MadeByMark.com

At Last, A Soft Drink for Me!

At Last, A Soft Drink for Me!
Originally uploaded by MadeByMark

After a long, hot day of working in the sun, nothing hits the spot like a frosty, cold glass of Mr. Pig.

Tip: iPhone Charges with Belkin, but not Apple, Cables

In the car, we frequently charge our iPhone with USB-based cables, plugging one end into the device and the other into an automobile power adapter (with USB port) or the USB port on the Power Cup.

When we use the white, Apple-supplied cable, the phone refuses to charge.

When we use a cheap, black cable that came with a Belkin adapter, the phone sucks up juice like nobody's business.

If you've been having trouble charging your phone using USB-based adapters, you might try ditching the Apple cables for cheaper, third-party ones. 

Fewer Dropped Calls on the iPhone

Here's a nugget of techie wisdom that took Clyde several hours to pry out of tech support personnel: resetting your iPhone network settings occasionally can dramatically boost signal reception and reduce dropped calls.

Here at home, the iPhone had become virtually useless as a phone. To place a call, I had to sit in one specific chair, facing one specific direction; calls placed elsewhere would drop before they connected. Incoming calls were even more frustrating: the phone would ring, the caller would say hello, and the call would drop, over and over again.

Making or receiving calls from a moving car had become next to impossible. And at The Company, there were several locations -- in the cafeteria line, in That Big Hallway, in the front lobby -- where neither the voice nor the 3G data network were accessible.

After months of a frustrating routine (Clyde calling me from his iPhone, me answering on my iPhone, the call dropping, me calling back from my iPhone, Clyde answering on his iPhone, the call dropping, me finding a landline phone, me calling Clyde on our Vonage phone, etc.), Clyde called AT&T customer service to complain about his iPhone's inability to maintain a connection for longer than 10 seconds at a time.

What I'm about to reveal here took several calls over several hours to find out. Clyde called AT&T from his iPhone, so, by the time he wound his way through the company's IVR labyrinth, the call would drop. When he finally did connect to a tech support rep, the call dropped again. The tech support rep called Clyde back -- twice -- but after those two calls dropped, the tech support rep, frustrated with dropped calls, stopped calling back.

This went on and on, with Clyde finally being transferred to Apple tech support. There, after exhausting many other possibilities, the rep said, "Okay, go into Settings. Scroll down and tap Reset, and then tap Reset Network Settings."

Doing this simple thing has two immediate impacts:

1) The iPhone loses its list of "trusted" WiFi networks and passwords. The next time you visit a favorite hotspot, you'll have to enter a password.

2) The iPhone stops dropping calls and starts "seeing" a signal in places it never could before.

I can now get calls and surf the web at The Company cafeteria, in That Big Hallway, and in the lobby. Before taking this step, my iPhone always dropped out in our condo's elevator ... now, I can maintain a connection on my way up and down.

This is simple. This is free. This is effective.

When people call about dropped calls, why isn't it the *first* strategy AT&T's tech support personnel recommend?

Mountain Stream

Mountain Stream
Originally uploaded by MadeByMark

Just testing flickr.com's ability to convert and post video clips to MadeByMark.com. Nothing to see here, apart from 20 seconds or so of Mountain Streamy goodness. Move along, please.

Amsterdam Umbrella

IMG 4550
Originally uploaded by MadeByMark

Funny how a single photo brings back so many memories: a rainy winter morning in Amsterdam ... the low clouds ... the gray light ... the bored vendor selling cheap rainbow-colored umbrellas for five Euros each.

Everywhere we go, it seems, we wind up buying umbrellas from street vendors. They all wind up the the living room coat closet, becoming part of an unplanned but persistent collection of collapsable souvenirs.

Midtown Morning

Midtown Morning
Originally uploaded by MadeByMark

Midtown Atlanta Georgia

Me, Drooping

I've recently gone from eating about 4000 calories a day to fewer than 2000.

This has its consequences -- among them, the "4:45 pm droop."

Are You a Member of The Church ... or a Member of a Club?

1. The Church is God's "called out people." You can't join it; God adds you to it. Membership is limited to a very clearly defined group: "whosoever" (or, in other words, anyone and everyone who wants to be a member can be a member). 

The status of your membership is never up for preachers, priests, or Popes to determine; once you establish your own connection with God, no power under Heaven can shatter it. 

The Church exists for one reason: to bring people closer to God and closer to each other. The concept of The Church is radical and revolutionary -- primarily because it empowers you (and only you!) to explore a personal relationship with the Divine.

2. The organizations most people call "churches" are really just clubs. Clubs -- communities of people, organized around a common interest -- are human institutions ... and churches, as they exist today, function very much like clubs. 

There are conditions, defined by the members, which potential members must meet in order to join. Once a member, there are other conditions which govern the status of your membership; in addition, there are individuals empowered to judge the extent to which you meet those conditions. 

Follow the rules and fulfill the conditions, and you're "in." Break the rules or fall short of the conditions, and you're "out."

3. There's a difference in being a member of a club .. and a member of The Church. Churches -- just clubs, really -- may, if they are lucky, count among their members a few people who are, in fact, members of The Church. But no church -- which is, really, just a club -- should ever be confused with the objective, vital reality that is The Church.

4. The spiritual legitimacy of any club varies directly with the degree to which that club looks and acts like The Church. There's no harm in joining any club. If you like what the organization is up to, by all means -- join it. And if your primary reason for attending a church is to take advantage of the social, financial, or service-oriented opportunities found there -- to use it in the same way many people use country clubs or fraternities -- well, there are plenty of clubs from which to choose.

But if your reasons for joining the club are spiritual -- that is, if you're joining in hopes of being more fully immersed in and connected to The Church -- the question you must ask is, "To what degree does this club look and act like The Church?"

Choose Any 2

via flickr.com

Something's gone awry in this local Sam's club implementation of the "Pick and Pack / Choose Any 2" promotion.

Posted via web from Mark's posterous

Easy Out!

Fond at the Treasure Hunt in Meridian, MS: "Easy Out" -- the product most needed by closeted gay men everywhere!

Posted via email from Mark's posterous