Tri Gear

Ordered some tri shorts from this company. It's about the cheapest triathlon shorts I could find AND they're giving away a free biking jersey with it. Only $29. I'm going to look sweet in my new pants. Woo.

http://www.aevero.com/

Meka-Made Coffee. All by herself.

sabrina's latest painting

mwa-ha-ha! she is going to make me a fortune! mwa-ha-ha!

the photograph of it doesn't do it justice at all but you get the idea...meaning, i am going to exploit her talent one day to buy tons of stuff! mwa-ha-ha!

From the Vault #2

iPhone vs. Pre

So the longer the Pre delays in releasing the more the iPhone becomes appealing. We can't go to AT&T any time soon, certainly not until well after the Pre launches.

I know the iPhone has a bajillion apps but they could do a better job contextualizing the commercials to ME.

"Want to check the local snow report?" Uh...no. "There's an app for that."

"Want to count your calories for lunch?" Again. No. "There's an app for THAT."

"Want to remember exactly where you parked the car?" Um...I don't forget that or park somewhere so complicated that I need my phone to tell me.

Show me some apps other than "lighters" or snow reports or calorie counters or games where you can play god and torture islanders.

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

Trouble With Twitters

Taking the Revolver to the Next Level

Bullet shaped ice. Awesome.

Thank God for Big Sisters

Afraid to enter our dark bedroom Edie stands @ the threshold crying...

Meka assures her: "Don't be scared Edie, it's only monsters."

Amazon Kindle 1 Review

Positives
-Terrific reading experience. The ePaper technology without a backlit screen really does make you feel like you're not reading a screen.
-WiFi immediate downloading of books is wicked cool. Caters to instant gratification desires.
-The ability to download samples, the first chapter or so, of books is nice. Let's you read a bit and see if the purchase is worth it. Sort of like physically browsing in a bookstore.
-Size & feel are terrific, the whole thing is very intuitive. Within an instant of picking it up you know how to use it.
-The Kindle comes with a cool moleskine-esque case with the elastic band to hold it shut. Nice touch.
-There are TONS of free & inexpensive books both via Amazon and other sites. Mostly older public domain books which I ought to be reading more of anyway.
-haven't done this yet but apparently you can convert pdfs to files that work on the Kindle and then send them wirelessly to the device. That's pretty cool.
-The quote/highlight feature dumps the quotes into a "My Clippings" doc on the home screen which is a pretty cool way to organize quotes especially if prepping for a message or presentation. Instead of flipping back through the pages in the file you can access the clipping doc.

Areas of Improvement
-Amazon needs a larger selection of books. I tend to read around the fringes, that is, not necessarily the best sellers and what not. There are many titles available and more coming but unlike mp3s where you can get literally ANYTHING the books aren't as readily available.
-$9.99 is too expensive for an eBook. Most of the books you can get for a little more than that in the physical version and if you order a few you get free shipping! It doesn't make sense that publishers are selling their books for $9.99. Sell them for $2.99 and I'd be snatching up books left and right. Probably even books I wouldn't read otherwise. No brainer...lower the cost of the books. For $9.99 I struggle buying unless I "need" the book for school or work.
-They also need a way to add books to it that are already in my physical library, ala importing CDs using iTunes. I want my library on the Kindle. It'll take someone much smarter than me to figure out how to assure someone does own a book so that they can "import it" into the Kindle but hey... An easy way would be for Amazon to offer free Kindle downloads for books that have already been purchased by the user FROM Amazon.
-There is really no way to "share" a book like you might pass a book along to a friend when you're done reading it. There should be a feature where you can "share" a book wirelessly with a friend's Kindle for a period of time and then it sends it back to you. Or something like that. There needs to be ability to legally share. That's one of the beauties of books!
-A library service or ability to rent books would be cool. A subscription service or something like that.
-It's tough to skip around in a book. This is a feature that is important especially for like prayer books or the Bible. There may be a way to do it more efficiently but I don't know it yet.
-The book list on the homepage needs to be better organized. I set it to organize by author but sometimes it uses the author's first name other times it uses their last to alphabetize. I have two books by the same author, one is cataloged by first name the other by last so they aren't anywhere near each other. Booo.
-Amazon ought to give 50 free downloads with the purchase of a Kindle. Or 20. Whatever. It's a HUGE investment to get a device with...nothing on it. There are tons of free books as aforementioned but it'd be sweet to be able to pick NEW books.
-Let my books go! Make them DRM free! You'd think Amazon would have gone the way of their music/mp3 store and somehow gone DRM free. Of course they don't have the proprietary device for music and they do for books. Let the books go!
-The screen is cool but a touch screen would be cooler. We're getting so accustomed to touch screens it almost seems like a must. The scroll thing seems old somehow.

