eAction

A Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

My Quote Calendar has this one today, which is rather appropriate;

“Were there no God we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts and no one to thank.” (Christina Rossetti)

I trust that you can see many good things happening in your life and your online business. Some will be small and some larger, but hey, “it could be worse!”

It’s the people who are thankful for the little things who are entrusted with larger responsibilities and properties.

In fact, I found a verse in the Bible this morning that goes even further.
Ecclesiastes 2:26 promises that others are gathering wealth for us. I hesitate to quote it here, for fear of getting into a quarrel with someone over translations, so I suggest you look it up in your own favourite version of the Bible. (Ecclesiastes is that little book King Solomon wrote; comes after Proverbs, which is after Psalms).

The last couple of weeks I’ve been mulling over where to make time to write up my Linux Learning Curve experiences so that others may learn from them.

It has come to me that the encouragement and business tips I offer here are not so stellar, even though I’m convinced that our spiritual attitudes and ethics are of primary importance in our business lives, that I would have to write them every week. I could revert back to bi-weekly, and use the alternating Thursday morning time slot to work on those Linux Learning Curve stories or testimonials.

I know how much it has helped me when I’ve found someone else’s account on the net, and I feel I ought to share my discoveries in a narrative form to help others. If I leave it too long, I’ll forget what happened. Though I do make some notes.

I don’t know of anyone else on this list who is trying to work in a LInux operating system, and I don’t want to overwhelm you with my sagas if they are no help - so, I will just post those writings, starting next week, as a separate blog category on the eAction blog, but not trouble you with the ezine edition.

The alternating week, I will be back to write encouragements, and report what I’m learning about running an online business, and offer helpful tips and suggestions.

If you are eager to see my Linux Learning Curve stories, just scoot over to the blog address, and read them there. eAction

Here’s a tip that is almost too obvious to those who believe in prayer. Join a small prayer group and when they ask for personal requests, mention an item of concern in your business life. As others join you in praying for that matter, you’ll find it clears up or is resolved that very day, or in the days following.

Last weekend I was at an all day prayer meeting at a small mission where I
volunteer. There I mentioned my year-long prayers for new eye glasses. Within three days of those people praying for me, I had enough money for glasses AND to place a bulk order for my books - to re-sell!

This week I also prayed as I came back to the computer, about a certain bit of web design information I had not learned yet. I asked God to help me find it, and the first page that I checked after putting my search terms in Google was the one with the very answer that has eluded me for some six years! It was astonishingly simple, but I had never prayed about that detail before.

How could I forget? I’m kicking myself!

I know it has been many weeks, even months, since I last had fast-food like KFC, but yesterday when it was offered at a special luncheon, I didn’t recall the problems such food has given me in the past. I decided to be a good sport and have some too. Only one piece, mind you, and some fries with gravy.

Today I’m suffering the consequences all over again as in the past. I’m wearing a bag of frozen popcorn over my knotted neck, sipping Kombucha Tea to cleanse my system, putting my head down every once in a while because my eyes are crossed and there is a knot of tension in my sinuses. I have chills from time to time, I’m putting on a fleece vest and am eying that afghan on that chair. - All because I forgot past lessons.

Do you ever have to repeat lessons because you forgot?

Let’s look at it this way; we’re getting another chance. Besides, with many repeats we’ll be able to say, such and such actions ALWAYS lead me to such and such results. Now I’m going to take such and such permanent actions to stay away from those unwanted results.

Incidentally, in case that old “look” of this blog turned you off, as it did me, you should take another peek. I changed it to one with a single, lovely tulip.

Have you ever considered keeping a business journal? Not just for your financial transaction and banking, but a book or file on your computer that you open every day and record what decisions you are making. Come back to report the results when you have some in hand.

If you jot these notes into a plain text file throughout the day, when you need to look something up, or check for results on earlier decisions, a simple computer search of just these journals could save you the aggravation of making the same mistakes over again.

No doubt you are growing weary of my misadventures in Linux operating systems. I don’t want to burden you with stuff you don’t want to hear, but I think there are many out there who are doing the same thing, and desperate to find answers online, when they have a crisis, so I’m seriously considering a separate blog on my Linux Learning Curves. I just don’t know where to fit it in yet.

But I like to learn from my mistakes. In fact, I’m convinced that just about everything I know is because I dared to try something, and when I failed, I discovered the right and wrong way to proceed. The next time I will draw on past experiences, and make better choices. This happens over and over again in many areas of my life - and yours. Not just in computer related subjects. This principle works in social relationships, in business networking, and in any skilled profession, from art and music all the way up to being a surgeon.

Of course, we really hope the one that operates on us has had enough practice on cadavers so as not to be about to make a terrible learning mistake on our body, right?

