Jan02

How to order SHARPER IMAGE DX-2 Stunt Drone propellor blade replacements

by Andy Crash Connell on January 2, 2017 at 9:41 pm

I bought a new DX-2 Stunt drone from Shaper Image for our 9-yr old boy for Christmas.  We’re getting better at it at the cost of several propellor blades.  The drone did come with extras, but we are consistently destroying the #2 blades on the wall crashes.  Too much snow on the ground and high winds to do it outside.  And an impatient boy.

We’re down to the very last #2 blade.  There are two blade types for the DX-2 Stunt Drone, #1 turns one way, #2 turns another way.  Great.

Over the Christmas weekend, like most of you reading this, was typing in search terms like:

Sharper Image DX-2 stunt drone propellor replacements, Compatible propellor blade replacements for DX2 stunt drone, Order online DX-2 stunt drone blades, Sharper Image drone blade replacements, DX2 Stunt Drone parts, Drone blades replacement kits for Sharper Image, Sharper Image Drone Parts Kits and dozen more combinations that ended up at the same 5 posts, especially that video on YouTube where someone is demonstrating how to take it out of the box, set it up, and launch it.

I found some websites with the DX-1 drone blade replacements, but the reviews show they were to small or too big (I don’t remember) but I realized a lot of people out there are having the same frustrations as I was.

Okay, okay, you’ve read this far.  Thank you.  YOU CAN ORDER A VERY AFFORDABLE kit that includes the blade guard, 4 #1 blades and 4 #2 blades for $3.99 each.  I was so excited that I ordered TWO kits.  The rep’s name is Shaun.

Note: The morning of January 2, 2017, I tried calling the support number listed in the SHARPER IMAGE DX-2 STUNT DRONE instruction booklet.  I was on hold for 20 minutes and the automated voice said “We’re experiening a VERY HIGHER THAN NORMAL call volume, please call back” and it hung up.

You can not order online this kit, it can only be done through their support number. The rep didn’t know why it wasn’t available online (you could tell he was frustrated, too).

There you have it.  No worries.  They’re available, they’re affordable. I don’t know if there’s an order a limit, I only ordered two kits.

Their support number is:

800 374-2744

Update: I ordered two and they arrived about 4 weeks later.  I grew concerned about 2 weeks of waiting and called the above number.  They tracked me down in their system and said, “typical process time is 4-6 weeks”.  Here’s what arrived:

Feedback and comments appreciated (but are moderated).

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Dec26

It’s not an accident you stumbled onto this post

by Andy Crash Connell on December 26, 2016 at 9:16 pm

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If I had not come and spoken to them [the world], they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. — John 15:22

Good news:  It is no accident or coincidence that you landed on this post.  Today, in a few minutes, you will have an important choice to make.  Even if you stop reading right now, you have made a choice.

What do you understand it takes for a person to go to heaven?

You’ll need an open mind, open heart, and OPEN BOOK:

Consider how the Bible answers this question: lt’s a matter of FAITH.

F is for FORGIVENESS
We cannot have eternal life and heaven without God’s forgiveness. -Read Ephesians 1:7

A is for AVAILABLE
Forgiveness is available. lt is-
: Available for all. -Read John 3:16
: But not automatic. -Read Matthew 7:21

I is for IMPOSSIBLE
It is impossible for God to allow sin into heaven.
: Because of who He is:
God is loving and just. His judgment is against sin. -Read James 2:13.
: Because of who we are:
Every person is a sinner. -Read Romans 3:23.

But how can a sinful person enter heaven, when God allows no sin?

T is for TURN
Turn means to repent.
: Turn from something:
sin and self. -Read Luke 13:3.
: Turn to Someone:
trust Christ only. -Read Romans 10:9.

H is for HEAVEN
Heaven is eternal life.

: Here. -Read John 10:10.
: Hereafter. -Read John 14:3.

How can a person have God’s forgiveness, heaven and eternal life, and Jesus as personal Savior and Lord?

By trusting in Christ and asking Him for forgiveness. Take the step of faith described by another meaning of FAITH: Forsaking All I Trust Him.

