anchorite.org

John and Lisa Basta sent in pictures of their loft turned prayer space, looks quite comfortable for those extended times of prayer!

Father Bishoy Andrawes sent in his submission for the Coolest Prayer Space Contest, complete with a custom prayer stand.

Today marks the one year anniversary for anchorite.org! My first post was on June 26, 2006 and I have written a total of 160 posts. I want to thank God for this amazing opportunity and thank you for all your encouragement and participation.

A few quick stats:
Posts: 160
Comments: 329
Technorati Rank: 74,435
Alexa Traffic Rank: 687,840

I don’t have accurate stats for the entire year because I have switched analytic tools several times but according to Google, anchorite.org did see 4,582 visits and 7,702 pageviews over the past 30 days. Also, I’m not using Feedburner so I don’t have a count on RSS subscribers. One of these days I’ll get around to installing Mint for better stats.

Special thanks to Brian, David, and Jason for inspiring me to start blogging and to John Basta for his constant encouragement.

Joe Azer has the second entry in for the Coolest Prayer Space.

Jazer’s indoor prayer cave complete with icons (front of church replica), library (everything you can imagine), inspirational art (St. Peter sinking as he tries to walk on water)… and a reading chair… and of course plenty of space for matania’s.

We are seriously considering moving Little Flock Christian School from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps Education Edition this summer. I applied for the Education Edition a few weeks ago and received approval last week. I started to look at what the migration would involve and found that they still had not released a migration tool for moving from Microsoft Exchange.

Today, I got an email from Google Apps announcing the release of new features, including the email migration tool. Google Premier and Education editions now have access to a migration tool that allows admins to transfer all their users’ email data from an IMAP server (including Microsoft Exchange) to Google Apps.

They also added a shared address book, multi-person chat, slideshow viewer, increased attachment size, calendar gallery and gadget search.

For more details check out the New Features for Google Apps page.

Here are the steps I usually follow when setting up a new home computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP or Vista. Please feel free to comment with your own suggestions.

1. Microsoft Windows Update – Even when the computer is new, you will usually find that there are several high priority updates waiting to be installed. I also recommend enabling Automatic Updates (Control Panel -> System -> Automatic Updates).
2. AVG Anti-Virus Free – for virus protection. Avira AntiVir and ClamWin are good free options as well.
3. Windows Defender – for spyware protection, Spybot-S&D and Ad-Aware are two popular alternatives.  Included by default in Windows Vista.
4. Mozilla Firefox – I personally prefer Firefox to Internet Explorer. Opera is also worth a look.
5. OpenOffice.org – Some people insist on Microsoft Office, I think OpenOffice.org fits the bill for all but the heaviest power users. Google Docs, ThinkFree and Zoho are also good online alternatives but it is good to have an offline option just in case. Update: Google added Sun’s StarOffice 8 (OpenOffice.org souped up with proprietary fonts, etc. for better compatibility) to the Google Pack.
6. Mozy Unlimited Backup – for automatic online backup. I have come across way too many horror stories of hard drives failing recently. Face the facts, your hard drive will die at some point or another so get a good backup solution. I like Mozy because it is easy, automatic and cheap. Carbonite and IBackup work as well.
7. Adobe Acrobat Reader and Flash Player – these may be pre-installed, but if not you will find it neccessary for reading PDF files and web browsing.
8. OpenDNS – for safe and clean web surfing. Depending on the situation I either change the client or the router DNS to point to OpenDNS.

Optional applications:

• Google Pack – Includes Google Desktop, Google Earth, Picasa, StarOffice and more…
• Hamachi Instant VPN and TightVNC for remote access (great for supporting your mom remotely).
• Mozilla Thunderbird – Local email application for pulling down message via POP or connecting via IMAP or use it to backup Gmail.
• Paint.NET – Free image editing and photo manipulation software, GIMP is more powerful but also more complex.
• PDFCreator – open source PDF Printer lets you create PDF files for free.
• Tux Paint – Open source drawing software for children.
• VLC – Multimedia player that play just about any kind of media.

Open Source Windows lists more open source applications for Windows XP and Vista.

Ed Buford has the first entry in for the Coolest Prayer Space, talk about enjoying the grandeur of God’s creation!

