Tag Archive - apple

The Friday Bag of Nothing

September 11, 2009 in Links, Personal with 3 Comments

It’s been a busy few weeks, and I apologize for not posting.  If you’ve stumbled here for the very first time, then I’m taking back that apology and telling you welcome instead.  Welcome.

Here’s my Friday Bag of Nothing:

It’s been months in the development, but I’m finally getting my name on the front of a book.  Me and my buddy Donnie have been working hard to bring you the freshest, most interesting, controversial, and best smelling book on the bookshelves.  Check it out!

Every Friday I’m home with my daughter.  My wife works about 6 hours on Fridays, and the boys are at school.  I cannot tell you how much this time has made me grateful for having a daughter.  It totally cracks me up to see and hear the things my daughter does throughout our “Daddy Days.”  In fact, we had to have a talk this morning about not rushing mom out of the house on Daddy Day.  To see much of what we do together, follow me on twitter.com/jonathancliff on Friday’s.  Fun times!

I’ve been asked recently why I have so many people following me on twitter.  Besides the fact that I’m an immensely likable personality (and very, very humble), it’s because I use Tweetdeck to sort my tweets into the groups that make it manageable.  While also leaving a door open to know many more people if they ever choose to interact with me.

Speaking of twitter followers, I  highly recommend these twitter management tools. Social Oomph -This site is great for vetting new followers.  It’s always beneficial to auto-follow, but be careful that you don’t get run over with porn and SEO experts!  The mutuality tool on Huitter is awesome!  It can automatically unfollow all those people that aren’t following you.  Believe it or not, it’s comes in pretty handy for massive unfollows.  Even using the above two tools, I’ve still had my share of porn accounts show up as followers.  I’ve been using TwitBlock.com to kill those that twitter spammers that sneak through.

I signed my first real writing contract this week.  Just for some magazine articles, but still something I’ve had as a goal for a long time.  That sound you hear is me patting my own back.

I really do worry about people that get ALL their news from the same source.  Yes, I’m talking to all my Fox News friends.  Moderation, my friends…moderation.  Please direct all political complaints to idontcare@jonathandoesntcare.com.  I wish people would stop assuming my political position, and stop bringing their complaints to me.

I follow Gina McClain on GoodReads.com.  She is reading so fast and furious this month, that I’m being shamed into reading more.  I know it’s not a race, but I think she’s reading a new book every 12 hours.  I’m just sayin’

The rumor of my iPhone transition seems to have been premature.  But, I still believe in miracles.  It could happen.

Kenny Conley (of ChildrensMinistryOnline.com) is coming for a short visit on Sunday Night.  I’m looking forward to meeting his family (also of ChildrensMinistryOnline.com.)  I hope Kenny (of ChildrensMinistryOnline.com) brings some of Austin’s weirdness up to Lubbock.  I need some more weirdness in my life right now. (BTW -all that CMO promo is an inside joke…)

I got Snow Leopard a few weeks ago for my Macbook. I was so looking forward to the Exchange 2007 integration in iCal and Apple Mail.  However, after 2 hours of struggling to get it working I discovered that we are running Exchange 2003 at work.  Not gonna work with out a stand-in program. Ugh…

I’ve got this friend that insists on using Hotmail for his email, and he posts bags of nothing every single day!  Check him out at Bagofnothing.com

I love iTunes 9.  The ability to transfer music between computers on the same network is a long awaited feature in the Cliff House.

My Friday Bag

July 24, 2009 in Links, Personal with 0 Comments

Nothing

This Friday I have a big, fat bag of nothing.  But somehow I’ve come up with this!

Have you been reading little Sammy Luce’s recent Family and Parenting Skills blog posts?  You haven’t?  Well go there NOW!  If you are offended by the recent Willie Wonka remake a few years ago, then be prepared to be offended by the awesome tie-in.

I’ve read this post on Church Crunch about how to make my blog more iPhone and mobile friendly, but the “how-to” still alludes me.  I just can’t figure it out…

For the record.  I still love my Macbook.  In case you were wondering.  I like to think of it as my 4th child…the one I don’t have health insurance for. (Does Applecare count?)

I’m really excited about two new hires I’ve made on my Children’s Ministry team over the past week.  I’ve got a great new assistant, that is proving to be a fast learner; and was able to hire for a newly created Part-Time Elementary Ministry person.  A real-life doing ministry in front of kids position!  This is huge for Trinity Church and for my life…especially as it relates to Saturday Night services.

