Archive - personal RSS Feed

Tech Support Thursdays #2

December 16, 2010 in personal, tech support thursday with 4 Comments

I can’t give you the title to today’s Tech Support Thursday, without giving away most of the story.  So, here’s teh story, then you may be able to guess the title.

Me – “*ISP* Tech Support, my name is Isaiah, how may I help you?”

Caller – “My internet doesn’t seem to be working.”

Me – “Alright, let’s get started with some tests.  I’ll run a few on my side and while I’m doing that, can you please unplug the modem for 30 seconds, then plug it back in?”

Aside – I’m basically checking if her dsl modem is trained up to us, and mostly just asking her to powercycle the modem, as that fixes the issue 90% of the time.

Caller – “Sure.”

Me – “Alright, well, I see the modem came back up.  Please open up your browser and see if you can connect to the internet.”

Caller – “Ok.”

Me – [modem loses train with *ISP] “Huh, its not working is it?  It appears that the modem dropped its connection.  Can you unplug the power from the modem, and wait until I say to plug it back in?”

Caller – “Sure.”  (Strangely very compliant with what I have to say, unlike the usual caller.  I find out why a few minutes later).

Me – “Ok, the modem connected to us again.  Let’s just see what it does.”

Caller – “Ok.”

Me – [modem drops, again] “That’s weird, the modem disconnected again.  I think your modem may be having some problems.”

Caller – “Um, yeah, I think so.  Can I get it replaced?”

Me – “Let me see if you have the replacement plan, and how long you’ve had the modem.”

Caller – [as I'm searching] – “Um, will the modem work if it got wet?”

Me – “Um, it may… did you unplug it right away?”

Caller – “Yes.”

Me – “Did you let it dry out completely?”

Caller – “Yes.”

Me – “Ok, it may work, but it may not… but if it got wet, we might not be able to replace it for free.”

Caller – “Ok.  So, what if it was cat pee?”

Me – “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Caller – “Ok, ok, my cat peed on my modem.”

Me – [holding back laughter] – “Your cat peed on your modem?”

Caller – “Yeah, I was just on the computer and the cat comes up to it, and pees all over it.”

Me – “Wow.”

Caller – “Yeah, so, you probably can’t replace it for free, can you?”

Me – “Uh, no.  I’m sorry, ut that’s crazy about your cat.  What happened?”

Caller – “I guess he thought I was spending too much time on the computer, and not with him.”

Me – “Well, I guess he’ll get his chance for a while, huh [laughing].”

Caller – [laughing as well] “Yeah.”

Me – “Alright, we’ll get another one ordered and out to you, and I’ll pass you on down to sales to get the billing information.”

Caller – “Thanks!”

This one is somewhat long, but I think you’ve figured out the title, by now.

“My Cat Peed on My Modem!”

Have a great day!

in Christ,

Isaiah

Tech Support Thursdays #1

December 9, 2010 in personal, tech support thursday with 6 Comments

I decided to tell you a few funny stories that happened during my two years doing phone tech support.  These posts are going to be called Tech Support Thursdays, and for no rhyme or reason, today will be the first.  I’ll try to do this once a month, as I remember.

“My TV is broken”

Me – “*ISP Name*, my name is Isaiah, how may I help you?”

Caller – “My TV is broken.”

Me – [pause] “Um, this is *ISP*, not your tv company.”

Caller – “It has to do with the High-Speed.”

Me – “Alright, what seems to be the problem?”

Caller – “My TV isn’t showing anything.”

Me – “Do you mean your computer monitor?”

Caller – “No, the TV with the highspeed.”

Me – “So your monitor…”

Caller – [interrupting] “TV”

Me – “Ok, your TV, whatever, does it have a light on it?”

Caller – “Yes, it has an orange light.”

Me – “Ok, what I want you to do is press the button on the monitor  - sorry, TV, and then press the button on your computer – um, the big box underneath your monitor, er, TV.”

