How to setup wifi hotspot for Kindle Fire using a smartphone

Ok so last night I went looking for how to set up a mobile hotspot for the new Kindle Fire using a smartphone.  Many people noticed the Fire does not support peer to peer ad hoc wifi connections that you would customarily find when using apps like Barnacle.  First, let me say Barnacle is a great service for what it does, but I could not find a way to make it set up an infrastructure network.  However, android wifi tether version 2.0.5 does create a mobile hotspot that can be shared to the Kindle Fire.  Below you can find a step by step on how to share your mobile hotspot from your android phone for your new Fire.  If anyone knows of any feeds for how to do this with an iPhone or any other smartphone, feel free to post links in the comments.

1. Root your android device. 

• Check out XDA for some good step by steps on how to root your android as that is outside the scope of this post.  
• If you have a Thunderbolt check out this site as it is the one I used to root mine and it will not wipe your data - Root your Thunderbolt without losing data

2. Download Android Wifi Tether - List of Versions

• If you have the Thunderbolt version 2.0.5 works well.  I assume any Post-Evo HTC phone could probably use that version but I accept no responsibility if it bricks your phone for some reason.

3. Open the app --> Menu --> Settings --> Enable Wifi-Encryption, Change Channel to Auto

4. Hit the back button - Press to Start Tethering

5. Open your Wifi connections on your Fire and you should see your android phone.

Voila!  You now have a Kindle Fire that will work anywhere your phone has a data connection.  In case you aren't already aware this will use your phone's data so beware of that if you have a limited data package with your wireless carrier.  Also, the wireless tethering will go through your battery pretty quickly so make sure you have a strong battery.  Otherwise, have at it!  Thanks for your patience while I typed this up and have a good time streaming those amazon prime videos on the go.

My 1st (and probably last) blog on Hello Kitty

The recent story on CNN Money documented 5 new alcoholic beverages entering the market place.  The most shocking of these was the Hello Kitty brand wine and champagne.  Sanrio spokesman, Dave Marchi, told Money "Hello Kitty has a huge following of 20, 30, and 40-year-old fans that love the product."  http://www.sanrio.com/ click this link and tell me this is an icon aimed at 20, 30, and 40-somethings. While it is true that Hello Kitty has a large following of drinking age adults, it can’t be ignored that this is an icon meant to appeal to children, and for this reason the decision is in awful taste.  Sanrio is the company that holds the licensing rights to Hello Kitty, and it is within their legal right to use her to market an alcoholic beverage to legal drink age adults.  However, as we have seen so often in corporate history, just because something is legal does not mean it is right.  We have laws that prohibit tobacco companies from marketing to kids with cartoon characters, there’s legislation to limit the allure fast food companies can use with children, but Sanrio isn’t an alcoholic beverage company.  They’re a kids’ entertainment company that happens to sell alcoholic beverages by using its most popular kids’ entertainment icon.  Using this logic, I guess The Jim Henson Company could start making Kermit the frog condoms.  Or maybe Dora the explorer and her friends Backpack and Boots could have their own small firearms line.  After all, lots of adults love Kermit the frog and Dora the explorer too.  Again, just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.

I've also posted a poll on what you think Sanrio should do with their current situation.

Matthew 20: 1-16 Equal Reward is More Than Ok

In the twentieth chapter of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a parable of a land owner and workers.  As the story goes, the land owner goes out in the morning and tells some people looking for work that he would be willing to pay them at the end of the day if they were willing to come work in his fields.  Later in the day, the land owner does the same thing with a second group, and right before the work day ends he does it again.  When it comes time to pay the workers he pays each worker the same amount. 

This is where it gets interesting.  The workers who had worked the entire day become upset because they thought their pay would be greater than those who came in at the final hour.  The land owner then replies that they knew the reward when they agreed to work in the morning.

As we can see, this is a pretty transparent analogy to the reward of eternal and everlasting life.  It's easy for many of us who already believe in Christ as our savior to unwittingly become like the first workers in the field when we are presented with the possibility that someone who lived a very different lifestyle than ours found Christ late in life.  It's easy to ask what the point is to be in the first group of workers if everyone receives the same reward. 

