A joyous time of giving thanks, and family, to you all

Evening. It's been a long day. Holidays suck in the profession I'm in. Very busy and people, by in large, are rude, crass, horrible to deal with, and stupid. That being said, when I have a quiet moment, I still reflect on the blessings in my life and thank God above for each one. First of all, Jesus Christ came to this earth, suffered, bled, and died...all for me. I think more folks should take this kind of ownership of that fact. Sure we've all heard in church that he did all that for all of us, but it wasn't until I took ownership of it that it really hit me. Jesus did that for ME. Think about it. Take ownership of that. What a gift! I have the greatest wife a man could ask for, and she still puts up with me...go figure. I love you, baby. I have a mother and family who are second to none, and I love them all so much. I am who I am because of Mrs. H and my family. I have some really great friends, and all of you are special to me, but one stands apart. Dock, we love you, buddy. Your friendship means a lot to both of us. Sometimes I forget to be, but I am thankful to have a job. There are many without right now. I have a nice home that's warm in winter-cool in summer, and I'm still trying to become a successful internet business owner/operator, which has not, as yet, been very fruitful, but I still believe it can be with more work. I'm also very thankful for the opportunity to try, every day that I'm blessed with, to be good to others. Not much of that going on these days. I pray that will change. Anyway, there a far more things to mention, but I'd need more time than I have. Again, think about that first one as you give thanks. I think if more people did that, there'd be far less evil in the world. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all the blessings you give to all of us, but most of all for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. In His holy name...Amen. God bless, geek on, and Happy Thanksgiving!

mini vacay!

Well, gang, it is once again time to travel to one of my favorite places in the world, the Great Smoky Mountains! My, lovely, wonderful, wife and I - joined by her parents - will journey tomorrow to Gatlinburg, TN for a relaxing getaway, and a long weekend that we all need very much. Mrs. H and I have been under quite a large amount of stress over the past months...well, truthfully, the past three years (mostly her, mind you, because she's the one who's had to undergo three surgeries, countless esophagus dilations, and had to deal with that physical stress as well as the mental stress). My darling, I'm in constant awe of your composure, your attitude, and your need for making others happy and being good to other people. Many would have folded their tent a long time ago, but not you. I know that you've had some difficult moments, and may have entertained giving up a time or two, but I have nothing but admiration for your ability to get past those times and still manage to help others, be the best wife in the whole world to me, and still manage to put a smile on your face that would light up even the darkest of nights. I know it always lights up my heart and my life. You are my inspiration, and my hero. You deserve more than just this short vacation, and one day, I'm gonna give you the vacation that you deserve. For now, I hope that this time away from all the crap that has been eating at us, can give you enough of a break that you can simply enjoy being you, being with me, and enjoying some "alone time" as well as some family time. I can't wait till tomorrow! I love you, baby. More than I could ever put into mere words. Look out Smokies! The Hoppas are heading your way! God bless, geek on, and see y'all when we get back!

hilarious and uber geeky!!!!

Check out this vid!  It's awesome what you can do with too much geekiness and too much time on your hands!




 God bless, and may the force be with you...lol!

In short...

Well, I think it suffices to say that Saturday's football games did NOT go as I had hoped.  LOL.  In the SEC, no running game = no winning.  Nuff said.  X-men First Class and Thor have been watched!  Can you say...AWESOME on both counts?!?!  Love these pictures!  Amazing choice of casts, and extremely well made films, both.  Buy em...you won't be disappointed.

Looking for suggestions, and weighing one of my own for SwinTech Designs.  Thinking of undertaking something that would undoubtedly be monumental.  A layout for the customer/site visitor to completely design his/her gaming pc from the ground up!  Huge undertaking, to be sure, but I somehow need to take this from a "good idea" to a "once in a lifetime holy crap idea!"  This site needs something somehow not done before, or done in such a new, revolutionary way that people will be crashing the servers to get to order one of our computers.  Thoughts?