Our Lord Jesus Christ suggests a private place for prayer in Matthew 6:6…

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

With that in mind, Sherry and I are hoping to turn some of the space in our attic into a cozy prayer room. We are looking for inspiration, so stealing a page from Lifehacker, I am introducing the Coolest Prayer Space Contest. Take a few pictures of your prayer space (it can be any place that your pray in private on a regular basis) and email them to amitry@gmail.com. I’ll feature my favorites as they come in and then anchorite.org readers will vote on the coolest prayer space. The winner will get a $100 gift certificate to OrthodoxBookstore.org!

My father passed away eight years ago, his life is a great inspiration to me and an example to many people. In memory of him this Father’s Day, I decided to digitize a book that represents the contributions of a few of the many people that knew Dr. Sameh A. Mitry, loved him, and were touched by him.

The Sam That We Knew (PDF) 45 MB
If you are having troubles viewing, right click and Save Target As…

An introduction to the book…

“The thankful man in his sickness is better than a hermit monk.” I heard this saying from one of the old monks while he was comforting a sick person. He said that it is from the wisdom of the desert fathers. This saying came to my mind from the first time I met with Dr. Sameh Mitry. When I saw his cheering spirit and loving and caring attitude, when I found no self-pity or an attitude of misfortune, I automatically considered him one of the contemporary saints.

And this is the idea behind this book. It answers tough questions like this: can a person live joyously although he is handicapped, weak or in pain? Can we find ourselves in the middle of tribulations? Can God use our weaknesses for His glory?

To tell you the truth I have read all these answers in the Bible, but they sounded like too much perfectionism for such an era of control and power. But I have seen and touched these answers through the saintly lives of people like Dr. Sameh. It is fitting to say that disability showed the beauty of Dr. Sameh’s inner person and
added to him more virtues, more respect and more crowns.

The life of Dr. Mitry is a sermon, a living Bible, a showcase of virtues. It is spiritual, encouraging, cheerful and exciting. It is an example of a true Christian, a faithful servant, a good husband and an unforgettable father.

May God strengthen his family and grant His Church with faithful servants like Dr. Mitry through the intercession of our Holy Mother St. Mary, the prayer of our intercessor St. Mark and the guidance of our honored father, H.H. Pope Shenouda III.

To Him is all glory, honor and worship from now to the end of all ages, Amen.

Fr. Bishoy Andrawes
St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Washington, DC

Not a man of words but always a man of action, words will never be enough to encompass all that he was, all that he is. My father was a man of many talents. He was a man who set the standards as a model husband, teacher, mentor, and guide. There wasn’t much he couldn’t do, but most importantly he was a true example of
a man who followed in Christ’s footsteps. He always did everything in honesty and goodwill and with a pure heart. Indeed it is written in Matthew 5:8: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. My father was a man who is revered for his kindness, strength, and wisdom. He was a man who placed his focus forward on Christ. Let us unite our hearts with his and look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the coming age. Amen.

His son,
Andrew Mitry
9/15/00

A man lost something, not recently at all. He lost his perfect vision, his rhythmic hand, the nerves in his left leg, his strong back, his racquetball skills, and his walking ability, although not totally.

I lost sitting on his shoulders so high, riding bikes with him, going to the pool with him, going on long outings, and going on extremely hot or cold vacations. He has Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that affects the nerves. This disease has no cure yet and rarely occurs in Egyptians, which is his nationality.

Yet I try to look at the side that’s still there … his caring, kind, advisable, stubborn, strict, old-fashioned, knowledgeablemind, and his wide-ear to ear-pearl white grin, how he makes people laugh, his teaching ability, and his spirit. Best of all is his loving heart.

He has gained beautifully carved canes, and metal crutches, and a maroon scooter that he races down the street with me when I roller blade. This person is my extraordinary dad, an absolutely great person who will never leave my heart …

Your #1 daughter,
Mariam Mitry
12/25/93

Order a printed version of the PDF from PrintFu
The Sam That We Knew on Scribd

Last week, Father Bishoy Andrawes was the speaker at our young adult service, Light & Life. He gave a great talk about being an Ambassador for Christ. In the talk he describes the characteristics of an ambassador and relates them to how we should have those same characteristics since we are not citizen’s of this world but of heaven (Philippians 3:20).

For more sermons, check out