(This is for all my fellow tech-geeks out there). My personal battle between Mac and Windows has been raging since the beginning of the year. I am a traditional Windows user mainly because I grew up with it (what regular Joe in the nineties wanted a Mac anyway?). My family started out with a Windows 95, and boy the excitement when we bought a Windows XP in 2002! Now, I own my own Windows 7 laptop, which is sooo amazing (be quiet Mac-lovers). The thing is, I’ve never really played around with a Mac, so I couldn’t bring myself to call judgment. Well two weeks ago, I was able to play around with my friend’s Mac laptop (no- I don’t know what edition). I had the hardest time! First off it was backwards (or is Windows backwards?). Who knows! Anyway, it seemed, well, foreign. Now if I played around with it more would I like it? More than likely not. I have had way too many bad experiences with Apple software, mainly iTunes. However I really like the menu, and the gadget window~thingy. I couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing those features were and wondering how I could get a similar one fro my Windows 7. Then last week, my mom replaced our 2002 Windows XP (it had a whole 256mb RAM and 40gb hard drive!), with a Windows 7 desktop by Dell. On it was a dock menu. It was perfect! The kicker? You have to have a Dell computer to run it (what?!?).  So I went in search for a replacement. After several bad menus, I found ObjectDock. This was it! Exactly what I’ve been waiting for. It’s a great replacement for the taskbar…only you have to move the taskbar from the bottom to the top (or the sides) check the ‘auto-hide’ button. It takes a little while to set up, but once it’s finished, it’s worth every minute spent on it. The only difference between ObjectDock (picture) and the Dell dock is that OD does not have a submenu. But overall is a great menu. I would totally recommend that you download it it and try it out. Let me know if you like it or what your thoughts are.

It has been two or three years since TobyMac’s release of Portable Sounds, and I waited patiently for his new release. Okay, maybe ‘patiently’ doesn’t quite describe how I waited. But I waited, nonetheless. Some call me obsessed, but I like to think of myself as- dedicated. I am dedicated to listening to an artist’s music, I am dedicated to seeing that artist in concert, and I am dedicated to promoting the artist (i.e. a blog post). So when I heard about it’s release date, I was even more excited. So my sister picked it up for me when she saw it, and I immediately popped it into the cd player. Let me tell you something: some people get worse as they go (in my opinion), and some stay consistant, but TobyMac just gets better and better and better. He is able to transition his style to make keep it modern for the ‘modern’ crowd, but he also keeps some of his personal style, which is mainly found in the lyrics. In a way he is similar to the Newsboys who have been around for how long? Being able to change your style in little ways, I think, will keep you floating longer. Tonight is by far the best of TobyMac’s works. While some songs are mirror images of previous one (“Showstopper” is very much like “The Slam”), there are still some really good songs on the cd. Some of my favorites are ‘Tonight’, ‘City on our Knees’, ‘Hold On’, and ‘Get Back Up. And there are the so-so songs ‘Showstopper’ and ‘Funky Jesus Music’. But all in all this is an awesome cd. TobyMac’s Tonight gets a five star rating from me, hands down.

It is so nice to succeed at something. You get the feeling of “Yeah. I did it!”, but it is really God that gets us where we need to go. And, oh, the Lord blessed me with some wisdom, yesterday, that led to (drum roll, please): THE INSTALLATION OF DOTNETNUKE ON WINDOWS 7. I was so happy! After a lot of technical errors (that I will not get into for the sanity of my readers), it finally installed. So, I will be working on my first two websites this summer, and hopefully be working with the Do Hard Things Documentary team in designing the graphics. Please check the ‘DHT Friends’ sidebar regularly, as I will be making a list of friends/acquaintances from my area and on the DHT Forum.

How beautiful the hands that served
the wine and the bread
and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful the feet that walked
the long dusty roads
and the hills to the cross.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful is the body of Christ.
How beautiful the heart that bled
that took all my sin
and bore it instead.
How beautiful the tender eyes
that chose to forgive
and never despise.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful is the body of Christ.
And as He laid down His life
we offer this sacrifice
that we will live just as He died:
willing to pay the price,
willing to pay the price.
How beautiful the radient Bride
who waits for her Groom
with His light in her eyes.
How beautiful when humble hearts give
the fruit of pure lives
so that others may live.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful is the body of Christ.
How beautiful the feet that bring
the sound of good news
and the love of the King.
How beautifull the hands that serve
the wine and the bread
and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful is the body of Christ.

Google: v. to search the internet via the Google search engine. ex- He googled the person he had met at the party.

Oh, yes. We hear it all the time, “I don’t know. Let me google it”. Everyone recognizes the word, uses the word, hears the word, and writes the word (even though spell check doesn’t see it as a word…there added to the dictionary). I am a Google freak to put it mildly. I google anything I don’t know. Wikipedia is usually my second option, but I usually reach it by Google. I am not limited by it’s search engine, though. I use Blogger.com, Google Docs, Gmail, Chrome, Desktop, Earth,  Sketchup, News, Reader, YouTube, Analytics, Maps, Dictionary, Video, and Squared. Wow, I didn’t even realize how much I really use it.

This being said, maybe you can understand my utter disappointment. The other morning (April 1st), I saw the headline on my homepage (surprisingly its Google.com). Google was no longer, instead it was Topeka. Now, I can google something, but I refuse to topeka something. It doesn’t ring, it was the worst business move ever, and I will be saying google for the rest of my life! I was almost in tears trying to come to the realization of this life changing name switch. I was determined to find out Google’s reason for this. So what did I do? *Ahem*. I googled it. And who knew! It was an April Fool’s prank!

Oh, I was exceedingly happy over this discovery. I don’t know what I would do without Google. I just hope there are no real name changes in store for the future.

Learn more about Google | Google Something! | Join the Googlers

Yes. I have returned. A lot has been going on since my last post, like always. I have been pretty productive, though (ahem…not as far as my reading list, however). I have become very busy with some website stuff just now. I have also been struggling to install DotNetNuke on my Windows 7 machine. SQL has been the biggest problem with it. Someone said they think it is because I am using Windows 7, but I have seen a few people who have installed it with no problems. So while my own DotNetNuke problems have been lingering in the background, I am working with a fellow rebelutionary in building a website for his organization. We had a little trouble with that installation, too, but we got it to work. Right now we’re working on getting a skin together, and after that we should be able to start getting modules and pages together. So things have really picked up really fast. I am still in school and will graduate in May this year, and I have been planning and planting my family’s garden, and preparing for our farm business this summer. Oh, yes. My reading list for this spring…has gotten nowhere. I have not finished one book! I am a failure when it comes to a reading list. I mean, last year I read two books, Peace Like a River, and Rebecca. The kicker: none were on my list to read. Right now, I am starting to work my way through Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are. My summer list will probably not be completed either, because of working the farm, interning, and building the website. So this is the first of a few post I need to get out of my system. More will follow.