Caller – [sighing] “Ok.” [presses both buttons, and I hear the computer fan kick on.]

Me – “Alright, can you press the button on the ‘TV’ now?”

Caller – [surprised] “It works!  How did you do that?”

Me – “I believe that your computer was turned off.”

Caller – “Well who would do that?”

Me – “Uh, I’m not sure, but it was turned off.”

Caller – “Well, I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

Me – “You do that.”

Let me know if you want to read more of these.

in Christ,

Isaiah

sick…ugh

December 3, 2010 in freefriday, personal with 0 Comments

You may have noticed that I didn’t post yesterday.  That was because I was rather ill with what is generally described as the “stomach” flu.  I won’t go into details, because they’re terrible.

Anyway, I thought that we could have a #freefriday that talks about sickness.

My question:

What’s the best part about being sick?

Do you have any good memories from times when you were sick?  Maybe that was the only time you were allowed to have pop, or being able to just chill on the couch in front of the tv between vomiting sessions?

Mine? – The day after, the feeling of NOT being sick is very nice, and something we take for granted… until we get sick again.

What is the best part about being sick for you?

in Christ,

Isaiah

what’re you thankful for?

November 26, 2010 in personal with 2 Comments

For today’s Free Friday – What are you thankful for?

We have just finished Thanksgiving, some of you have started shopping for Christmas already, in fact, you may have already come back from a Black Friday spree…

But, today, after the actual day of “Thanksgiving” – what are you thankful for?

I’m thankful for my Lord, my wife, my family and my friends.

What are you thankful for?

in Christ,

Isaiah

thanksgiving and anniversary

November 25, 2010 in personal with 0 Comments

Philippians 1:3-5

[3] I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, [4] always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, [5] because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. (ESV)

Today is Thanksgiving, a holiday in which we are to give thanks for what we have.

Too many times we aren’t grateful for the things we have.  Instead we look at what someone else has, or that new Apple product (hitting myself here), or comparing situations with someone else.

If only we had ____…

Let’s stop and make today about being thankful for what we have.

I’m thankful for 5 years!

Today I’m also thankful for my beautiful wife of 5 years!  I can’t believe that it has been 5 years since that day after thanksgiving when I married my dream girl.  We’ve been through a lot in the past 5 years, but God has been gracious enough to allow us to grow closer together and more in love than ever, despite all the good time and the bad.

So today, I will say I am most thankful for Sara, my better half, and thankful to God for bringing us together.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

in Christ,

Isaiah

nicknames

November 19, 2010 in personal with 4 Comments

Well, as I’m restarting writing on this blog, I thought about what I could do for Fridays… Mostly because I’m somewhat lazy, I’d like to just ask questions, probably dumb ones, but just allowing you to answer, freely. Thus “free Fridays” is born.

Today, I ask you, what nicknames have you been given?

I’ve had many. Big I, Bishop, Heinie-ken, Buddy, Bubba, Evil I, Isaiaher.  Yeah, you can just guess where some of these came from.

What about you?

Also, points to those who write backstories to mine, and their own nicknames…

In Christ,

Isaiah

wimpy prayer

October 15, 2010 in personal with 1 Comment

I’m a 90lb weakling when it comes to prayer.

In reality I’m 6′ 1″, 265lbs, but that doesn’t mean anything about how much I pray. I’ve felt convicted lately about my prayer life, and realizing how little I pray, and just how wimpy those prayers are.

What does my prayer life say about how I view God?

Do I believe that he somewhat cares, but not all the time, you know, when its convenient?  Do I believe in a God who is bored with my asking for little dumb things in my life?  Do I believe in a God who is too busy running the universe to really care about how I lost my keys, and my desperate pleas to find them?

or

Do I believe in a God who really cares about what I say?  Do I believe that my talking to God really changes things?  Do I believe in an AWESOME God who can answer prayer?

Is my God a wimp?

