A Real Smartphone

I started using my first PDA ten years ago. It was the Palm III. After that I moved on to the Zire 71. My first smartphone was the Palm Treo 600, and I followed that with the Treo 650. Each was a step up from the previous. Earlier this year I moved to Windows Mobile and purchased the Sprint Mogul. Compared to the Palm platform this thing moved. But it still didn't do everything I thought it should do.

Last night all my dreams that I didn't even know I had came true when I bought the iPhone 3G. This is the most impressive gadget I've ever had. It is truly "smart." I know I've said it before, but it makes me wonder if I need to go Mac all the way. I love the fact that I only have to carry one thing. It's a phone, a PDA, and an ipod. Actually, today that wasn't necessarily a good thing. I was listening to it in the car, and I put it under the seat before leaving the car to go into the grocery store (this has been my habit with my ipod). I got in the store and realized I needed to call Mandy. Oops.

The best thing so far is the Apps Store. Since last night I've downloaded 26 apps. All but two were free. Here are some of my favorites thus far.

Mint
Facebook
Pandora
Simplify – For $4, this allows me to access my entire iTunes library via wi-fi or 3g
Sportstap

One of the other nice features is that I'm able to sync my Outlook data from my laptop and all of my media from my desktop. I hadn't thought about that until last night after I started playing with it. I haven't messed with the GPS feature, but I've heard it's impressive as well.

More to come soon…

Bon Iver

A few days after compiling my top 10 music list, I purchased Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago during Amazon.com's $5 sale on their top albums of the year. Had it been a few days earlier it would have been at the top of the list. This album is SO good. If you listen to it, I encourage shutting yourself in a room, turning off all the lights, and using a good pair of headphones. Oh yeah!

If you're not familiar with Bon Iver, check this out.

Crazy Times at the Memphis Library

I apparently have an evil twin.

This afternoon Adam and I were at the library looking for a book for Mandy. Out of nowhere a guy ran up to me, grabbed me by the collar, and start yelling at me for assaulting his girlfriend. Two security guards were right there and grabbed him, but not before books were off the shelf and Adam was crying.

The security guards started escorting him to the escalator, and once I made sure that Adam was ok, we followed them. I went to the guards and they asked if I wanted to press charges. I said, "heck yeah I want to press charges." He said to wait a minute, so I told him that I was going to check out my books.

As soon as I got to the desk, I felt the Holy Spirit say that I needed to go and talk to the guy. If nothing else, I didn't want Adam to be afraid. So we walked into a small office. In the office were the guy, his girlfriend, the two security guards, and a police officer. I told them that I didn't want to press charges, but I wanted to talk to him. The girlfriend came out and studied me. She said, "Were you not on the bus this morning?" I said, "No." The guy explained that someone who resembled me had assaulted her. I told him that I was sorry that had happened to her, but doing what he did in front of my son was not cool. With a tear in his eye, he apologized and said that he had overreacted. I told him that I forgave him.

After we walked out of the library I knelt down and talked to Adam. I got to talk to him about God's love and forgiveness for us. I wanted to bring some redemption into a scary moment for Adam.

I guess it could be a problem if I do have an evil twin who goes around assaulting ladies on the bus. But no matter what, I love my city. And here's what I know: God wants to reveal His love to every person that was in that situation. I pray He does that.

Do you backup?

I've been using Syncback for awhile. It's free, and it's very easy. Lifehacker has a great tutorial on how to set up daily, weekly and monthly automatic backups. Check it out.

2008 Top Ten Lists: Podcasts

1. Catalyst
2. Fermi Project
3. Rick McKinley
4. Rob Bell
5. Mark Driscoll
6. Paste Culture Club
   
7. Dave Ramsey
8. Acts 29
9. Vineyard Cincinnati
10. The Resurgence
    

2008 Top Ten Lists: Blogs

These are the blogs that I read weekly. Once again, in no particular order.

1. Scot McKnight - He recently moved over to Belief.net. I always enjoy his content.
   
2. Ben Witherington - NT scholar who also writes some really good movie reviews
   
3. Mark Batterson - whenever I read his blog I'm inspired to be creative and work with excellence
   
4. Jonathan Dodson - I've been reading his blog for a few months. He's a church planter in Austin.
   
5. Ed Stetzer - missiologist, researcher, author
   
6. John Carroll - fellow missionary here in Memphis; I always enjoy reading his blog.
   
7. Joe Boyd - Joe is on staff at Vineyard Cincinnatti. A great storyteller, he is currently working on his first book.
   
8. Seth Godin - everyone knows Seth Godin, right?
   
9. Steve McCoy - I'm always anxious to read his blog just for his music recommendations and links to other sites.
   
10. Dan Kimball - I appreciate his balanced approach to so many controversial issues facing the church today
    

2008 Top Ten Lists: Music

1. Dave Barnes, Me + You + the World
   
2. Fellowship Church, Closer to the Start
   
3. Anthony Skinner, Crush
   
4. Sondre Lerche, Dan in Real Life soundtrack
   
5. Coldplay, Viva La Vida
   
6. Jon Foreman, Fall & Winter
   
7. Daniel Doss Band, Greater than Us All
   
8. Hillsong United, All of the Above