In other news . . . I just lost two posts in a row . . . will all kinds of cool links and things . . . an ‘Internal Server Error’ (with no error code) killed them . . .

This Sunday evening we celebrated our new senior Pastor (Steve Davis) being with us for one full year.  The church board announced last week that we would be taking up a love offering for the Davis’s and that we would be having a pot luck dinner in place of the evening service (which is what we are doing right now). 

Now the church is providing the meat (BBQ Pork and the sauces) and the church peeps just had to bring some side dishes.  And I’m all about some free food.  But I almost wish we had little name cards by the food so we could see who made what . . . because some of this food looks great and some . . . not so much.  That would be the luck part of a pot luck.

This got me to thinking about what we do to celebrate stuff.  We eat.

I guess that’s the way we as people celebrate most anything . . . birthday parties we eat, luncheon banquets we eat, any excuse for food we eat. 

I mean, eating is such a basic need . . . but one we take very seriously.  We don’t celebrate anything sleeping or by exercising . . . or by practicing any other basic need of life. 

I suppose eating utilizes most of the senses . . . even sound (there is a particular sound of a large group of people eating . . . and they say that if you hear the sound of food being prepared that it can make you hungry).  

Why am I even thinking about this stuff ?  Well I’m currently hiding out in the sound booth as the celebration finished up.  I mingled with people for about 20 minutes at the start . . . but large crowds of people make me uneasy. 

Well I don’t get nervous in like . . . shopping malls I suppose.  Just in places where I feel the pressure to make small talk with people. 

I’m such a social recluse.  I suppose I should go mingle again now . . .

Well not much new has happenned other then things have been very busy.  Here is a slimed down version of my work week the next few weeks . . .

 Monday – Make notes about Sunday events, fix broken things, look for new media, web searching, Extreme Body Makeover in evening until 8PM

Tuesday – Staff meeting in the morning, organizing rest of week with projects, start on to-do list, Womens Ministry Video in evening (though I think I have this one covered by a volunteer) out by either 6pm or 9pm (depending on volunteer)

Wednesday – to do list, prep for Wed service, Wed service . . . out by 9 pm

Thursday – finish up weekly to do list, prep for Sunday, Mens Ministry until 7:30 or 8 or so. (this week is greeters training, next week starts mens ministry)

Firday = OFF FROM WORK !

Saturday – Band Practice in morning, work on pastors notes in afternoon (from home).  Mens ministry this Saturday evening, but not every Saturday.

Sunday – up no later then 6 am, at church no later then 7 am to open doors and power up systems, band practice at 8 am, Sunday School at 9:30 am, Church Service at 10:45 am, Lunch at 1 pm, nap at 2:30-4:00, special music practice at church at 4:30, band practice at 5 pm, church at 6pm, home by 8 pm

Why you would want to know this, I dunno.  Some people wonder what I do all day long.  Anywho, here is a link dump as I wait for lunch to arrive !

Looks like Apple has to change its commercials in Brittian . . .
HERE

Amazing new technology harneses human power . . . as long as you keep moving for 6 hours
HERE

A new powered exoskeleton to help disabled people walk . . .
HERE

And once again a company tried to cheet Microsoft . . . and failed.  But Microsoft was in the right this time . . .
HERE

Here is a cool site by a guy who does artectual projection . . . very cool !  Check out his blog section for lots of cool info !
HERE

I have been on the search for new media sites that I can download stuff from.  I’ve come across a bunch.  At some point I will add these to the links section (well, the Blog Roll or whatever it is).  But now I must go eat some lunch !

Do you ever feel like you’ve lost your way on the journey a little bit ?

Like you spend all your time just trying to make it through the day that you don’t have any time to improve the things around you ?

The last month or so has been like that for me.

The last week has been especially difficult, just due to all kinds of things happening.

And today I’m sick . . . so it’s kind of coming to a head.

Things are going to work our for the best, I know.  It’s just right now, when so many things need to be reorganized while at the same time the work load is increasing with a decreasing volunteer base, that the days are full of just trying to get the check list done with out adding anything more to tomorrows list. 

I hate that feeling.

I don’t feel like I’m growing as a person, not Spiritually, not Personally, not Artistically . . . I just feel like I’m treading water just to stay afloat. 

When things finally get reorganized and we get a few more volunteers trained I’m sure I’ll feel lost better.  And when I get over this . . . whatever this is that causes my snot glands to go into overdrive (overdrive for ME) and I don’t feel like I need to sleep another 5 hours . . . then things will be on the up and up.

Today . . . not so much. 

I was, however, able to get some new lamps for the Student Center lights and have lunch with Steph in the process . . . and that has made my day brighter.  Lunch with Steph is always fun as we catch up on the past and remember college . . . and the lamps are one more thing off my list !

And for a third time . . . we’ll see if this works . . .

