noble? Or merely valiant?

Reason #290 that TiVo is great: Football in a flash.

I discovered something beautiful last night. I TiVoed the Chiefs game so Sara and I could watch a movie. After the movie I started watching the game. TiVo has a 30-second skip button which instantly jumps ahead in a program 30 seconds (it's normally used for commercials). Pro football has a 40 second play clock, so if you press the 30-second skip button right at the end of a play then it usually jumps to just seconds before the next play. I was able to watch the whole game in about 20 minutes. One small problem with this is that if the game runs longer than scheduled, TiVo won't keep recording. Next time I'll just set it to record an hour or two of programming after the game. I missed most of the 4th quarter of last night's game and I had to catch the final score on Sportscenter.

Quiz: Art or Crap - Look at pictures and mark whether you're looking at works of art or just plain, old crap. My score: 7/16. I like to think of this as my low-brow contribution to the art discussion that Kyle started.

(via Linkfilter)

I passed my exams today. I was a little worried last night when I kept failing practice exams, and this morning when I kept failing practice exams, and again this morning when I left my last minute studying to go in for a second interview for a job. But I passed the first exam (Core Hardware) with a score of 630 out of 800. The minimum passing score is 515. The second exam (Operating Systems) was the one I was having a hard time with on the practice tests, but I passed it with a score of 594. 505 was the minimum passing score. I'm very excited, and relieved that I don't have to pay for the exams again. Now I'm an Comptia A+ certified computer technician. The job interview went very well, but I haven't heard anything yet.

My job search is going well. I've got resumes in at several places. I've had a couple of interviews and lots of people willing to help me. I'm a little nervous that my last day is approaching fast and I don't have a new job secured yet, but I'm trusting that God will provide for us. The local newspaper editor didn't have a full-time opening when I talked to him yesterday, but he took my resume to a Missouri Press Association conference, told me about a part-time opening he had, told me about a job the Press Association might have soon, and loaned me a Mac. He had an old Mac that he wasn't using and he let me take it home so I could play around and build some Mac skills. It has OS 9.1, Photoshop 7.0, Pagemaker, 234 MHz, 64MB RAM and a 3GB HD. I've had some fun playing with that. I'm taking the exams for the Comptia A+ Computer Technician Certification tomorrow at 1. I read an 1100 page book to study for it and I've been doing some practice exams. I don't know if the cert will help me get a tech job, but I don't think it can hurt. And it's giving me something to do so I don't go nuts right now. People at the church have been very cool. Several people have told me that I've done a good job here and they'll miss having me as a minister. I'm glad that I'll still be a member of the church, because the people are so great. I think most people understand why I want to try something different.

prsnmn.hopto.org, my Linux webserver, has two new sites.

Gallery. This is a very cool image CMS that was recommended to me by Brendon of TechFreak.net. I've got some pictures of Emma. You can view them as a slide show, leave comments and even order prints from 3rd party digital print sites. The prices aren't too bad. I can have people create user accounts so they can create their own albums. You can get an RSS feed of my gallery, too. If you're interested in playing around with this let me know.

Personman's PostNuke Playground version 0.750. This is the newest version of PostNuke. I think the mailer is working now, so if you want to create a user account, go ahead. Happy surfing. If anyone can think of other things to try on my server, let me know. I'm learning a lot and maybe some of these skills will help me get a job.

Well, it's official now. This morning I announced my resignation from my job as associate minister at Adrian Christian Church. Here's the statement I made at church this morning:

I've decided that it's time for me to move on to something else. When Paul first talked to me about coming here as a youth minister I told him that I didn't think youth ministry was something I would really like or be good at. But we all agreed to give it a try. After two years I think I can safely say that I was right. It's not that I think I've wasted my time or wasted the church's time. I think our youth ministry has come a long way in these two years. I love all of the kids, but the bottom line is, I don't love the job. And the kids deserve someone who has a passion and a gift for youth ministry. So, effective September 19, I'll be getting out of the way.

I should make a couple of things clear. First, I will still be a member of this church. We're not moving or leaving the church. Second, Sara will keep her job. Third, I'm not leaving because of any problems in the church. Things are going great here, people are getting along, new things are happening, and despite all that, I'm ready for a break and ready to do something I'm more suited for.

You might wonder what I'm going to do now. Well, I wonder about that, too. Working with technology has been something that I've gravitated toward, even here at the church. I feel like I'm good at it and I plan to make a career out of it. And there are lots of new jobs being created in that field, they're just mostly in India. As for my involvement in the church, it's going to be scaled back quite a bit for now. I'm going to try to find my place as a volunteer, and I think some time off will help with that. I do intend for the website to continue to be timely and useful, so I'll do what I need to do to help out with that.

I believe that this move is the best thing for my family, for my faith, and in the long run, for the church, too. Thank you for your prayers, and thank you for making this the best job I've ever had.

I would appreciate your prayers while I'm making this transition and looking for a new job. I'm really looking forward to just being a member of the church and not being in charge.

If you have a free second, do me a favor. Go to the MSNBC Weekend Today webpage and vote for Anne from Wildwood, MO, for the Empty Nest Makeover. This is the mother of a friend of mine and it would mean a lot to her.

Japan. They give us reliable cars, raw fish, the PS2, and humor. The last of those can be found in Dave Barry's timeless work, Dave Barry Does Japan, but now it can also be found here: Engrish.com. This site has images of Japanese signs and products whose text was translated into English by people who don't understand the subtleties of the language. You may want to go straight to their recent discoveries and start looking around there.

(via Matt's Blog)

Please excuse the following geeky rant.

I'm working on a Compaq Presario 5310US for someone and I've decided that Compaq is s-t-u-p-i-d. This computer has some serious virus problems, and no real personal data to speak of, so the obvious choice is to do a clean install of Windows XP and all of the software that came with the computer. The problem is, Compaq uses a restore process that was developed by a class of 2nd graders (that's a little harsh, 2nd graders could do much better than this). Compaq computers come with a "Recovery CD." You might think that this cd includes the operating system, drivers and software so you can just pop it in, reboot the computer and do a clean install. You might be dead wrong. This worthless cd just allows you to boot into their "QuickRestore" program, which then gets the data it needs to reistall everything from a partition on the hard drive. Does anyone see a problem with this? Does anyone at Compaq have half a dozen working brain cells? Most of the problems that would make you want to do a clean install would involve damage to the data on the hard drive. So the same virus or error that breaks Windows is probably going to damage the D: partition, making you unable to reinstall Windows. So I called Compaq to try and get the operating system on a CD, thinking naively that since my client owns the operating system, they could get it cd form. Nope. They will, however, sell me the data that got lost from the D: partition on CD(!) Oh, so they have the CDs, but they just don't bother putting them in the computer box before you buy it, opting instead for this half-brained scheme of putting the recovery data on the hard drive. They might save $0.50 per computer by leaving the CDs out, but is it worth it? So I got the run around, talked to six different people and was finally put on the special hold line they have for indignat geeks. After listening to the same crappy music for 20 minutes I hung up. I still have the option to buy the CDs for $15, but I don't think it's right. Most other computer companies include real recovery cds with the computer when you buy it. I won't ever advise someone to buy Compaq or HP computers. If you can't resist that cheap computer at Wal-Mart, at least do this: As soon as you get home and see that you only get the one worthless Recovery CD, call tech support and have them send you the rest of the CDs. It won't cost anything while it's under warranty, but then you'll have them when you need them. And you'll need them.

End of rant.