So let me sound like a broken record and repeat what I said last week; don’t waste your suffering or your mistakes. Evaluate them, learn from them, and move onward and upward.

Just supposing you are interested, I learned this week that the installation of SuSE I did last week was flawed. I’d forgotten to set the mnt points of the partitions, which meant the system was throwing and installing everything into the root partition, which was only 3 GB and soon full. So, on Wednesday I had to re-install again. This time I got it right!

Selling Products on Consignment:

Have you ever tried selling products through regular stores on consignment?

When not solving computer problems, I have spent my morning marketing hour, at organizing my Dad’s cross necklaces by colours into a large pizza box (tray). I’ve taken inventory and made charts, etc., for recordkeeping, both of the cost of making them, and of sales.

We took a selection of 25 to a major Christian Books and Gifts store in Saskatoon. We were thrilled to find the buyer enthused and willing to take them on consignment. We can check back in a month, or she’ll call if they need more sooner. Our timing was perfect, as a previous supplier had moved, and they were right out of such necklaces.

Another marketing method that I’ve neglected a long time is placing ads on classifieds pages. I still have one that I set up some years ago. As owner I can place ads that do not expire, whereas others have to come back and replace them every 30-60 days.

By placing my ads there for Dad’s crosses, and adding banners to my crosses web page, I get to market for free to all those who come enter their own ads. So far no sales, but then, I need to there and place a bunch MORE ads. Maybe in every category!

There is a certain skill in writing effective short ads. Some wording is much more effective than others. Again, this is an area where one must try and try over and over, constantly seeking to improve on past efforts.

EDIT: I have removed the link because I’ve deleted that classifieds page. I suspect it may have contributed the the huge dumps of SPAM I was getting in recent weeks, and I wasn’t using it to advertise much of anything anyway. I take back the advice given above!

Last night, I heard this quote on the radio; “Don’t waste your sufferings.” (Warren Wiersbe). That same program was about how the greatest leaders have all had to suffer and overcome great obstacles in their lives. Someone had made a huge list, of several hundred great people, well-recognized names (albeit not all in a good sense). Then they researched their background for clues or things they had in common. Fully 25% of them came from broken or messed up homes.

Another large percentage, (I forget the exact number), were handicapped in some way.

So just think, if your life is strewn with problems and challenges to overcome - all you have to do is hang in there, keep at it, keep gnawing at your chains, and seeking higher ground, and you WILL succeed.

I don’t know about you, but that stuff encouraged me!

You see, I’ve had new challenges thrown at me this week - as if I didn’t have enough on my daily plate!

Monday night I stayed up past midnight and got two mission publications done and sent off. Tuesday morning I went to adjust some screen settings in my SuSE, and when I rebooted, I couldn’t get in! No how!

I spent the rest of Tuesday trying various ways to solve my problem, and by the evening had managed to install my old Mandrake system (from last year) on the back end of the second drive. At last I could go on-line and look for answers!

Yesterday I could write my inspirational RoseBouquet, and also my Linux Users group and ask for help! It came in the afternoon, but I didn’t get to trying out the suggestions until the evening. I solved some parts of the problem but couldn’t get in yet.

I tackled it again this morning, and at 10:08 AM I was back inside SuSE, my castle of an operating system. A lot of settings had changed, and I’ve just spent almost two hours working on those, and discovering that I can’t go on-line there yet.

So I’m thankful that in my past struggles I learned to use dual boot and have two systems on one computer. This has allowed me to come back into Mandake, to write you this short note, and to get back to my advisers for fresh suggestions.

In one way, I really would rather NOT have had to go through all this. I would much rather be busy with my many projects throughout each day, but I am now focusing on the thought that panic and tears doesn’t fix anything. Keeping cool, and trying out every solution you can find, that’s what win’s the victory.

I now know a lot of stuff I didn’t know before!

I also realize that it is time I start putting some of these adventures onto my site or blog (maybe a new one) so that others who are desperately combing the net for answers can see what to do.

As with driving a car, before you put your foot on the gas pedal, you really ought to have someone show you the brake and how to use it. Or, if you plow into a flower bed or a wall, you should know where the Reverse gear is.

By the way, when you solve a problem, do you pass on that info to others? Or do you horde it to yourself in embarrassment?

I’ll just toss out a few Linux dos and don’t to give you an idea;
If a program freezes, open a terminal, type xkill and click on the stuck window. Do not just shut down the computer and reboot!

If the system font is too small, change screen resolution to a smaller size.
(works wonders!)

Sometimes when you don’t know what to do, type help
It often appears like an angel.

Don’t be afraid of dual boot computers. (When the demons attack one door, you can escape out the other to get help).

Cultivate friendships with people more advanced. They are such a help in a crisis.

Do NOT try to mount an empty CD.
You mount to put stuff on, you do not mount to listen to music, etc.