God bless and geek on!

Ah.....Fall

Well, I haven't been fooling with this blog much, but feel the need to post.  It is, once again, college football season!!!!!  Finally, something to watch on Saturday!  I'm currently watching the Ole Miss/Vandy game, and anxiously await the Tennessee/ Florida matchup.  As well, I'm preparing the church bulletins for this week, and blogging....howz that for multi-tasking?  LOL.  Go Rebs!  Now for the biggie....GO BIG ORANGE!!!!!  Beat them GATORS at home!!!!!!  Man I love the SEC!  Ya'll have a great Saturday and enjoy some football!

God bless and geek on!  Go Vols!

Something new from Google

Hi kids!  Tech news for once!  LOL.  Social networking on Google?  You betcha.  It's still in beta, so by invitation only right now, the mighty Google has brought us Google+, a really sharp looking, unique, multi-faceted approach to social networking.  I was invited by a guy who is following SwinTech Designs on Twitter.  So far, though I haven't played around with it a lot yet, it looks extremely kewl!  You can't make a business page yet, so unlike the Facebook and Twitter projects, this one is just little ol' me.  By the way, SwinTech Designs has both a Facebook and Twitter presence, so if you're reading this, please feel free to give us a "like" and a "follow."  Really trying to explore social networking as an avenue for generating interest and business with future customers.  If you'd like to try G+ and need an invite, and I haven't invited you already, leave me a comment, and I'll make sure you get one.  It's pretty sweet looking, from what I've seen so far.  You add people to different "circles" like friends, aquaintances, people to follow, and you can create custom "circles."  So, holler at me if you like, and join me!

God bless and geek on!

geek-style smokes!!!

Well, friends and neighbors, another attempt toward quitting smoking is upon us!  This time I'm armed with a "geek-style" smoke!  The NicStick electronic cigarette.  No tar or smoke, just water vapor and some nicotine.  And the beauty of it is, you can puff on these anywhere, and you won't offend or bother anyone!  It's water vapor!  Smoking in a movie theater again!  Restaurants again!  Work again!  Ok, I'm probably getting a bit involved.  Sorry.  This little darlin even charges its battery via USB!!  Geek?  I think so.  It's charging right now as I type.  LOL.  There are different strengths and flavors, starter sets, nicer sets, tank sets, accessories, all at NicStick's website.

Anyhow, wish me luck!

God bless and geek on!

On the mend

Well, Mrs. H has had lots of soreness, but is getting better steadily.  Improvements are "baby steps" but are coming along.  She is in good spirits, though frustrated at times.  She's like me in that regard.  She doesn't like not being allowed to do everyday things like she's used to, nor does she like having to depend on anyone for things.  But, all in all, she's dealt with the situation like a true champion.  I'm very proud of her.  She's healing up nicely on the outside, too.  Her new scar will be hardly noticeable once healed completely.  The "holes" where the drainage tubes were are merely tiny "dents" now.  She is able to take a shower, but not yet a bath, like she enjoys, but as I said..."baby steps."  She's had some trouble sleeping quite a bit, but last night she slept well.  It seems she feels better the next day, if she gets a decent night's sleep.  Keep it up, baby doll!  You're doing great!  I love you so much!  You're halfway through your six week recovery period, and you'll get through the next three weeks, and then you get to have a big-time feeling of normalcy for the first time in over three years!  Way overdue.

I thank all those who have offered up prayers on her behalf from the bottom of my heart.  I know I've said this in previous posts, but please try to grasp what this means to me, and how much I feel the need to thank you.  Hope to see all of my amigos and fellow Dragons in Guild Wars real soon.