Dont take your I-Pod to Canada or Mexico . . . unless you also take proof that you own all the songs . . .
HERE

A New way to make Li-Ion batteries . . . microwave them !
HERE

Microsoft performs an exparament called Mojave . . .  
HERE

Staff bonding time . . . ah the ritual bonding time we as staff take to . . . well to bond.  I wasnt looking forward to this Staff Night Out too much mainly because I had almost forgotten about it and was in the middle of several things at the house.  Read more

It’s here !

Vegas Pro 8 is here ! 

This makes me SOOOO happy !

For those of you who think I have a gambling addiction, Sony Vegas Pro 8 is a video editing program that is actually quite powerful.  It’s no Adobe Aftereffects, but the academic price (which is church pays as a non prophet) is less than $400.  Compared to a few thousand, this is a deal. 

We have been using version 4, which was on a computer that we inherited.  That machine has started to wig out here lately (well, it has been for years actually) and I don’t have a Vegas install to put on my new laptop (not to mention I don’t think I could transfer the lenience from the dying machine to the new laptop).  So I’ve been stuck.

Read more

I have been doing some testing to see how well the new laptop renderes video.  So far it’s pretty fast. 

 I did a few test videos at different qualities and I have to say I am pleased with the results !

 Here is a low quality version of one of the test videos . . . just because it was funny to me.  It may not be to you, maybe you just had to be there  . . . I dunno. 

Here is the link . . . www.arackas.com/video/VideoTest.wmv

It’s HERE ! 

 Here is a picture of it’s first boot !

Now that I have taken off all the crap that comes on a commercial computer (google desktop, Dell wifi connection assistant, ect) I am dumping all my files to it.  I didnt realise that my outlook .pst file was up to 250 megs plus now.  I may have to archive some of the old mail . . . unless that just moves it to a different part of the .pst file.  I bet it does.

No matter !  The new laptop is here ! 

 Ooooooh !  I just paired it with my phone via Bluetooth ! 

I’m going to mess my self I’m so excited !

     Well the past week or two has been very extra busy.  We had ‘Vision Sunday’ at church . . . that’s where our new pastor laid out our core beliefs as a church and our primary focus’s . . . er . . .  what we need to focus on as a church, what our vision as a church is.  No, we did not give every person who shoed up shrooms and play some cool music.   

     The message was called The Coca-Cola Challenge.  The founder of Coca-Cola had a goal that every person should have a taste of Coke before they died.  Now the Coca-Cola trade mark is the most recognizable in the world, more recognized then Jesus is.  So we as a church should make it our goal that everyone in our surrounding area should at least have a taste of Jesus before they die.  Not the TV brand of Jesus, not the crazy snake handling kind or the legalistic ‘you’re going to hell, now get saved !’ kind . . . but the ‘He changed my life for the better . . . do you want to know about Him’ kind.  We support many foreign missionaries, but we as a people are here in the US.  We can reach out to the people here in our area ourselves. 

     So we did a lot of Coca-Cola themed stuff media wise that day.  Pastor read some statistics about Coke and I did a little video to go alone with that.  We had notes and banners and we gave everyone who came a Coke in a foam can holder with the Vision Slogan on it (Passion for Jesus, Compassion for People). 

     We also unveiled the new church web page (though it isn’t quite finished lol).  David Mayer helped us design the page (as well as writing the database for it) and it looks very nice.  There are several spleeing errors . . . ha ha . . .  and a lack of media in the pages (lots of text, not a lot of pictures) . . . but we’re working on that.  Getting what media there is in there before Sunday was a challenge.  But we’re well on our way to getting it complete . . . and we’re already planning out phase two (with an interactive calendar !).  Check out the staff pictures . . . they took a bit of doing in PhotoShop but turned out very nice if I do say so myself.  www.dfanet.net Thanks to Mrs. Cathey at Red Cap Flatts who let us take our pictures in an unfinished space !

     We also got a new Seamless Switcher / Scalar !  It’s very nice.  It’s a Kramer VP-724 XL and just makes my life so much easier.  It has two S-video inputs, two RCA inputs, two VGA inputs, one DVI input, and audio inputs for each video input.  It has two VGA outputs (one goes to the projector and the other goes to the scan converter so we can send it back to the video booth to get our computer stuff onto DVD that we record). 

     This week (which is almost over) has been spent catching up on things that got put off because being so busy last week.  Top of the list was that I got the Youth Lights done (meaning that I replaced 4 dead lamps and redid the color scheme in the youth area).  It’s very nice, but I don’t have any pictures of it yet sadly.  Even if I could, I cant seam to get more then one picture in a post to align the right way.  The first one’s fine, the second one just messes stuff up.

     I hope to get the equipment in the Worship Center Sound Booth re-racked (since the rack it is in now is a bit too narrow to get everything screwed in . . . so they just sit on top of one another).  That’s a bit project since 90%of the A-V cables in the booth go through the rack and have to be kept up with and organized.  That may be a next week project lol.

     Tonight I hope to go see the new Indiana Jones Movie !  I hear it is very good.  Not just ‘they did a good job of pushing out another new movie’ but actually good.  I love the Indiana Jones movies and I hope this one doesn’t ruin the run for me.