Category: misc

Getting things done

I’m really impressed with the Getting Things Done system. I haven’t figured out a way to make it work for reals in my life yet – but I’m trying to get into the swing of things.

I’m curious if anyone has any insight on this. I started a new job in December for the DCCCD. As part of my job there are e-mails flying from every which direction about all sorts of curriculum based/catalog issues. As I’m learning my job I’m trying to process a lot of these emails but I also know that many of these things really don’t have a lot to do with me (or maybe they do and I just don’t realize it yet). I was fairly successful at keeping my e-mail inbox at 0 in my previous jobs but I’m not doing as well here.

We also use Novell GroupWise (argh!) and it stores all the messages on the server – so even if I moved e-mails to other folders to get them out of the way – apparently they’re still saved on the servers and IT doesn’t like all those e-mails clogging up the system.

UPDATE: Forgot to add that we tend to print almost all emails for record keeping – especially when it comes to any changes to the catalog and curriculm.
Any thoughts or helpful tidbits?

Powertalk podcast

My buddy Rick Walker asked me to come join him last night at Power FM for his show Powertalk. It was open line so the topics ran from persecution, blessings and curse to end times and cow tipping.

At one point I think Rick got a little carried away and called me “the theological voice of our generation.” Luckily we passed that title off to a caller before too long.

I had also forgotten how funny it is to hear yourself on the radio or other recordings. I always think I have a much higher voice until I hear a recording of my voice or hear myself talking with headphones on. Crazy stuff.

Anyways, all of that to say the podcast of the show is up.

You can listen here. Be sure and listen to a cameo phone call from my best friend Matt.

Mac user punished for loyalty

From Wisebread:

I’m an unapologetic Mac-junkie. I’ve got an old, dead Mac laptop that I can’t bear to part with from 1996. Our iMac is still up and running, having recently been put out to pasture after a disk drive malfunction. I eagerly bought one of the early iPods, and still use it all the time. And I’m writing to you now from my G4 Cube, which was a gift from a friend years ago. I’ve watched other Mac lovers fall away from the True Faith, one-by-one, but I never thought it would happen to me. However, yesterday when we brought home the newest addition to our Mac family, an 80 Gb iPod Classic, it would be my turn to be disillusioned. After you pay the hefty $249 price tag, plus an extra $30 for a wall charger (they used to bundle those in for free), plus $55 for the composite AV cable for your TV, plus any other little extras you may need, there is a hidden cost that blows up in your face when you get it home.

In short, the new iPods are not compatible with any operating system before OS 10.4.8. There’s a good discussion of the problem here. Basically, if you don’t have a newer operating system, you have to buy it before you can use your iPod. If you can’t run the newest OS, Leopard, you need to call Apple tech support and they’ll graciously sell you the outdated and obsolete Tiger for $129. You can imagine what I said to this gracious offer, after plunking down $350 for the device.

What all of this comes down to, for me, is that I am tired of the platform wars. Enough is enough already. I’m tired of manufacturers trying to force me to buy equipment I don’t want and need, or pointless “upgrades” (I shudder to think of my old cube trying to run a bloated newer operating system), just so that I can listen to a song, or download TV shows from iTunes (which, by the way, I was planning to do extensively). I’m tired of trying to exchange text files with people who have some subtly different document format, and seeing all of my formatting turned into gibberish. I’m tired of declaring loyalty to one manufacturer or another just because I bought their product.

When I take my car in for repairs, the mechanic never tells me that my older model car is “no longer supported,” or that my new tires are incompatible with my older chassis. I am not forced to stop using my refrigerator because my new food is suddenly incompatible with it. And while I’m on the subject, I don’t understand why I need a desktop or a laptop computer at all to use my iPod or my other smart devices. Has no one ever thought of making an ethernet or wireless adapter so that we can download our tunes directly from the internet? Of course not! Because then people might decide they don’t need a $2000 laptop just so they can listen to music in the car. Slam dunk!

Laurie decided to make the switch back to PC and from what I understand she’s loving (most of) her new PC with Vista. I’m just wondering how much longer people will put up with proprietary equipment. No wonder Linux fans are such fanatics.

U2 – In a Little While

Today’s Song of the Day….

In a little while
Surely you’ll be back
In a little while I’ll be there

In a little while
This hurt will hurt no more
I’ll be home, love

When the night takes a deep breath
And the daylight has no end
If I crawl, if I come crawling home
WiIl you be there

In a little while
I will blow by every breeze
Friday night running
To Sunday on my knees

That girl, that girl
She’s mine
And I’ve know her since

Since you were a little girl
With Spanish eyes
Oh, when I saw her
In a pram they pushed her by

My, how you’ve grown
Well it’s been
It’s been a little while

Slow down my bleeding heart
Man dreams one day to fly
A man takes a rocketship into the skys
He lives on starlets dying in the night
And follows in the trail
The scatter of light

Turn it on
Turn it on
You turn me on

Slow down my bleeding heart
Slowly, slowly love
Slow down my bleeding heart
Slowly, slowly love
Slow down my beating heart
Slowly, slowly love

Love Your Enemies


Love Your Enemies Poster
Originally uploaded by Ministry Growers.

As part of the Church Marketing Lab you can always find some interesting designs but this one really caught my attention.

Love it!

How do you think your church would respond to these posters? Reminds me of a story I heard about the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth Texas.

The pastor led the congregation in a singing of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”

Being post – 9/11 as well the pastor sang, “He’s got Osama bin Laden in His hands…” the church was naturally reluctant but eventually sang along.

Before the song was over though he sang “He’s got (insert name of the shooter) in His hands…” Can you imagine anyone having to sing that song about a gunman who walked into their church and gunned a group of teens down? But guess what – God holds all of those situations in his hands.

So LOVE your enemies and let God take care of the rest.