This may not appeal to many, but one of my many pet peeves with Apple Lion (the beginning of the decline of Apple with the passing of Steve Jobs) is the STUPID “All Files” default view whenever you open a new finder window. One by one I am learning how to undo all the insane “improvements” Apple made to the once inherently and intuitively awesome Mac, but lately they add stupid features you have too Google how to fix. (Like the vanishing scroll bars. Arrrg. Fixed that!)
Why oh Why would you want a window that lists every file on your Mac and that takes an insane amount of time to load? The chances of something you actually need appearing in that window is highly unlikely. So you have to wait until it is done loading to click on a useful folder like Documents, or your home folder to get to what you need.
So, if that has bothered you, I have found the fix!
Simply open a new Finder Winder and go to Preferences, and under “New Finder windows show:” choose what you’d like to see whenever you open a new Finder.
While only a few options are provided, you can choose ‘other’ and as you can see from this screen shot, I choose Dropbox, since I manage all my working files in a Dropbox folder, so that all my files are always backed up and accessible on all my computers (or any computer!) as well as my iPad and iPhone. (or any ipad or iphone) and easily shared. I highly recommend Dropbox. Join using any of the links you see in this paragraph and you’ll give me some bonus space! (Thanks!)
If you are looking for a simple and kinda cool way to get an overview of your day – and doing some planning for the year, I just stumbled upon a cool new App you might enjoy.
It is called Cue, and it links you calendar, contacts, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, or whatever accounts you might want to link into a single simple view of your appointments and events for the day. It’s a pretty slim and sleek way to see what’s important for the day.
Also discovered, is a free Office App called CloudOn – integrates with DropBox. Looks very powerful and helpful. Worth a look!
If you have found some great new apps for 2013, let me know in comments below!
My favorite GAME is Air Wings! If you are in Game Center, my username is Kidologist, friend me, and I’ll blow you out of the sky!
I look forward to playing you, or hearing what awesome apps you plan to use to help you be more productive or successful in 2013!
Ladies… if you really want to impress your husband for Christmas this year. Don’t get him a tie. Get him something, anything, from Scottevest.com
I’m serious. And no, I’m not getting paid for this blog post, and get no benefit from it. I’m honestly just doing all the ladies out there a HUGE favor.
Your man loves his gadgets. But he doesn’t want to look like a nerd or dork carrying them around. He loves his iPad, but he doesn’t know how to carry it around without looking like he is taking work with him. He doesn’t want to be one of those guys… You know the type, with the batman utility belt filled with gadgets (like the step dad in Night at the Museum)
And he’s not going to wear some STUPID tech belt like I saw on my last flight in Sky Mall Magazine:
Are you kidding me? RIGHT.
But with a Jacket, Trench Coat, Sport Coat, Vest, Hoodie, Shirt or even boxers from Scottevest – your huck of love will be able to hide his tech gear and look like a normal sharply dressed man you won’t be embarrassed to be seen with. (Until he pulls out that iPad in the middle of the movie* from that hidden pocket to check IMDB to see who that actor is.)
So make this the Christmas you score major points, and tell ‘em @Kidologist sent you in the check out. (Just for fun)
My sister posted this to my Facebook Wall. For some odd reason, it made her think of me…
My reply was:
No way! You’ve got to tweet it, post twitpic images, update your Facebook status, check into Four Square friends to see if any of your friends are in the building too, post a video of the fire to YouTube and do a blog post discussing your thoughts on the cause of the fire and the general lack of safety in the building, and THEN exit!
But it did make me laugh, (and think). Truth me told, I might try to pull off a tweet on my way out of the building. (If I could do so safely, of course! And if I could do so without endangering anyone else, of course!)
But do we tweet and facebook too much? Certainly! I sometimes wonder if when Jesus returns, Christians will miss it because they will all be looking down at their cell phones Tweeting:
Jesus is here! #secondcoming Betcha wish you’d accepted Him? #heaven #hell #salvation #toolate #John316
Jesus will be yelling, “Hey! Look up! I’m here, time to put the cell phones down!”
Ten bucks, there is no Internet or cell coverage in heaven. We’ll have to just walk around actually talk to each other.
I think facebook has hurt blogs as I think people have gotten Internet-lazy. They just stay on facebook and don’t move around the web as much, however, I think a blog can still get traffic if done well. I read blogs, but focus on ones that are consistent (like yours, Glen) and solid content (also like yours).
