DanLacher.COM

Here is far more than I could capture already written about disk alignment for both physical and virtual machines so I will not attempt to recount the reason, theories and proofs for having aligned drives. So you know that you need to have your drives aligned but you have 2000+ virtual machines and you find that your drive alignment is off… now what? You (and your team) continue to search for a solution that is the most effective use of technology to help bring the world into alignment. Enter finally one simple amazing tool from Nicholas Weaver, UBERalign.

UBERalign allows for fast and if setup to concurrent VM drive alignment correction. There are some caveats that are pointed that need to be taken into account so before testing please read the details through. Test it out and then get on UBERaligning your virtual world away.

As some of you as friends and family know, our youngest daughter is currently in a stage where she does not sleep well at night. This is a heavy weight on my wife and myself as we help comfort her for what seems like endless hours night after night. This morning in worship this song was spoken from God’s heart to mine as I sat there in tears trying to listen. So I sat there thinking: What if my healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights? What if those are what it takes to know God is near? What if trials of this life are God’s mercies in disguise? What am I really praying for? What are you really praying for? The song is titled: Blessings, by Laura Story.

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Have you ever had a small  or large new idea, really new it could take off but just did not have a place to fund it from.  There is now a way if you can get the “community” behind you.  Kickstarter is a new way to fund and follow creativity.

The first project that I was turned onto was a new book that Anne Jackson was working on: Interlude: An eBook of poetry, photos & stories behind them. Having read and enjoyed Anne’s previous works I signed up to be a backer right away. After digging around more on the sight I had found a book that I was excited about but turned out to not get fully funded. I am hopeful that Matt Weber will continue to work on China: The Alphabet Book (26 rhymes, photos, facts A to Z), I would love to see that make it to print.

Kickstarter is not just for enthusiastic authors that are trying to find a way to get books published, they currently sort their projects into 13 different categories including: Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film & Video, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Technology, Theater and Writing & Publishing.

A list of some of the projects that I have offered backing on include the above to books as well as; MySaver, Pen Type-A, Orbit.

Head over and help back some fun and creative projects and products that people are trying to get off the ground.

Tomorrow will mark one year since I entered into a time of transition in my life.  After an interesting nine months of prayer, family time and job searching I accepted a position back into the corporate world.

It was clear from the very first day that I was let go from Messiah that this clearly directed from God… it was just up to several months of prayer understanding.  There were moments of frustration, anger, and desperation.  The time was spent in joy, the love of Christ and seeking after Him.  The time that was spent with my family is priceless, nothing can replace that time.

So what did the job search look like?  Well the first item was I was not out to look for a job but I was seeking out what my next career would be.  After applying with over 12corporations, grueling interviewins with 3 of them I accepted a position at The Dow Chemical Company as a UNIX Architect Specialist.  There is some amazing computing going on at Dow.  I am working with an amazing team; small, agile and highly empowered.

For the side venture that Erin and I are pursuing, well that is still in the works and more to come on that as far as location and time of opening.

To add to the ongoing online recipe collection I bring to you Buffalo Chicken Dip. This recipe originally came to us from our friends the Hansen’s.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

• 4 bonless chicken breast
• 12 oz hot sauce
• 16 oz cream cheese
• 16 oz blue cheese dressing
• 8 oz monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 cup celery

Season and bake the chicken in a shallow backing at 350 degrees for 1 hour. I generally bake the chicken in advance a day or two. After the chicken i cool, shred the chicken and layer into a 9×13 pan. Cover with the hot sauce. Melt together the cream cheese and blue cheese dressing in a pot or a double boiler. Pour the melted cheese mixture over the chicken and hot sauce. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top and bake for 30 – 40 minutes at 350. Remove from oven and top with chopped celery. I serve it with corn tortilla chip scoops.

Enjoy!

