![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
Yesterday Caitlyn & I went to Skatetown to practice for my 40th Birthday party. Yes, Tuesday, February 16th from 6-8p I am throwing a big birthday party.
If you have not heard yet, you are more than invited. Here's the details here.... http://fredturns40.eventbrite.com and here's us talking about below. See you there!
If you have not heard yet, you are more than invited. Here's the details here.... http://fredturns40.eventbrite.com and here's us talking about below. See you there!
- Mood:
excited
If you have been following me for any length of time you have noticed that I tend to fast from time to time. My purposes for fasting are explained in an old post “Five Fasting Thoughts.” For today’s discussion, I want to dive into the semantics of exactly “How Do You Break a Fast?”Ironically our word “breakfast” means “the conclusion of fasting since the previous day’s last meal.” However, not eating from the previous day’s dinner and not eating any food for say, 10 days takes on a little different meaning. I was in my 20s the very first time I did a week-long “water only fast”. When I ended that fast, I gorged myself on the largest chicken fried steak dinner I could find. Needless to say, I spent many hours in the bathroom and was sick for days thereafter. I don’t recommend this method, so let’s talk about better ways of transitioning out of a fast.
To better answer this question, I again turn to Richard Foster’s fabulous book, “Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.” (By far, an all time favorite of mine.)
Foster states: “An extended fast should be broken with fruit or vegetable juice, with small amounts taken at first. Remember that the stomach has shrunk considerably and the entire digestive system has gone into a kind of hibernation. By the second day you should be able to eat fruit and then milk or yogurt. Next you can eat fresh salads and cooked vegetables. Avoid all salad dressing, grease, and starch. Extreme care should be taken not to overeat. It is good during this time to consider future diet and eating habits to see if you need to be more disciplined and in control of your appetite.” Page 60.
Taking Foster’s advice, here’s what I successfully did. On the day, I began breaking fast, I had broth only soups for the three normal meals. The last meal that day, I added a glass of orange juice. The following day, I started the morning with a half grapefruit, followed by a lunch of carrots and light noodle soup. For dinner, I had a small salad and a banana. I saved proteins for the third day, starting with beans and nuts, then lean choices of meat later that week. This allowed by body to adjust slowly to the increased amount of healthy food choices I was making. Keep in mind; during this entire time, I was continuing to drink lots of liquids.
Breaking a fast must be done slowly and cautiously. In the words of Foster, “it is also a time to consider future diets and eating habits.”
How about you? What questions do you have about breaking a fast?
His Servant
- Mood:
hungry
I've been doing lots of fasting and praying this month as I usually do at the beginning of the year. This evening, I am praying for Haitian people as 100,000 are believed to be killed by one of the deadliest earthquakes of our time. The world needs to help out and work together to send aid. One of the simplest ways to do so as Americans, is to text HAITI to 90999 on your cell phone. If you have AT&T they will add $10 to your cell bill and send the same amount to the American Red Cross.
However, I want to publicly apologizes to the Haitian people, Christians, and non-Christians alike who perhaps heard Pat Robinson make the following claims...
He retracted the comment later and Chris Roslan, CEO of CBN, added the following press release, which I thought was weak back peddling at best. But hang with me because I am getting to a point here. CBN and Pat Robertson's ministries are comprised of hundreds and hundreds of well meaning Christians who really care about what they do and will be a major part of the millions of dollars of relief efforts sent to Haiti. Hundreds of CBN and Pat Robertson's workers are just as ashamed of Pat's "curse" comment as with most Christians.
Sometime God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines. Which means... Pat doesn't always say the right things. His ministry and people behind the ministry are trying to DO the right things. On behalf of Pat and the entire Christian community, please forgive him. I am SO sorry for what he said or meant both in contents or out.
True Christianity is found less in what is said, more in what we do, and exponentially in how we forgive. Donate to the cause and look for the straight lines in the crooked sticks. I believe God does. His grace is big enough for you, me and the Pat's of the world--even if they only open their mouths to change feet.
However, I want to publicly apologizes to the Haitian people, Christians, and non-Christians alike who perhaps heard Pat Robinson make the following claims...
He retracted the comment later and Chris Roslan, CEO of CBN, added the following press release, which I thought was weak back peddling at best. But hang with me because I am getting to a point here. CBN and Pat Robertson's ministries are comprised of hundreds and hundreds of well meaning Christians who really care about what they do and will be a major part of the millions of dollars of relief efforts sent to Haiti. Hundreds of CBN and Pat Robertson's workers are just as ashamed of Pat's "curse" comment as with most Christians.
