Blackberry is being banned because it can’t be monitored.   Apparently, in the US, we have the same type of laws based on “The Patriot Act”, but it’s not affecting the Blackberry usage in the US as far as I know.  RIM’s encryption is a closely guarded secret, and they apparently will lose a whole country’s worth of usage before they let that go.  With statements like this in the news:

“The company faced obstacles recently in Pakistan, where the national telecommunications regulator said it blocked Internet browsers on BlackBerry handsets, citing concerns over blasphemy.”

Blasphemy?  Seriously?  You ban Blackberrys because of what people need to believe?  What kind of brain-dead minds are in control here, anyway?  Somebody needs a serious wakeup call.

RIM, encrypt your stuff.  People don’t like it, tough.  We’re made of freedom here in the US, don’t let anyone ever change that!  (Even though you are Canadian, haha!)

Some people don’t believe in God, nor believe that He takes any action in today’s world.  I am convinced He does.  No, I haven’t had any words spoken to me from someone unseen, nor had any weird and crazy dreams that I think are real.  Simply, the actions of my life, and IN my life, are not something I would have chosen 30 years ago.  During the last few years, I’ve undergone several job changes.  I’ll be honest here – that scares me.  CHANGE scares me.  So, here, when I’ve got a real job offer to a real and legit company in Tulsa, I turned it down.  Let me give some background on where I am, job-wise.

Back in ’82, I took a job with Mapco ultrasonics.  I ended up in field service.  During this employment, I met my wonderful wife Brenda, and our first son was born.  With the financial difficulties we had, I was amazed to get a job offer in Texas for double my pay.  This was a field service call that needed me there to work on their flowmeters.  To Texas we went!  I ended up moving to the New Orleans office after about a year.  While I was there, I did “maintenance”.  One day, out of the clear blue, all of us were told that the group was disbanded, and I would be working in Engineering, learning how to program PLCs.  (That’s Programmable Logic Controllers)  So I did.  I stayed at that temporary job for 20 years, total.  All the while gaining experience in PLC and graphics programming. I never touched a flowmeter.

Laid off for 2 1/2 months.  Then, a job was presented to me working on a new PLC.  No interviews, just “show up”.  I did that for 6 months, before another layoff.  So, six weeks later, I get a call from someone I had applied with earlier, wanting to know if I was still available.  I took the job, and began working offshore.  Basically as an instrument tech, hands-on with nearly everything.  Later I did much of the PLC programming they needed, and expanded my knowledge and abilities with some of the newer and older equipment there.  Again, a layoff after 5 years.

My current employer needed me as an IE tech, but amazingly, I am able to mix that with the PLC and graphics programming knowledge I have as well.  See?  One thing leads to another, some would call that a career move, and it would be.  I’m doing what I love to do; something that I never dreamed existed 30 years ago.  God knew.  And, I believe, He planned it long ago to be as it is now.

So, why did I turn down the job in Tulsa?  Several reasons, and then it became clear to me I had made the right decision.  One thing, the money.  We could have worked around that I suppose.  However, with my youngest daughter’s car situation, we decided to take that over and trade vehicles (my truck!  ::sob::). This was done while I was at work.  That adds debt to my lifestyle.  I felt it was the right decision to make, having to suck it up and go back to eating beans or something.  That same day, after I had made the decision to turn down the job, and accepted a car payment, I was called to “the office”.  They gave me a raise.  It had been in the works, unknown to me of course, but this particular day, after making some hard decisions, was the day they gave it to me.  Coincidence?  Could be, but I think not. Sometimes the hard thing is the right thing. I sure didn’t see that coming.

One thing in my life leads to another;  I sure didn’t plan it that way.  For now, I’m not planning on any job changes, but who knows?  I’m not overly “spiritual”, but sometimes things make a lot of sense to me.  I am trusting that God has a plan, and as long as He knows what it is, I will give thanks.

I noticed this when I looked at the picture:

BLACKBERRYS ARE EVERYWHERE!  A Curve, I believe.  Amazing.  This wasn’t a “planned pose”.  Blackberry taken with a Blackberry.  I actually use the BB camera more than the new Canon I got for Christmas.  Why?  Because, within seconds, whatever I take is either sent via MMS, or posted on Facebook for all my friends and family to enjoy.  Sure, it’s “low res”.  You know, the old camera rule of how to take good pictures used to be “F8 and be there”.  Now it’s “Fresh charge and be there”.  More people are out there, with phone cameras, taking great pictures, and many, many terrible pictures.  The phone cameras are getting better, but they won’t save a failing photographer.  A book I read (and loaned to my daughter, I think) is Bryan Peterson’s “Understanding Exposure”.  The latest copy is taking a twist to digital besides film.  I really should get a copy of this one.  Understanding how the camera works, how to position yourself, and how to illuminate the scene will become a habit.  The technique works with any camera.  There’s a few things you need to know about your camera, but in the case of the phone cameras, many of them are pretty darn good snapshot cameras, and knowing how to position them is really all you need to do.  There’s things you can and can’t take pictures of with the mini cams.  Also, resolution is everything!  For instance, in my pic above, I took a decent picture, right?  However, the clip and zoomed image is from my lower resolution photo posted on Facebook.  The actual clip from my phone picture is here:

The first one was zoomed about 250%, the second one is not.  It’s an actual clip from the photo, unresized.  If you have to post something important, or vital, use the best resolution.  While I still can’t read her screen, I can see the keys.  Keep in mind this was an unzoomed Blackberry from about 5 feet away.  That’s not bad.  My native pics size is 2048 x 1536.  It’s a 3.2 mp camera, the same resolution I have been using on my old Canon for the last 5 years!  Get the book, practice your shooting.   Post the best!

I also upgraded Brenda’s BB 9000 to the latest “unofficial” software.  “PL5.2.0.57_A5.0.0.610″ is in the filename.  Pretty nice!   Nothing else is new.  Haven’t found any more “keepers” in the Blackberry world of software yet.  I have spent a lot of time on this blog trying to display pictures in a way I like, and so far it ain’t happening.  Stay tuned!