God bless and geek on!  Dragons rule!

post-op appointment

Mrs. H and I were once again off to Oxford today for her post-operative follow-up appointment with her doctor.  Everything was great!  Given her unfortunate mishaps with surgeries in 2008, the doc thought she might have some issues recovering at a normal pace with this surgery.  Much to his surprise, Mrs. H is healing well, and as he put it, "bouncing back a lot quicker than I thought."  She got her staples out, as well as those annoying drainage tubes/bulbs!  Now, she's basically free to move about the cabin!  Still restricted, however, on any lifting, bending, stooping, and the like.  Not too much too fast.  He, and all of us, wants her to heal thoroughly, and with no setbacks.  But a great day with great outcome all around.  Thank you, Father, for blessing her with Your wonderful healing power, and with the vast talent and skill of her doctor.  He wants her to stay off work for a full six weeks, so four more to go come tomorrow.  She's been, and continues to work hard at doing what she's allowed to do to try and get better.  Walking around several times a day, that kind of thing.  You're doing great, baby!  I'm so proud of you.  I love you so much!  Thanks so much for all the prayers!  Prayer works!  We even experimented a bit with trying something in the bed to see if she could get comfy, and she thinks it's gonna work good!  So, tonight...back to sleeping with my baby, instead of near her in the living room!  I hope she can get a great night's sleep!

God bless and geek on!

Update on Mrs. H

Well, we've been home a week, surgery was a week old Thursday.  Mrs. H is making some improvements!  She can get to the edge of the couch on her own and only still needs help getting completely to her feet.  She is walking around a lot, and when she does, she's walking upright, almost as normal as she usually does!  She's been trying and working very hard to do what she needs to in order to get better.  I'm so proud of her!  All of you should be, too!  Her post-op follow up appointment is this coming Wednesday, and she should get the staples (27 of em) and the drainage tubes/bulbs taken out then.  She'll be a much happier camper then.  Her spirits are good, and the last couple of nights have yielded some good sleep for her.  That never hurts.  She started letting some concerned friends drop by today and visit, and has talked to others via phone and text.  We are very thankful to those who have given her their special thoughts and well wishes, and we ask God daily for His most special blessings on all those who have offered up a prayer to Him on her behalf.

Please continue to pray for her complete recovery, and thank you all for your prayers for a successful surgery and recovery!

God bless and geek on!

success!!!!

Just to let everyone know, Mrs. H had her hernia repair surgery yesterday.  Everything went great!!  She's in quite a bit of pain and soreness, but has even been up walking the hallways and sitting in a chair in her room.  Tried to push this post up via my phone, but for some reason it failed to publish.  Got out the laptop, 'cause we brought it along, and here we are.  The doctor came in today and was very surprised with how good she looked, and how well she was doing with getting up and getting around.  He said if she continues to do this well, and can tolerate food and stuff, then we can head home tomorrow!!  What a blessing this doctor is, as well as the doctor that treats her for her esophagus!  Thank you, Father, for these two gentlemen and their vast talents.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers.  Please continue to pray for her speedy and complete recovery.

God bless and geek on!

Prayers, please

We'll be out of pocket for a few days starting this Wednesday.  Tina is going into the hospital in Oxford to have the incisional hernia, that resulted from her two back-to-back surgeries in 2008, surgically repaired.  Bless her heart...more surgery.  Hopefully, though, once this hernia is repaired, and she recovers and recooperates from this surgery, she will finally begin to have some resemblance of normalcy in her everyday life, free from constant pain.  I ask our friends, and others who may read stuff here, to offer up prayers to the Lord on her behalf that the surgery goes well...just as it should...and that her recovery will be swift and complete.  I ask you to remember her in your thoughts and prayers especially on Thursday morning, when the surgery is to take place.  She'll be in the hospital for 3-5 days, her doctor said, and probably off work for an additional 6 weeks for recovery.  They'll be putting biologic mesh in place to enhance the repair.  We're taking the laptop with us, so I'll post updates here, as well as informing Dock, so either way...info can be found.

Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers in advance.

Baby, try not to worry.  God has brought you safely to where you are, and will continue to be with you, and guide you safely through this procedure.  I love you so much!  I'll be right here to help you make a full and as speedy a recovery as possible.

