So I jumped the gun and upgraded to Ubuntu Gutsy. It
Monthly Archives: September 2007
My Favorite Week of the Year
Premier week. Are you digging this time of year as much as I am? All the new season premiers of the best shows on TV, it
I’ve Never Been to Shanghai, but My iMac Spent Three Days There
Update: Ronald pointed out in the comments below that some kind of big storm recently went through Shanghai and that probably caused the delays in me receiving the replacement iMac. Thanks Ronald!
Yesterday I wrote about the third iMac I should have received today. Foolish me, I presumed that when Apple sent me an email telling me my replacement shipped out on September 24th and would arrive at my door by September 27th I believed them.
But, the iMac didn
Step Up to the Plate, Apple
OK, so if you
Hymn Association
Confession time. I don
Jake Got Mad Techno Skillz
My entire youth group is full of extremely talented students. Unfortunately I can
I donMr. Bob and Larry
We got every square inch of carpeting cleaned in our house today. This, of course, meant that the computer was out of commission all day. But then, I’m getting used to not having a regular computer to work at.
I love getting the carpets cleaned. Carpets are one of those things that sort of gross me out. I’m sure you didn’t know that. It’s just that they trap so much crap. As opposed, of course, to hardwood or tile where I can mop them and make sure they’re clean. Carpet, however, traps all that hair and dead skin that our bodies shed every day. Ewww.
At any rate, the fella who came to do the work is named Larry. Unfortunately we made the mistake of telling Toddler Boy this morning that Mr. Larry was coming to the house to clean our carpets. Unbeknownst to us he thought we were talking about Larry The Cucumber from the children’s cartoon show Veggie Tales.
When Larry arrived Toddler Boy wasn’t let down to find that Mr. Larry wasn’t big, green and limbless. He just rolled with it and all day and divided one man into two by referring to Larry as “Mr. Bob and Larry.”
Another One Bites the Dust (Another Mac Goes Back)
I’m a picky person. This comes out in my web design as well as my personal life. I want things to be “Just so.” So when my newest iMac started to make a rattling noise two days after it arrived I started to get worried. However, before I sent this one back too (remember I’ve already sent one back because the iSight camera didn’t work) I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just me nit picking.
I made a trip to my local Apple store today at Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta. After lugging my computer to the store and waiting to speak with a “genius” at the genius bar I finally got my chance. The genius was very nice. His name was Chris. I told him that this was my first Mac … er … well … my second Mac I corrected. The first one I sent back because the iSight was broken. Now this one was making a weird rattling noise and that I was getting more than a little frustrated with Apple.
He took the computer in the back so he could listen to it. After he and another genius listened to it they both agreed that this was a very odd noise and not typical of a new iMac at all. They recommended that I return it.
Unfortunately they couldn’t replace it right then and there. Not because they didn’t have any, mind you. They had tons of 24” iMacs right there in the store. They even could add the extra Gig of RAM and it would be no problem they told me. The problem, they said, was that the model numbers were different because this computer was bought online. A technicality.
So now, all I can do is go through the same rigmarole with Apple Care. I’ll call them. They’ll send me shipping labels. I’ll mail my iMac to them. 6 days later they’ll receive it and begin “cusomizing” my replacement iMac. Why they consider adding one Gig of RAM a major customization I’ll never know. It takes all of 2 minutes.
But anyway, once again I’ll be without Photoshop and without a Mac for a week and a half. As a guy who is just switching over from PCs to Mac this is a very very very unpleasant experience. I mean yeah, Mac’s look better and perform well, but at least when I order a PC from Dell it comes to me in working condition. I’ve never had to send back a Dell and already I’ve had to send back 2 Macs.
For me, it’s worth the wait because I still believe what everyone says, that Macs are the best computers on Earth. Unfortunately right now it’s still a leap of faith.
Check Your Freewill at the Door
This is posted in my church. One of the senior adult Bible study classes has decided to tackle the issue of freewill vs. predestination on Sunday mornings. Who says old folks don’t have a sense of humor?
The interesting thing is I’ve had several lengthy discussions with the teacher of this particular class and he’s fairly middle of the road on the issue. I wish I could sit in on that class as I’m sure they have some great conversations in there.
Do Old People Miss McCarthyism?
This BBC article got me thinking, do old people really want things to be like they were in the ’50s?
Most of us (reading this blog) weren’t alive in the ’50s. Furthermore, many of us don’t spend much time chatting with people who were alive in the ’50s (other than our grandparents) so it’s hard to get any perspective on our parts.
Fortunately you have me 
. Being in ministry I’ve had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time with lots of people who are at least two generations behind me. I’ve eaten countless meals with them. I’ve spent days and sometimes even weeks on end with them, living and working with them. I’ve picked their brains, listened to their war-time stories and their great-depression stories too. These old folks have lots of stories.
So when I read an article such as the one the BBC published (linked above) I think to myself, “That’s a stupid article.” Why you ask? Because from my experience when an old person says, “I want things to be the way they were back in the ’50s” they actually have a set of very specific things they’re referring to; and none of them involve yellow smog.
People of that generation really don’t want the cold-war back, or the food lines, or McCarthyism (you pinko) or racism. When they say they want things back the way they were they’re basically saying “I want to take the good things from the ’50s then cut and paste them into this day and age.”
They’re talking about the fact that back then they didn’t need laws to keep people from making fools of themselves. That was a job that private citizens took care of by — God forbid — actually confronting someone whose pants were about to fall off and tell them, “You look like a moron, get a belt.”
