I'm Still Alive

I may be tired and stretched right now, but I'm more aware and excited than ever before of my real purpose. Had a crazy weekend that started at 8:45 am Friday and won't stop until after church tomorrow - and possibly beyond. I'll tell you all about it when I can get a few minutes, but I just wanted to check in with you guys. Cheers and goodnight!

Tonight's Soundtrack: Top Gun

I hadn't listened to this CD in over 10 years, I bet. But now that it's on the iPod, I rediscovered it tonight while driving home (well after rush hour). Man, what a hugely FUN soundtrack from classic flick! The classic "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, "Danger Zone", by Kenny Loggins and the "Top Gun Anthem" by Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol's Guitarist). There's not a song on here that I didn't like. Oh sure the soundtrack wreaks of 1980's Pop/Rock, but the "flying songs" are just flat-out kickin'!

"You're writing checks your body can't cash!"
"Negative, GhostRider!"
"Yee-haw, Jester's Dead!"


Thanks to Gary Lamb for starting the Nightly Soundtrack blog posts.

Good to the Last Drop

So how long can a laptop battery last on 1% juice? So far it's going on 15 minutes. I'm currently "reconditioning" the battery by letting it drain all the way and then charging it overnight. The IBM web site says I have to do this 3 times to increase the battery life. Does that really work? Not that the battery has terrible life right now, but if I can extend it, then all the better. I'm currently getting about 2 hours at full strength power consumption - not bad. Whoops, the graph just went to 0%. Better post this before it goes completely dead.

UPDATE 1: Just passed 5 minutes at 0%.
UPDATE 2: Now 10 minutes at 0%. (how low can you go?)
UPDATE 3: 20 minutes. I think the meter is CLUELESS!
-------
FINAL: 28 minutes at 0%. Now I know how far past the 'E' the needle will go :)

Au Revoir, Jacqueline!

My baby sister left the U.S. yesterday to spend a year as a school teacher in Eastern France. She'll be teaching the French kids how to speak English. What an awesome opportunity. I love you, Jackie! I'm still going to try to get you to start a blog, but at the very least, email as often as you can. Oh, and send lots of pics :)

Blog Walking

A few years ago, a former pastor introduced the church to a concept called Prayer Walking. If I remember correctly, prayer walking was born out of the need for Christian beleivers and missionaries in persecuted  countries to dicreetly gather for prayer. The outward appearance just looks like people walking down the street having a conversation. Now, whenever I get up early and walk/jog around the neighborhood (which will be a lot more frequently, says the bathroom scales), I always make that a time of prayer.

Well I can add blogging to the list of "walk and do domething at the same time", but this will be a lot less frequently as it's taken me 2 miles to write this much. Actually, I hadn't planned to Blog Walk this morning, but I had to fire off an email before church starts to the Kid's Minister at High Point Church letting him know a Checkin printer is now working. So with Blackberry in hand and sneakers laced up, I set off and thought it'd be cool to write a post. Cool (to me)? Yes. Practical? Hardly. I've almost volunteered many times on my walk to become a hood ornament on some of the cars parked on the street.

The "Church Technology" Distinction

I often tell people that I work in Church Technology, but I think I'm done with saying that. The majority of folks, especially church employees, tend to think of the Audio, Video and visible "Big Church" technology. But I'm an Information Technologist within the Church: computers, software, networking, databases, Internet, email, etc. Bits and bytes, not knobs and switches.

I know that many of my Church IT buds do both Computer and A/V; the very talented Jim Walton is one of them. But for you others who are strictly Information Technology, how do you tell people what you do?

Oh one more thing, I don't do phone systems either - yet...

Fortune Chocolate

I'm doing some late night work for the Full-time Job and I grabbed a handful of Dove Dark Chocolate squares out of the candy jar to keep me going. I just noticed that the wrappers have little bon mots or "fortunes" printed on the insides:

Remember your first everything. (I got this one twice)

Laugh uncontrollably... it clears the mind.