God bless and geek on!!!!

Again I ask...

How kewl is my wife!?!?!?  This kewl:
This artwork is now on the wall in my "office" slash gaming room.  I love you baby! Thank you!  This is too kewl!

Anniversary

Well, it's been the greatest thirteen years (16 really, counting dating and living together) of my life.  Beyond a shadow of any doubt.  Mrs. H is the greatest wife in the whole world!  Don't expect to see me, talk to me, or anything else today or tonight.  Tonight's all about me and my baby.

To Tina:

You, thirteen years ago today made me the happiest man in the world.  With every year that passes, that happiness grows stronger and stronger.  Thank you for loving me so much.  I hope you always know that I love you more than I could ever say, type, or express in any way.  You are my life, and I thank you, God, so much for letting this wonderful woman come into my life.  I give You the praise for leading us to each other.  Thank you, Father.

God bless and geek on!

I ask you...how kewl is my wife?

Gotta tell you guys this.  My darling wife, whom I love more than I could ever express in mere words, has done the ultimate in uber...epic....kewl wife-ness!  Our anniversary is Monday, the 25th, and for our anniversary she bought me the Logitech G500 gaming mouse!  Waaaayy awesome!  If you don't have one...get one.  Best mouse I have ever used, especially while gaming.  Wait...there's more.  This wonderful woman, who has unbelievably put up with me for thirteen years of marriage (16 total), and who doesn't give half a hoot about Guild Wars, my online game of choice, has also given me a piece of Guild Wars 2 artwork, and is allowing me to display it in our home!!!!  In my computer room/office, of course, but still.  This thing is huge.  It's in nine pieces, that make one big picture.  It rocks!  Here's what it looks like, 'cause I haven't gotten it yet...lol.

This will be on my wall (in nine separate pictures that make one large picture)!!!  Again, I ask you, how kewl is my wife?  Extremely!  Thank you, baby.  I love you!

In other news, I am now only four missions away from Guardian of Cantha title, thanks to a three mission gauntlet run by my buddy Shane and myself last night.  Thanks, Shane, for the help!  After those four, I'll be off to Tyria for the Guardian title there, and thus achieve Legendary Guardian!

God bless, geek on, and Guild Wars 2....hurry up already!  LOL

Movies for geeks, you say?

Dock, I see your "geek movie," and raise you this:





God bless, geek on...and man!  Do I dig super heroes!

workin...workin...workin...and something new to me

Man...long day.  Dock, sorry I missed your call.  Will try to call you back maybe Friday.  Finally got home from work (day was horrid and awful) to my wonderful, beautiful wife, who made me feel better just by looking at her smiling face.  She also let me gripe and moan about my day, so thank you, baby.  I love you more than anything on this earth.  Working on a general clean-up/speed up job for a client.  Folks, please.  If you have your computer password-protected, that's great...but if you don't think it's too much trouble...how about giving the tech working on it the bloody password?!?!  Can we say helpful?  I knew we could.  But as I always say, there's more than one way to skin a cat.  Anyone ever used Ophcrack?  Nice stuff.  Had the password in question in a minute or so...after I downloaded the LiveCD version and burned the .iso image to a DVD, that is.  Didn't blank it, either, just told me what it was.  Can we say helpful again?  Knew you could.

Hey, on a different note, our website, SwinTech Designs, is fast approaching 10,000 hits!  This is apparently due to my efforts to get it listed in web directories, so to create backlinks, which in turn (with the more backlinks you have) drives your site higher up the search engine ladder.  I aspire to be on the first page of all my listed keywords, as well as for "SwinTech" itself...but such things take time, an SEO (search engine optimization) company, or a lot of effort on my part...and even if you don't pay an SEO company to do it for you, some directories you must pay to be listed, especially if you want a "featured listing."  Learning all this from research as I go.  So, to my friends, guildmates, associates, and colleagues, I make a humble request:  Google the site...a lot...and if you have time to visit, I do have a couple of new offerings for view in LAN Party Boxes.  It would take too much of anyone's time to ask for keyword searches and paging down and down trying to find the site and click on it, so unless you just have nothing better to do than search for things like "custom pcs," "gaming pcs," and such related terms, then looking till you find SwinTech Designs, and clicking on it...don't.  Too much to ask of anyone.  I'll keep plugging away with web directories, and asking other sites to link to mine.  But please, feel free to Google it as much as you can stand...lol!