Sometime God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines. Which means... Pat doesn't always say the right things. His ministry and people behind the ministry are trying to DO the right things. On behalf of Pat and the entire Christian community, please forgive him. I am SO sorry for what he said or meant both in contents or out.
True Christianity is found less in what is said, more in what we do, and exponentially in how we forgive. Donate to the cause and look for the straight lines in the crooked sticks. I believe God does. His grace is big enough for you, me and the Pat's of the world--even if they only open their mouths to change feet.
His Servant
- Mood: disappointed
Happy New Year! New Year’s Day is my favorite day of the year! I usually spend hours planning, reflecting, and creating new goals. I will continue share my goals with you in future blogs, but today I want to tell you about a new family resolution we are working on this year… Daily Family Devotions!
For several years my wife Karen has been bugging about having family Bible devotions and family discussions that go deeper than just praying over a meal. To that end, in 2010 we are doing daily meal time devotions. Below are three books for three different age levels that I recommend on the subject. Each of them is very short (sometimes only a page long) so that you as a parent don’t have to spend any time making this happen.
The first, which is the one we are going to start with our family, is “Step into the Bible: 100 Bible Stories for Family Devotions” by Ruth Graham. This 220 page beautiful full color book is a spin off and updated improvement of Charles Foster “First Steps for Little Feet Along Gospel Paths”. Ruth’s 10 minutes a day book is geared, in my opinion towards children less than 8 years of age. Each step takes your family through the Bible chronologically with a short story (usually a few paragraphs), five to eight questions and a very simple memory verse. Since, Zachary is six, and Caitlyn is ten, this is the devotion we are starting in 2010.
The second is “Sticky Situations: 365 Devotions for Kids and Families” by Betsy Schmitt. This is another excellent resource taking the devotion approach from a different angle. Each single-page devotion starts out with a short story containing a problem your children will likely face at some point in life, then five multiple choice answers to discuss with your kids on what they would, could and should do in that given situation. Finally the devotion ends with a scripture to back up the correct answer. I love this approach but I believe the age level best for this book to be between 8-12 years of age.
My final suggestion comes from Nancy Guthrie’s “One Year of Dinner Table Devotions”, another fantastic daily single page resource that gives dinner table topics. Each devotion starts with a side line margin of three scripture verses, several paragraphs of the story or topic and ends with three open ended discussion starters. I would recommend this book for a family with kids ranging from 11-18 years of age.
Family time and meal times are opportunities as parents to model, discuss, and impart Christian values into our kids. I pray your meal time will be fruitful and your discussions deep! Consider this sobering thought: If your kids don’t learn their values from you, who will they learn them from? I, for one, am planning to be intentional about this in 2010! I’d love for you to join me!
“You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7
For several years my wife Karen has been bugging about having family Bible devotions and family discussions that go deeper than just praying over a meal. To that end, in 2010 we are doing daily meal time devotions. Below are three books for three different age levels that I recommend on the subject. Each of them is very short (sometimes only a page long) so that you as a parent don’t have to spend any time making this happen.
The first, which is the one we are going to start with our family, is “Step into the Bible: 100 Bible Stories for Family Devotions” by Ruth Graham. This 220 page beautiful full color book is a spin off and updated improvement of Charles Foster “First Steps for Little Feet Along Gospel Paths”. Ruth’s 10 minutes a day book is geared, in my opinion towards children less than 8 years of age. Each step takes your family through the Bible chronologically with a short story (usually a few paragraphs), five to eight questions and a very simple memory verse. Since, Zachary is six, and Caitlyn is ten, this is the devotion we are starting in 2010.
The second is “Sticky Situations: 365 Devotions for Kids and Families” by Betsy Schmitt. This is another excellent resource taking the devotion approach from a different angle. Each single-page devotion starts out with a short story containing a problem your children will likely face at some point in life, then five multiple choice answers to discuss with your kids on what they would, could and should do in that given situation. Finally the devotion ends with a scripture to back up the correct answer. I love this approach but I believe the age level best for this book to be between 8-12 years of age.
My final suggestion comes from Nancy Guthrie’s “One Year of Dinner Table Devotions”, another fantastic daily single page resource that gives dinner table topics. Each devotion starts with a side line margin of three scripture verses, several paragraphs of the story or topic and ends with three open ended discussion starters. I would recommend this book for a family with kids ranging from 11-18 years of age.
