Archive for May, 2008

May200814

David

5

3G - 3 Good Reasons To Get An iPhone

I love Water Cooler Wednesdays!  It’s a fun time to participate in Randy Elrod’s carnival and see what’s on everyone’s minds.

If you don’t have an iPhone yet… what’s wrong with you?! Just kidding.  I understand all the reasons you may not have one of the coolest gadgets on the planet yet… you’re stuck in a contract with another carrier… not enough money… I understand.  All I have to say is - Start saving your pocket change because soon you will want an iPhone.

If you already have an iPhone… you’ll want to get the next generation… I promise!

I have 3Good reasons for getting/having an iPhone…

1. The new iPhones are likely to have video capabilities (not just from the camera in the back, but possibly from a camera on the front).  With this you would be able to do video conferencing, record live events as they happen and stream them on the internet.  QIK is already doing this but on a limited scale and only on Nokia phones. This summer’s blockbuster hit The Dark Knight has partnered with Nokia for some of their movie promotions - especially through WhySoSerious.com

2. According to Scott Moritz of Fortune magazine, the new iPhones may be more accessible to the masses with lowered purchase pricing through subsidies from AT&T.  This means that you can pay less for the phone with a 2 year contract.

3. Finally, 3G capabilities will most likely be found in the 2nd generation iPhone. What does that mean for you?  Much faster internet & data access!  Computerworld conducted some tests recently, and despite what that Verizon guy will tell you… their network did not top the list in fastest 3G networks.  Read here to find out who (hint: the same network that the iPhone is currently exclusive to). 

I personally believe the iPhone will bring you much joy! I have never owned a device I have used more than my iPhone.  I shop with it. By taking photos of items I want to buy at a store, then researching the info online, I save a lot of money. I even looked up an item via Google while at the check-out counter and got them to match it which saved me nearly $100.  I’m able to look up addresses and phone numbers with the pseudo gps/google maps feature, I browse the web a lot, get my e-mails, send a steady stream of tweets on twitter and twitpics, keep on schedule with my calendar, listen to music, watch videos + youtube, and of course, make phone calls.  I don’t know what I did B.I. (before iPhone) but it is amazing how productive I am, and how much time & money I actually save because of this handy device.

Like Randy, I do light work and would never be able to do so much and carve out more time for my family without the iPhone.

Now that you have 3Good Reasons, start saving because the new iPhone is only days away!

May200813

David

2

I Ate An Elephant

 

Yesterday, the term “Eat the elephant one bite at a time” had a whole new meaning. We just bought a house and one of the first changes we made was to the exterior. There was a big, beautiful rock wall totally covered with ivy. Having never dealt with ivy, little did I know the small battle I would fight most of the afternoon. The ivy had grown into every nook and cranny of the rock and in one place had even begun to burrow into the rock! All along the roofline, the ivy had begun to run shoots into the eaves and get inside the attic space. It was totally out of control.

I thought of sin and how it can grow and entangle, choke and overtake a person’s life and very existence. The removal was a tedious process in some places, and a few times, I had to pull with everything I had. The whole experience was messy with dust, pollen and several bird nest fragments showering down from above. The experience was also very cathartic.

After all the ivy was pulled down, Jill and I began cutting up the pieces of the vines. Some were easy to cut and some were the size of a small tree trunk. All of that ivy was fed by a tiny drip from a hose bib on the corner of the house. We’re going to have that small drip fixed and keep a watchful eye on the ivy that remains in the flower beds. It’s amazing that something so simple and seemingly non-threatening could grow so fast and get so enmeshed with our house’s exterior. If we hadn’t intervened when we did, the ivy would have caused some costly damage to the roof, walls and eaves. Most people were of the opinion that the ivy was not an attractive feature of the home. Apparently the previous homeowners thought it was pretty. Sin can look pretty and gets us all tangled up before we know it. Entertaining that little drip of temptation - indulgences of the smallest measure - can lead to being fully overtaken.

 

We ate the elephant one bite at a time yesterday and now the wall looks great. The ivy is chopped up and crammed into 12 bags ready for the garbage collectors, and we feel better for having done some hard work with visible results.

What big thing are you facing in your life? Is it a mountain of debt? We’ve been there too. Is it strained relationships with friends or family? Whatever it is, God can help. He’s bigger than any circumstance or situation. If he’s chosen to allow you to walk through this trial… to learn a lesson or maybe learn to depend on him more, he’ll help you. One step at a time, one “bite” at a time, you can turn the mountain into an ant hill. Big, elephant-sized problems are too overwhelming for most of us. When we have the “one bite at a time” mindset, we can accomplish the unthinkable.

May200809

David

1

Stimulated

From the dining room this morning, my wife started screaming YES!!!

I was trying to wake up the boys and ran to see what was going on. She was on the internet checking our bank account. Today we close on our house and she was trying to figure out if we had the money we needed for the cashier’s check. She was smiling ear to ear as she swirled the chrome neck of the old school iMac around to show me the balance in our account. It was $1,800 more than she had expected. Our Federal Government Stimulus Package arrived sometime during the wee hours of the morning. We have two boys and qualified for the $1,800 amount. The timing on this is so incredible! We now have more than enough to close on our house and buy the paint and supplies we were planning on getting. I know some people have been against the stimulus payments, but we’re certainly glad to get this - especially at this time.

We are excited to see what God has in store for us as we continue to put down roots and settle in to the work He has for us here in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

This has already been quite a stimulating morning and it’s only 7 a.m.

May200808

David

0

Making Fonts

I heart creative tools!  The really good tools make my life easier and boost my creativity.  I just signed up for fontstruct which is a new font creator from font shop.  I’m always on the lookout for new typefaces (the term cool designers use instead of fonts).  But, with fontstruct I may actually attempt to create some of my very own.  I’ve always wanted to delve into the world of font-making but have little time.  This new web based font creator might make jumping into font creation a little less painful and time consuming.

If you’ve always wanted to make a font and have never tried, I’d suggest you give fontstruct a try today!

May200807

David

1

Sex & SEO

I had the great fortune to be at a fun, informative think tank yesterday called LifeWork 2.0 . I connected with a lot of interesting people and learned many things. Something that stood out to me was the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). At one point it was said to be as good as almost as good as SEX. While you can pay for sex, SEO is often not that easy to come by. SEO is REALLY important… very critical to get right. And when you get it right, you can rule your world.

There’s a good bit of information on SEO at Wikipedia and of course, you can Google it.

What I took away from our SEO conversation was that Quality is probably better than Quantity regarding the traffic on a web site. Also, having organic search results and good keyword density is a must.

We learned about lots of new web apps and tools. One I’ve been playing with today is saynow.com . I’m thinking of creative ways we could use this for our church. Also, as a designer, one of my favorite color tools is Kuler from Adobe. If you send large files, having a free or paid  YouSendIt account is a must have. There are so many tools and apps, I could never list them all, but hopefully you’ll find a few of these useful.

I love being a part of Water Cooler Wednesdays!

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