Just think about it.  If God is this amazing, awesome, powerful God, then why don’t I pray more?  Why don’t I bring everything to him.  Why do I say I’ll pray for someone, but then don’t?  Why do I limit God’s caring for me to the really big, or really dumb little things in my life?

Is my God wimpy?

My prayer life would say yes right now, wouldn’t it?

What about yours?

This thought just smacked me in the face recently.  Its not a simple, kiddie-pool deep thought.  It isn’t cheery, but it was something I needed… and the greatest part about it, is that I’m given the chance to change.

You see, my God isn’t wimpy, and his grace isn’t either.

Will you commit to working out your prayer muscles with me?

I don’t want to be a 90lb weakling in prayer… so, let’s quit the wimpy prayer life, right here, and right now.

in Christ,

Isaiah

extraordinary

September 9, 2010 in personal with 0 Comments

Luke 5:18-26

18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.” (ESV)

This passage blew my mind, mostly because of what I did not notice all the other times I’ve read this.  These people were amazed, filled with awe, and even say, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Can you say that?  Today, yesterday, last week?

Have you seen extraordinary things happen?

Are you really looking?

I’m telling you, today, if you really allow reading God’s word to be more than just something you have to do, you will see extraordinary things.

Keep your eyes open for extraordinary things today…

In Christ,

Isaiah

one-upping suffering

May 10, 2010 in personal with 1 Comment

I feel like I had a long and arduous weekend.  I’m not really sure it was all that arduous, and when you consider the type of things that the word arduous usually is used for it really wasn’t that bad:
requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult: an arduous undertaking.
requiring or using much energy and vigor; strenuous: making an arduous effort.
hard to climb; steep: an arduous path up the hill.
hard to endure; full of hardships; severe: an arduous winter.
It seems to me that we, yes, we, have a way of over-exaggerating the negative… in anything!  The vast majority of people in this world are self-optimists and other-pessimists, when it comes to our own pain.  That sounds really stupid, but, follow me here:
Our own pain is the worst thing ever… our own waiting in a line is just as bad (or worse), seriously, as someone else losing a friendship.
Person 1: “Man, I messed up and hurt a friend… I don’t know if I’ll ever talk to them again.”
Person 2: ”Yeah, my day sucked too… I waited in line for hours behind this guy who kept asking for 1/2 a biscuit at KFC.”
Person 1: “… I hate you.”
Perhaps the term really should be over-exaggerators. There I said it, that’s what I am… maybe whiner too.
I’ve really noticed this in myself, as I try to one up people who tell me how bad their day was.  Oh yeah, How about THIS?
Then I read this:
Philippians 2:4-8
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
How arrogant and stupid I am…
Please help me stop.
If you don’t, I’ll tell you how bad my day was… ;)
I’m praying for God to help me stop, but I’m going to need your help as well.  God works through his people also, and I need your help.
Thanks,
Isaiah

never forget…

February 10, 2010 in personal with 0 Comments

never forget that you are a sinner…

When you’re dealing with a frustrating person, who just won’t understand.

When you get cut off in traffic, and want to make a certain hand gesture and say words that are “cursing”.

When you see someone trip and fall morally, and all you want to do is to say how stupid they are.

When you hear a “leader” say something stupid, and don’t try to find out the context.

When someone sets you up for the greatest verbal smackdown in the world, and you so desperately want to take the opportunity.

When you see someone proud and hope that they fall flat on their face.

never forget that God loves you, and that Jesus died for you failures…

When you realize you’re the person that won’t understand…

When you cut someone off in traffic…

When you trip and fall morally…

When you say something stupid…

When you set yourself up for the biggest verbal smack-down in the world and take it right in the teeth…

When you let your pride trip you up and get to taste some dirt…

never forget that God’s grace wasn’t just meant for you

but be glad that it is meant for you

in Christ,

Isaiah

Page 3 of 5«12345»