Sometimes one smile means more than a dozen roses. (emphasis probably on sometimes)

It's not much, but it sure does beat the "Sorry you're not a winner. Please play again." message I usually get on the insides of candy wrappers. I hope you feel encouraged and enlightened.

Spoke Too Soon

If your aggregator shows pictures, then yes, that IS my In-Laws’ Dell Inspiron 1200 that I was raving about 2 days ago. Only now, obviously and grotesquely, disassembled. Here’s what happened. Yesterday, I was setting up my laptop at work and plugged in my Cingular GPRS wireless card. After firmly plugging it into the PCMCIA slot, I noticed it didn’t go in all the way. Not thinking that anything might be damaged in there, I tried plugging it in again - only HARDER. It still wouldn’t fully insert. It seems a little rubber pad from my old laptop had found its way from the bottom of the bag into the PCMCIA slot and resulted in severely bent and broken connector pins. Oh, the fun that ensued…

Last night, I decided to remove the slot assembly and only after I had taken the whole assembly apart (again, note the above picture) was I able to unplug it from the underside of the motherboard. I needed a replacement so without hesitation I called DELL.

The first person I spoke to (can you see where this is going?) told me that the 90 day warranty had expired and that I had to be transferred to the “Out of Warranty” support department. Let me hit the pause button right here to remind you ALWAYS
GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY!! The Out of Warranty support person said I needed to speak with Sales to order the part. The person in Sales had no idea what I needed and transferred me to the “Spare Parts” department. The spare parts lady tried, but simply could not find anything that matched what she thought I needed in her inventory and suggested I speak with Tech Support again to get a part number. Finally the support guy said that they didn’t sell the part by itself, but that I needed to replace the entire motherboard. DO WHAT!?!? Thanks, but no thanks.

My entire time on the phone with Dell was a little over an hour. 3 minutes later, I found exactly what I needed on eBay for $11.99 and it’ll arrive at my home tomorrow. You were right, Jason – Dell’s Support ain’t what it used to be.

New Games in Windows Vista: Mahjong!

Thanks to Neowin for reporting on the new games coming to Windows Vista fresh from PDC 2005. Solitaire and Mindsweeper get new updates, Chess is new, blahditty-blah, blah... and MAHJONG!!!! Whoo-hoo!. I Love Mahjong - don't ask me why, I just do. I've been a computer Mahjong fan ever since I got that EGA screen for my 286 computer with the 25MB hard drive. Now those were some good computerin' days.

Xbox 360 launch date is November 22

I don't normally include gaming news on my blog, but hey, the Xbox 360 launch is on my birthday!! So if you need any ideas for a present... :) :)

[Article: Xbox 360 launch date is November 22 Source: Engadget]

Ian and the Astronaut

Picture as promised. Tom Henricks and my future space explorer :)

Heart to God, Hand to Man

Although that's the motto of the Salvation Army, it can also apply to the Southern Baptist and Southern Baptist Men's Convention who have helped to feed millions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. [Article: Southern Baptists Help Feed Millions After Katrina. Source: RedCross.org]

More of Google Blog Search

Robert Scoble has been playing with Google Blog Search today. You can read his adventures here, here and here. Scoble is thoroughly impressed. OK Dude, I'll bite. A search for yours truly, Stuart Cowen, sorted by date is super fast and pulls up the very latest post 32 minutes ago. "Casting my Net" yields the same results and a few othr blogs that have linked to me. But wait, I use Blogger; I'm on Google's servers. OK, let's try somebody else - um, BetaChurch.org has something pretty fresh (about 5 hours ago). Yup, Google pull that up too. HOWEVER, a Google blog search still looks like a Google search; pretty blah. Or is that the point - "Just the facts, Ma'am"? It just seems to me like Technorati has made blog searching more fun and more like a community with a few more options. I'll throw my hat down for you to add your 2 cents.

