Category: Stuff (Page 17 of 65)

The Holidays

11/24/2006 / Blake

I’m sitting on my inlaws’ couch typing on their laptop. And I’m sitting in front of a big screen TV watching SportsCenter. Since we don’t have cable at home, I get my SporstCenter fix when I can.

Yesterday was a drive north and then lunch at The Wife’s aunt’s house. Then a competitve game of Phase 10. I’m always confident in that game. Sometimes w/o reason. But I came in 2nd overall. So close….. I’m about to go get in the shower and then we’ll load the fam to go to New Albany to my dad’s house, then eat fried fish for Thanksgiving at my aunts house. How’s that for breaking tradition? Then later this evening we’ll head to Amory. Don’t worry, I’m clocking all the miles.

But I’ve also been reading stories on the upcoming Egg Bowl. I’m pumped for it. But I must admit I miss it being on Thanksgiving. I went about 3 or 4 of those. We’d eat somewhere, and then make the trek to Starkville or Oxford. I guess I liked it so much because State won most of the games on Thanksgiving.

But this year is really a toss up. I think we’d have the upper hand except for our QB situation. With Henig hurt, a less than healthy Conner will be at the helm most of the time. And UMiss is looking for trick plays to throw at us too. I hope to be able to listen to some of it on the way home tomorrow.

So…the next two days should be more eating and driving. Seems to be what the holidays are all about.

So, I guess I did drink the Kool-Aid

11/21/2006 / Blake

The kool-aid is tasting good. The Mac came in and now I’m sitting in front of it. It’s small, sleek, yet 15.4 inches. I guess I’ll be figuring out the ins and outs of it soon. I’ve been looking around the last few months at online opinions. And there are a lot of people who say, “Mac is the best and here is my grocery list for why…” and then there’s the camp that says, “PC’s are more than fine and here’s why when comparing ~~apples to apples~~ oranges to oranges they’re just as good…”

But I read one statement that rang true. Even though there are plenty of people who LOVE their machine, be it Mac or PC….any of the ‘switchers’ you read about are the PC to Mac people. I have never read someone say, “I used to be a Mac user only. But I switched to a PC and now I’d never think of going back.” I’ve NEVER heard of that. And it’s speaking volumes to me.

Now I’ve still got a long ways to go in getting my feet wet w/ this machine. I know it can do a lot of stuff that I’ve not even begun to scratch the surface of. So here’s to exploration and learning. This will be a great ministry tool. I’m excited to see what happens with it!

Playstation III Campers

11/17/2006 / Blake

Was at Target tonight. There were people starting to camp out. Had tents set up and everything. My wife was asking what those crazy people were doing. I told her it was to be first in line to buy the Playstation 3. I thought it would go on sale at midnight. But a lady in Target said that they were closing in 30 minutes at 9pm. The people would have to wait out there til 8am tomorrow.

I know we live in Mississippi, but it was COLD out there. One store over, at Best Buy, there was a huge group standing in the parking lot w/ sleeping bags and such. I guess they were having to wait til closing time before they could set up camp on the sidewalk.

Crazy people….

Fifty Seven Games

11/16/2006 / Blake

Fifty seven games. That seems unheard of. Fifty seven games in a row is what South Panola has won. I remember living in Amory and seeing them win 36 games in a row and thinking that was really impressive. And knowing that the state record at the time was somewhere around 47 or something. But South Panola has won 57 in a row and they have their eyes set on 60. That would mean they’ve won four state championships in a row with four undefeated seasons.

But Clinton is going to try to stand in their way. Clinton, who had a shaky start with their Jamboree blowouts (not in our favor) and then seemed to be the comeback kids during the first two games, found their stride. They went so far as to make it to #6 in the state. They had a few stumbles with their Jekyll and Hyde play. But they’ve positioned themselves for one of the bigger upsets of the year.

Not an upset because Clinton isn’t’ a good team. But just because of how dominant the SP Tigers have been over the years. So I’ll be there. I was actually in Batesville this summer on my way to Oxford. I noticed the signs welcoming everyone to Tiger Country and the lists of champions and championships.

I hope to be able to report good things come Saturday morning.

Am I To Be Like Eve?

11/14/2006 / Blake

Well, it seems that Eve couldn’t resist the apple. She gave in and partook of the fruit. Now I don’t mean to say that an Apple is sinful at all. But I’ve been looking over the fence at the Macintosh computers for a bit. I hear all the buzz. I see all the neat tools. I hear the “once you go back, you’ll never go back!” phrases.

But after some needed switcheroos in the computer setups in the office, we made a purchase. And we purchased a MacBook Pro. It should be here w/in the week. We expect to be using it for various media manipulation and editing as well as some desktop stuff. It’s got the horses. And we plan to let it run!

Does anyone recommend any media projection software? We’ve been using MediaShout for PC’s for around a year or so. I’ve seen ProPresenter and LiveWorship both for the Mac. Any thoughts?

My First Visit To Starbucks….good.

11/11/2006 / Blake

I must admit. I’ve never been to a Starbucks before. I’ve driven past tons of them and know tons of people that love them. But I’ve never been a coffee drinker. My dad and stepdad are and I used to smell it most mornings. Then my wife got into the cappuccinos for a while. But more of the gas station variety than the “legit” variety. But since I wasn’t a big coffee guy, I just didn’t have a big desire go to there.

But I had my friend Pat call and tell me he was going to be in the metro area and we’d not connected in quite a while. So we decided to meet for an early breakfast this morning. He suggested “for coffee.” Of course I said “sure!” and suggested the Starbucks over close to where he was staying. I admitted I wasn’t a big coffee drinker, but he told me that “all the church planting bloggers are big coffee drinkers!” He’s right, I’ve heard the name “Starbucks” on blogs and in sermons more and more and more lately. So they must be doing something right.

