Month: June 2005 (page 2 of 3)

After reading Brian Bailey’s post about his “can’t-live-without” blog feeds, and his follow-up post, I began to worry about my own feeds.

Now granted, I don’t read all of ’em every day, but I just don’t want to miss anything good. I really don’t want to miss anything great! There are some that are absolutely essential to me. There are some from which I gain some value, but my life wouldn’t end if I missed an update or two. Then there are some that seem to be just echo chambers of some of the others. Those I could probably do without.

Am I a victim of the dreaded information overload? Or am I addicted to the Internet and the stuff it provides? I don’t know.

Oh, just so you know…I can turn this thing off anytime I want to!

UPDATE, June 16, 3:00 3:32 pm (ET): OK, so I trimmed 7 25 off that total. And just so you know…all of those feeds don’t update all the time. And, again…I can turn it off anytime I want to!

I saw these quotes today…

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn�t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain

Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.
-Percy Bysshe Shelley

…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything � all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
-Steve Jobs, excerpts from his commencement address at Stanford University

Overheard yesterday…

I’m not Rick Warren, my church isn’t Saddleback, and this ain’t California.

I’m re-reading Erwin McManus’s An Unstoppable Force – in spurts between other reading and work – and I’ve re-discovered (I say “re” because it’s highlighted in three different colors and underlined!) what may be my favorite quote of any I’ve read in the last three years…

My goal is not to keep up with the changing world, but to be standing there waiting for it when it arrives. People are going to need someone to show them the way.

Too often it seems the church is playing catch-up, responding (or reacting!) to what’s going on in the world. You see that in the way we talk about culture and in the way we design our messages and communications.

What would happen if we were truly out front, waiting for the world when it arrives?

The once-feared “Iron Mike” ends up in a heap between the ring ropes. That may be another question for the random questions list in a previous post…

• Why do boxers not know when it’s time to hang it up?

Things I found on the way to somewhere else…

• Free the Genie cards, for ideas when you’re stuck (link via Lifehacker)
• Idea Champions, the home of Free the Genie
• Keeping up with the future: A list of good reads from 800-CEO-READ
• Sometimes, it seems, rebellion may save your life

These really aren’t related to anything in particular, just stuff I keep thinking about.

• When is a church plant no longer a church plant and “just” a church?
• Why do guys who think they’ve been “successful” traditional church pastors think they need to go start a church?
• Why do people give “seeker-sensitive” churches a real hard time about their “consumer mentality” when it’s those “traditional” church members with their desire for spiritual hand-holding and diaper-changing that really are the sit-and-soak consumers of religious services?
• Why do church folks resent what God is doing elsewhere in the Kingdom?
• When will the Atlanta Braves start winning again?

…but might not have known about!

Link via LifeHacker

OK, for the 2 or 3 of you who read this little attempt at a Weblog …(Hi, Mom! We’re Number 1!”)

Wait…I got off track…

For the 2 or 3 of you who read this little attempt at a weblog, I need some quick tech help. Here’s the verbatim post I sent out on another forum earlier today…

Hey guys…
I need some help from you amazing techno-gurus on here…and you know who you are!

I’ve got some messages on audio cassette (remember those?) and I want to convert them to CD. How’s the best way to do that? Do I need to get any special software? Any special cables, etc.?

I could find it on the Web, I’m pretty sure, but I’m in a time bind and figure you guys could save me a lot of trouble.

Bueller? Anyone?

Thanks a bunch!

Ok, there you have it…

Any suggestions?

I’ve talked often about my almost-obsession with my cool little black notebook. I’ve gotten other people into the cool little black notebook obsession. I think the cool little black notebooks are indeed very useful and unique little tools for personal observations and such.

Dilbert’s boss’s lifecoach (aka Dogbert!) encouraged him to start a journal to benefit his personal growth. Dilbert’s boss may be right.