Children’s Ministry Online

When Sara and I got married we went on a 5 day honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico. We relaxed, we explored, we had adventures. However, that was nine year ago and we haven’t had a vacation like that since. We do go on vacation or trips every year, but most of the time it is visiting family. Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE our family and visiting with them is top priority. However, we NEED a serious vacation. Just the two of us. Away. So we can relax, explore and have adventures.

Two springs ago I switched my credit card over to a rewards card and then that summer I spent a ridiculous amount of money for church expenses. I personally financed (well, kind of… I was reimbursed every penny) a VBS for over 1000 kids and bought plane tickets for over 40 people to fly from DFW to Los Angeles. The result? Lots and lots of points on my credit card. Last fall Sara and I began talking about going on a vacation the following Spring with all the points we had accumulated. Since I was let go just a few months later and securing a job was higher priority than vacation planning, our trip was set aside.

Then just a few weeks ago we started talking seriously again about where we wanted to go. We figured it would be a late summer, early fall trip. Our anniversary was last week and out outdoor plans ended up getting rained out. So we went to a local bookstore and began planning our vacation. We had about 12 possible locations/trips and at the end of two hours we had it narrowed down to three and they are three good ones. Below are pictures of the three possible vacation locations. I think Sara and I have pretty much picked out where we are going to go, but just for fun, which one looks like your perfect vacation spot? Bonus points if you can name the locations!

Location One

Location Two

Location Three

written by Kenny

Okay, before I spend hours and hours looking, maybe you could help me specifically. I have these applications that I use on a regular basis. I need to know if there is something similar (or better) on the Mac. Most of what I suggest here are free.

• VSO image resizer - I right-click on an image on my desktop and it opens VSO and with one click it will create a copy of the image in any size I specify. Very handy for adding images to the blog. I use it all the time!
• Hoversnap - It runs in my task tray. I hit print screen and it creates a jpeg of my desktop. I hit alt-print screen and it creates a jpeg of my active window. I hit control-print screen and it creates a marque drawing tool that I can highlight any space on my desktop and it makes that into a jpeg. Again, it’s handy for blogging and I use it all the time.
• Windows Live Writer - I use it to blog and I love it. It’s better than using a web application. What is good for the Mac?
• DVDFab Decrypter - I use this to rip a DVD to my computer. I then use handbrake (which was originally Mac) to export video tracks to MOV, MP4 or whatever other file I need. I know handbrake can rip the DVD, but it won’t rip some copy protected DVDs. DVDFab always does. Anyone have any ideas on what I can use to rip DVDs without the copy protection getting in the way.

Well, those are a few. Here’s the real deal. I’ve got XP running on the machine and I could easily install all of this on the XP OS… but that isn’t the point of having a MacBook Pro, is it?

Thanks for your help. Oh and please do make suggestions of things I don’t know about that you absolutely love. I do have Adobe Creative Suite 3 as well as all the Office Suite, so I’m good with all of that… but I need more!

written by Kenny

I’m starting to hyperventilate. No seriously. Here is the computer I was issued when I got to Gateway a little over two months ago:

It’s a Dell Inspiron 1525.It’s been a good machine. I can’t say the Vista installed on it has been a good move. But, it’s what I’m familiar with and I’ve been happy (mostly).

However… in three days I am giving this machine to my Early Childhood director. She is going on maternity leave and she needs a laptop to use when she does start getting back to work but not coming into the office. So in just a few days I have to get all my files off. Simple enough, huh?

Why panicked? Because I’m switching to this…

Continue reading »

written by Kenny

Last week I dropped my camera…. in water. Yeah, a double whammy! And let me tell you. I LOVED that camera. I bought it about 18 months ago. I spent months looking into what I wanted and a few months saving up for it. It was a Canon Power Shot SD 630. What an incredible camera it was. I’ll truly miss it.

So, now I’m looking into a replacement camera. Initially I thought I would just get another 630. Unfortunately I can’t get a new one for any less than $300. Yikes! However, many new models have come out since then offering more features. So I had a Sony once before and it worked pretty good, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as my Canon. I investigated the Cool Pix as well but in the long run the reviews didn’t stand up to the Canon line. So, here is what I am looking into:

Canon Power Shot SD 870 IS

Price: $250
Resolution: 8 Megapixles
LCD Viewfinder: 3 inch

For a full review, click here.

Canon Power Shot SD 850 IS

Price: $230
Resolution: 8 Megapixles
LCD Viewfinder: 2.5 inch

For a full review, click here.

Canon Power Shot SD 790 IS

Price: $260
Resolution: 10 Megapixles
LCD Viewfinder: 3 inch

For a full review, click here.

