BillLaMorey.com

The future is now

Machines are definitely in control

I was reminded of that  by our latest technical issue. Our website host's network is down, thus so is my  e-mail and our church website.

It is a shocking reminder of how much I depend on technology. I feel frustrated because 1) I have so many things that I need to handle via e-mail and 2) We've been doing a lot of promotions and the "front-door" of our church is closed as long as the website is down...and there is nothing I can do about it!

UPDATE: The bots have released our church's website from their evil clutches. They were just flexing to let  me know who is in control!

We're on the cutting edge!

At least that's what the folks at Simon Solutions say about us when they mentioned us in their online newsletter in reference to our update podcast. The newsletter has some other great articles too, check it out.

Monthly church updates via podcast

We are always seeking to help our church body be more aware of and more in prayer of the things happening at Calvary Fellowship.

To that end we are launching today our new monthly updates via our podcast. Each podcast will highlight new events and activities, ministry updates, current teaching series, what's on the horizon and so forth.  Each one will last from 10-15 minutes.

There is no bumper music and no editing; it's no frills as far as production! But I really believe the quality will be in the content! The goal is for it to be informative and useful to our church and outside supporters.

If you get a chance, check it out, and please give me your feedback about how we can make it better!

To hear the update you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

Pando

I'm probably late to the game, but I just got turned on to Pando a few days ago. If you need to transfer large files P2P this definitely is a solution worth checking into!

Joost For Everyone!

Let me know if you want the Joost hook-up!

Joost

I am now a Joost beta tester. Click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about. There is a waiting list to sign-up, but apparently I should be getting some invitations to send to a few friends. Just post a comment if you'd like a Joost invite and I'll pass them along when I get them; first come first serve!

And the winner is...

Sony Vaio FE Series FE-880E/H

I got a mid price range machine because the lower range ones could not accomplish what I needed and the higher range ones were overkill for my purposes.

I got a Vaio because I liked Casino Royale and I want to be like James Bond. J/K -It's a great machine and based on the experience of other proud Vaio owners,I believe the first was a bit of a lemon.

Sorry, Bob! I can hear you now..."Congratulations on the purchase of your new PC. The good news is if you don't like it you'll have to buy a new one in 18-24 months anyway!" (Bob is a Mac-Addict).

Thanks for all of the input from my previous request for help. My decision to go with a Vaio was fairly easy after I wrestled long and hard about getting a Mac (I almost did).

I decided AGAINST going Mac because:

• The machine I got (with the same specs) as a MacBook Pro was less expensive
• The financial impact was minimized because I didn't have to buy a lot of extra software to convert to Mac
• The patchwork I would have had to do to make it fit my purposes would have turned it into a glorified PC; so why not stick with one?

Laptops: Which One?

Help! 2 years ago I bought a Sony Vaio notebook; before they were featured in almost as many films/tv shows as Mac's Powerbooks. Granted, I put a lot of mileage on it, but it seems far too soon for it to be breaking down before my eyes. And sadly it may be time for me to move beyond the shock, denial, anger, and bargaining stages and move to a place of acceptance...the Vaio is dying and has been for some time...

• The clips to shut it it broke in the 1st month -I reasoned who needs to actually shut their computer
• About a year ago the CDr/DVDr drive broke -Since the proprietary replacement cost $450 I bought an external CD drive
• 6 months ago the battery died -I rationalized that 15 minutes of battery charge was fair until I broke down and got another
• The external power supply cord busted and I've had to buy 3 different replacement ones because a) they are proprietary and and the universal ones don't work as they claim and b) Sony sold me the wrong one (don't get me started on them charging me to look up a part # so I can have the privilege of buying something from them)

Having said all this, I mostly still want to buy another Sony Vaio...they look great and feel great. But I feel like the alcoholic in Proverbs 23 that knows the abuse well and wants more of it! I used to buy Dell and would consider them again though their declining customer service (outsourcing stinks...no offense, India) pushed me away from them in the 1st place (which is ironic because I read Michael Dell's autobiography and he claims that C.S. is one of the core values they built Dell on).

This is a critical decision because much rests on my computer. Not only do I do all my work throughout the week on it, it also drives the audio/visual component of the weekend service at our church (and was until recently our worship leader). It is unacceptable after many hours of hard work by many people to have my craptop laptop ruin our weekend church service (as it has after my computer has failed me several times).      

So, please help me. I am strongly considering this one or even this one. If you were going to buy a a notebook TODAY, which would you buy (manufacturer and model if you know that) and WHY?

Footnote: Ironically, my computer just froze up and I had to go through a long reboot process before I could post this! AARRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Radical Transparency

George Orwell was concerned about "Big Brother" in 1984, but maybe he should have had equal concern for "little brother" in 2006. Newsweek has a great article called "Everyone's a Star" which describes the tension between the benefits and dangers of living in an age where anything we say or do may end up online for the world to see.