Google Blog Search

[BBC News: Google unveils blog search site] It was only a matter of time before we saw this coming. But then again, why did we have to wait so long? By virtue of mentioning them, the article suggests Google as a future threat to current blog search leader Technorati (which I use daily). I hope it doesn't get too ugly. It also goes on to say that "Google will index all blogs that publish so-called feeds that automatically tell readers when they are updated." Does anybody else read that as Google maybe going after the Bloglines market too? I especially like Technorati founder Dave Sifry's attitude when he said that he welcomed Google to the blogosphere party and said the move was a "validation" of the blog writing phenomenon. Good on ya, Dave - Keep the Dream Alive!!

Music to Work By

Like most of you whose blogs I read, I love all types of music with the exception of one - Country music. But this post isn't about my lack of excitement for C&W, but rather my long standing love affair with Movie Soundtracks, particularly the instrumental music scores. I love the way you can amost experience a movie's plot (if it's a good flick) from the sudden crescendos of epic battles or high-speed chases to the tender moments of romance or death scenes. It gives me the boost that I need when I'm in a funk at work (that and a triple-shot latte). My favorite soundtracks are all of the Star Wars, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek 2, Braveheart, The Rock, Gladiator and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. My favorite movie score composers are John Williams (the Master), James Horner, Howard Shore, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer (a genius).

Dell Inspiron 1200

It looks like I'm within 72 hours of becoming a laptop owner again, so I wanted to give my impressions of the laptop I have been using (thanks to my gracious in-laws) for the past 2 months. The Dell Inspiron 1200 is Dell's entry laptop model that starts at a price of $549 and is the one most featured units in Dell's ads in the Sunday papers and on the back of the Parade magazine. The first time I saw it in person, I thought to myself how basic it looked; black plastic casing and very square, but a clean design. Nothing about it would make you say "Wow!", but then nothing about it would make you cringe. It's just basic.

Under the hood, it has a Pentium M Celeron processor running at 1.3 Mhz, 256 MB memory, 30GB hard drive, combo CD-RW/DVD drive, built-in modem/Ethernet, a nice bright 14.1" XGA screen and Windows XP Home Edition. That's the model for $549 - no wireless and virtually no warranty (90 days). Add a 3 yr. warranty and a PCMCIA wireless card and you're out of the door with this laptop for $777 after the $100 instant savings. That's a very good number for a price, don't you think Gary Lamb?? (reference to Stryper for the rest of you)

Before I get to my impressions of the laptop, I need to say that in the past, I have unfairly placed Dell's "deals" in the "you-get-exactly-what-you-pay-for" category and had largely dismissed them as viable options for anyone. Boy, have I been proved wrong. The only negative I found is that it came pre-loaded with a 90-day trial of Norton Internet Security - a software package that I personally loathe as it significantly slows down any machine, especially one that isn't top-of-the-line to begin with. After I replaced Norton with my favorite antivirus program, NOD32, there wasn't and hasn't been any hint of sluggishness. I was able to load and run Office 2003 Professional, Yahoo! Desktop Search, Konfabulator, Firefox, and Spybot with zero problems.

Although the wireless card sticks out a bit, at 6.33 lbs the Dell Inspiron 1200 is more than worth the price. As a systems administrator, I would consider myself a Power User and the laptop, for me, performed very well. If you're into Photoshop, video/sound editing or gaming, then move along, there's nothing here for you to see. But, if you're heavy into the Internet, email, word processing, spreadsheets or even watching DVD's, then you'll love this laptop.

So what laptop am I getting next? I'll tell you in a couple of days...

SQL Server 2005 - September CTP is Available

I just found out from SQL Server Central that the September 2005 Community Technology Preview (basically another beta) is now available for public download. Since all of us SQL Server guys (and gals, sorry) have been waiting for 5 long years for new release of Microsoft's Database Management System, I'm super eager and looking forward to installing it. If you're interested, you can download it here, but be patient; it was released a little less than an hour ago and is a whopping 900MB to download!! Anyone know if there's a BitTorrent of it yet? If not, I'll see if I can provide one for you (if it's legal, that is).