I would challenge us all to view this story from a different perspective.  Let us look at the story from the point of view of one of the workers in the last group. If we read the story more carefully we see something  extremely critical.  Verses six and seven give us a glimpse into the last workers: "...He asked them 'Why haven't you been working today?' 7 "They replied, 'Because no one hired us.'"  Notice the answer there; these workers didn't spend their day sleeping until noon and then partying.  They had been searching all day for something to dedicate the day to, for something to give them the reward they were seeking, but nothing could do that except this land owner.

If there has ever been a time in our country's history where we should be able to view what that existence must be like, it should be now.  Imagine you have lost your job.  You don't know how much longer the money you have will last you or how long you'll be able to put food on the table.  You spend your days and nights searching for openings and applying to the ones you find.  Still, nothing seems to be going your way.  Your days are full of anxiety and uncertainty of what will come next.  This is the life without Christ.

It is the nature of this world that we will have hard times and we will suffer setbacks.  Throughout my short time here I've had my share.  But I also have an inner-peace that is always with me, because I know this life is temporary.  I have moments when I grumble about how nice it would be to not have to do the work that God calls us all to do and just do whatever I wanted, but I always end up coming back to the fact that I'm thankful to know I have work to do.  I'm no longer filled with anxiety of how I will get my reward.   I'm no longer searching.

You see, there's something amazing about kingdom work - they're always hiring.  Maybe instead of worrying about measuring our reward, we should be sharing the help wanted ads with the people we see searching.

A Preview to This Blog

I was debating what the subject of my first blog should be, and I have made my decision.  It will be about my blog and what you can expect to see if you choose to subscribe.  As you might be able to tell from my profile, I am a bit of an eclectic person, and therefore it seems only naturally that my blog be the same.  There will be posts about religion, economics, politics, sports, and any other random events that get me fired up enough to force me to share my opinion on the situation.  I will try to post at least a couple times a week to make sure the material stays relatively fresh.  I welcome all feedback, criticism, and different viewpoints on my page and all that I ask is that you respect everyone's opinions and keep the discussions professional. 

Now on to the good stuff - just a little taste of some of my thoughts from the week.

• Ndamukong Suh should have a permanent spot on Sunday morning's "C'mon Man" segment on ESPN for his comment after the Thanksgiving Day game.  You were losing your balance?  Really?  Could you please explain how kicking violently helps you regain your balance?  They didn't cover that in my physics classes apparently.

• I was so excited to hear that the NBA lockout was over - now all their fans can watch forty-six minutes and thirty seconds of lazy basketball followed by one minute and thirty seconds of good basketball that lasts twenty two minutes and includes thirty four commercials.

• I was honestly excited about college basketball starting again.  The next four months will be full of buzzer beaters, upsets, and actual defense.  

• Urban Meyer is the new Buckeye's head coach?  Yea, I guess that life threatening heart condition is better after ten months.  Also, the whole being judged by what type of husband and father you are at the end of your life thing - yea he solidified that in 10 months I'm sure.  At least he went to a program where the pressure is way lower than at Florida.

• Barney Frank announced he won't run for re-election.  I guess we will need someone else who said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were fine financially less than 18 months before they were virtually bankrupt to write our financial reform laws and sit on our House Finance Committee.  It's hard to imagine anyone as out of touch with reality as this guy thinking he did things that made this country better.

• ADP said 200K+ jobs created by private sector, jobless claims report said 402K made initial claims, and the government jobs report comes out in about 8 hours.  Could this be a case of one story, another story, and the truth?

• Lastly, I will have an entire post on Tim Tebow, but tonight I just want to address Jake Plummer's comments.  A.) Jake Plummer?  I was unaware he was even still on an NFL roster.  B.) What would the reaction be if Tim Tebow was Muslim and Jake Plummer had told him to shut up about Allah?  C.)  Tim Tebow's reaction to this was pretty much right in line with his reaction to all the other adversity he's had to face this year- 100% class.

Ok, there's the appetizer - hope you liked it!