My thoughts:

I know this sounds kind off dumb, but I am very partial to the 3 inch LCD display on the back. When I was buying a camera the last time around, I ended up going with the 630 because of the bigger LCD. It was about $30 more but I have no regrets. I loved it! So, as nice as the SD 850 IS is, the fact that it only has a 2.5 inch display makes me not want it as much. Is that vain? The 850 also has a wider housing that what I was used to with the 630… so almost a double hit against it.

The 790 IS has the form factor that I liked with the 630 and also has the 3 inch display. However, it’s the most expensive. It costs more most likely because it is has a resolution of 10 Megapixles. Generally though I would think that if I could get a higher resolution camera, that would be better, right? The reviews I have been reading though have been saying that in this class of “point and shoot” cameras, the 8 to 10 Megapixle leap isn’t worth it.

So, that leaves me with the 870 IS. It is the middle priced camera with 8 Megapixle resolution. To top it off, it has a 3 inch display. Am I in love? Maybe. Last of all, CNET has a list of top 10 cameras in the 8-9 Megapixle line. The 870 IS is number one (actually the 850 IS is number two). Since I really do trust CNET’s opinion, I further lean towards the Canon Power Shot Shot SD 870 IS.

What do you think? Any suggestions that I haven’t thought of?

written by Kenny

Last week I posted about getting a new Dell Inspiron 1525 with Vista. A few expressed their concern over me taking a Vista machine over a Mac. Not as many as I thought. Let me first defend myself. I’m not an Apple hater. I even posted a blog post on what I like about Apple. I’m just not ready to go back… yet.

To be honest, I don’t know how some of you do it. Do you not at all feel a little demasculated carrying around a little dainty computer? Every time I use one, I feel like I’m going to break it if I type too hard. Does using an Apple make you want to stick your pinky out while sipping your morning coffee? (I’m willing to bet I’m going to get a few comments on this little paragraph)

Nah, I’m just kidding. Okay, back on subject. I’ve been using Vista for a week and I must say that it’s not all that bad. To be honnest, I don’t feel like it’s all that differnet from XP. As cool as the Aero looked before Vista released, it’s just eye-candy. I haven’t had any driver problems. I still don’t know where everything is, but my experience has been without any incidents. Perhaps my experience would have been different if I had gotten Vista 12 months ago. I’m running with 3 GB of Ram and it still seems like it takes forever to load when I boot up.

So, I don’t plan to upgrade my personal laptop from XP to Vista until I have to. I dont’ see the beniffit of spending the money for an upgrade. I have a feeling that on my personal machine, I’ll upgrade from XP to the OS after Vista unless Microsoft somehow forces people to upgrade to Vista. So, that’s my take… for what it’s worth.

Technorati Tags: Vista, XP, Apple

written by Kenny

I just got my new laptop for work. I’ve been using a desktop in my office for the past few weeks. When at home I’ve used my own laptop and have been able to do everything necessary. However, now I’m glad to have my own equipment and able to set it up for getting stuff done.

However, it’s loaded with Vista. Hmmmm. Not sure how I feel about this. I’ve been an XP user for 5 years and have become very comfortable with it. I’ve been keeping tabs on the mess Microsoft has had with the Vista release. I know at some point a person must move on… I guess now is that time for me.

Before all you Macheads (you know who you are) suggest Apple as another option (and some of you would probably say the only logical option), I am not ready to go “ther” yet. Yeah, I actually had the option. Actually, the IT guy was disappointed that I didn’t. So, we’ll just have to wait a little longer on that end.

Anyone else using Vista? Anyone in a Vista recovery group yet? I’ll let you know how my transition goes….

written by Kenny

It’s funny how God works. Okay, sometimes it really isn’t. I guess it’s one of those things that become funny after some time goes by… sometimes a lot of time.

I’ve had a draft of this post saved for over a month now. Over the past several years, I’ve had to let go of many volunteers for one  reason or another… something that is easier said than done. I’ve also let go of some part-time staff, sometimes because of restructuring and other times because of performance. This summer I had to let go of two staff members. One was a full time team member and another was a part-time person. Both of them are phenomenal people and it was so incredibly hard to do. But that’s not what this post is going to be about today. Maybe a little later I’ll write about the lessons I learned from letting staff go. This post is quite a bit more personal as just 6 days ago I found myself at the other end the table. Continue reading »

written by Kenny

God spoke to me last night. You’re reading this right now (if anyone is reading this) because God spoke to me last night! It was very late and I was jumping around the web, reading various articles and blogs on Children’s Ministry. Usually I’m surfing the web doing research and looking for fresh ideas, but last night I was more obsessed with finding out who was blogging all things children’s ministry. There were definitely more bloggers than I expected to find, but certainly not enough. I went to be determined that I was going to start blogging right away. Continue reading »

written by Kenny