So, what does this mean for the Church and ? I'm not sure, yet, but Shelby Systems and FellowshipOne both run on a SQL Server database and I'll bet these guys are falling over themselves to get up to speed. I'll post "first impressions" and such as I explore it.

Update: Breakfast with Space Shuttle Astronaut

Last Friday evening, I told you that Ian and I were going to a Men's Breakfast Saturday morning to hear Space Shuttle Astronaut Tom Henricks give his testimony. Well, we did and had an awesome time eating some good breakfast catered by The Snooty Pig in Keller, meeting other dads with their sons and listening to Tom share his journey from childhood in Ohio to becoming a Top Gun fighter pilot and then the first astronaut to log 1000 in space. Tom Henricks is a true godly hero with a strong Christian witness. He showed videos of his missions including some of his own b-roll from space, unmagnified pictures of earth space that were simply jaw-dropping, and he even geeked out on some space and atmospheric physics that I totally dug! I'll post some pictures very soon.

FellowshipOne

Fellowship Technologies’ church management system, FellowshipOne (F1) is going gangbusters. It seems like a lot of the higher profile churches are switching to it including Lakewood Church in Houston. Having worked with Shelby Systems’ client-server application for the past 7 years, I’m warming up to the Internet-based F1 slowly for reasons which I may post later. To their credit however, Fellowship Technologies is actively working on enhancing the system (which is only 2 years old) and everyone I’ve been in contact with from the head guys to the support personnel are contagiously passionate about the product and about serving you.  This week, I had two “A-Ha!” moments that are drawing me closer to being a “rabid” F1 advocate and both deal with their Internet-based architecture.

The first revelation is in training. A pastor I work with was graciously given the opportunity to sit in on an F1 training session at a nearby church. He told me that while the instructor was going through the exercises, he was able to follow along with data from his church. They way I see it, Fellowship Technologies could host larger church-neutral training sessions or workshops in metropolitan areas where they have multiple clients. This would reduce the amount of smaller individual sessions and man-hours spent in instruction. Also, they could market the F1 to churches expo-style on an RSVP invitation basis giving pastors and administrators a hands-on test drive with pre-prepared mock-ups of what their database could look like in F1.

Second is the potential for summit-style collaboration. I haven’t thought through all that this could mean, but here are a few examples. Let’s say that a gathering of local Pastors and management staff meet at Internet-enabled venues. With each represented church having real-time access to their own data, discussions about the quantitative impact of certain worship styles or evangelism events in different socio-economic regions could spark cooperative innovation. Or churches that have lost a family to another church in the area could offer helpful information to the receiving church for the purpose of understanding their situation and personalizing ministry efforts. These examples might be a bit weak, but I’m sure there could be huge potential for more intra-church collaboration with F1.

Less Clutter and Noise

Borrowing from the title of Kem Meyer's blog at Granger Community Church, I have just reorganized my Bloglines account to focus on "Less Clutter and Noise". Actually, I've only reduced the clutter, but the result is less noise in my head every time I log in to Bloglines. In my world, if everything has a place to be put into and categorized then I love to create those places and containers. I like "organizing" so much that I'll create containers or folders for things that don't yet exist - but will someday, I'm sure. This obsessive-compulsiveness quickly spirals down to chaos and then I'm stuck with clutter, noise and zero real organization.

My Bloglines folders were no different. I had categories such as Pastor Blogs, Minister Blogs, Christian Blogs, Church IT Blogs, General IT Blogs, News Blogs, Tech News Blogs, Tech Tips Blogs, Blogging Blogs, and so on. It was a total wreck on the computer screen and I often overlooked many of my favorite blogs, because either the folder was closed or it was so far down past the bottom edge of the screen. About half of my folders had nothing in them! So now after cleaning house, I have just two folders: blogs I read daily (My Blogs) and new blogs that I've just collected but haven't had time to review. If I like the new additions, then I move them to the My Blogs folder. Simple and the noise is much quieter now.