I met him there this morning and he snickered when I opted for the safe choice of hot chocolate (coupled w/ the chocolate-cream cheese muffin). I figured if I didn’t like coffee, why spend $4 to hold onto a cup of hot liquid I wouldn’t drink? One of the nice ladies behind the counter offered for me to try the Peppermint Mocha. I said sure and went with that. But all in all, it was good. And a nice environment as well after hearing about what a great place Starbucks is to hang out. I might have to go check out the one here in Clinton now!

So now Rick can smile and say I have been to one of his most favorite places in the world. But I’m not buying a coffee maker anytime soon! Pat is planting a church in Oxford, MS. He’d been the Junior High Student Minister at The Orchard in Tupelo for a few years. And now they’re planting a church (a branch of the Orchard? haha!) in the next year. Pat is a gifted man w/ tremendous desire to see people connected w/ Jesus. I look for powerful things to happen through his leadership there in Oxford. It was really good to be able to talk w/ him and talk over the loud but snappy music at Starbucks. If they had free wireless I might go there more often!

Waiting on the carpet cleaners

11/10/2006 / Blake

I’m home alone. Or the only human here. My dog is running around thinking he needs to go investigate the house down the street where people are moving. But I’m lying in my floor w/ the laptop waiting on the “carpet technician” to get there. My living room is bare. And so are other rooms. We were supposed to get our carpet cleaned Tuesday. But an emergency arose. So today is Friday and we’ve had most of our furniture in the kitchen, guest bedroom and bathroom all week. They were supposed to be here between 11-1am, but we’re looking at 2 right now.

An off week for the Bulldogs

11/10/2006 / Blake

So after a very mediocre season so far, the Dogs pulled off quite a while last weekend. I was at Addison’s final soccer game of the season when the game started. And since it was her last game, I had to attend a little picnic just after it. But as I was leaving, I got in the car and listened to the score. I was expecting to hear Bama slapping us around pretty hard. But it was 10-10. And Bama was kicking off. That means that we were winning.But as I drove home and had to stop off at the church, we scored TWO more touchdowns. One on a great TD pass by Henig, and the other on an INT return by Culberson. So now we’re up 24-10. And I get home and watch an awesome goal line stand.Fast forward through the 2nd half…Bama gets a couple of fieldgoals, but never an offensive TD in the game. State wins 24-16. And it seems we’ve regained some bounce in our step. We’re FAR from good. But I think the off week came at the best time in the world for us. It will give time to heal and mend. But the next 2 are crucial. We need a good showing in the Arkansas game and a spanking put on the Rebels over T’giving holidays. I think we can do it. Watch out, Rebels. Here we come.

But the biggest thing for us will be recruiting. If we can beat UMiss, then we’ll have major momentum going into the heart of recruiting season. And we desperately need some depth AND starters!

My Top TV Shows of the Season

11/09/2006 / Blake

Now that we’re a month or two into the fall season and I’ve had the chance to watch a few television shows and figure out the ones that are in my Top List. I had to be careful about my viewership. If I was a man w/ not much to do I would watch more. There seems to be an absurd amount of good television shows on these days. But here is what I’m watching, in no particular order at all.

Heroes: It has taken a little while to be able to really get going w/ the actual plot because of having to introduce so many different characters. I guess it’s similar to LOST in that area. But it has started to pick up steam. But it’s interesting seeing the different “powers” and how they emerge.
LOST: It’s not a new show. But it still has me. Season 3 has focused on other areas and seems to be answering some questions while opening up even more. It’d have to take a major downward spiral for me to drop LOST at this point.
Studio 60: Great cast. Possibly the best writing on TV right now. Very witty humor. But it’s fighting rumors of a cancellation. NBC execs say it’s not being canceled and their sticking w/ it.
The NIN9: LOSTish drama about people who survived a 52 hour bank robbery. Great interpersonal stories that are always leaving you guessing what really happened.
Grey’s Anatomy: Hands down, this is the best show on television at making music such a part of the story telling. It has some great stories too. A bit too much sex though. But you see real character development.
Survivor: Sometimes I wonder if I’m still hanging around for no reason. But I have to admit that I’m still hooked.
Friday Night Lights: Looked like it could be cheesy, but it’s not just football. Probably wouldn’t mind if it was just football, but it’s got more. And it shows the pressure that a high school coach can be under too.

So there are 7 shows. A little under 5 hours of watching a week. That’s because I have to record all of them just about every week. Still using the old VCR hooked to my rabbit ears for tv reception. Works, but not like a charm. Maybe someday TiVo and digital cable will smile down upon me.

GTD in Youth Ministry?

11/09/2006 / Blake

A few months back I saw Scott Hodge make a reference to GTD. He used it as someone throwing around the letters NFL or CNN or something. Like I should know what it meant. But I just kept reading. Then I saw it again somewhere, and then somewhere else. So I had to go look it up. Turns out it stands for Getting Things Done and is a supposedly very efficient way to, ahem, get things done.

David Allen is the mastermind of it. But it’s an organizational structure of grabbing everything out of your head, collecting it somehow and some where, processing your “stuff”, and then either acting on it or filing it away for future action. The subtitle of the book is The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. That sounds like bliss.

I’ve discovered many other websites that will help w/ implementing the GTD methods and tools of the GTD culture. But I’m realizing that I need to have a master collection agent, and be able to process and act on all of those things….but more than that, I just need to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted. There are plenty of worthwhile things that I look at and get mesmerized by during my days, whether at work or at home. And they’re good things, but they’re not what I need to be accomplishing right then, whether it’s returning an email, picking up something from the store, or making sure my kids get a bath.

But I’m taking the dive into GTD. Wish me luck.