If you want to get FB readers, you MUST install a Facebook “like” button and ‘like’ your own posts so they will appear on your wall so people who follow you on Facebook will see you blogged and hop over and read your blog.
RSS Readers (Like Bloglines/Google Reader) are less used today (I think) by the general public, as they were once how blogs were read.
Tablet readers are now stronger, like Flipboard, and I read a lot of blogs that way, and through Twitter feeds, so be sure to Tweet your blog posts through hashtags like #kidmin #leadership etc. as that will drive traffic.
Bottom line: Do people visit blogs directly today? No. Do they read them? Yes, but mostly because they are driven there by other means, so you need to drive people to your blog, and then try to get them to like it enough to create a way to get your content more regularly.
If you want to be read, you need to work at it. You can no longer just post and assume it will be read.
What do you think?
(Hey, prove to me you read MY blog by commenting!) LOL
The highlight of my CPC this year was getting to see Barbara Baker again. I always keep an eye out for her. She is one of my favorite CPC “Regulars”. During the conference, INCM asked some of the speakers and bloggers to make some time to be interviewed for the INCM website throughout the year. However, I told INCM’s Executive Director Michael Chanley they should interview Barb!
She is living proof that you are never too old to be creatively reaching and teaching kids! We crossed paths for years until I finally stopped to meet her. (It seemed like I only saw her going the other way on escalators!)
When I first talked to her, she surprised me by asking for advice on how to incorporate a remote Internet audience of children she would be broadcasting her VBS to in the summer. I taught her how to use Ustream.tv to share her VBS over the Internet and she went home and did it! Now that’s one cutting edge lady!
Now she tells me, at age 67, that she has just gotten an Amazon Kindle and is learning how to use it! She’s been struggling with Parkinson’s disease now for three years, but still serves as a bus captain and simply jokes, “The bus shakes and so do I.”
Barb doesn’t let anything stop her from being equipped to better reach children with the Good News of Jesus. She attends conferences to learn about the latest resources and ideas, she dives into the latest technology no matter how intimidating it is, and just shows up paying no attention to age or health that would slow others down. There is no “retiring” from children’s ministry for Barbara Baker.
Are YOU furthering your kidmin education?
Are you mastering the latest tools?
Are you trying something new?
If not, what’s your excuse? If Barb can do it, you can too!
This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving.
You don’t feel thankful for the things you feel you are entitled to. Where have you lost your thankfulness?
While my initial reaction was a little defensive, “I don’t feel ‘entitled’ to anything,” I decided it was a question worthy of reflection.Especially the final question:
Where have I lost my thankfulness?
Or asked differently, “What do we take for granted?” I’m not sure I take it for granted, but one thing I AM thankful for, and MARVEL at every time I get the opportunity to take advantage of it – is FLIGHT. I think it is something our society takes for granted, since it’s existed now for almost one hundred years as a mode of transportation.
Click to Enlarge (How exactly was this taken?)
I have never outgrown my boyish fascination with flight. I have flown many times and still request the window seat, until recently, now that I have a boy who wants it, but unless Luke is with me and has claimed it, my forehead is pressed to the glass during take-off and landing and during much of the flight. I could publish a photo book of America of pictures out airplane windows! (iPhone videos too)
My Most Recent iPhone Window Pic
I think that air travel is one of those things that people take for granted. I, for one, have never gotten over it. I sit there amazed in my chair completely in awe each and every flight. As we drive home, after every flight I say to my wife, “Can you believe I we were in California this morning?”
I think this YouTube Video sums it up pretty well:
Everything is Amazing and Nobody’s Happy:
This video explains why I never complain about airplane delays. To complain is to miss the miracle of flight. We are so spoiled as Americans.
It is time to be thankful for the things we take for granted.
This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving.
DAY #21: My Customers
Back in 1994 when very few people knew what the “Internet” was, I got an idea for a website: The KidologyWeb:
I was already calling myself “The Kidologist” in my workshops as I sought to equip and encourage children’s workers to approach children’s ministry from the perspective of a child:
By 1996 the first “Kidology Handbook” was published:
VERY FEW people remember when Kidology.org (before I had that domain!) looked like this:
OR when you clicked into it and saw crude pages like this:
Only hundreds were lucky enough to BE on the Internet surfin’ kidmin back then! (And only a few bought the “Life Time Memberships” I offered back then when I needed to raise some money to buy some much needed Microsoft FrontPage software, and yes, they are still members!)
More remember the next version of the site: Kidology 2.0 (which I called it long for “2.0″ was hip)
It had the infamous “frames” that if you navigated just right, would give you frames within frames within frames, which could be kinda fun…
If you were a member then, prove it by putting int he comments the “Secret” entrance you clicked on to enter the Member Area before I had usernames and passwords… it was kinda funny!
Then, due to a huge answer to prayer and grant (told about in my Thankful for Steves post) I was able to hire a real web developer, Ken Kinard, who built me my first real website, with a database driven backstage and got use set up with credit card processing and memberships with usernames and passwords.
Kidology.org finally had a webite platform we could really build on. Our rapid growth soon meant transitioning to a more robust platform and even another complete redesign and before we knew it it was time for yet another complete redesign and platform change… as we went from hundreds to thousands of members and became the leading destination for children’s ministry content on the Internet.
We incorporated as a non-profit ministry in 2000 and by 2006 I had gone full time. That paints a much smoother picture in one sentence that the story is – but anyone who has lived life or founded a ministry knows, no road is smooth, but God is faithful when we continually seek him through the ups and downs on the journey.
Our websites have changed… our logos have changed… staff have come and gone…
A Rejected Kidology Logo!
One thing has remained the same… OUR CUSTOMERS! They come by the hundreds, indeed by the thousands, every day… looking for ideas, for resources, for encouragement, for training, for jobs, for connections, for friendship, for a wide variety of things… things that can’t all be found anywhere else all in one place… and even when they can be found somewhere else, they know they can find it there, but starting here! Because like Miracle on 34th Street… we will direct you to where you need to go.
So far this month, as of this blog post, we’ve have 1,157 newFREEBasic Members sign up on Kidology.org, and that’s just THIS MONTH so far… I’m blown away by how many children’s ministry workers come to Kidology.org. I remember when 1,000 members was the entire ministry of Kidology! (And when we thought we’d never hit that number.)
It is humbling and amazing and such a blessing that this is my employment now. That I have the privilege to get up each day and serve you.
I am thankful for getting to work at home near my family, to get to travel to minister to children, and to get to meet some of my customers when I am out and about serving.
MY LIFE MISSION hasn’t changed since I was nineteen when God gave it to me: To reach and teach as many children as possible with the Good News of God’s Love, and in the process to Enlist, Equip and Encourage others to do the same.
THANK YOU for allowing me to use my God-given talents to bless you and serve you. I stink at a lot of things, but that I get to do what I love, is because of my customers.
There is a saying:
LOVE WHAT YOU DO WHAT YOU LOVE.
My customers make that possible. I am thankful for them today.
As many of you know, I’m extremely patriotic – and Scottevest.com is one of those great American examples of why I love America. Scott Jordan saw the need for something, took the risk to create it, people bought it, and he’s been hugely successful. And I’m more than happy to give him free advertising on my blog and twitter account (which I constantly do) because I wish him all the success he can have! (My tweets have been featured on Scottevest.com four times: 1, 2, 3, 4 Follow Scott @Scottevest)
What is Scottevest? It comes from the combination of his name “Scott” + “E” (electroncis) + “Vest” his original product:
CLick to View Large Image
But his company has grown to include a WIDE variety of products ranging from winter coats, trench coats (the ‘carry-on coat’) to dress shirts and sport coats to boxers and women’s apparel.
As a geek tech lover, and one who now takes an iPad with me everywhere I go – Scottevest clothes are THE SOLUTION for men who don’t want to carry a “purse” or so-called “man bag” and don’t want to haul a backpack or briefcase everywhere.
PLUS, for professionals like me who travel a lot and are frustrated with the hassle at airport security, a Scottevest vest or jacket gives you an extra carry-on. Simply put everything in your Scottevest and you breeze right through, hassle free!
I routinely pack my iPad, iPhone, Apple headset (which I have a set wired into every Scottevest), glasses, GPS for the rental car, digital camera, spare memory cards, tripod, flipcam, magic tricks, balloons to calm crying kids on the plane, keys, mini iPad shuffle (the awesome one Apple discontinued), pens, and various car adapters, chargers, spare battery for laptop, etc. and I don’t look bulky at all.
