The stapler that lets paper lay flat.

So I ran across this stapler thanks to a podcast, and had to post it on here because it does something so different from a regular stapler. It doesn't round the bottom of the stapler when it staples but lets it lay flat. This means that if you have a stack of papers with staples in the corner they won't pile up, but will lay flat.



Max Flat-Clinch Black Standard Stapler with 30 Sheet Capacity (HD-50DFBK)

How do I tell if I am at a Healthy Church?

This blog post is a companion of the sermon series currently at Theophilus Bible Church and essentially is trying to dig deeper to determine if I am at a healthy church and more importantly what makes up a healthy church. You need to determine the definition and components of that before you can make a quality statement regarding whether your church is healthy.

In asking if the church is healthy, I ask what would a Healthy church look like? This questions leads to the next question of what is the role or purpose of the church because a church should probably be considered healthy of it is fulfilling its role or purpose. To answer this question, we need to look at the bible and the words of the One who created the church God.

Role/Purpose of the Church
1. To be the Bride of Christ - Ephesians 5:25-27 and Revelation 19:7-9

     What does it mean to be a bride?

• Pure and Spotless
• An example that all want to look upon and see
• Faithful
• Waiting for the groom

2. To be the Light of the World - Matthew 5:14

• Once again and example to all the world
• To show the world the path through the darkness
• To reveal the dark things that have been hidden

3 To be the Salt of the Earth - Matthew 5:14

• to function as a preservative that sustains life
• improves the flavor (makes life better)
• Can be used for healing via antiseptic properties
• not having Salt in the body will cause issues

Given these variety of things a simplified summarization is that the church is made up of individual Christians and "Christians make a difference in the world by being different from the world."

To put it another way and quote Beau Hughes from the Village Church who also preached on this topic. (If you want to hear some good messages on this topic I highly recommend this)

The dominant theme in Titus, therefore, is good works, that is, exemplary Christian behavior and that for the sake of outsiders.

In order to do this Paul gives Titus the duty to choose from among the people elders. Based on the requirements set forth in Titus (Titus 1:5-9) which are as followers.

1. Above reproach - Means unable to be held with disapproval or disappointment. To understand this look at what is currently going on with Brian Williams. His job definition was to ensure he was above reproach. You can also see the fallout of what occurs when someone who is expected to be above reproach isn't.
2. Husband of One Wife - There is debate about if this means every or currently particular concerning the issue of divorce. I don't know the position of Theophilus Bible Church but my personal opinion is if a divorce occurred before a man became a believer, it does not disqualify him because he received is new life when he accepted Christ. If he divorced after being a professing believer it should disqualify him.
3. Having children who believe and are not accused of dissipation or rebellion - Provides evidence that he can properly lead his family and also removes another thing that those outside the church could point to as evidence Christians are the same as everyone else.
4. Not self-willed
5. not quick-tempered
6. not addicted to wine
7. not pugnacious - definition of pugnacious is "eager or quick to argue, quarrel or fight
8. not fond of sordid gain - success or gain through morally ignoble or vile means
9. be hospitable
10. loving what is good
11. loving what is sensible
12. loving what is just
13. loving what is devout
14. loving what is self-controlled
15. holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching
16. be able to exhort in sound doctrine - exhort means to give advise, caution earnestly or admonish urgently - thereby requiring knowledge of scripture to provide answers to those seeking
17. refute those who contradict - also requires knowing scripture to be able to push against in correct doctrine or interpretation of the Word

This list of things is something that we really all should be trying to reach and attain for. What is pointed out is those who are leading us should be a model even in their human imperfection that we can look to as an example or a standard bearer.

Ask yourself, which of these areas are you weakest in? What are you doing to make progress in those areas so your life is a better example to those around you?

I also want to say when you look at this you might see it as perfect that you can't attain that is true for all of us and will only be resolved when we are with Christ having shed this body that has the sinful nature in it. What is more important is the trajectory. What trajectory are you on and what trajectory is the church on. Where is it going and how fast. Maybe you look at yourself in the mirror and find you are lower than you would like and there are a lot of places you could improve, that is great because to means you can go through the growth faster. Maybe you look at yourself though and see a person who has labored and prayed for years to be everything that God has called you to be so you are higher in your process than someone who is just starting out, but the path and rate of change isn't as steep because of that.

In either case, remember not to be discouraged but instead pray, pursue and model Christ for he will bring you a greater joy and through that both you and the church will grow healthier.

