iPad First Impressions

If you follow me on twitter, you may have caught that I was not initially that excited about the iPad. Yes, I’m a Mac fanboy who even waited in line for an OS release and have done other silly Apple posts. After waiting in line to be one of the first to get an iPhone, and later reviewing it, and suffering through some of the early iPhone issues (even getting the $100 credit when they dropped the price!), I initially decided I would wait out the iPad rush. My first evaluation was that this was a consumption device rather than a creative device, more for those who don’t already own a Mac and/or iPhone, and since I already have both, I saw no need for one. I liked the look and feel of it, but thought I had no need for one personally. I was in the “its just a giant iPod Touch” camp. But I slowly caved for a number of reasons. First, I decided to get my wife one for her birthday (which was today) because I had given her aging laptop to a new employee last fall and it died and she needed something for around the…

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Life Online Changing

My life online is changing. I used to blog a lot more than I do now. I love my blog and I do have people bug me to “blog more” – but the reality I connect in other ways, and I do have this other little site where over 20,000 people come each and every day, so when I am starring at my laptop wondering what to blog about, there is a part of me that says, “why blog? you don’t need a blog.” But my blog gives me an outlet for posts that don’t quite fit on Kidology – either they are CM related or are more personal. So in the spirit of both blogging, and why it is harder to blog lately, I’ll reflect on: HOW HAS MY LIFE ONLINE CHANGED? #1 My iPhone has changed online life for me! Dramatically. I do Facebook and Twitter almost exclusively from my iPhone. Seriously, when I’m at my computer, I have WORK to do! I can even do WordPress blogging from my iPhone, but haven’t found the practical need to do som, maybe I should try that more – for personal outings. I really want to blog more – I…

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Over and Out!

This is my last blog post until AFTER Yosemite Summit! No more Facebook, no Twitter, no e-mail, no cell phone, no work! I’m disconnecting for an entire week. I’ve been praying, planning and preparing for a year and its so exciting to see the eight guys that God brought together for this amazing week in Yosemite. They’ve been coming in over the last two days, and tonight we all gathered for our first meal all together before hittin’ the road in the morning. Steve, Matt, Tom, Scott, Karl, Scott, Marc, Brent, Pat (Canada, TX, PA, SD, IL, CA, VA, OK, OH) Please pray for each of these guys that God would really do a work in each of our lives during this next week. We each come from a different state and one from Canada. Each is leaving family and ministry behind to focus on their walk with God. Each understands that the best thing for their ministry isn’t another idea or resource but a closer walk with the Lord. Pray for safety and for an openness to what God has in store for us. I can’t wait to get started! So time for me to sign off and shut…

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Air Dad – UPDATED

As I have mentioned before, (like here and here), I was blogging before there were blogs. Before Blogger or Type Pad or WordPress, I journaled events online to share with the other few hundred people online who knew what the Internet was. Sadly, many of those posts are long gone (with their respective hosting companies) but a few poss I had saved to floppies, which is how I restored the ones linked in the posts above. (Others I will save until an appropriate reminder.) ANYWAY – the point of this post is less about blogging, and more about my dad and how proud I am of an accomplishment he just made this month: his first solo flight on his life long quest to become a pilot. He just sent the family the poem below to try and answer the oft asked question, “WHY FLY?” I love the poem and am proud of my dad, but I teased him that he left out the time he took me up for a flight, and he replied that he doesn’t remember it, and to send some “proof.” Which is why I mention the ancient blogging, as I blogged the adventure was back in…

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Brian Dollar at the Dollar Store

My buddy Todd McKeever twittered that he was having lunch with Brian Dollar, a guy that many know as the creator of the awesome High Voltage Kids Ministry resources available on Kidology.org. I then text messaged Todd to tell Brian “Hi” from me and suggested they visit a Dollar Store. (Yes, my humor is that lame.) But soon I got a picture sent from Todd’s iPhone that cracked me up: Brian Dollar at a Dollar Store! Everything he creates is totally awesome – from cool game music to countdowns and transitions to PowerPoint games to Kids Church curriculum. This picture made my day, so I just had to share it, and while I’m at it, encourage you to check out the cool stuff Brian cranks out that will be a great asset to your ministry to kids! I love the way the Internet, Twitter and cell phones can connect friends all over the country, in real time. THAT is the power of Twitter and connecting electronically. Just another reason why I Twitter.

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Why Twitter?

Why do I Twitter? I get asked that a lot. And I seem to stumble around for an answer because there isn’t just one simple answer, so I usually just say “to keep connected with remote friends.” Which is a big part of the reason, but I thought I’d try to expound a little on why it is I have posted over 1000 “tweets” to my Twitter page. Someone recently asked me what the ministry benefits were. I’d probably have to honestly say none, or not much. It’s not about ministry. It’s more about interpersonal relationships. Here I will try to explain what Twitter is, how you Twitter and lastly WHY Twitter. WHAT IS TWITTER? It would help first of all, to try and explain what Twitter is. First of all, it is found here: www.twitter.com. And if you know a Twitter-er’s username, you can simple put it after the domain, such as mine is: www.twitter.com/kidologist. Users can customize their page with a background as well as the color scheme of the page. And their Twitter profile icon of course. But what IS Twitter? It is a micro-blog whose posts are made up not only of your own, but of…

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