December 2007

This is just me typing in Windows Live Writer, which is probably the best offline blogging software I have used (I use MarsEdit for Mac which I do really like, and ecto isn’t bad either). Its ability to give you a rich text editor, easy to reach "insert" buttons, a live web preview that shows you what it would actually look like when you publish, and even the fact that it automatically styles the editor to be the size and shape of your blog so you know how things will layout as you type - all pretty impressive. So, I can use it through my VMWare Fusion - Windows Vista installation on my MacBook Pro. But that is probably one of the most embarrassing sentences I will ever write.

The only consolation I have is that all the Windows people that read my blog probably haven’t even heard of Windows Live Writer, let alone have they used it - so I still retain high chief nerd status.

My son got a new winter cap today. It is in preparation of our family
visit to Ohio that is quickly approaching. We haven't been there since
the move to California a year and a half ago, needless to say we are
excited!

Pretty cute huh?

This is a fun use of shadows for a commercial.

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I have recently become more and more concerned with the amount of information (read distraction) I allow to come across my desk and computer screen versus how much value to my work or life all that information brings. In an information age it is going to be essential to figure out how to filter, sort and process things quickly, and focusing on what can help me rather than just distract me.

Here is an article from Tim Ferris, author of “The Four Hour Work Week”. He has a friend who processes information through RSS and he gives 12 tips for being effective in processing and filtering the information. Here is my favorite!

4. If it Piles Up, Throw it Away

If you fall too far behind, don’t dedicate 4 hours to catching up on 1,256 posts. Just click ‘Mark All As Read’ and move on. If you’re utilizing Delicious and StumbleUpon correctly, both later in this article, all the important stuff will come back to you.

Rest of Article

Here is a short excerpt from an excellent post by Chris Brogan:

“Use Simple Pieces
Would your organization benefit from making media themselves? Why not start them with simple tools like Utterz (which works on any cell phone), and video tools like Magnify or Seesmic , which let you record video straight from your browser using Flash? Just like learning chess, organizations probably should learn simpler tools before moving into something larger. (Although as a side note: thinking about training and then re-training might make one consider their toolset longer before rolling something half-baked out into the world).”

If you are reader of this blog and you didn’t know that I totally nerd out on notebooks, pens, productivity, GTD (Getting Things Done), task lists, etc. - well, then I guess now you know! Anyways I recently found out that Moleskine has come out with X Large notebooks. This is significant because when I am planning anything in the brainstorm / brain dump phase it has to be on paper, the bigger the sheet the better (and graph paper is the best for this).The problem is the only large sheets of graph paper I can find are the pads of paper. They start to fall apart pretty easily and detach. With all the planning materials that I have on these pads it drives me crazy trying to keep them nice. So when I found out Moleskine was coming out with an X Large Graph Notebook, well it was the best of both worlds. Super sexy notebook with a nice cover and a strap to keep it closed, and the large graph paper space for planning.The only issue is that the X Large moleskine notebooks aren’t sold in the United States. And the cost for getting one notebook sent here from the United Kingdom is almost $50, yikes!I had given up thinking I could get away from my mess of graph pads when I was in Staples today, and I found the sweetest thing ever. It is called a computation book. It is full of graph paper, the pages are already numbered (The extent of my notebook nerdom is pretty intense, I number my own pages and create indexes of the information in the notebook in the last couple of pages) and it has a durable cover that will last a long time. This notebook is even a little larger than the moleskine one.Anyways, I thought I would let you know, and point you to a great notebook that can help you keep your brainstorming, planning notes, mind maps and what every you need a little more space for, all in one place.

I believe that the social media movement is one of the most important technological, sociological and spiritual opportunities the world has ever seen. Never has the individual human voice had the potential range, influence and connection to other people than now through tools like blogging, podcasting, social networks, and the mass collaboration possible through sites like wikipedia.

Now consider the role and responsibility of the Church and how perfectly it matches up with these new tools being built, and that are free to use. I commented to a friend recently that these tools are building a movement of connection, sharing, relationship and communication that is the church with out the Christians. That the world is so hungry for connection to people of like affinity, to share their story and to learn that it has built the tools to do so in a way that match the mission and movement of the church perfectly.

That said, most churches I have interacted with, even the mega churches with thousands of people in weekly attendance are just now catching up to using the internet like the rest of the world did 5 years ago. Most churches still use the web as a digital web brochure, a place to sign up for events, maybe online giving and the popular / author pastors are putting their sermons on podcasts. And yet if a regular local church were to embrace social media and start interacting in that space the conversation and relational opportunities would be explosive.