The time of your salvation is “now” (2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT)

Say this out loud where you are (pray) with all your heart:

“Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and have displeased You in many ways. I believe You died for my sins and only through faith in Your death and resurrection can I be forgiven. I choose to repent and turn from my sin and ask You to come into my life as my Savior and Lord. From this day on, I will follow You by living a life that pleases You. Thank You, Lord Jesus for saving me. Amen.”

Praise God!  The angels in Heaven are rejoicing! (Luke 15:10 NLT) Please tell a Christian friend you trust about this important decision you have made today.  Our ministry would love to pray and celebrate with you.  Would you fill out this confidential form so we can pray for you?

Invest in a Bible you can read easily, like the NLT (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION) or NASB (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE). The KING JAMES VERSION is the most recognized “word for word” translation, but can be a challenge for some new believers because of its language complexity. If you can’t afford a bible, we can get one in your hands by email request.

It is important to YOUR RELATIONSHIP with Christ to set aside time DAILY to spend time with God in His Word (The Bible) and faithful prayer.  Follow Christ in believer’s baptism and find a local church focused on discipleship. Grow in your faith and enjoy new friends in Christ by becoming part of His church. There, you’ll find others who will love and support you.  I welcome you into the Family of Christ.

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Dec26

Discipleship – Terms of Service

by Andy Crash Connell on December 26, 2016 at 8:39 pm

freelyphotos.com

“And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.” – Revelation 20 NASB

We visit websites all the time. We must check the box: “Do you accept our terms of service?” in order to continue.

We click that link to take a look, but it is just too much reading, time is short, so we click: “Accept”…. and move on without too much further thought about it.

Did you grasp the above scripture? “and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

Back in the spring of 2010 at a men’s weekend bible retreat, a visiting pastor privately suggested to me after my 30 minute testimony / sermon on Grace: “If you really want to UNDERSTAND the words of Jesus, how He lived, what He came here for, spend the next few months in the first four books of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—then start over again. Perhaps with a different bible translation. But—stay in the first four books, over and over again. Pray about it, meditate on it, dig into the Greek… stay with it until you really get it… and based on your teaching today, I know you WILL get it.”

For 12 months I read and meditated in those first four books. An occasional cross-reference with other books, but mostly MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN.

WHAT IS FATHER TELLING US IN THIS GOD-BREATHED DOCUMENT?

All or nothing.

If you’re not for Him, you’re against Him. No time to waste on the hopes of an eleventh hour escape or robber on the cross last-moment-passage.

He’s not coming back to be re-crucified.

“It is finished.”

The Lord never accepts excuses. Forsake  EVERY THING  for the Father’s Will of spreading the GOOD NEWS of our Creator’s redemption and reconciliation plan.

My talents are FROM HIM to GLORIFY HIM.

Once we confess our sins, admit our need for a Savior from sin’s eternal penalty and dedicate our lives to Christ’s Lordship, we accept the TOS.

I will confess here and to others that I originally ‘signed up’ to reap the benefits: Food, clothing, education, housing, friends, medical care… all that “good stuff ” that is promised.

Then, He reminds me AGAIN of His earthly ministry to fulfill His Kingdom here:

“Follow me, I am the ONLY WAY, no other religions or gods are acceptable, don’t look back, be humble, be teachable, pray without ceasing, find joy in your suffering for My sake, speak truth, love everyone with NO conditions, resist the devil, seek My righteousness over your fleshly lusts and wants, do not judge others motives, feed the hungry, warm the cold, clothe those without, visit those in prisons, shelter the homeless, provide for orphans and widows, don’t waste money on worldly treasures and pleasures, Go and make disciples of all people, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. Don’t worry, you will never be alone, I will be with you today and forever.”

WAIT—TIME OUT—This ain’t what I signed up for. I’m not a soldier, I am a lover not a fighter. Peace, no confrontation, live and let live, life is short. C’mon Lord, don’t you get cable TV up there? What about my career, my family, all my toys, my home, my, MY, MY, MY, MY, MINE!!!!

I must be reading this wrong. What about ‘desires of MY heart, prospering as MY souls prospers, all these things will be added to ME, life abundantly, some have this gift-others have that gift, faith alone saves ME, ask and ME shall receive…’

Why are YOU doing this to me… why not someone else—ANYBODY ELSE?