How to Bridge from Wifi Hotspot (Mifi) to Wired Connection

Sometimes you will find yourself in a location or area that doesn't have good access to a wired internet connection and what you are doing requires it. I searched the internet for a while to find something that works and was finally  about a product that can do that inexpensively serving as a wireless client. It is the product below and was available from Amazon under $20.

TP-LINK TL-WR702N Wireless N150 Travel Router, Nano Size, Router/AP/Client/Bridge/Repeater Modes, 150Mpbs, USB Powered

Here is an image of the device with the power cord it comes with and a patch cable to demonstrate the size.

When the device boots up it will be initially broadcasting as a wireless router. You can change this to the client network mode and attach it to a mobile hotspot or other wireless network.

Cloud Based Wireless Vendor Comparison Matrix

As an System Engineer for a Value Added Reseller doing a lot of time responding to the latest changes in the FCC's erate proposal. In order to give a better solution to the customer, I created a spreadsheet looking at the various features of the following competitive solutions.

Extreme Networks (which we sell and I install)
Aruba
Meraki
Aerohive

Some notes and disclaimers. This matrix was created by using the test or evaluations available for and for some examples like Aruba clearpass youtube videos and datasheets. Due to the way technology works, this is a point in time snapshot of features around the time of first of the year 2015. I am sure there are features that each vendor will argue about and disagree and see their solution is better, but this was as agnostic of an approach as I could take because its purpose was to help our sales people know when to and when not to chase business based on customer pain points.

For a brief synopsis of the various solutions.

Meraki - Excellent at small, multiple location deployments and staff with very little experience. Larger lifetime costs because of license model. ( Well and also probably because it carries the Cisco name and people pay more just for that.)

Aerohive - Basic AP settings, will work for multiple location deployment but limited feature set

Extreme Networks - Excels in high dense, highly complex environments with a great deal of flexibility. Initial install is more complicated than Meraki, but easy to use thereafter.

Aruba - similar to extreme networks particularly when including clearpass.

So now for the Wireless Vendor comparison matrix.

	Extreme Cloud Hosted - With Identity and Access	Extreme On Premise Hosted - With Identity	Extreme Cloud Based - No Nac (priced as partner)	Extreme Networks - On Prem no NAC (Purchased as normal)	Meraki	Aerohive	Arbua Instant
Management Features
Accessible from anywhere via Web	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	yes
Browser based management	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Annaul AP License required	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	YEs	Yes	yes
Usable if license expires	if migrated local	yes	if migrated local	yes	no	no	yes
Fully Redudant Design	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	yes
Zero touch AP Provisioning	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Automatic firmware updates	yes if managed but can be scheduled	yes if managed, but can be scheduled	yes if managed but can be scheduled	no	yes	yes	yes
802.11ac only requires PoE not POE+	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	runs in low performance mode	yes
Layer 3 roaming	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes with limitations	no	yes
Guest/ Captive Portal Features
Guest Portal Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	yes
Guest portal registration	Yes	Yes	No	No	some	yes	no
Guest verification by SMS	yes	yes	no	no	yes	no	no
Captive Portal registration	Yes	Yes	No	No	no	yes	yes
Guest Portal Sponsorship	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	not sure
Guest portal billable	no	no	no	no	yes	no	no
Application and Integration Features
Layer 7 Application firewall	no	no	no	no	yes	no	yes
URL filter	no	no	no	no	yes	no	no
Integrates with Palo Alto	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	yes
Integrates with Iboss	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	no
Integrates with lightspeed	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	no
Radio/Band Features
AP support 100+ Simulentanous clients	Yes	YES	Yes	Yes	no	no	no
Per SSID bandwidth Limit per AP	No	No	No	NO	Yes	no	yes
2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band steering	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Load Balance clients in high density areas	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes
Automatic RF Optimization	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
User/ Device Features
AD/LDAP user login	Yes	Yes	Yes with external radius	yes with external radius	yes	yes	yes
AD user to group policy decisions	yes	yes	no	no	no	no	yes
Mobile Device registration	Yes	Yes	No	No	allow and deny only	no without airwatch	yes with clearpass
Allow or Deny access by Device type	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	no	yes with clear pass
Dynamically change policy by device type	Yes	Yes	no	no	no	no	yes with policy enforcement firewall
User based reporting and lookup	Yes	Yes	No	No	some	no	yes with clear pass
Per User bandwidth Limit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	no	yes
multiple VLANs, device typein  1 SSID	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes

Finally when looking at costs of these various solutions, I worked up a couple of models to best approximate some costs based on realistic numbers not list price. These are NOT set it stone as vendors can adjust margins/discounts but it should give you an approximation.

So the following is for 100 3x3:3 access points from each vendor. The Extreme Networks price includes installation the other vendors do not.