• What if your staff were able to keep up with the lives, questions and happenings of your church through social networks?
• What if the conversation between you and your church was everyday instead of once a week?
• What if you were able to send out announcements to your whole church instantly through new technologies (RSS, SMS) and current technologies (email), but you don’t have to manage the database?
• What if you could do away with the trifold weekly bulletin and the constant tangle in figuring out how to fit more information in there was replaced with a simple postcard for visitors with your web address where they can get timely and relevant updates?
• Isn’t it time that your website stop being so painfully embarrassing?
• What if you were able to send out alerts for sudden or random needs in a way that would mobilize your church into action?
• What if you could produce small group videos that your small group leaders automatically receive on their computers and can play for their groups?

Well, that is why Contagious Solutions is here to help. We are experts the social media space when it comes to what works in churches and what doesn’t. The services we offer range from consulting on communication and web strategies to actually building, training and supporting a social media strategy. We love the church, and we love providing effective solutions for the church to become more effective at reaching people with the good news of Jesus. We would love to help you take your church into the biggest opportunity for connection, teaching and relationship is has ever known.

To be honest, when I first heard about the Writer’s Strike going on across the TV industry I was pretty irritated. Not because of a writer’s rights to see a piece of the money from putting shows on the internet (though they certainly deserve to receive value for the value they bring no matter where that value is found - that is pretty simple). I was irritated because all of my shows where going to be cut off and I hated the idea of the stories lines stopping mid-plot (like The Office) or having to be cheapened and shortened (Heros).

Before the strike ended all the new shows for the fall season, I had at least one show I watched a night if not two or three. Mondays = Prison Break, Heros and Chuck, Tuesdays = The Unit and NCIS, Wednesdays = The Bionic Woman and Private Practice, Thursdays = The Office, Grey’s Anatomy and My Name is Earl, Fridays = Las Vegas. That is ten hours of TV a week, not counting for any “casual” viewing, of which this was not - it was planned/recorded intentional TV watching. Some of the shows were even a part of my calendar.

So why am I writing thank you if TV was such a regular and enjoyable part of my life? Because stinking TV was such a part of my regular and brainless life! Leo Laporte said it best in his keynote at the Blog World and New Media Expo. He said that video appeals to the monkey brain, the instinctual, flesh response part of being human. He talked about how video has to show you everything, and make it more and more appealing - because your brain doesn’t have to think with video, it just needs to react appropriately with your instincts.

Watching TV doesn’t make you anymore intelligent. You don’t grow through the processing of the simple and “instinctual” story lines of a television show. The best tv shows either have guns and fighting (Heros, The Unit), Comedy (The Office), Romance (Grey’s Anatomy) or all three (Chuck). But only on a responsive level, there is never any requirement to figure anything out - just soak it in.

Since all the TV shows have ended their seasons I haven’t been watching TV at all (though I did have a little Magnum PI withdrawal issue for 2 weeks), I have been reading. I have been reading and thinking. It was actually a little frustrating at first to have to put in the mental effort to process the structure, new thoughts and learning when reading. I was using that reading / brain muscle for the first time in a while, I actually had to think and process to understand, not just passive soak and respond. It is like my brain is coming out an addictive fog of passive response, and it it quite refreshing!

Now, if any of those shows came back on I would watch two at the very most (Heroes and The Office). Or in the spring I will watch 24 and Lost. It is not bad to let the monkey brain have a break and enjoy being spoon feed through an entertaining story line. But I am much more excited at the lasting value and mental growth I can receive from consistently reading.

So, thank you Writer’s Strike. If it hadn’t been for your standoff I might have continued to be a brainless spoon feed monkey brain soaking in all your story lines and advertising at a clip of at least 10 hours a week. Now I can actually interact with material of a lasting and worthwhile substance. Thanks!

Rule 3: Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole… You have not grasped a complex unity if all you know about it is how it is one. You must also know how it is many, not a many that consists of a lot of separate things, but an organized many.

I am trying to finish an incredible book dedicated to the art of reading and doing so intelligently - “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler. The title may sound simplistic, but it couldn’t be more accurate and if you think you know how to read a book - you are wrong.

Beyond this being a book full of sound quotes on thinking and processing information in general, let alone while reading, this book is a great resource if you ever desire to write a book.

I am at the point in the book where it talks about the third stage/level of reading which is called “Analytical Reading.” Here is a quick excerpt:

“How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)” (Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren)