Thursday, August 30, 2007

"Without ME, it's just AWESO" (t-shirt)

"ME" are two letters contained in my first name, Michael, so ergo, when The Office returns, TV will return to being awesoME.

Friday, August 24, 2007

"Hey where'd you get that?" (WarGames)

Free Software!

Just kidding. I recently picked up a laptop and I am in the middle of an experiment. I am only using the software that came with the machine (like the OS, utilities and whatnot), but not the productivity software. Meaning no Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excell, Adobe Photoshop, whatever.

I run OpenOffice.org office suite. I'm typing this now in OO's Writer program, then I will copy and paste to the Blogger interface.

My email client is Mozilla's Thunderbird, with the Lightning calendar add-on. Between Thunderbird and Eudora, I was able to get Thunderbird up and running first. And I like the interface and the simplicity it operates on.

I've been able to link my calendar to my Google calendar, but it is not as transparent as I wish. Maybe I'll learn some new tricks, but so far I'm not disappointed.

I'm also running Gimp for my photo editing. Haven't used it yet. My geek journey continues...

Monday, August 20, 2007

"Nobody cares about the man in the box." (The Prestige)

I love the Self-Checkout at grocery stores. Zip-Zing done. Only 3 or 4 items? Swipe, swipe, punch, bag. The ultimate convenience when you only have a few items. Or if you happen to need to buy certain products and don't feel right going through a regular checkstand. Like Crunchy Corn Bran, prunes, prune juice, and a box of Ex-Lax.

However, the Self-Checkout only works WHEN YOU CAN USE IT! Why do stores put them in, only to limit the access time where more than one is open? Obvious answer: not enough staffing to monitor the stations, to deter theft. But really, is that such a burden considering these checkouts are right next to the door?! Good planning and execution.

So now we have a convienence feature in a store that has now created an ever greater inconvienence. Not only am I forced to move to a different line because the patrons at the only Self-Checkout are typing and scanning their 14 different vegtables (these products take the longest amount of time to purchase) and having a hard time comprehending the alphabetical-push button interface, but my time is wasted. And time is the only thing you can't make more of.

A solution: allow patrons to enter in a payment method first (a debit/credit/patron card), the patron's zipcode or phone number, and allow them access to the Self-Checkout. Or just require patron card holders to be able to use the lanes w/o live monitoring.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

"You can do it!!!" (The Waterboy)

In effort to broaden our delivery method of The Rock Church's messages, I'm trying to deliver podcasts through iTunes. Like someone said, "you just put the podcast on the server and point iTunes to it. We have a server, use that. Right?"

It was pretty funny explaining everything about hosting a podcast. I don't know exactly how to host one (yet) but I can read how it's done. And I know that it's not as simple as dragging and dropping the file onto a page (ala flickr.com).

Which, coming from Apple, you would think they would have a special program for hosting podcasts. A "Load your Podcast here" function. Price it two ways: 25 cents/download if you want the content delivered free, or charge 99 cents/download and keep 49 cents. Either way, Apple gets money for hosting a file.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

"You look pretty." (Hot Rod)

A little sneak peek:


I'm still trying to implement a media player for an audio cast, along with some auto-email forms. I'm utilizing all freeware to show folks how a web site can be done fairly inexpensively. Okay, so I had to buy Dreamweaver CS3. I think anyone who does websites should have at least one industry standard tool at their disposal.

You may have free cable TV from your neighbor, but you still had to buy the TV, right?

Thursday, August 2, 2007

"We need Kate and Leo" (Love Actually)

My punch list for today and tomorrow: 22 items. 6 documents. 2 virtual docs. 4 system changes/additions/revamps. 2 planning actions. 3 or 4 research projects. And other things that defy categorization.

What's urgent: I Fit: I am The Rock Church banquet and accompanying message series. This will be about who we all are at The Rock, and how we "fit" in God's plan- serving, loving, helping.

Updating website content: Both therockchurch.info and providehope.com need some lovin'.

Regional Reach Team launch: Designing and implementing content delivery for RRT Leaders and participants.

Announcing a special musical guest on Sunday, August 26th (Big Parade Day Weekend). Hint: We've had him before, and he's coming up from Oregon.

So how do you go through this task list? One at a time.