Japanese develop 'female' android

Ok, this is just freaky lookin’. I gotta get out of technology :)

Link

Who or What is Trogdor ?

I can’t believe that I have gotten away with not posting about this sooner, but for those of you with a question mark above your head every time you see “The Trogdor Nation” and wonder what in the world does that mean, here ya go.

Let me introduce you to the greatness of Homestar Runner. Homestar Runner is a cartoon series which is distributed as Macromedia Flash animations available from HomestarRunner.com. It mixes an absurdist sense of humor similar to that found in H.R. Puff ’n’ stuff with copious (good word choice) references to video games from the 1980s and 1990s. Enough is enough, just check it out and prepare to be entertained.

Link to the explanation of Trogdor.

New Plotter

Recently we purchased a new plotter to replace our HP Plotter used for a lot of the large format printing used in the children’s area for stage sets and signage. We decided on a Swiss product from a company called Zund. The leap in technology is incredible from where we were and it has really taken us up a notch. This thing can print on just about anything! It can print on canvas, metal, wood, plastic, Styrofoam, glass or tile. And the ink is UV rated so it won’t fade which is really great for outdoor signage and has really helped with the reprinting of outdoor signage.

It got its first real workout this year at Adventure week. Mitch has some great pics of the workload that this thing took over Adventure week.

New Zund Plotter

First Impressions

First impressions are everything. It is important to make a great first impression for any visitor to your campus, and there is so much we can do that can help determine if someone is to return and what their first experience is like.

From the time someone enters the parking lot, you want to guide them all the way into their final destination without any confusion or questions.

Think of the thousand and thousands of people they move thru airports. Signage, strategically placed personnel, and key areas for information are so important. Their goal is to get you thru to your destination gate or exit with ease.

Below is just an off the cuff list of ideas to accomplish this experience:

1. Parking signage to guide people to the correct parking areas
2. People directing traffic and welcoming attendees
3. Signage to guide people to the appropriate entrance
4. Greeters and signage inside entrance to guide to registration or destination areas
5. A central area that is easy to get to get information or questions answered

The goal is to provide a virtual guide, using signage and strategically placed people, guiding people thru the facility and to their final destination with ease. Being in a new place for the first time is already such a stressful event and I think if we make a small effort in these areas it can help ease some of this and help provide a good first impression.

If you have any other items that you think should be added to this off the cuff list, I would love to hear them.

Adventure Week 2005

Adventure month has started! Our annual vacation bible school has started and this year we are expecting around 4,500 kids this year. This week began the first week at the Grapevine campus and we will have a total of 3 weeks here at Grapevine. It was our first year to have Adventure Week at our new Plano campus and we were blown away by having almost 450 kids.

It has turned into Adventure Month, but it is such an exciting time to see young lives changed.

Movie Quote #3

Hope this is a little more challenging. I am very surprised by some of your skills and a little disappointed in others. Not to call anyone out or anything, but Storch, I thought you were the king of this!

Quote #3:
Her: "Give me my radio!"
Him: "You gonna talk to me?"
Her: "Give me my radio!"

More Job Cuts

HP is making almost 15,000 job cuts. Wow! I was with HP Consulting for years and thought I would retire with the company. I am so glad God moved me when he did!

Come on Tom!

I recently started reading Tom Peters Essentials – Leadership. It really has a lot of great leadership tips and thoughts and how to stretch and re-think your leadership.

Tom is a great writer but I could do without all the profanity in his books. Come on Tom, I know you read my post :) , you’re a great writer and could convey your points just as well without all the profanity.

Movie Quote #2

Alright, the first week was a softball. This week is a little harder so let's see who came to play ball. There is no web searches allowed, God is watching you!

Quote #2: Him: "All I have to do is squeeze." Her: "All I have to do is scream."

High Availability

A question that I often get asked from other churches, is what we are doing in regards to HA (high availability) and what technologies are we using to accomplish this and what applications or services in running in high availability.

And the answer really is none. Our church management system is an ASP and other than that I am not convinced that anything else is that business critical to invest the money it takes to pull this off. Now of course we have built in redundancy and disaster recovery into just about everything we have and do, but not 99.999 uptime.

That said, I would really like to know if there are those of you doing this and what your organization requires to be HA. I would love to hear what you are doing and how you are doing it.

A 3D interface to the planet

Very cool new tool from Google. Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

Movie Quote #1

Ok, here we go with the first weekly movie quote. It's a softball, but I want to start easy before I start throwing the hard stuff. See if you can name the character and movie. There will be great prizes! (sha right)

Quote #1: "A flute with no holes is not a flute. And, a doughnut with no hole is a Danish."