See the WORDS OUT OF JESUS’ MOUTH: “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.” Matthew 23:10 NASB

I look around my living room as I write this and fearfully wonder, “Where will all of this be in the days ahead. Where will I be? Where will my family be? What will I lose in all of this?

What will I gain?

I have read the TERMS OF SERVICE and I cant, you can’t, no one alive or certainly dead can’t “take it back”.

© 2012 ANDY CRASH CONNELL

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Dec21

If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.

by Andy Crash Connell on December 21, 2016 at 8:56 pm

The words of Christ in John 15:18 NLT.  I got lazy so I’m really to blame.  I’ve neglected this blog since our move six months ago, a few homes down in Kaukauna.  Just lazyness. Well, since I didn’t back up my blog I lost all my “Christian” posts.

Several years ago I had a pretty vicious attack on my blog on one of my most popular posts about baby car seats.

I didn’t want it to happen again so I invested in some very effective blog security.  I basically had to copy and paste my entire blog up to that point and remove tons of malware coding.  And for several years it did its job flawlessly because I was posting fairly regularly, especially since my new position at Q90 Radio.

The awesome security apparantly annoyed a hacker in China to the point that he/she took the extra time to find a vunerability in an “outdated” version of WP.  Yes, I ignored a major core update for months and it cost me 4 years of posts.  The support team at my PAID HOSTING SERVICE found the malware code in one of my folders.  Under further investigation, it was discovered that it actually purused my website for posts and media with certain tags.  To my astonishment, it was all the posts on this blog having to do with my faith.  Every single on of them; gone.

Unbelievable.  Am I losing my mind? Hmmmmmm. I checked every single page of this blog and it’s all still here from day one, EXCEPT ALL MY CHRISTIAN posts.  I actually discovered my broken database while tracing one of my short urls back to a page on here about what it takes to get to heaven.  It was getting an average of 100 hits per month, MOSTLY FROM CHINA.

I don’t have the time or movtivation these days to dig up the old posts (I always copy and paste from Notepad and save them in case I want to use the content in print materials, etc.) and put them back up.  They were actually just posts preaching to myself or struggles with some theology.  I can’t help my ponder a little bit why a professional hacker didn’t just wipe the whole blog… the malware could have easily done that.  It searched out keywords like “gospel, Jesus, Christ, discipleship, fellowship, Christianity and such”.

My posts hit a nerve and the attack was laser focused and dilberate.  Lessons learned:  update my blog and plug-ins regularly, respond to my security email notifications (I started to let them stack up), pray for this person or persons (they are definately in a bad place to do this), pray for all Christian blogs (I doubt I’m the first and the last) and either get in or get out.  Word Press ain’t social media where you can come and go as you please.  There are hackers out there that need your blog server to spam emails that can’t be traced back to them.  I am blessed I discovered this before my 9 year old blog got blacklisted.

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Oct04

Man to man

by Andy Crash Connell on October 4, 2012 at 7:56 pm

I just sat our 5-year old boy down on my lap, (TV, toys away, noises off) and we talked about the differences between God’s blessings and our human pursuit for happiness.  Things won’t make us happy because no one will ever have enough ‘things’.  Our 10 minutes together was like a 50’s sitcom… he sat quietly straddled on my lap, facing me, with his chin resting on his fists.  He asked great questions.

I confessed to my little one how I have failed him by buying him toys almost daily, usually ‘for no reason or occasion’.  I told him the Lord is dealing with me about it and I must be more obedient from now on.  Even though other parents may buy their children toys and nice things, he must realize that some people display their ‘things’ for prideful reasons and we can’t get caught up in that lie anymore.

My beautiful boy said, “So the devil wants us to be happy with toys and not God, right?”

Exactly.

I assured Patrick Ray that we can’t change other parents or children, but we can change the way we steward our resources and how we pursue God for His provisions and blessings.  I am putting this out here because I need to be a father, held accountable, that will lead my family to fully trust God (good times and bad times) and not the pursuit of our selfish happiness.

I am a very blessed man with an awesome bride and three beautiful kids who our merciful God has gifted me with.

Thanks for reading this.

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