I’ve noticed the RT’s and twitter replies have been getting less and less for the past month.  Anyone else worried that twitter mania has come and gone?  By the way, you can visit my twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/mostawesomepersonontwitter

I’m leaving for a week long vacation on Saturday.  Gonna hang out with some new and old friends, and a visit a ton of family for the entire week.  The kids are real excited about swinging through Dallas on our way back to catch a Texas Ranger game, but  I’m worried that my 3 year old thinks I’m playing in the game.  Since I hit a baseball topic, I’d also like to throw in a little “Yankees Suck” reference.  Ok, I feel better.

I’ve been reading the John Adams Biography referenced on my blog sidebar for over 3 months.  I’m still on chapter 2, but it’s a really great book…promise!

If my intentions for reading books ever proved to be the books I actually read then I would be the smartest person in the world.  Does that count for something?

I took a group of 100 kids to Amarillo for a fun (nothing-spiritual) getaway day.  It was a great success, hanging out at Wonderland Amusement Park and the wonderfully FREE Amarillo Zoo.  By a great success I’m not counting the adult that was puked on by a 4th grader on the way home.  And by puked on, I mean a kid stood up on the bus and blew chunks into the back of his head.  And by back of his head, I mean GROSS!

I’m real excited about implementing some new child dedication steps at Trinity over the next few months.  It’s going to be a fun ride.  And the baptism procedures have been tweaked as well…When @jabberfrog sees them, she’s going to totally know where I stole them from.  And by stealing them, I mean I was inspired by the things she uses at lifechurch.tv…

See?  There really was a big bag of nothing this Friday, huh?

HT: And like most things I do, I stole the “Bag of Nothing” reference from a good friend.  You should check out his totally time-wasting site at www.bagofnothing.com

Orange Carry Alongs

April 27, 2009 in Ministry with 0 Comments

Next week I head out to The Orange Conference. I’ve shared my pre-conference and breakout choices here, promoted it here, and talked about it here as well. It’s really a cool opportunity to spend some time with new friends, and meeting even newer friends.

Because at my best I’m really just an imitator, here is my Tech Carry-along bag. If you’re looking to rob me at Orange, this is what I would report to the Insurance company. This is NOT my idea, but rather one from Sam, Matt, and Kenny (and potentially some others…) By the way this will actually be a backpack. I couldn’t get it all to fit in my fanny pack.

My Travel Carry-On Contents

Macbook -I’ve had it for about 2 weeks not, and this baby is still rocking the original desktop image that it shipped with. I’m slowly moving toward being an Apple snob…slowly but surely…

Flip iMinoHD Camcorder -Ordered it on Amazon this week, and am looking so forward to do some video blogging. It’s also going to double as a quick way to do video for our kid’s service environments when I return from Orange.

Canon 1100IS -this camera is so tiny and cute, it just kills me. If it was pink I wouldn’t carry it. And yes, I do have CHDK loaded on it.

Palm Treo 700WX -because this is how I roll. Using a phone that was popular in early 2006 and using it until it falls apart.

Apple iPod Nano 8GB with my Nike+ running -I’ve tricked myself into believing that I will sneak in some running…not sure that’s gonna happen with my busy schedule at Orange, but I’m taking it to try and remind me to run.

Black Moleskin -with many, many, many pens for writing words on paper. I know this is rarely done anymore, but some of us still prefer the power of the written word.

I’ll be updating this little corner of the blogosphere multiple times daily throughout the conference, and posting many more tweets than normal on Twitter. I’ll even include a daily Twitter summary for the week I’m at Orange. I’d love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts, even if they’re to tell me how stupid my thoughts are. Do share!

