November 3, 2009
Seriously…
This guy is not a bigot… he’s just stupid. There is a difference, ya know…
Filed by ob1 at November 3rd, 2009 under tech
No comments on this post yet
Navigation | mark o’brien // lowercase
Why? Because you can…
Filed by ob1 at November 3rd, 2009 under humour
No comments on this post yet
October 21, 2009
Planning your day
“I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.” -E.B. White.
I love this quote. A simple line like this makes me wish I could have met Elwyn Brooks White for coffee (or maybe a beer?!)… 
Filed by ob1 at October 21st, 2009 under humour, life
No comments on this post yet
October 20, 2009
Why bad things happen…
Been thinking about this a lot, and I guess the options are:
1. The devil really did do it
2. God is disciplining us (we don’t like to include this one much, but it’s there in the Bible)
3. We’re dumb and did it to ourselves
4. Someone else was dumb and did it to us (directly or indirectly)
It was interesting to see the Sydney Anglicans wrestling with their crisis at a theological level (very Sydney-Anglican-like, I guess!). Beyond all that, I can truly say that I fully understand the emotions of Peter Jensen… I know exactly how he feels. One of the few times I can say that I’ve been exactly there, and I know the grief he is talking about.
As a leader, you may not have caused it or had a direct hand in it, but you own it at a deep level, sometimes more than the people who caused the havoc. I guess that’s what makes leaders different. Ownership & responsibility… a deep sense of stewardship.
Filed by ob1 at October 20th, 2009 under church, leadership
No comments on this post yet
October 16, 2009
“It could always be worse…”
There’s always a smart alec somewhere who will tell you in the midst of your valleys that “it could always be worse…”
And you usually just feel like smacking them in the snoz.
Last year, we had a very tough year financially as a church, and we really had to dig deep in the faith well to ride the storm. Well, I think I could truly say, things could have been much worse!
Filed by ob1 at October 16th, 2009 under church, leadership, life
No comments on this post yet
October 9, 2009
Words of WIsdom
As often as any important business has to be done in the monastery, let the abbot call together the whole community and himself set forth the matter. And, having heard the counsel of the brethren, let him think it over by himself and then do what he shall judge to be most expedient….
Now the reason why we have said that all should be called to council, is that God often reveals what is better to the younger…. But if the business to be done in the interests of the monastery be of lesser importance, let him use the advice of the seniors only!
- St. Benedict
Filed by ob1 at October 9th, 2009 under leadership, life
No comments on this post yet
October 5, 2009
C’mon, Apple…!
After experiencing a couple of random shutdowns on my iPhone this weekend, here’s another example of Apple needing to make a few lawyers redundant and find some more tech types to fix their software problems…
Had to completely restore Nic’s phone for some marginal improvements, but she feels like throwing hers against a wall regularly… that’s crazy talk for someone who absolutely fell in love with her iPhone 6 months ago, only for it to become “like a really old, unreliable computer” (in her words). It makes her work Blackberry look quite stellar in terms of “just working”… c’mon, Apple!!! You’re killing your fan boys here…
Filed by ob1 at October 5th, 2009 under tech
No comments on this post yet
September 24, 2009
Pod, Pod, Pod, Pod… c’mon, Apple… get real
If Apple spent as much time on fixing their bugs as they do on this sort of nonsense, I’m sure I (for one) would be a much happier Apple fan boy.
Seriously, after the stupid problems I had with basic things on my Snow Leopard update, now my wife’s iPhone shutting down randomly after the 3.1 update, and my own iPhone starting to do other funky stuff (like constantly lose my wifi settings), I think Apple should stop wasting time on stupid stuff like this and get back to their knitting.
Daniel Kokin has spent the last nine years, off and on, working on a design for a video projector. The unique shape of the design is, according to Kokin, best described as a pod, so it’s no surprise he decided to call it a “Video Pod.” When he tried to file for a trademark for Video Pod in 2007, Apple filed an objection with the USPTO.
“Like Apple’s iPod registrations and applications, the Video Pod application covers a device that is or will be used to transmit video for entertainment and other purposes,” Apple wrote in its filing. “As a result the similarity between Apple’s marks and Applicant’s Video Pod mark and the highly related nature of the parties’ goods and services, Applicant’s Video Pod mark is likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception in the trade and among purchasers.”
What a joke!
Honestly, am I really beholden to Apple every time I use the word “pod”?! Ridiculous! This is where some of this trade mark and IP stuff gets a little nuts… the word “pod” has been used for a very long time to mean a whole range of things that aren’t necessarily related to an iPod. That Apple should suddenly feel it owns the word is just stupid. That a guy can’t create a device totally unrelated to a music player and use the term “pod” in its name is so ridiculous I would hope a judge would throw it of court and charge Apple with punitive damages for wasting everyone’s time.
Methinks Apple should hire less lawyers and more software people to fix their problems. This would make me happier, especially since I know in about 15 minutes my iPhone is going to ask me for my WEP key again…
I totally love my Apple stuff, but right now, it’s NOT just working…
Filed by ob1 at September 24th, 2009 under tech
4 persons have commented this post
September 14, 2009
Culture
Every place has its culture. It usually shows up in the rules and regulations. Take a look at the rules and regs governing any group (spoken or unspoken), and you begin to get a feel for what has carved and shaped the culture.
So, on a Life Group retreat this weekend, I smiled as I read the signs posted almost everywhere, and specifically mentioned by the caretakers in the sign-in briefing…
Two things about this list…
Firstly, what was it about the talcum?! What terrible event had involved talcum powder, that it now was specifically banned? Who did what to whom? It must have been devastating, and perhaps even a repeated cataclysmic event, that resulted in a non-talc culture. Interesting, I can’t remember the last time I touched talcum powder since our kids left nappies, so I felt a little confused… asides from parents of babies, are there lots of people wandering around with talcum powder?
Secondly, and this was rather fiendish, but look as I may, there simply weren’t any mats to hang up. Should I have supplied my own, or did I misplace the other ones unknowingly?! Did someone forget to put the mats out, or was this rule a remnant of past sins that had now passed into obscurity because of the decline in mats?
Hmmmmm…. culture is interesting stuff.
Filed by ob1 at September 14th, 2009 under humour, life
No comments on this post yet
September 10, 2009
Breaking the Silence on Cancer
Seems like everywhere you go, cancer of some sort has a grip. It’s kind of like this invasive weed you can’t get out of your lawn. Perhaps it’s always been this way, and nobody knew what it was, but it just seems like cancer is a growing concern for us all. And, in all it’s horrible forms, cancer is just a terrible disease.
Rodney is doing something about it. I applaud his efforts. I also believe that pain shared is pain halved, and so I encourage you to check out his blog post and share your story. You might just be a huge blessing to someone else who is struggling with the impact of cancer, and the telling of stories is a very powerful thing.
Filed by ob1 at September 10th, 2009 under life
1 person have commented this post