I write this article because I get a growing feeling that my generation really thinks the previous generations have gone retarded. That couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s a matter of viewing life and the world differently. And when an old person says they miss the way things used to be keep in mind they’re talking about certain specific things that they miss, not literally everything.
Coming Soon … And Bringing Cousins
I’m still getting over being sick and I’m depressed about my Mac. I needed something like this to make me laugh. I’m sure you do too. [ via ]
Now With the Fan Noise
So I got my first iMac but had to send it back due to the iSight camera not functioning at all. I received the replacement yesterday and the iSight works great. But now the fan is making a rattling noise. Seriously, I thought iMacs were supposed to be “virtually silent.” I’m pretty sure that there isn’t supposed to be fan rattle.
Does anyone else have an iMac that has a rattling fan? Should I send this one back too? I’ve been reading on the forums that iMacs shouldn’t have any noise at all except for the hard disk and the super drive. This is turning out to be a very unpleasant experience with Apple for me.
Harvey Danger Defines Progress
“Progress will be defined by your position on the bridge as it burns.”
— Harvey Danger
Gray’s Entomology
In the period of a few months of motorcycle riding I’ve put about 6,000 miles on my bike. I don’t think that makes me an expert or a “real biker” but I do think it gives me certain privileges; one of which is helping define a branch of science which I call Gray’s Entomology.
Entomology, or the study of insects, is different than Etymology which is the study of words and their origins. I don’t have much contact with words when I’m riding but I do have many frequent encounters with insects when traveling at highway speeds.
Unfortunately these encounters are pleasant for neither the bug nor I. And yes, I know that a bug is an insect but an insect is not a bug. Regardless, due to my many hundreds of “experiences” with bugs I have come up with my own naming system for these insects.
Purists may say my naming methods are unscientific (whatever that means) but I assure you my conventions are based wholly on empirical studies. All of which, by the way, were conducted by me.
The list (continually expanding)
Green stingy ones
These are very unpleasant when they contact your skin at high speeds. They sting like the dickens and often travel in herds. They are unavoidable.
Water bugs
These bugs don’t live in the water but when they splat against a face shield or windscreen (or face) their guts are perfectly clear, like water. It’s still gross though.
Big ol’ fuzzy ones
I hate these because they feel weird. Instead of just splatting like a normal bug, they kind of flurry around on your skin for, like, a nanosecond and it really creeps me out.
Birds
These bugs are GINORMOUS, avoid them at all costs.
The little black ones
Very annoying but not painful. These bugs will get in your eyes, in your ears and mouth if you’re not careful. These can even penetrate your helmet’s smallest holes.
Adlai E. Stevenson - Public Mind
“Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public purse.”
—Adlai E. Stevenson
Simplicity Redefined
OK, not all stock photos of people are bad. In fact, I think there are actually some really good applications for them (few though they may be). But church websites are no place for stock photos. A lot of this is largely because the VAST majority of stock photos look fake … wait, they are fake! Well, I guess that explains their looks.
Even though they may not be of real people or places associated with the church, they were indeed chosen by the church to represent it on the Net.
The fact remains that stock photos — especially on a church website — appear haughty, fake, plasticine.
Look. I’m not saying that every church needs to go out and get themselves a professional web designer because we all know how expensive that can be. I’m just saying, you’ve got to be careful what kind of image your portraying when you market your church.
But more than that, and I’m really showing my hand here, why market a church at all? When did marketing become part of congregational life? I know when. It happened the day the church began to have bills. On that day, money, profit, and marketing all became part and parcel of the church and would never separate from it again.
I don’t know what the solution is. House churches? Maybe. But can we honestly believe that money or possessions would then magically cease to be an issue? Hardly. I think money will always be an issue as long as we live in a sin-tilted world.
Yet while we Christians are here, in this culture which is so enamored with possessions and the ownership of “things,” we need to be careful just how much of that we let seep into our fellowship. The fact of the matter is church isn’t about worship style, pews or chairs, pulpit of stool, or house church or multimedia megaplex. These things clutter, they convolute, they complicate matters. Church is about people getting together to celebrate a relationship with the risen Lord. That, my friends, is simplicity redefined.
For Rent?
I saw this sign on my ride home from the church today. It made me realize that the importance of 3rd grade spelling skills cannot be overstated.
A Tool for Open Discussion With Teens
Getting students to open up and talk honestly about things they’re dealing with or thinking about is a hard task. One of the best ways I’ve found to get a group of teens to really open up is something I call “Real Talk.”
What I do is I give each student a 3×5 note card and a pen. I then give them a few minutes to write down any question they want me to answer. The questions are always anonymous and I always answer them as honestly as possible.
I pass around a basket and collect all the questions. Then I front-load the discussion time with several prerequisites:
- No laughing. It’s important that we don’t laugh at another person’s question. No question is stupid.
- Don’t ask who wrote the question. People can reveal what question they asked if they want, but I just don’t want someone to say, “OK, who asked that question?!” It tends to kill the trust.
- I ask the students to help make “Real Talk” a time of seriousness and safety. I emphasize the need for a safe place to talk about serious issues.
I get some really great questions. Sometimes the students ask me a personal question like, “Have you ever done drugs? And if so, do they really affect you?” Other questions are more general like, “How can I deal with stress?”
Obviously, you’ve got to consider your group of teens before you try to do anything like this. But if you think you can pull it off I encourage you to give it a try. You may be surprised at the kinds of things the students are really thinking about.