My Big Bag of Nothing –Special Easter Edition

April 14, 2009 in Personal with 3 Comments

  • Isn’t Easter weekend fun?  Here at Trinity Church, Easter was indeed a great success.  I hate posting numbers, but I’m proud of our team so I’m going to throw them out there.  For 4 services this weekend we ministered to 743 kids and saw 53 kids attend for the very first time.  Praise God!
  • Easter also saw the launching of our new Saturday Night services.  Having church on Saturday nights is going to kick my butt.  Don’t get me wrong it was a great time, but my body just isn’t used to ramping up on Saturday nights.  I was with Elementary kids and had a great time with a smaller group, about 60.  I really need to find some volunteers to take that night for me, and I’m sure the job posting will be heading out there from HR any minute now.
  • Every time I hear something about Saturday night church I think of this song…Is there something wrong with me?
  • One of my favorite things about Easter services, is seeing new kids that I have no relationship with.  It is so fun to meet new people, and make first impressions again.  I know we have new kids every week, but Easter is unique in the shear amount of first-timers.
  • I used “The Girly Dress Method” of reaching out to new kids all Easter morning.  It’s classic, and gets a laugh 100% of the time.  I even heard that it works in Austin, TX.
  • I got my new Macbook on Good Friday.  I got to hand it to the boys at Apple, cause they know how to package a product.  I almost wanted to wrap it up and take it out of the box again and again.  I’m learning how to work this Macbook, but it’s going to take some time.  I feel like I’m driving a really fast car in a school zone…
  • The more I lead people, the more I learn how dumb I am.  How did I get put in charge of so many great volunteers and staff?
  • I had a weird dream about a guy whose blog I read.  It was really strange and related to one of his blog posts, so I decided he’d get a kick out of it and emailed it to him.  About 6 hours later I wished I had kept it to myself.  I’m embarrassed.  He said it made him laugh, but I’m thinking he’s lining up the restraining order as I type.
  • I need some new music to listen to, any recommendations?
  • I am so excited about heading out to The Orange Conference in two weeks, but I’m bummed that I have to miss my 1st graders field trip to the Science Museum, and a Friday night baseball game with both the boys.

Things I Do

January 9, 2009 in Links, Technology with 2 Comments

My all-time favorite thing to do on the Internet is to find, get, receive, take, and/or steal ideas from others. Whether it be finding hacks for my mobile device, new ways to balance my bank accounts online, reading reviews on books I’ve not read, or just finding new ways to do old things; the Internet has opened the doors to feed my daily improvement habit.

In the spirit of this sharing here are a few of the things I use, both online and offline:

  • I love photographs. I love digitally altered photographs even more. I know not how to take photographs, nor do I know how to digitally alter them. Therefore, InterfaceLIFT is my drug for all things photographically wonderful. It is a daily occurrence to add the newest submissions to my desktop wallpaper collection. Of which I use Caledos Wallpaper Changer to keep the desktop rotating fresh.

  • Windows Live Sync is actually one of the freshest, coolest, most intelligent programs that Microsoft may have ever developed. For years I’ve kept an external Hard Drive in my office at work, that I use to backup both home files (the most important) and some work files. I don’t like to keep it at the house, because if the house were to be destroyed, God forbid, I’d want my backup to be out of the house. Live Sync allows me to sync folders across the Internet without really ever thinking about it. But wait for it…wait for it…the big deal is that it’s totally stinking FREE and it’s really, really, really easy to setup.
  • Tokbox. If you are apt to do video calls with your PC, this little online program (or downloaded program) will make it all better.
  • For years I’ve been an iTunes junkie. I’ve hated it that my music is DRM-locked, but have been reluctant to use services like Amazon for digital music downloads. But that changed two months ago when I discovered Amazon’s MP3 downloader program that automatically places their DRM-free music right into iTunes for me. But trust me, it’s not just so I can get DRM-free music (which iTunes now offers), it’s because it’s cheaper. Way cheaper!
  • My sister-in-law bought this for me at Christmas this year. It may possibly be the smallest gift I got for Christmas , but it’s also one of my favorites. The Aerobie AeroPress meets my major coffee needs. There is a quote on the box that says, “It makes the absolute best cup of coffee I’ve tasted in my entire life!” After using it for the past 2 weeks, I can confirm the accuracy of this bold statement. It is a wonderful world to live in, if I have access to my AeroPress. And yes I am a coffee snob…
  • For my atheist readers, please disregard the next recommendation. I wouldn’t say I’m a voracious reader of the Bible, but it’s a pretty big part of my daily life. And YouVersion.com has helped to make it that way. I referenced it months ago, and I still stand by those claims. In my little opinion, there is no greater biblical resource on the Internet than YouVersion.
  • A listing of things I use, wouldn’t be complete without a reference to great site like lifehacker.com. If you’re unfamiliar with the greatness of LifeHacker, then please familiarize yourself.

So that’s all I got in my bag for you this time around. I’d love to hear some of the things in and around your life that are worth sharing. (And don’t send me pictures of your kids, geesh!)

Page 1 of 212»