In fixing a PC for a friend this week I noticed that the free version of Malwarbytes had not been updated of run in a long time.  As noted, the free version will not auto update or auto run.  So then for the non-parinoid person Malwarebytes is simply installed and doing nothing… well that does no good.  After updating the software and removing the crud that had infected it I had a realization;  why not just use Windows Scheduled Tasks to update and run Malwarebytes?  So a quick expereriment using the command line showed that it will take command line aruguments and run the update and full scan.  Over to the Windows task scheduler, drop in two new tasks to run the update command and then run the full scan.  There you have it, a more automated and hopefully sooner catch to nasty software that someone might get.

Just another step in automating the world one task at a time.  I kick myself over not thinking of this sooner to help fend of nasty stuff from friends PCs.

After reading Pastor Thomas‘ comments and thoughts on what Messiah and journeys coffeehouse are doing I was beyond compelled to reply.  Below is my reply to his post.

Pastor Thomas I would like to share my thoughts on your post and journeys coffeehouse on main street.

When journeys coffeehouse was formed over three years ago inside the of the walls of Messiah it was known that is was only a place to grow and cultivate the idea of using a third place to help share the Gospel to the world. As much as one will try the fact is that journeys coffeehouse in it’s current location is stuck within the confines of a traditional church building. Folks who don’t yet know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior don’t want to walk into the walls of a traditional church, most churches buildings freak them out. As I recall from what I read, Jesus did not do the majority of His ministry and outreach in the temple but out where the people are. journeys coffeehouse goal is to create a ministry venue in which the gospel can be shared and lived out. journeys coffeehouse is not intending to be “a church” on main street but instead and more powerful to be “the Church” on main street. We can continue to build traditional church buildings and asking the world to come to Him, or we can take Him to the world.

I would rather pour my life into someone while sharing the gospel instead of polishing the pretty bricks on a traditional church building. Jesus did not come to the world to have us make members in church clubs but instead to have His creation cross from death to life through believing in Him.

Be Blessed,
Dan Lacher

Update to the post.  I do understand and believe in the local church so please don’t misunderstand that through my strong statements above.  What I do have a problem with are the traditional church settings are so inwardly focused that they are not evangelizing to the world and tightening in on the “club” mentality if even unconsciously.

Place this on the next book to read after Sun Stand Still.

In Radical, David Platt invites you to encounter what Jesus actually said about being his disciple, and then obey what you have heard. He challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated a God-centered gospel to fit our human-centered preferences. With passionate storytelling and convicting biblical analysis, Platt calls into question a host of comfortable notions that are common among Christ’s followers today. Then he proposes a radical response: live the gospel in ways that are true, filled with promise, and ultimately world changing.

If you have not heard or read Sun Stand Still by Pastor Steven Furtick you need to get it an read it now!  As I write this I have not finished reading it but it will change the way you pray and the way that you approach dreams that God lays on you.  What will happen when His people will dare to ask God for the impossible?  The basis of sun stand still prayers is all about Jesus and the glory of Jesus Christ.  As we enter into a new way of praying the power of God almighty is unleashed into the world in and through us.  In the upcoming days I will share with you all what my sun stand still prayer is and the dreams that God has placed on my heart.

I was recently given a bunch of home-grown zucchini and ended up shredding it for use now and for freezing. I immediatly thought of this chocolate cake that my grandma Lacher use to make when I was small and visiting her house. I loved to help her make it and totally enjoyed sharing in the eating of it, she seemed to always have it around in the summer.

Grandma Lacher’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

• 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 4 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 12 oz chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Cream together the butter and the sugar.  In a small glass mix together milk and vinegar or use sour milk.  Add in oil, eggs, vanilla, and milk mixture and mix.  In a separate bowl combine cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and flour.  Sift or mix the dry ingredients together so they are combined well.  Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until well incorporated.  Fold in the grated zucchini.  Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13″ pan and spread evenly.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly across the top.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

After my first time making this today with my two little girls we sat down for a piece of cake while it was still warm.  The flavors and memories of my childhood sharing this cake with my Grandma Lacher came flooding back in.

Enjoy folks and make a memory with your children today.

Be Blessed,
dl

Side note: The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of sour milk, since we don’t tend to have sour milk readily available the use of the 1 Tbsp of white vinegar to milk will to the trick.