Too Much Trying and Not Enough Dying

One more thought before I hit the sack. Yesterday, I had a slice of time while me and my youngest son, Myles, were decorating my dad's birthday present with random stickers. I decided to pop in the bonus DVD that came with the Passion '05: How Great is Our God live worship CD and listen/watch Louie Giglio's message. It was awesome and really challenged me to let Christ be Lord of All in me and to stop trying to live the Christian life and start dying to live it. I loved Louie's statement that the Christian life isn't hard and not even difficult, but IMPOSSIBLE if we try to do it in our own strength.

Twilight Zone Delusions

Something very strange just happened. I was cruising my Bloglines when suddenly, links I clicked pulled up empty pages, everything I typed was backwards and when I tried to restart Firefox, it was asking me to choose a profile, but the default profile, it said, was in use ?!?! Thank goodness for Microsoft's cure-all medicine - THE MIGHTY REBOOT!!

Parents Tracking Teens GPS-style Using Cell Phones

Read this first, then come back. [Article: Big Mother (or father) is Watching]

Are you back? Let me ask you, is this the age in which we live today? Have we given up on training our children in the way they should go: and when they are old they will not depart from it? (Proverbs 22:6) Is there so little trust within the family fabric that parents have to resort to "spying" on their kids? How's this for GPS? God's Perpetual Spirit with them at all times.

This story really annoyed me as a technology professional. I am passionately for technology making our lives richer, safer, less mundane and more connected, but this use of gadgetry simply replaces our vital parental responsibility. And about that last statement, "As much as (my son) protests and hates it, we're the only parents who know what's going on." Don't we communicate anymore? Sure it's a pain to get our boys to open up about their day and what they're feeling, but you never, ever give up.

Rant over. Have a nice day.

A Book about Google

Although, the CNN.com article I read didn't say exactly when this was published, I'm guessing it's very new since it made the front page of their Technology site.

This should be a very interesting read if for nothing else but inspiring its readers to innovate, create and break out of the box. I'm particularly glad for one statement that CNN.com noted:

While [John] Battelle obviously admires Google, his book isn't a fawning tribute.

It's on sale at Amazon now. Curiously enough, so is another book called The Google Story, that CNN never mentioned. Must be unauthorized.

September 11, 2001

Four years today since the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. This tragedy is forever etched into the hearts and minds of millions around the world. May we never forget and be ever on our knees in prayer asking God for his mercy and protection on our land.

Glad to Get Gas at $2.78/Gallon

Never thought I'd say this, but I was glad to buy gas at $2.78 a gallon last night. After plunking down $3.00 per gallon for nearly two weeks now, the 22-cent respite was a welcome sight.

Thanks to Clay Bennett for the cartoon.

Bill & Ted -ism: "Most Egregious!"

Don't ask me why, but last night, this phrase just flew out of my mouth. I was towel drying Trevor's hair and, just to be silly, I wrapped his head in the towel and peeked at him through an opening. When I took the towel off, I discovered a long string of nasal goo; one end attached to the towel and the other end still attached at the origin. That's when I said, "Oooooh! Most egregious, Trevor!" Then I thought, "What a great movie."

Tonight, I think I'll rent Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Child of the 80's, what can I say?

Late Night, Early Morning

Lisa and I are huge Dave Ramsey fans. After reading his books, we decided that actually going through Financial Peace University would be the best kick-start for us to get on the road to financial freedom. So, were having a Garage Sale. We only decided to sell a few (large) things, but then when we really looked at the "stuff" we have, it's look much more significant. This will definitely be a start to getting our $1,000 Emergency Fund (Baby Step #1).

At 7:00 tomorrow (or this) morning, Ian and I are going to a Men's Breakfast at The MET Church in Keller. Space Shuttle Astronaut Tom Hendricks is the Guest Speaker. Ian has been looking forward to this the entire week. He's so excited, but he has to be out of bed by 6:00am if we're to make it on time. I'll try to post some pictures; it should be cool!

As it is now 12:45 in the a.m. and I need to get up at 5:30 to put up garage sale signs in the neighborhood, I think I'll be off to bed. "Good Night, Inkernet!"

