This Guy Falls Down

Mark Lee. Rocks.

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Blog 32: Flowerdust

I had the opportunity to meet Anne, aka Flowerdust, a few weeks ago in Nashville. She has written a book which will be released in 2009, and serves as a great example of how to use blogging, facebook, twitter, and other web apps for marketing an idea. I've talked a little bit about platform on here before - a lot could be learned about that art from Flowerdust. From a recent comment she made on HughHewitt.com:

Web 2.0 has created a platform for me where I can minister freely, and share and advocate for the poor (both spiritually and financially).

That's what's really inspiring to me. In the "look at me! look at me!" blog world, it is quite refreshing to see someone who has built a platform, but who also uses that platform as a tool for God to encourage others, and lending a voice to the "least of these".

Oh, did I mention that Anne's involved in some kind of "sex week" this week? But it's not what you think! Check out Flowerdust for details!

101 Things in 1001 Days

I grew up in a Methodist church. I don't know if they do these congregation wide, but I know in the South the "children's sermon" is a big part of the service. I can't remember where my car keys are, but I can remember several of these children's sermons from my childhood. In one of them, our pastor was turning 35. Since the life expectancy of men is around 70, he said, 35 was kind of the halfway point.

Well, I hope to live longer than 70, but who knows? As I approach my own 35th birthday, I've done a lot of reflecting on where I've been and where I'm going. And it's amazing how your motives change as you go through different seasons of life. My 20's seemed to be all about me and my plans. Now in my 30's with kids, it's all about serving. I really want to use whatever time I have left using whatever talents God's given me in service of others.

OK, OK. Children's sermon is over. The point of this post is to show you a cool idea called 101 Things in 1001 Days. The concept is pretty simple and pretty sound: most people set lofty New Years' Resolutions, and many aren't kept simply because people try to cram too much in a year. By spreading it out over (almost) three years, more breadth and depth can be accomplished.

So yes, I'm compiling a list. I'll probably share most of it with you - I'm not sure in what capacity. If you're into goals, like I am, and ESPECIALLY if you're into getting some cool things done, this might be worth a try...

Tumble with me

You've heard me rave about it before, but I'm going to do it again.  Tumblr rocks.  It's ridiculously easy to update, and if you have several different sources of web content (blogs, Twitter, flickr, etc.), you can feed them all into the Tumblr and get a snapshot of what's going on in your online life at any given time.

I think it's also a massively underutilized tool.  I and many others have been talking about blogs until we're blue in the face.  Tumblr provides such an easy way to enter the world of blogs in literally seconds.  If you love reading blogs but haven't made the jump to starting one of your own, might I suggest Tumblr?

All you Twitter freaks (myself included).  Why not feed Twitter into your Tumblr site?  The point of text on a "tumblelog" is to be short and concise.  140 characters - how more short and concise can you get?

I know, you're sitting there saying "I don't have time to update another site!"  That's the beauty of it! 

Take 10 minutes and feed your tweets and your flickr images into a tumblr account.  I bet you end up "creating" an amazing site.  And the beauty is, you never have to update it again!

Have a Tumblr page?  FOLLOW ME AND I'LL FOLLOW YOU!!!

UPDATE:  I just heeded my own advice and added my Twitter feed into Tumblr :)

Ancient History: "Tuesdays With Randy"

I was about to delete this blog, but then thought better of it.  Four years ago, I was still living in Franklin and was attending Randy Elrod's mentoring group.  I still am technically "part" of the group even though I haven't been since summer of '05.  As an experiment, I used the blog to document the goings on of the group so that those who were out of town on a given week could keep up with things. 

I always look back at things like this and go "why did I stop? this was pretty cool!"  I think in this case, I missed several weeks and then just kind of forgot about it.  As it stands now, it's kind of a cool little scrapbook of what we were reading and talking about at the time!

Isn't it funny how '04 doesn't seem that long ago, but in the web world it's ancient history?

Thanks to everyone who made our first Friday Favorites an enormous success!

Of course, I jest. I have no idea why my Typepad post wouldn't accept Trackbacks. I've never had that problem before.

At any rate, I know a few people tried, and failed, to participate. But that's OK - there's always next week!

And I AM going to go back and re-edit that last post to make it, well, more linkable, if that's a word...

Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Blog 31: The Secret Life of Kat

It's been a regular blogaissance* lately.  I haven't really been looking for them, but I keep finding all these awesome blogs.  Especially around Atlanta - all these people I know are blogging now.  It's pretty weird.

