A little background–I mainly use Google Talk. I like how my chat records are stored in my GMail account and I can go back and reference important information later on. For example, I recently asked a friend their address so I can send them an invitation to my upcoming wedding. [Excited? Yes!] I just relied on Google to store his response and I’ll go dig it up later when I get around to compiling the list of addresses. Sometimes I go back and review a conversation I had with someone a few days, weeks, or months before. I often wonder if someday in the future when I’ve passed on, if my children will have access to my old chat logs and reconstruct what was going on in my life when I was dating their mother.

After the fact, though, the timing of the messages is important. Sequence gives the main flow of the conversation–and for the most part is sufficient. But what about the responses that are recorded a split second after their proper place in the conversation? The meaning can change totally. For example, when I was just chatting with my friend, I asked why he had gone to California over the weekend.

Friend: so california was lovely
warm and the like
timehat: yeah i saw on your facebook that you were there… i didn’t know you left over the weekend. just a quick visit, huh?
Friend: yeah
timehat: going back for thanksgiving?
Friend: my brother came home
no
im planning to do it with [friend's girlfriend]
timehat: oh, yeah, that’s right

Reading this log, as it is recorded in my GMail account, makes it sounds like I had known that my friend planning on having Thanksgiving dinner with his girlfriend, when I actually had no idea that was the case. What I did know was that his brother had just returned home from serving an LDS mission. The timing of the messages was just a second apart, but the meaning of my statement has a different meaning when that timing is erased.

It makes me wonder about how historians sort this sort of thing out with letters exchanged between parties. Perhaps two people sent two letters on the same day and responses are overlapping and out of sequence when reviewed strictly on a date-written basis. What about in court cases where chat records are obtained as evidence? Someone’s statements might be exactly opposite of the understood communication that actually took place. Like when I have responded to a friend, “Good!” after hearing some good news a split second after they then told me about some bad news that I had not yet read. It would appear that I was a heartless being that joyed in other’s misfortune. (Reminds me of people who click “Like” on Facebook when people post status updates about how they’ve had a bad day.)

Perhaps chat logs should only be used when each line is timestamped with the exact second the message was sent. Even then, some people respond to what they read first–even if a new message has already been received, but not yet read, that would require the exact opposite response.

Keeping my school documents in sync across computers and accessible online. (These are pictures of my professors...

So I’ve talked with two people recently who lost their USB drives within the last week.  With finals coming up, it’s not a good time to have to rewrite papers and lose all your notes or other school files.

I own one thumbdrive–a 32MB non name brand thing.  I bought it when the technology was relatively new and about a week  before a bunch of better ones went on sale.  But I hardly ever use it.

Instead, I use a service called Dropbox to automatically keep all of my school files in sync on my laptop and desktop.  As an added bonus, all the files are stored online and assessible through the Dropbox website.  Not only that, but Dropbox keeps multiple versions of the files for you so if you delete a few pages and click save, chances are you can download an older revision of the file from the website.  (Now, don’t get too greedy–remember that if you don’t have internet while you’re working on a file, it’s not going to be able to update the online version until your computer has a connection.)

Much easier than emailing myself files all the time to print at school.  With 2 GB of space for free, several other features I haven’t mentioned, and support for Windows, OS X, and Linux, it’s not a bad deal.

If you use this link to sign up, I’ll get an extra 250 MB free.

It turns out that you can open these newer formats in older versions of Office–you just need to install the compatibility pack.  You can download it at Microsoft’s website here.  If you don’t have any version of Office, you can at least a free viewer.  Don’t forget about OpenOffice, either–it’s a free productivity suite.

–

Okay, guys, so I figured I’d start sharing more of my general computing knowledge online.  I basically learn all this stuff online so it never really occured to me to repost all the stuff I find, but perhaps this can serve as a little guide for someone.

If you’re a student like me, you might use OneNote to take notes in class on occasion.  I was lucky to get my copy for free through the MSDN Academic Alliance set up with my school, but  I’ve just been told that anyone can get a copy for free now by downloading Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer.

Microsoft just started giving away SharePoint Designer for free and you’ll notice that when you run the install and click “customize” you’ll see that it has OneNote as part of the package. So if you’re looking to get OneNote, this is a pretty nice deal.  (If you’d like, you can also choose not to install SharePoint Designer and only install OneNote.)

Download: SharePoint Designer

If you’re a student looking for a good deal on the fullness of the goodness that is Office, check out the Microsoft’s The Ultimate Steal program and pick up Office for $59.95 (retails for $379.99).  The Office Ultimate package includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, Outlook, Publisher, and other apps.  Not a bad deal.  While you’re there you’ll see that you can upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate for $64.95 (retails for $184.49).

With all the nice graphics in Vista and the upcoming Windows 7 (which IE 8′s style seems to fit with), it’s a bit sad to see the Internet Explorer icon looking like it came out of Windows 98.  It looks like it’s a 256 color bitmap with its reflection cut off instead of faded.  Oops.

I haven’t used it much, but it seems to be pretty okay.  I’ve just recently switched to using one of the developer’s builds of Chrome (called Chromium) and am pretty satisfied with its speed and clean interface.

I read recently that Internet Explorer 8 might just be the last version of Internet Explorer using its own rendering engine named Trident.  Speculation is that they will switch to either WebKit or their own new engine named Gazelle. (see here)

I grabbed this shot with my cell phone.

Overall in the context of Jewish belief and tradition at the time of Christ, Christ’s fulfillment of his Messianic mission is an example of a reversal.  The Jews were expecting one who would come with power and free them from foreign rule and reign over the people.  They were expecting a man who was great in the eyes of the world.  When Christ came to earth, he came to humble circumstances.

I think we can find reversals in life today.  Sometimes we have these preconceived ideas about how someone is or how something should be, but what we might find out is that reality is totally different from what we thought.

We enter into this covenant at the time of authorized baptism and have the opportunity to renew this covenant each time we partake of the Sacrament.  The prayers over the bread and water detail the terms and conditions of the covenant:

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79

We we act as the Apostle Peter did and forget the promises we have made, Christ promises forgiveness through his name and extends the blessings of the covenant again to us as we repent and recommit to the terms of the covenant.

First, verse 1 reads:

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

The Greek word used here for “end” also implies “completely” and “fully.”  Jesus not only loved his disciples until the end of his mortal life, but he loved them completely and fully.  He loves us in the same way.

Verse 4:

He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

In this verse, Christ’s laying aside of his garments is symbolic of how he will yet lay down his life as a sacrifice for the world.

Learning just a little bit about the deeper meanings sometimes conveyed by the Greek words in the original text makes me wish I could read the New Testament in Greek.  Since I don’t know Greek, though I’ll just try to look more carefully in the footnotes included in my copy of the Bible that point out some alternate translations from the Greek text.  I also have a greater appreciation for the work of Joseph Smith in translating the Book of Mormon into English.  I’m thankful that the Lord provided a prophet and seer to accomplish this work.