Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day everybody. I'm having a wonderful time enjoying the long weekend. We kicked off the Australia Day weekend by having special Aussie Burgers on friday night for tea. The meat patties were made in the shape of Australia. They were great.

Yesterday, when we walked into the supermarket and the kids saw all the Australian flags on display, Chloe announced "I love Australia." It was very cute.

So, let's all be thankful to God for all the wonderful things it means to be an Aussie. We are truly blessed in this nation.

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Could not find adofltr.dll - Solved!

Excuse he technical nature of this article, but today I solved an annoying programming problem and in the process was reminded of an important spiritual lesson.

I was using Microsoft ActiveSync to copy data from an access application to a PocketPC CE device. This is done using the external functions DESKTOPTODEVICE and DEVICETODESKTOP. On all computers around my workplace this works with no worries. However, on a client machine I was receiving the error "File not found c:\program files\microsoft activesync\adofltr.dll"

This seemed odd as the file did indeed exist. A search of the web revealed many people with the problem but few solutions. I tried some of the suggestions, most of which involved copying various DLLs from the activsync directory into the application directory of my program and re-registering them. This did not work. One suggestion did work however.

As it turns out, there are two solutions; one of which I have succesfully implemented, and another that I plan to investigate.

1) Add the ActiveSync install directory to your path.
I added c:\program files\microsoft activesync to my path environment variable.
Note you have to do this through the properties of My Computer. If you do it in a command prompt window, it will only apply during that command session.

2) The second solution is to use an API call to determine programatically, where the adofltr.dll file is located. I have not yet tried this but logic suggests it would work - without requiring clients to change their path.
(as I learn more ab out this I will post my findings with a link from this article)


I was reminded through this experience of the value of praying over our work as opposed to trying to solve difficult problems in our own strength.

Happy New Year

I wrote at the beginning of 2008 a lot about faith. I expected 2008 to be a year of faith - and it was. My faith was tested in many ways during the last 12 months. In many ways it was a very difficult year. I've been through the fire - but through it I have learned many skills and lessons about faith.

Now, Im sure 2009 will bring its own unique challenges. Hopefully I can use what I've gained last year to move forward into new things in God.

This year starts with a fresh adventure. We are spending a week at the National Christian Youth Convetion in Melbourne (or as my daughter calls it, Nihlbon). I'm sure we will all learn a lot and be challenged. I will have plenty to write about here when I return.

On a fun note, I'm looking forward to release of the new Star Trek movie in the middle of this year. I have been waiting well over two years for this film - closely following its progress, so I can only hope it will live up to such long-term expectation.

It will be exciting to see what God does through my church this year. Last year saw the birth of Levi House homeless shelter as an extended ministry of the church. I can only imagine what will be happening in 2009.

So, happy new year.