But before I get to those, I still have several great blogs that I've been reading a long time that I've got to mention.  The next one is Kat.

If you'll look over to my sidebar, you'll see her description:  A Typical Southern, Suburban, Soccer Mom...or Maybe Not.  I think that sums it up pretty well.  I've mentioned before my respect for the mom bloggers.  And since I am kind of a stay at home dad for at least half the time, I can relate to a ton of what they write about.  But then there's the gender thing.  I kind of get that same sort of feeling I get when I'm at my daughter's ballet class and there are all these moms there and me sitting down there on the end trying to look cool and nonchalant and then that one little girl that talks a lot says "why is Abbie's daddy ALWAYS here?"  You know what I'm saying - I can relate, to a point...

What's cool about Kat's blog, and why I keep coming back, is that she seamlessly weaves the mom thing into so many other things.  She has a whole music "sub-blog" thingy (MAN I'm jealous of you Wordpress types with your sub-blog thingys!) that is quite interesting.  And she listens to a bunch of cool music and reads a bunch of cool books.  I guess you could say she's one cool, um, Kat.

Man I'm on a roll!  Or whatever the opposite of a roll is... At any rate, check out Kat.  Her blog is the COOLEST!**

BTW - the reason I mention Kat today is that next week she's doing some kind of "summer camp" thing on her blog.  Color me intrigued.  I'm there!

* Hey, if you can make me use stupid words like "blogosphere", I'm going to make up my own...
** I've found myself saying that a lot lately.  Almost becoming a catch phrase.  Now if I could just find my wig and glasses, it would be BRILLIANT.***
*** Yes, that would be an Extras reference...

Inside Dylan's Head

It's a well known fact that Bob Dylan is an enigmatic personality.  It is also a well known fact that I am a Bob Dylan freak.  So it only stands to reason that I would include a link to an article about Bob Dylan's personality.

In this piece in Vanity Fair, Duff McDonald uses the subjects Dylan's chosen for his XM Radio show as a jumping off point to analyze Dylan's personality.  Fun stuff...

Blog 30: Desperate Housewife

Several weeks ago, I told my lovely wife that I was going to feature her blog as part of the "50 Blogs" series.  Her response was "let me get mine updated a little more and you can make it #50".  Well, since it's been about 75 days since we had that conversation and I'm only on blog #30, I'll just go ahead an feature her now.

Besides being my wife, Stephanie is a mom and a businesswoman.  You will see her write a lot about being a mom and a little bit about her store.  Also, she grew up in Cobb County outside of Atlanta (her store is on the Square in Marietta) so you'll see a lot of posts from that perspective.  I can barely hold a candle to her when it comes to the creativity, and she's got a great sense of humor. 

Can you tell that I'm a proud husband?  Check out Stephanie's blog!

I think it's really cool...

Why oh why do I spend hours of my life on this blog (and this blog and this blog)?  Because it's really cool...

I think it's really cool that she is friends with her...

I think it's really cool that she is working with her...

I think it's really cool that he moved to Canada and I can still keep up with him...

I think it's really cool that I met him when he lived in Canada and now he lives near me...

I think it's really cool that he got to write about that for him...

I think it's really cool that he and I can talk about what we do with them...

I think it's really cool that you are where you are and I am where I am and we are both, well, here.

Blog 29: Vertizontal

OK, OK.  I know.  I've gotten really slack on these.  I think the tour and the band lineup change and the slow-as-molasses bus internet all conspired to take the wind out of my sails.  But enough excuses.  Back to the task at hand.  50 Blogs in 50 (non-consecutive) Days...

I've known John Voelz for several years.  I think I first met him at a Third Day show in '02.  Or was it re:create in '03?  Not sure.  At any rate, John's a great guy and a creative soul.  He's been blowing my mind as of late.  I set up a tumblr account and see that he's already there, rockin' it with the tumblr.  Then he goes and does this "song/prayer" thing.  And then he starts talking about altered books and how he uses that as a form of journaling.  "Altered wha?" you're thinking.  Exactly.  You need to go check out his blog to find out for yourself.

And then.  And THEN.  Randy and Spence host a Web 2.0 clinic.  John gives us all a "clinic" by broadcasting it LIVE through Mogulus...

Be sure to check out John's blog.  He's doing some cool stuff over there!