Plus, I have several Scottevest pants and shirts and even a hat which allows me to have my Verizon Broadband card handy when I have no pockets!
Karl in SeV 2012 Catalog Fan Page in Yosemite
I just found out that my fan pic was picked to appear in the 2012 SeV Catalog that I submitted from hiking in Yosemite National Park last May. (That is Vernal Falls in the background.)
I am thankful for Scottevest because Scott Jordan took the risk to create products no one else would… they are high quality, excellent, creative, practical and downright awesome. And available nowhere else.
And if you want to get a deal, I made this page for you to check out everyday:
This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving.
DAY #16: Da Cloud
I might lose some people on this one, but I am incredibly thankful for cloud technology, and while I’m enjoying watching a lot of my friends starting to use it, I’ve been using it, and dependent on it, for years.
Michael Chanley and I did a workshop together on Cloud Technology: What is It? at CPC last year and you can listen, watch and get the handout at the link above.
In a nutshell, what this means is that all my files are no longer stored on my computer. Because the days of having only one computer (or device) have been long gone for me for several years, I needed to be able to access any file at any time from any device, update it and have that updated file be on the other devices, AND (this is key) NOT be online when I needed it.
While MobileMe got a lot of flake (even from Steve Jobs) I used MobileMe to the max even puzzling Apple Genuies at the Apple Store with what I got it to do, and have been very frustrated that the iDisc is being discontinues as of June 1, 2011. Nevertheless, I have swithched to DropBox.com – and turns out I like it better, as it has an add on feature that backs up EVERY file you EVER delete, unlimited and forever
This is different that web-based file sharing, because with those, like Box.net, you have to be online, and they are slow. (Which is what iDisc is if you don’t turn on the Local Copy feature which a lot of people never discovered.) Dropbox keeps a local copy of the files and syncs them with the others local copies on the other devices, updating each copy as changes are made.
Because I use a MacBook Pro as my main machine, but an iMac for all my media and video production, an old Mac Mini for all my photo storage, a MacBook Air for travel and working remotely and an iPad for carrying with me everywhere in my Scottevest and of course an iPhone – it is essential to have up to date files at all times available on any machine, that are also available on ANY OTHER MACHINE simply by logging on to dropbox.com. Plus, you can share files or folders with others colaboratively.
In addition to files, “the cloud” enables you to have all your contacts, calendars, and a host of other information also synced between all your events.
It used to be that if my laptop was stolen my company and data would be at great risk, and I would lost incredible amounts of work. Now, while I certainly would NOT want that to happen, I would lose nothing. I would immediately pull out my iPhone or iPad, go to dropbox.com and unsync that laptop and all that data would be unsynced and unavailable to the thief and all my data secure and backed up and available on all my other devices.
I haven’t even gotten into what Apple’s new iCloud service will be doing, I haven’t even made that transition yet! (Looking forward to photo stream!)
It is truly an amazing era we live in, and since I run an electronic company/ministry with employees and contractors and volunteers all over the country (and actually all over the world) this cloud technology has really made my life simpler and work flow smarter.
Lastly, if you haven’t made the transition from POP e-mail to IMAP – you need to find out what that means and make the switch. IMAP is like “cloud” it means all your email is stored in the “cloud” (on the server) and synced between all devices/computers, and again safe from anything happening to one computer/devices. Instead of “POP”ing into your computer, your computer just reads what is on the server. If you “read” on one, it is marked read on all devices. But it isn’t “webbased” it is still pulled down so you can work offline. Web-based limits you to when you have Internet, I still like the flexibility of being able to work when I have no Internet, like on an airplane.
I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.
~ Stephen R. Covey
The highlight of my CPC this year was getting to see Barbara Baker again. I always keep an eye out for her. She is one of my favorite CPC “Regulars”. During the conference, INCM asked some of the speakers and bloggers to make some time to be interviewed for the INCM website throughout the year. However, I told INCM’s Executive Director Michael Chanley they should interview Barb!
When I first talked to her, she surprised me by asking for advice on how to incorporate a remote Internet audience of children she would be broadcasting her VBS to in the summer. I taught her how to use Ustream.tv to share her VBS over the Internet and she went home and did it! Now that’s one cutting edge lady!
Are YOU furthering your kidmin education?
