Tech, No Babel

I have the worst “luck”

Paul — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:14:17 +0000

Looks like TrinityDigitalMedia.com’s servers were shut down again. Coincidence?

Arrgh. The HoneyMoon’s Over

Paul — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:26:12 +0000

I’m unhappy with my web host. I should have known something was wrong with $5/mo. billed in 6 month increments. I had a problem with my paypal account (and it didn’t transfer money from my checking account until after they sent it to collections). Now, they want an additional $18.

To add insult to injury, my daughter’s domains are registered through them, so they’re holding theirs hostage, too.

Lesson learned.

Paul

Do You Wanna Know; Do You? pt. 2

Paul — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:43:46 +0000

Okay, I won’t make you suffer any longer. If you subscribe to my twitter (sempei13), you know that the bands this Labor Day Sunday (August 31st) will be…”Need to Breathe” known for songs like “Signature of the Divine” aka “Yahweh”, “Kutless” know for songs like “Strong Tower”, and Emmy and Dove award winner “Kirk Franklin” known for such songs as “Stomp”.

Pray for me. When we do Kirk Franklin songs at church I know what they are in advance, practice for hours and know who in our band is who. None of that will be true with Questapalooza. I’m not sure “take a shot of the girl with the earrings” is going to work. Oh well. It’s no mistake that I’m the one who gets to lead the live video for this event.

Paul

Do You Wanna Know; Do You?

Paul — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:31:52 +0000

Every year since 2006 my church has put on a festival that we call “A Party for the City”. The first year we had Shaun Groves, Crystal Lewis and Tate. Last year it was Foolish Things, Starfield, and Toby Mac. This year it’s…

I guess you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. If you follow me on twitter, you’ll know at about 1:30 eastern. If not, I’ll blog sometime tomorrow. Suffice it to say you’ll want to take your Labor Day weekend and travel to KY for Questapalooza. A bunch of you have wanted to come see Quest for a while. Well here’s your shot. I’ll be leading the live video, so I won’t be super available, but anyone that can make it will enjoy hearing… the bands I’ll tell you about tomorrow.

Paul

An Apology

Paul — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:52:09 +0000

I don’t know how many of you still read this blog. I know it’s not as many as it was. The fact is I haven’t been as faithful to the writing of the blog and definitely not as regular with the podcast. I’m making no excuses. I just want you all to know that I plan on blogging more regularly and podcasting more. I don’t intend on podfading; it just happened. I guess I just need a definite time. I have one in mind. I don’t know if I’ll do it. I just know I owed more to each of you. I get to be in the current of God’s work at my church. I’ve kept it to myself. I hope to share more.

Paul

BTW, if you’re looking for the feeds, they’re in the upper right hand corner. I fixed that.

I Wish More Presenters Knew…

Paul — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:03:22 +0000

I wish more presenters knew how to give good presentations. I’ve been to many presentations where the presenters didn’t use their presentation software for the benefit of the audience but for their own. They would put up a bulleted list and just follow each point in turn. I’ve done this myself and I regret it. When I taught classes at each of the first two ChurchMedia.net national conventions, I basically used my presentation as a teleprompter to help me remember what I intended to say. This is fine, but it didn’t really add to what I was trying to do.

A better way to do it is to augment the vocal aspect of the presentation with visuals that aren’t easily described, but not text that can just as easily be said. There are a couple of people that are particularly good at this sort of thing. I don’t care if you prefer Windows or voted for Bush in 2000, Steve Jobs and Al Gore are more effective because they follow this method. For more information on how Jobs presents, read this from BusinessWeek.com. For more about Al Gore’s presentation style read this from Wired.com.

I just wish more pastors and business professionals could do this. They’d be more effective. My last class I taught on podcasting about 18 months ago changed tactics and the response was overwhelming.

Paul

Last Week I Learned VIII

Paul — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:40:44 +0000

…that when you’re hooking up a thermostat, putting the wires in the right place really matters.
…that it’s fun to be able to control your thermostat from any web connected computer any where in the world.
…that I can use DynDNS to create a url for my home ip address so that I can access all sorts of web services from elsewhere.
…that I have friends with hard to find addresses even in the age of Google.
…that my life would be radically different if I didn’t give so much of my time at church.
…that I can’t help but give my time at church because I’m called to be an eternity changer.
…that my 18 month old is SOOOOO cute even when she says, “No.”
…that there’s a bunch of little trees and weeds in my yard that take long time to get rid of.
…that if you give a little girl a spray bottle, it will keep her occupied for quite some time.
…that lice are a menace primarily because they’re so hard to get rid of.
…that I really miss podcasting and I really need to get back to it.
…that I really need to finish fixing my xbox.
…that I’m really looking forward to possibly getting an iPhone for Christmas.
…that there’s at least 1 turtle in my yard.
…that my daughters like technology as much as I do.
…that they’re not yet as good at using it as I am.
…that there are few things worse than having “Karma Chameleon” stuck in your head while you’re crawling through a crawl space under your house.

Paul

A Most Unusual Day

Paul — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:43:19 +0000

My schedule is pretty set. From week to week I know pretty much what I’m doing most of the time. What’s odd is that if something messes up a task I have scheduled for a particular time, I don’t get many windows to do it. That’s happened a lot with the podcast. It’s so common that I miss my window now, that I’m going to try and find another so that Tech, No Babel can make a return.

Back on topic, normally I serve at church every weekend. That means my Saturdays and Sundays are mostly taken. As such, the laundry and lawn are often neglected. I’m not complaining. It’s the cost of what I get to do. This weekend I was off. Others were doing what I get to do, so I found myself hitting church last night. This morning I took the time to sleep in and remembered too late that my wife had to get to church during the last service and so I didn’t go today. That’s odd. I did have a window (that I normally don’t have) to mow the lawn so that’s what I did.

Now I’m home with two sick kids doing laundry and thinking, “This may be normal for most people, but for me it’s a most unusual day.”

Paul

Now this is cool–BeFunky

Paul — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:06:34 +0000

Now this is cool. Upload a picture and tweak it to look like a cartoon. It took me longer to save it than to do it. Check it out: BeFunky

Paul

Last Week I Learned VII

Paul — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:40:06 +0000

…that I really feel like a leader when I have something big to lead.
…that I’m really going to need to lean into Jesus this Summer in preparation for Questapalooza.
…that insecurity lies to you saying it protects you, but it’s actually keeping you from the life you want.
…that I’m happiest when I’m serving others and not thinking about myself.
…that being a father is easy when you’ve been given kids like mine.
…that it’s not easy to crawl under my house; it’s worse at night.
…that as hard as my marriage has been I married the right woman and I’d do it again.
…that thanks to “The Bucket List” I know that my life has always been about living without regrets.
…that I’m praying hard for the heart of a rescuer like John MacLain in “Live Free or Die Hard” and that I want to replicate that heart in someone else like he did in that movie.
…that I HATE living paycheck to paycheck.
…that I wouldn’t trade my life for anything in the world.
…that lice are the most evil vermin on the earth.
…that my daughter is cute even with shorter hair than I would prefer.
…that if I do nothing else, being a part of changing lives and eternities, is more than enough for this small life.

Paul