I'm delighted to have been given this gadget to fiddle with and use. I'm also glad I didn't drop $400 on one. Not worth it. Yet. Someday maybe. The 2 may have remedied some of these things, I don't know.

Love the reading experience on the Kindle but not sure I'm ready to give up the whole experience of having a book in hand. If Amazon could make the Kindle SMELL like a book, particularly an old one, that might go a long way to helping me make the switch. And until all titles are available on the Kindle a full switch just isn't feasible.

Also, for fiction the Kindle is great but for non-fiction, for instance for a book study with a group or something...not the best. There is a note taking feature but it's not IN the text, it's off to the side and you have to click on it to access the notes. For non-fiction I enjoy writing in the book. For those who consider writing in books anathema, the Kindle will be right up your alley.

I'd give it a B and ultimately all I can say is... we'll see.

From the Vault #1

We recently had a HUGE batch of photos processed by www.scanmyphotos.com & so this is the first of hopefully many installments of fam pics. Click on the photos for larger versions.

Eden Readin'

Elvis Perkins, Redux

So it's time for another Elvis Perkins post. His second album, Elvis Perkins in Dearland (also the name of his band...weird) has come out.

It's a really good album. The kind of album I recommend you buy. It's exactly the type of thing you'd like if you liked this sort of thing.

It's better than his first album, which I also liked.

So what's it sound like, you say? Well, it sounds like his band started taking Prozac while he didn't. But in a good way. And it sounds like folk music and chamber music and New Orleans funeral music. But in a good way.

"your Creator does not define your life by your career achievements or the neatness of your pantry."
~ from Choosing to Cheat by Andy Stanley

My iPod Sock

An actual, real, old sock. The other one completely wore out. Todd... I think it might actually be one of a pair that I took from you.

Dear brothers,

Remember how when you were in college you mocked me for having a cell phone & not having a home phone?

Sincerely,
brian

Superuseless Superpowers Blog

Funny stuff...

SUPERUSELESS SUPERPOWER: Superhuman strength whilst sleeping.
After awaking from an especially violent dream, the "Slumberjack" (aka. Hercu-zzzzz's) finds his bedroom, house and entire zipcode in utter shambles.

TeleKinnearsis
Pretty much everyone wishes they could move objects with their mind. Pretty much no one wishes that the only object they could move is actor Greg Kinnear.

CLICK HERE for more Superuseless Superpowers and add it to your blog reader feed.

Basketball. Duh.

Palm Pre 7 Minute Geek Out from Jimmy Fallon

Canoe Cleaning

Awhile back some folks gave us a canoe. It was made in the early 70s & was quite filthy. We finally got it registered & ate ready to go. Cleaned it this afternoon. Before & after pics. Not too shabby! And a GREAT price!

"I think we all pray to the first cup of the day. It's a silent prayer. Sun while the mind is still foggy and blue. 'O Magic Cup,' it might go, 'carry me above the traffic jam. Keep me civil in the subway. And forgive my employer, as you forgive me. Amen.'"
// Stewart Lee Allen from The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee

so it goes

this is the vonnegut show sabrina hung.

What to do with your old VCR

One More Reason to Use a Jimi: The Wallet for People Who Hate Wallets

CLICK HERE

For Love...

On American Idol one of the kids sang Meatball's "I Would Do Anything For Love" but I still don't know what Meatball won't do when he says "I won't do that."

Anyone?

From the National Youth Ministry Conference

Didn't make it to the National Youth Ministry Conference this year. Even though it was in glamorous Columbus, OH. Word on the street is that next year it's in Chicago. Cheryl...we're taken the fam to your homeland next February.



This is the one from last year that had bits filmed in our student ministry rooms.



Jake needs to quit the youth ministry and go on tour with Weird Al.

Entertainment

I happened to notice the cover of the 2009 Entertainment book that someone ave us that's sitting on our counter as I was grinding the morning coffee.

The slogan is: "Have more. Do more."

It makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Like when President Bush told us all to go out & shop after 9/11 or the terrorists win.

We are working more along the lines of: "Have less. Do more less wasteful, entertainmenty drivel."

Is the coffee ready yet?

Dad "in Charge"