Entries from June 2008 ↓

• i love new tech for the communication benefits, but you still run into human limitations (aka “time zones”)… #

• Great day at church. Sales of LifeJournals skyrocketed, so I think the message must have hit a spot. Cool! :-) #
• Two weeks to go until my trip to Dallas, so a busy couple of weeks to get things sorted. #
• right – off to bed. tired after a big morning, and I haven’t slept well the past couple of nights. not sure why. just felt groggy waking. #
• Just got going for the day. The first espresso is always a beautiful aroma in the kitchen. Hmmm… #

I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him. – Mark Twain

i find this a very funny comment because i suppose i’m (at heart) a weird mix of pragmatist and idealist. i love twain. if i could choose guests for a special cross-time-continuum dinner party, he and churchill would have to be on the list.

[via amy :-)]

• off to do the shopping with my youngest – a bit of a daddy/daughter event. no records possible with her tagging along, but lots of requests. #

i’m constantly amazed at the difference between microsoft and apple, and it’s a pretty stark difference, let me tell you.

after having used a mac now for just about a year, i will NEVER go back to using a PC, partly because of the inferior design of most PCs, but largely due to microsoft.

example in point… my mac runs just fine, and all the native apps are very cool and quick, etc. whenever anything crashes on this thing, it’s almost 99.9% like to be one of the microsoft apps in the office package. everything has been reasonably stable for a while, but a recent update to the microsoft office 2004 package has resulted in my entourage hanging 3 times now in 2 days. it’s just amazing to me that a company with the resources and sheer money to throw at tech problems just struggles to get things right on a regular basis, and vista is probably their crowning glory.

i’m seriously now trying to find a way to stop using entourage and move as much as possible towards using the native apple apps, although the biggest issue is exchange server support. this, it seems to me, is a key issue that apple must get on top of if they want to completely convert people like me away from any dependance at all on microsoft products. the apple mail app does have exchange support, but it’s a bit limited. there’s no current calendar syncing either, so that’s a problem. i’d be tempted to even move totally to using gmail as my email client (even if it is web-based), if they could crack the exchange sync problem. dunno, but if i could possibly ditch all microsoft products from my world, i would. they are just ridiculously poor for a company with the heft of microsoft.

so, just killed entourage and rebooted it, but i’m on the journey towards something else now…

• busy day ahead, but should be good. includes a catch-up with me old mate deano, so can’t be all bad! :-) #
• The sea here at the Foreshore is just flat like a mirror under a gray sky – beautiful. And it’s lunch time – even better! :-) #
• just finished getting dinner ready… my version of enchiladas. actually had some kids dancing when i announced this and joel hugged me… #
• up and enjoying my first espresso for the day. love my isomac coffee machine. i really miss this when i’m travelling. road coffee sucks. #

i like odd humour, and so does my amy… this is from her… nice!

A flat, gray day at the Foreshore

Originally uploaded by obrienmb1966.

• home again, and glad for it. kal was great, but 3 days away was enough. off to dallas in july, so not looking forward to 3 weeks away… #

had a great time in kal with the acom students up there working through a facilitation on biblical ethics. it’s a heavy topic, but the guys did a fantastic job of engaging with the issues. kal has change so much over the years – really is quite a liveable place now. it’s great to connect with long-time friends up there like al thomas, and especially when he turns his hand to making me curry for dinner! :-) what a guy!

but, as always, good to be home…