Family time and meal times are opportunities as parents to model, discuss, and impart Christian values into our kids. I pray your meal time will be fruitful and your discussions deep! Consider this sobering thought: If your kids don’t learn their values from you, who will they learn them from? I, for one, am planning to be intentional about this in 2010! I’d love for you to join me!
“You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7
His Servant
My Dearest Family & Friends,
Greetings and blessings from the Campos family! If you are up on social media, I would describe 2009 in the following Twitter phrase (you’re only allowed 140 characters): “Very blessed, changed jobs, writing a book, speaking, kids in 1st & 5th grade Spanish Immersion, we’re pregnant, it’s a boy, love u!”
But since we have room on this blog, let me elaborate at least to the CliffNotes. In 2009 the economy finally caught up with the financial and banking industry. I started a new side company called “Daddy Got Custody, LLC.” My goal was to create a vehicle to start monthly custody classes and create a platform for a future book publication. Floundering with the writing, I have recently decided to hire a ghostwriter. Print date hopefully April 2010. Due to ProfitStars cutting costs, reducing salaries and commissions, I decided after 13 years of creating, marketing and selling RemitPlus, it was time to move on. I announced my resignation the same day we got the news that the LORD was blessing us with another baby! God loves faith walks. I was immediately offered a newly created sales position for our second largest customer, Arizona Lockbox & Fulfillment, selling lockbox services instead of remittance software.
Fantastic changes have occurred in Caitlyn’s life. With proper dyslexia and dysgraphia intervention and appropriate ADD medicine levels, homework and learning have become easier. Adding to her success, the court system changed her mother’s visitation to no longer include school nights (she wasn’t getting her to school). The results have allowed Caitlyn to become a “straight A” student and participate in extracurricular activities—like choir and mad science. Caitlyn also loves her advanced swimming at Elmer Swim School.
After a lot of debating and testing, we decided to let Zachary skip Kindergarten and join Caitlyn in Meadow Creek’s Spanish Immersion program in 1st grade. He has risen to the top of his class and is now being recommended for the gifted program. Zachary continues his ballet and dance interest at the Texas Ballet Theater School.
We were blessed to take 3 wonderful family getaways this year, visiting New Mexico in March (skiing with friends), Galveston in August (swimming/beach) and Ohio in November (Karen’s mom and brother).
Karen is surviving a challenging pregnancy by taking it one day at a time. We are expecting our last Baby Boy around the beginning of March! Pray for us as so many opportunities are possible. Your prayers as I determine the best use of my time.
We hope and pray the next decade is a blessing for you and yours!
Love Fred, Karen, Caitlyn, Zachary, Mocha and future Baby Campos!
As a self proclaimed geek, one of my favorite gadgets is of course the iPhone. I consider myself pretty proficient at using an iPhone sharing pictures, Twittering through TweetDeck, finding restaurants through Urbanspoon, and of course I cannot get anywhere without Maps and the GPS feature.
However, my wife proved me wrong as she borrowed from the Bedford Library, David Pogue's "iPhone The Missing Manual - The book that should have been in the box." Computer guru's and programmers will recognize the "O'Reilly" style and realize it is a quick read. This book is excellent, filled with great nuggets on how to more effectively use your handy computer device. I learned about 25 new things, here is just a short sample of what awaits you!
How to Type Punctuation with One Touch, page 24:
"Imagine how excruciating it is to type, for example, 'a P.O. Box in the U.S.A.' That's 34 finger taps and 10 mode changes! Fortunately, there's a secret way to get a punctuation mark with only a single finger gesture. The iPhone doesn't register most key presses until you lift your finger. But the Shift and Punctuation keys register their taps on the press down instead. So here's what you can do, all in one motion:
1. Touch the '?123' key, but don't lift your finger. The punctuation layout appears.
2. Slide your finger onto the period or comma key, and release. The ABC layout returns automatically. You've typed a period or a comma with one finger touch instead of three."
Rearranging the Home Screen, page 31:
"You can even move an icon onto the Dock (the strip of four exalted icons that appear on every Home screen). You just make room for it by first dragging an existing Dock icon to another spot on the screen." By the way, to take this picture is another trick tip found on page 107 under Capturing the Screen. (It is accomplished by pressing the Home key and the power key at the same time. The screen will flash and be part of your pictures in your camera roll. Excellent tip!) As you can see, I rate Facebook and TweetDeck apps very high, that why they are on my dock.