Give It Up For Brian Glass, Everybody!

If you're into information technology for the Church, Brian's Blog is 'must have' essential reading. I subscribed to his feed while hanging out on Jason Powell's site the other day and the initial feed that my aggregator received (yes, I'm still using it) was pure gold! Brian is a strategic IT guy at Crossroads Community Church and he's into church databases (or management systems), wikis, computer animation, scripting, open source software and so many other cool things!

Brian, I'm looking forward to the next post!

Yes, Terry, I Did Miss It!

I have been hearing for a week now on various podcasts and many blogs that a couple of major announcements would come from Apple; a suspected "new" iPod and the iTunes phone. But I totally missed it until I read Terry Storch's post. If he's embarrassed that he posted on it so late, then I'm just lame :)

However, being a fan of the famous Steve Jobs webcasts, I decided to blog on it while it ran on my laptop. Not quite Live Blogging, but it makes me feel cool. Here are some bullet points from the Webcast.

iTunes Update

• Sold Half a billion songs
• Podcasts: 7 million subscriptions in 2 months; 15,000 podcasters
• 2 million songs in the iTunes library
• 10 Million accounts in iTunes
• Harry Potter audio books exclusively on iTunes - little impact to me
• All Madonna songs now available - even less impact to me

iTunes 5 - Now Available!!!

• A new Look - a little cleaner, especially on Windows
• Available to download Right Now!!
• Microsoft Outlook Syncing?! Autosync with the iPod Calendar and Contacts FINALLY!!
• Smart Shuffle - Decreases the probability that the same artist plays back-to-back
• Parental Controls - Disable features like podcasts or explicit music downloads and previews

ROKR - The iTunes phone from Motorola and Cingular

• About 100 songs
• One button iTunes access
• Similar to the iPod Shuffle
• Music stops when a call comes in and (supposed to) resumes after the call.
• New Motorola and Cingular commercials debut.
• My wife needs a new phone and has been wanting the iPod shuffle - Perfecto!

iPod Update

• Almost 22 million iPods sold - 74% market share among all MP3 players
• New automotive iPod connectivity with Honda, Acura, Audi & Volkswagen
• In 2006, 30% of all cars will have integrated iPod connectivity.

iPod nano - You've got to see this!

• "Breathtaking". "One of the most amazing products Apple has ever made."
• Holds 1,000 songs, just like the original iPod, but 80% smaller.
• Vibrant color screen, click wheel and the 30-pin dock connector.
• Photos, multiple clock views, games, stopwatch and 4 digit screen lock operated by the clickwheel.
• 1.5 ounces, USB 2.0 and a 14 hour battery.
• Comes in black or white
• 4 GB - 1,000 songs - $249.00
• 2 GB - 500 songs - $199.00
• Replaces the iPod Mini - goodbye old friend.

Special Musical Guest: Kanye West. Not my cup of tea, but he did thank Steve Jobs for still letting him perform. He sounded slightly humble and very grateful to Jobs considering the controversy surrounding his comments about Bush's regard for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans Tech

Article about Michael Barnett whose blog has turned into an epicenter for virtually hour-by-hour updates on the post-hurricane conditions of New Orleans. He’s generating a ton of comment traffic and has lots of photos available of the city. Incredible!

On an In The Trenches podcast over the weekend, Kevin Devin pastes an audio clip of Chuck Tomasi’s Technorama in which Michael Barnett is interviewed from New Orleans. What a testament to Disaster Preparedness!

In The Trenches: SANS – Internet Storm Center and American Red Cross has put out a call for IT volunteers to register contact information and availability for the possibility of aiding in the hurricane relief effort. No word yet as to when they will start contacting people.

How Do You Plan?Do You Plan?

Here I am at the edge of another work week, my trusty Franklin Covey binder is open to Tuesday, September 6 2005 and so far nothing is planned. Looking forward, as I have done so many other weeks, it seems that I'm starting fresh. Looking back, however, is an entirely different view

How do you plan? Do you plan?

