Well, after several months of trying to get bearing after resigning at First Baptist I have begun to take to heart the comments my friends have been telling me for years.  I have been developing web sites for guilds, churches, personal use for a long time.  Every time I finish a job someone would comment how they liked it, or how cool something was on it.  Soon the conversation would turn to “You should do this for a living.”

Well, it is now time to see if they are right.  My deepest desire is to help others use the internet to reach out to the masses.  Weather it is a church or ministry, a local company, or someones private blog, they deserve to have a great web presence.

All I ask of my readers and friends is you pray for us as we try to get the company off the ground.  If you know of someone or you are in need of a custom site, give me a call.  *smile*

http://paravelcomm.com

If you would have asked me a year ago about all the hub bub over social networking I would have more than likely told you it was hype, or a fad, or just a flash in the pan.  I absolutely HATE Myspace, and this facebook thing was new and cumbersome.  Not to mention all the “what am I doing now” apps and services.

But then. . .I tried a couple.  First twitter, then Jaiku, then Pownce then. . . well you get the picture.  I started to use them for a short time but then as with most things I think are fads. . they sort of left the back of my mind. . Sort of like that Franklin Daily Planner I used to think was cool. . .for a week.

BUT. . .here I sit out of work. No longer pastor at FBLO.  I know I have gifts and talents.  I know I can do some cool things.  After all, I would not try if it where not cool. . But I have never found a way to get someone, at the right time, who was willing to pay me to do these cool things.  Podcasts, web sites, custom graphics, network design and installations, you name it. . .  But then something strange happen, after a very long and hard, and ill be the first to admit it, a rather depress filled two weeks.  My buddy Scott Bridwell sends me a Gtalk message at midnight the other night saying.

“Hey Mike, guess what?

What?

I lost my job yesterday.”

Heart sank to my stomach for Scott and Becky.  I know the hard road he has had to walk.  We started talking about a lot of things.  Not to put you to sleep Ill get to the point. .He asked me if I was LinkedIN. I’m like, am I what?  I had heard in passing about the site but payed no attention to it.  We talked over an hour about social networks.  So that night after he logged I went to LinkedIN and set up a profile.  Sent invites to all the people in my Google address book and crawled into bed at 2 AM depressed and not sure what the morning would offer.

Today however, after filling in the information, after brushing off my twitter and posting to it the sample mundane parts of my day, and after getting “plugged” back into the tech world I am already seeing results.  Friends I made a year ago and friends from high school have contacted me.  It has really shocked me in a way, but a good way.

So tonight, as I go to bed, as I think about tomorrow, I can say that I’m feeling pretty good.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m sure its not a train. *smile*

Hmm, I woke up very early this morning while at my mom and dad’s house in Fresno. Tanya and I had come down to pick up our girls after a week at the Grandparents house. I log onto the blog to listen to some music while wanting to get some reading done. I head right to my Last.FM player on the blog. Press go and WHAT? Lindsey lohan? GIVE ME A BREAK, thats not music. . .

For those of you that don’t know, Last.FM is a site where you able to listen to music that you like.  First thing is to download the little applet that will watch the tunes you play on your computer using iTunes or any other media player.  Last.FM then collects that info and makes a playlist and chart of what you like.  Eventually it will be able to build a radio station of songs you like, or songs from people with similar tastes as you.  Well, that is how it used to work.

So this morning I expected to hear some of my favorite songs but instead its giving me stuff that I would never listen to.  I’m not sure what is happening.  Either there is some problem with all the heat that has been put on Internet Radio stations of late or the suggestion software algorithm has gone completely stupid.  So, for now I have taken it down.

I will get to the bottom of this

Pet-peeve department:  I don’t know about you but I am really getting tired of seeing the term “WTF” become a mainstream acronym.  Now mind you I am not a prude but I think our language in today’s day has moved beyond the point of using a swear word as a means of expressing ourselves.

There is no difference in using the letters WTF than saying “What the ______”  You get the point.  And my point is stop.  There is no need to be vulgarer just because you think its cool, everyone is doing it, shoot John C. Dvorak is using it in his headlines everyday.

That does not make it right, it just means we are being conformists.  Conforming to what we think is the norm from people who can not communicate is a waste of our time. In Romans 12:2 Paul tells us not to conform to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

So, enough with using WTF.  Lets have some class and represent.