God bless and geek on!

A new router in place

Got a new wireless router.  Been having trouble with the old Belkin G + MIMO that I had. It kept "not remembering" the computers on the DHCP client list, and as it WAS acting as the DHCP server, that seemed to create a problem of Guild Wars connection timing out, as well as Teamspeak3's connection timing out.  Frustrating, when I built this new machine to play and talk while playing in the first place.

This is the option I chose.  The Netgear N300 aka WNR2000.  It's installed, and hopefully fully configured for surfing, gaming, and Teamspeaking.  Having a few minor wireless issues, but hopefully they are or will be resolved.  Seems like a nice device, and is lots better in terms of what you can configure and how to configure it.  Had a Netgear router before the Belkin, and back then they were horrible to configure, but once you had them right, you couldn't beat them for range and performance.  At least they've made the configuring part easier.  Setup was no problem.  $49 price tag didn't break the bank, either.

So, I'll see you guys in game to see how well this solution works.  It better...lol.

God bless, geek on, and GW rules!!!

AT&T...gone...Hoppa...happy!

Hey gang!  You think Hoppa ain't a happy boy?  This is the result from about two minutes ago, hitting the Atlanta node!  I had AT&T DSL, which yielded approx. 3Mb downstream, and approx. 512 Kb upstream.  Take into consideration also, that Comcast is only charging me for 6Mb downstream speed, and that two computers are online right now!  Wow!  On another note, the TV service that I have flamed on for years has also improved by leaps and bounds.  Basically, all I'm missing that I had with Direct TV is Comedy Central, and I can live without that.  The ON Demand stuff is great!  The digital phone service rocks (long distance is included)!  Think this was a good move.  Now...to vanquish AT&T from providing my wireless phone service?  I dunno.  Get a Coca-Cola discount with them.  But don't think I ain't fixin to explore some options.  LOL.

God bless and geek on!

being sick again sucks!

Apologies to all I have not called back, talked to, or otherwise made to feel rejected.  Wasn't my intention I promise.  I've been going my second round in a few months with the sinus infection/bad cold juju.  Just got over it in mid January, and got it again at the end of February.  Crappy doesn't even begin to describe the luck!  But today, I feel some better...so, enough whining.

As of this Thursday afternoon, Mrs. H and I will no longer be slaves to the source of most of the world's douchebag-ery, AT&T (the rest of said douchebag-ery, of course comes from WalMart...lol)!!  We're enlisting the services of Comcast for TV (goodbye Direct TV, you cretins), internet, and phone.  Would have done it last year, but digital phone wasn't available here yet, but now it is.  So internet speed will double, HD television with DVR will be enjoyed, without being knocked out by rain, and landline phone stays intact.  Soon to follow, will be a visit to Verizon, to see if they have a better, more affordable option for wireless phone service as well.  I mean, good grief!  We just got 3G with AT&T in Corinth a month ago!  I think Verizon is soon to have 4G!  We'll see how that goes.  Hope to sever all ties to AT&T!  They make me sick.  And don't even get me started about Direct TV!!  But very soon, our home, at least, will be free of tyranny.

On another note, the new gaming machine rocks!  Played GW for the first time with it last Tuesday (which is GW night for me, for those who want to join me in plundering...lol) and it was awesome!  Did two missions/bonuses in hard mode in Elona solo with heroes/henchies and nailed 'em both!  Three more on that continent and I'll have the guardian title!  Who knows?  Tomorrow's Tuesday!

