HIPPIE COW

Saw this cow downtown Naperville the other day. Kind of hippy looking...

Slate.com has a good article on a quick and easy way to virus proof your pc. Definitely worth looking at.

Link

(Thanks to BoingBoing)

GOODBYES AT BUCA

I’m stuffed. Ate @ Buca di Beppo tonight w/ a bunch of people to say goodbye to some friends of ours from church, Erik and Debbie Bock, who are moving to Nashville. We’re gonna miss these guys…

Can’t share the food w/ you, but I can share a couple pics. Ciao.

TECHNOLOGY

How do we (the church) take advantage of technology? After all, it rests at our finger tips and more often then not... it's free. Instant messaging, blogs, email, etc… is available free of charge to anyone with a computer and a reliable internet connection.

Two years ago when Amanda and I joined the staff of our church, technology was not a priority. However, it wasn’t a huge problem because at that time, our church wasn’t full of web/internet savvy people (although there were always a few and now they’ve become the majority).

Back then, the “norm” was outdated computers, dial up internet access (5 different accounts…), no email (lots of paper memos), and everyone using different versions of programs, which unfortunately cut largely into productivity.

Two years later, we are all running new or almost new systems and thanks to a “friend” at Microsoft, we are always using the latest software available (Office 2003, etc…).

A large part of our "transition" was a technology transition.

Our Internet connection is high speed via a T-1 connection. We are setup with wireless capabilities and currently 2 of us use our wifi throughout the campus. (Our next step will probably be to make it available to the 'public' who visit our campus.)

We are all connected to each other via instant messenger and we utilize email to the “nth” degree. We are also, one by one, beginning to use webcams to help keep us connected when we may be traveling or working offsite or from home.

We are now in the process of putting together a “staff” blog for our church website. Each staff member will have access to contribute to the blog and write freely about whatever is on their minds. The idea behind this is to have a forum where we can constantly communicate with those apart of our church community.

We are hoping for it to become a great outlet to celebrate, share stories of what God is doing in different areas of ministry, advertise upcoming events, share scripture or a short devotional, cast vision, etc… Ultimately, we would like to see this become a daily “check in” point for those in (and even outside) of our church.

Technology is an amazing thing and has the ability to speed up productivity and enhance communication. BUT – one thing that we’ve learned that technology can’t replace is face to face relationships. And for a church, these are not optional…

More about that in a later post.

THE "SHOW"

I am convinced that I have become the Wednesday morning spectacle in our neighborhood. Wednesday morning is “garbage day”. And for some strange reason, I always have difficulty with this task. It’s not because of the “work” involved; it’s because of the smells.

Seriously.

I kid you not – I am convinced that I probably have one of the weakest gag reflexes in the entire Chicagoland area. The Wednesday “show” takes place every week around the same time. As if the curtains are rising, the garage opens, and so begins the “Scott Hodge Entertainment Hour”.

The problem occurs when something has gone bad in the garbage. Today, it smelled as though a 4 day old dead rabbit had been cuddled up next to a week old lasagna (ok, that’s sick).

Next, I pull the garbage bag out of the plastic bin and run as fast as I can out of the garage to catch a breath of fresh air. With my eyes watering and my stomach trying to escape my body via my mouth I look out and see a neighbor kid watching me. At least I’m pretty sure it was a kid. It was hard to see with my eyes watering so badly.

After repeating this about 4 times, I finally get the garbage down to the end of the driveway.

On my way back up, a bee decides to harass me. With sweat dripping down my face, eyes watering, I violently swat it away. “Are you ok?” says a voice in the background. It’s the kid. I just sort of wave my hand at him as if saying, “Why aren’t you in school? Get away from here...”

I would never make it as a garbage man.

CRAZY, CRAZY DAYS...

I'm busy.

Isn't that everyone's story? I don't know of anyone who "isn't" busy. What I'm finding out right now in my own life is that busy-ness is not the same thing as productivity. Busy-ness drains me, productivity energizes me.

If being productive means being busy, than fine, I can hang with that. But being busy and not feeling like I'm moving forward is horrible. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my mom would give me a quarter to put in the horse machine at Venture and I would ride and ride and ride but never go anywhere. It feels good and is even fun at first, but then after a while you look around and think, "I'm not making any progress here."

So, I'm going to focus on productivity - not busy-ness.

Ok, I'm done preaching to myself.