The Doc strip is always at the bottom so your most useful apps need to be there. By the way, notice I remove the Phone app from there. It's not needed as pressing the Home key twice automatically brings up the Phone page 34. So many tricks and tips, that's why I rate "iPhone The Missing Manual" two thumbs up for any iPhone user.
Tweet you later, because my Alarm is going off (page 202), which says I am out of time!
1. Touch the '?123' key, but don't lift your finger. The punctuation layout appears.
2. Slide your finger onto the period or comma key, and release. The ABC layout returns automatically. You've typed a period or a comma with one finger touch instead of three."
Rearranging the Home Screen, page 31:
"You can even move an icon onto the Dock (the strip of four exalted icons that appear on every Home screen). You just make room for it by first dragging an existing Dock icon to another spot on the screen." By the way, to take this picture is another trick tip found on page 107 under Capturing the Screen. (It is accomplished by pressing the Home key and the power key at the same time. The screen will flash and be part of your pictures in your camera roll. Excellent tip!) As you can see, I rate Facebook and TweetDeck apps very high, that why they are on my dock.
The Doc strip is always at the bottom so your most useful apps need to be there. By the way, notice I remove the Phone app from there. It's not needed as pressing the Home key twice automatically brings up the Phone page 34. So many tricks and tips, that's why I rate "iPhone The Missing Manual" two thumbs up for any iPhone user.
Tweet you later, because my Alarm is going off (page 202), which says I am out of time!
My five year old Zachary has skipped Kindergarten and is working his way through 1st grade Spanish Immersion at Meadow Creek Elementary. His intelligence fascinates me. He reads and studies fastidiously sometimes turning on his light in the middle of the night to read instead of sleeping. Each day Zachary picks a new topic and he studies it all day long, practically driving everyone crazy. Having turned the concept in his head over and over, then he moves on to something else. He is my GT kid.
This morning he tried to wake me up with his desire to learn everything about Roman numerals. Now understand, he is way beyond reading Roman numerals on an analog clock, he is trying to figure out how to add and subtract and count in Roman numerals. He take this topic far beyond what I think just about anybody should. By the end of the day he could convert any number into its Roman numeral equivalent. Here's a taste of him trying to wake me up by telling about the subject from a book (Fun with Roman Numerals by David A. Adler) he checked out of the library.
That is just a small piece of what Karen and I deal with on a daily basis. He asks a lot of questions and reads a great many books. It was a fun day, we ended the day by attending Saturday night church at Fellowship (Church Grapevine) and then attended their Truck or Treat. Zachary dressed up as a cowboy!
Cowboy Zachary Age 5How did you celebrate Halloween this MMIX year?
[Oct. 19, 2009 -- Phoenix] “Beyond Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) the race for change has begun!” states Fred Campos, Vice President of Sales for Arizona Lockbox & Fulfillment (ALF). “The banking tides are shifting; more banks want to outsource their lockbox business, but continue to offer those services. We are continuing to develop our partner network and increase our lockbox footprint around the country. ALF offers six, low cost, lockbox solutions to fit any client’s needs.”
To help assist banks and clients in the Ohio area, ALF has partnered with Dayton based, Breckenridge Financial Services (BFS). “Our banks and end-users are very interested in remittance services,” states Bernard Jergens, General Manager of BFS. “However, these hard economical times have not allowed customers to purchase in-house remittance solutions and they are now looking for outsourcing alternatives. Clients need more advanced technology above and beyond electronically depositing items to the bank. The ability to scan full page invoices, remittances, surveys, envelopes, and EOBs, without concern for formatting or keying, greatly appeals to our customer base. Clients will log through a secure browser to research their scanned items, verify their electronic deposit, and download their custom posting files. ALF’s new Distributed Remittance Capture (DRC) is perfect for those clients who want to control their mail but have all the features of advanced lockbox remittance for a small per item charge. We are honored to promote DRC and ALF’s other full service offerings.”
Ron Edens, President of ALF, further adds, “Our full service offerings consist of: 1) outsourced reshipment lockbox, 2) imaging and data capture, 3) fulfillment and clerical specialty services, 4) the new distributed remittance capture, 5) business payment continuance disaster recovery services, and 6) full color bill design, printing and mailing. All together, we offer banks and their clients, a complete array of custom outsourced solutions.”
About Arizona Lockbox & Fulfillment Company, Inc. (ALF)
Arizona Lockbox and Fulfillment (“ALF”) is a full service payment processing and fulfillment company with locations in Phoenix, AZ and Frederick, MD. ALF provides a full complement of customized lockbox, image, data capture and fulfillment services to the government, for profit and nonprofit markets throughout the U.S.
For more information, please contact Fred Campos at 817-858-0936, fred.campos@azlockbox.com or visit www.azlockbox.com.
About Breckenridge Financial Systems (BFS)
Breckenridge Financial Systems (“BFS”) is a provider of automated remittance solutions for private and government businesses throughout Ohio.
For more information, please contact Bernard Jergens at 800-874-5755 x 110, or sales@brecksystems.com or visit www.brecksystems.com.
###For more information, please contact Bernard Jergens at 800-874-5755 x 110, or sales@brecksystems.com or visit www.brecksystems.com.
I just had an opportunity to visit our Frederick, MD site this week. Let me start by telling you wow, wow, wow! I have never seen a lockbox so diversified and offering so many additional client solutions. Most lockboxes specialize in either wholesale or retail and don't process the exception work. Our company MAJORS in exception processing! We offers a complete line of additional accessories to give clients a total approach from bill printing, mailing, collecting, fulfilling, imaging, and finally electronically depositing.
Today, I want to show you a short one minute video of just ONE of our automated printing presses. This machine, called a Vipor, can create custom duplex color products in a matter of seconds.
Today, I want to show you a short one minute video of just ONE of our automated printing presses. This machine, called a Vipor, can create custom duplex color products in a matter of seconds.
Can your lockbox do that? Ours can!
About Arizona Lockbox & Fulfillment Company, Inc. (ALF)
Arizona Lockbox and Fulfillment (“ALF”) is a full service payment processing and fulfillment company with locations in Phoenix, AZ and Frederick, MD. ALF provides a full complement of customized lockbox, image, data capture and fulfillment services to the government, for profit and nonprofit markets throughout the U.S.
For more information, please contact Fred Campos at 817-858-0936, fred.campos@azlockbox.com or visit www.azlockbox.com.
- Mood:
giddy
Hands down and without question it is the latest TweetDeck 0.30, but my reasons why may surprise you.
1. Custom Portable Columns: My first reason, unlimited custom columns that can be segregated and organized any way you want. I have about 20 columns on my PC TweetDeck. I know what your thinking, "That's crazy?" Maybe, but tracking four accounts and currently working with about 6000 followers, I have found it easier to organize groups into different topics I follow, market to, or ignore. "Did I say that out loud?" The real magic here is not the neat columns I create in the PC version, but the bonus that I can carry SOME of the columns with me on my TweetDeck iPhone app. Read that last line again. I have chosen to ONLY carry THREE select columns on the iPhone app. This enables me to focus on the 1% best all day long, while the others are hidden. Bingo! Cream of the crop segregation--a huge time saver for me.
2. Supports Multiple Accounts from one Dashboard: TweetDeck allows me to keep four accounts going and read data from multiple twitter accounts from one place. Since it is a PC application, I can quickly sync and read them later (even without Internet) connection. If I need live updates, I look at the iPhone for selective updates but always have to capability to read, send or retweet items out.
3. Filters Facebook & MySpace: This is golden! Personally I hate Facebook. If it wasn't for TweetDeck's new feature, I'd probably kill it. With TweetDeck I can filter what I like about Facebook directly through TweetDeck. Which means I have the best of Facebook without any advertisements, walls, pokes, etc. I filter friends, walls, pictures, videos just like Twitters. Personally, many don't make the cut.
3. Filters Facebook & MySpace: This is golden! Personally I hate Facebook. If it wasn't for TweetDeck's new feature, I'd probably kill it. With TweetDeck I can filter what I like about Facebook directly through TweetDeck. Which means I have the best of Facebook without any advertisements, walls, pokes, etc. I filter friends, walls, pictures, videos just like Twitters. Personally, many don't make the cut.
These filters work so well, I can continue to use Facebook and MySpace without actually having to go to Facebook or MySpace. Frankly, I cannot believe either of these companies let TweetDeck do this. Over time it should greatly affect those using Facebook to market. Before I leave this subject and before the hate email starts, Julian Smith tells it best in his "25 Reasons I Hate Facebook." For the record, I agree with all of them.
His Servant
- Mood:nerdy