God bless, geek on, and Dragons rock!!!!

The first SwinTech Designs...uh...design!

Well, I finally managed to pull it off!  The new gaming rig is built, running, and (I think) pretty dang impressive!  This, I suppose, is officially the first SwinTech Designs gaming PC.  See what you think.

Here's the specs:

Thermaltake LANbox case
ASUS M4A88T-M motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 3.2 Ghz quad-core CPU
4 GB G Skill Ripjaws Series DDR3 RAM
Thermaltake EVO Blue 750 watt power supply
Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT 1 GB video card (given to me for work I did)
Sony Optiarc DVD-RW
Western Digital Velociraptor 10,000 rpm hard drive
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Here's the pics:

God bless, geek on, and buy SwinTech!!!

just something I liked and thought I'd share

     “If I can throw a single ray of light across the darkened pathway of another; if I can aid some soul to clearer sight of life and duty, and thus bless my brother; if I can wipe from any human cheek a tear, I shall not have lived my life in vain while here.
     If I can guide some erring one to truth, inspire within his heart a sense of duty; if I can plant within my soul of rosy youth a sense of right, a love of truth and beauty; if I can teach one man that God and heaven are near, I shall not have lived in vain while here.
     If from my mind I banish doubt and fear, and keep my life attuned to love and kindness; if I can scatter light and hope and cheer, and help remove the curse of mental blindness; if I can make more joy, more hope, less pain, I shall not have lived and loved in vain.
     If by life’s roadside I can plant a tree, beneath whose shade some wearied head may rest, though I may never share its beauty, I shall yet be truly blest – though no one knows my name, nor drops a flower on my grave, I shall not have lived in vain while here.”
                                      – Anonymous


Hope this gives some encouragement to try every day to do good for others.  A special "hat's off" to my wonderful wife, Mrs. H, who does just this every day of her life.  I am so proud of you, and lucky just to know you, baby!  I love you so much!

God bless and geek on!

Lax is an understatement...but dig this

I know that for quite some time I've been very lax about posting anything to this page.  I guess due to stress, illness, the holiday season, or any combination of the three...would be the reason.  I'm not sure if I'm gonna try to do better, but I thought I actually had something to share tech-wise this time, so here goes:

Printer recommendation:

Next time you're in the market for a new printer, I would highly recommend any of the Kodak line of printers.  For Christmas, my darling wife, Mrs. H, got me a Kodak ESP 5210 all-in-one.  This thing is uber nice!  For starters, it does everything:  prints, copies, and scans.  Secondly, it's a wi-fi printer!  Waaaay kewl.  No cables coming from this thing except the power cord.  It is simply a resident of my wireless network!  I can print from my desktop machine that's hardwired to the router, or wirelessly from the laptop.  Thirdly, the cost of ink!  Ten bucks for black ink, and fourteen bucks for color?  Are you kidding me?!  Get this.  Our church buys the ink for me to print the church bulletins every week.  When I installed this new printer, I still had two (2) black cartridges for the old HP inkjet I was using.  I took those back to the "Evil Empire" (WalMart, for those unaware of their appropriate nickname) and exchanged them for the black ink I needed now.  I got three (3) cartridges for the same dollar amount!!!!  Gonna save the church money, too!  As a fourth plus, the thing was also on sale for $59 + tax.  Not too shabby.  This rig prints gorgeous, lab-quality photos on some Kodak photo paper, as well.  Photo paper is also inexpensive!  I keep waiting for the inevitable pitfall that goes along with printers, where I can say, "See - that's where they get ya!" but as yet, it has NOT happened with this one.

So, hat's off to Kodak!  Very nice printers and software, and due to lower costs of operation and upkeep, they seem to have made printing fun and nice again.  Great job, Kodak!  Check out their printers for yourself.  You'll be glad you did.

God bless and geek on!