You can't change things in the past, I know. I also know you shouldn't worry about stuff that happened yesterday as the Bible says. But what about the things that didn't happen yesterday? The unanswered emails and unfulfilled obligations. Items and issues that I told others I would get to after the long holiday weekend? Looking back at these fragments jolts me into the reality that I'm not starting the week fresh. Yet the clean pages of tomorrow's planner bring hope to the part of my psyche that craves autonomous lifestyle organization rather than the minute-by-minute struggle to control episodes of chaos that rage throughout my workday.

How do you plan? Do you plan?

Even though I own a planning system and possess the knowledge to make it really work for me, at most times it's nothing more than glorified piece of scratch paper. I jot down notes in real-time and plan a couple of hours ahead, but have never really done the weekend or even consistent nightly planning for the week and days ahead. So what gives? Why the disconnect? I mean, if I fail to plan then I plan to fail, right? Could it be that I have an unclear vision? Don't I see in high definition where I want to be in 5, 10 or 20 years? But, in order to see where I'm going, I have to understand where I am - the mission. Do I have an internal compass that guides my every decision with unshakable integrity? Umm, YES! I'm a Christian and a family man. My mission statement is to love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind; to love and provide for my family; to lead them in the Way everlasting! OK, that's a start, but how do I connect the dots from that Pie in the Sky to tomorrow morning at 6:30 am?

How do you plan? Do you plan?

I read a good article in Networking Times by Stephanie Marston, M.F.T. called Remembering What Matters and I'm coming to the conclusion that my mission statement needs to be a lot more personal. It needs to clarify the values that define me as a Christian, father of 3 boys, church IT leader, music lover, and blogger. Then I need to post those values on my bathroom mirror, daily internalize them and look at where I spend most of my time, so that I can refocus my energies into things that I (not anybody else) hold most sacred.

But here's where the rubber really meets the road. In my planning, I need to hold my obligations up to the light of Scripture and according to my values, then decide how to prioritize and/or delegate each one. Also, during the day, instead of reacting to or immediately handling circumstances as they reveal themselves, prioritize them according to the same standards. I can tell you right now that the retraining of my habits will be hard. I'll feel like I'm betraying people who usually expect me to be "Johnny on the Spot" and I'll think I'm not getting as much "real work" done. But, if at the end of the day, I can measurably see that I'm getting closer to my goals, it'll be well worth the pain.

I'm praying that this blog entry will be followed with updates on my progress and that in some way I'm holding myself accountable to my readers for following through.

So tell me, how do you plan or do you plan at all?

Blogger Problems??

Looks like Blogger is experiencing intermittent problems today. I was finally able to get this and last post up to the server. Anybody else seeing this error? Do you think on Labor Day they only dispatch one engineer as the message states? :)

No pressure, Dude!

Happy Labor Day!

Hope everyone in the States is having a terrific day off work and school! At the request of my seven-year old, Ian, here's a link to the definition and the history of Labor Day (from the U.S. Department of Labor no less) that explains why we have a holiday with a name that sounds like we should be working.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Way to go America!Fire up the barbeque - YOU DESERVE IT!!

Skull Mouse

Yeah, you read that right and NO, you probably won't see this on Engadget or Gizmodo. I saw these on the cereal isle on one of our "Grocery Shopping Dates". [link to a post about that].

Kellogg's has teamed up with Disney and are pitching these nifty (and very disturbing) Pirates of the Caribbean Skull Mice - by mail, of course.

Must...Resist...the...urge......

My GMail Invites have Doubled!

Is this a new thing? Wow, what am I going to do with 100 invites? If anybody would like one, please contact me!

Hurricane Katrina Video for Your Church

Brian Burton at Keystone Church has put together this royalty-free video for you to use in your worship services or small group gatherings. You need to see this.

Video Blogger

Mark Batterson at The Evotional Blog has posted a video of his ministry testimony right into the blog using CastPost. Check it out, it's very cool!

Terry Storch posted a link to posting video into blogs using YouTube.

Both are free and can be used with Blogger.