Tag Archive - iPhone

Advent Devotions: Sync in Progress

December 8, 2010 in Community, Faith with 1 Comment


Read Matthew 14: 29-31

I feel as though I am always trying to get my life in sync. Dictionary.com defines the word “sync” as: “a harmony or harmonious relationship.” In 1929 this word was adapted in the dictionary as a shorter version of the word synchronize.

There are many parts of our life that we try and get “in sync” with one another. There is the spiritual side, the physical side, the emotional side and the electronic side.

I depend heavily on electronics in my life. I have a “Smartphone” (actually an iphone) that I keep my calendar on, my contacts….basically my life. If that is “out of sync” then I feel very disorganized and I don’t know where to go or what to do. If for some reason my phone is not synced with the church computer or my office computer – then there is a good chance that I might miss an appointment. If I can’t sync my phone with my home computer then I might miss an important family event! Oh how I depend on the sync to help me get by in life.

The question I would like to pose to you is what or who are you trying to sync with? Like my situation I think that many of us try and sync our lives (be in harmony with) what the world expects of us. We try and keep up with the business and we try and make sure that all aspects of our lives are happening.

On the other hand, when I sync my life with the God of love, grace and forgiveness, I receive much more than I could ever give. I may get out of sync every once and awhile, but it is God who searches for me and who comes back into my life to reestablish the connection, that’s why God send Jesus into the world! The effort is not on our part but it is on God’s – God comes to us.

While technology is great (if you know how to use it) it is a constant effort to make sure that everything is in sync with one another. However, as we may work to sync our faith, when we get out of sync the effort to come back is from God.

THE PRAYER: God be with us as we try and get our lives in sync with you. Amen.

No love from AT&T

January 11, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Waaay back in 2003 a little company called AT&T took a chance on me.  They gave me a cell phone plan.  It was not the greatest plan but it worked for us.  We stuck with them through thick and thin.  In February 2004 AT&T took bids to buy the company and  Cingular won.  That was okay…..I guess….It really did not affect us at all, we actually got roll over minuets.  We were happy with it.  In 2007 the name of the cell phone company went back to AT&T.  Lots of the “extras” that Cingular gave us stayed with AT&T.

You don’t know how excited I was when I heard that AT&T was the exclusive carrier of the iphone.  It took me about a year to be able to get the iphone. Actually it was not until after the 3G came out tha I was able to buy the first generation from an ebay sale.

That was fine.  I did not mind not having the 3G speed – and the GPS feature that the 3G had.  It was not until I started having problems with my iphone that I started getting frustrated with AT&T.  I brought my phone in to see if it could get fixed and I had no luck.  I decided to upgrade.  I heard that since I was an iphone user that I could upgrade with no problems.  Well that is true if you got your iphone BEFORE the 3G came out…..even though I have been a customer of AT&T for the last 5 years!!!!!

I can’t sync my iphone with my computer which is frustrating, be even more frustrating is reading this article from engadget:

“Been holding on to that now-antique EDGE device to keep from extending your contract with AT&T? Well, if you’ve been experiencing some sluggishness — and not just general EDGE sluggishness, mind you — you might have more to blame than just those recent outages. Open for Business reports that AT&T has been quietly lowering EDGE signal strength to give more 3G love to all you iPhone 3G and Bold users. To add to the shadiness of the situation, AT&T reps are all offering up the same solution — buy a 3G device. Unsurprisingly, AT&T’s Mark Siegel has denied Open for Business’s claims, and says that the mega-carrier is not requiring anyone to switch to a 3G phone. We’ll put on our Sherlock Holmes outfits and try to do some digging, but it’s not like we actually expect these guys to admit to a move that would definitely lead to a lot of backlash.”

Not only is my phone not working, and I can’t get a break on the new 3G phone (only because mine is not working) but now they are basically ignoring the Edge network to spend more time on the 3G network.  That is understandable to some degree because that is the future.   HOWEVER there are a number of us still using edge and we need reliable phone service as well!!!

News like this almost makes me want to ditch AT&T and try out the new Palm Pre

My Mac Story

December 3, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Everyone has certain things that they love or enjoy. I am a Mac lover — I love the Mac Computers and I hope that one day I can incorporate many of the wonderful Apple products into my home. Here is why I love the Mac….

I remember as a kid having an Apple IIe computer. I was not real impressed at that time. The biggest reason is that I had a friend who had a 3D chess game that was animated and that was SO COOL!!!!! I must say I was jealous. But like most things I got over it……Eventually as I got older we got different computers in the house- we moved into the PC world. I think because they were convinent and they were cheaper.

I never had too many complaints about the PC – I hated (and still hate) the anti virus software that seems to cripple the computer most time. However, I like the convinence of getting a PC, I like the games and the price. With that I knew that every 3 or 4 years I would have to replace my computer.

When I went to work as a full time youth director in 2002, the church I worked at had all Mac. Again, I was not impressed with the Mac. At that point they were running OS9 — it was not hard to figure out but it was not something that I had been using for most of my life. I had to figure out what I was doing and it was not very much fun.

Plus, if I emailed myself something that I was working on at home then I could not read it from my desktop computer. The one thing that kept drawing me back to the Mac was the church musician. He was a Mac lover and he kept talking about how great they were – he said that OSX was so much better than the OS9 — but I had no idea what he was talking about.

Eventually we talked more and he was telling me about how easy it was to record music onto a Mac using a program called garageband. I was interested because I was looking for something to record my guitar on.

When I left for seminary in 2004 I knew I needed to upgrade my computer – and I knew that I wanted a laptop so I gave in and I got a Powerbook G4 from Apple.

I must say that I did fall in love with the Mac computer. Within hours I was recording songs- making DVD’s and surfing the web using the wireless network. That computer lasted me four years of seminary which included destruction from me and my son. I still would be using it if I did not accidently put dents in it the power source and actual keys ripped off by my son.

I am sad to say that currently we are Macless — my wife and I are using laptop PC’s and our son has a PC desktop in his room. This makes me sad but that’s the way of life right now. The bright side is that I did find a used iPhone for a GREAT price on Ebay. So it keeps me in the Mac world.

I am looking forward to getting a Mac Mini as our desktop computer and then getting a macbook as my all around computer. I can’t wait to get Apple TV to stream itunes movies and music right to our TV. I know that one day we will have techonology centered house powered by Mac. Perhaps I am dreaming but that would be just awesome.

Until then I can enjoy my iphone and enjoy videos like the ones below from the Simpsons.

Why I believe in Miracles

October 31, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

This post is not about the Philadelphia Phillies winning the world series, even though I do believe that was a great feat….

Last week my family went to Vermont to visit the newest member of my family, my little neice who was born at the end of September.  We were excited to get away for a little bit and to connect with my family.  

We arrived on Thursday night with no major trouble.  The next morning while we were having breakfast and reading the Rutland Herald we realized that Friday night was the Rutland High vs Mount Saint Joseph football game!!  Now for those of you who are not familiar with this football game I will explain.

If you ever wanted a good high school football rival game this is it….for years these two teams play one another and even though one team might be better than another, it doesn’t matter for this game.

I remember playing in this game throughout high school – my class was 4-0 during our years of playing.  We won our senior year 24-22.  

Well needless to say this is a big event in the city of Rutland — I would dare to guess there was 800-1000 people lining the football field on a cold Friday night.

I was excited to go to this game, I have not been since I played in the game.  Rutland was up 31-0 at half time and the kids were getting tired so we decided to leave.  I pull out my iphone and take a few pictures and put it in my coat pocket.  

I start to carry baby girl out and we are stopped by the team running to the locker room.  My high school football coach sees me and greets me with a warm smile and says hi to the boy and then moves on.  

We make it home and I went to pull out my phone to charge it up — only — it is gone.  I went to check my coat, and it is not there….I move to the car and I look everywhere and it is no where to be found.

I freak out but I know there is nothing I can do.  I try to sleep but it is hard, I am upset about what happened and I am upset at myself letting it happen.

The next day my wife and I go back to the field with the slim hope that it turns up….but our effort was fruitless.

We make our way back to NY and try to move on with our life…..

I know, I know there are bigger tragities in life than losing your phone.  But this is an iphone, it has my calendar and contacts, it has the little things that make my life happy.  It is something that I turn too all the time and I enjoy using it.  Perhaps only those with iphones can relate……

Well I get an email Saturday night that someone found my phone.  I was elated and after a few emails my phone is returned to my parents.  

The person who found it said he found it face down in the dirt and the only reason he saw it was a white Apple sticker that is on the back of my case.  He took it home and cleaned it up and then went through the phone to find who it belongs too and he emailed me.

I can’t say how thankful I am that he found it and was kind enough to return it too me.  

It gives me hope that this happened — it gives me hope that there are still people in the world who take the time and effort to find something and return it to the original owner.

I do believe that it is a miracle that this happened and I am thankful for it.

What a week!!

August 2, 2008 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

This week has been amazing!

My week started out pretty normally.  However there was excitement in the air.  I knew that there were two big events coming up for me.  The first was that on Tuesday I pick up the first generation iphone.  Let me say that I LOVE IT!  I had trouble setting it up.  That was my own stupid fault because I left the previous owners sim card in it.  But once I got my sim card in it I was able to activate it and start using it.  I am still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles but I love it.  The phone has almost everything I could ever want in a portable device.  I think I would love to have the 3G speed and more importantly the GPS navigation but I am very, very satisfied. (plus I am not locked in for another two years before I can upgrade to version 3 of the iphone!!!

The bigger of the events this week was my ordination last night.  I must say I am still in awe of the whole service.  To be a part of an ordination is special to be the one who is ordained is priceless.  To have the gathered church body around me in celebration of all my accomplishments and the ministry that is before me is just awesome.  I know that I am lucky where the two biggest ceremonies in my life (wedding and ordination) have gone without a hitch.  It was pure celebration and excitement.

I found out this morning that my picture along with an interview was in today’s local paper.  It is also online for those who would like to read it. I love the title of the articles.

Amidst all the craziness I have spent more time getting ready for my ordination and now I feel more free to focus my energy on getting to know the people of St. Mark’s and to expand upon my ministry here.

iPhone

July 26, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

So the time is close approaching where I will be an iPhone owner.  After a year and a half of research, blog reading and general oooing and ahhing I have committed to a purchase of a first generation iphone.

This purchase will be a birthday/anniversary gift from my wife. I am sure Christmas is in there as well.

I would love to go to the second generation iphone or a “3G” as us experienced iphone geeks would say — However, I am not eligible until February for an “upgrade” so instead of paying the insiders price of $199.00 I would have to pay $399.00 which would be for the 8gig phone.

I found a Syracuse college student selling his first generation iphone on ebay.  I emailed him offline hoping that I would be able to convince him to sell his phone for the price of a 3G 8 gig and it worked!!!  He tried to get more money out of me, I don’t know if he realized that he could get twice that on ebay or if he wanted his money early but that did not work.

So we are meeting him on Tuesday night, I am SO excited.  I will hopefully be able to convert everything over at the mall where we are meeting him and then sit through a Christian Ed meeting until I can come home and play with my new phone. I am not sure how much sleep I will get Tuesday night.

Until then I will be downloading music onto my computer. I hopefully will be able to put a few movies on it as well.

The biggest difference I see between the first and second generation iphones is the 3G speed.  That does not matter to me too much at this point because the web browsing itself will be better from my treo 650 and the GPS. I would LOVE GPS on my phone but I have done pretty well with google maps and I will be okay with that until the next generation iphone comes out.

Well Back to downloading music……