i had a fish

once week after I got my awesome fish...i woke up this morning to see that he died overnight. I dont know what happened. He was fine when I went to bed, blowing a bubble nest (which is a sign of good health and happiness) and swimming all around his bowl. and now...

it's a sad day.....

he was a very cool, intelligent fish. he seemed to pay attention to me when I was around swimming to wherever I was at in the room.

that's the last fish I buy from walmart.


: (



RIP
Jupiter Iota McDonald
July 21, 2007 - July 28, 2007

[edit] I have a fish.

This is Jupiter Iota McDonald.

He is a Siamese Fighting Fish commonly mislabeled as a "Betta Fish." 

I purchased him at walmart for 4 bucks. He is nifty....

I'm thinking of finding him a fishy friend. 

The Aftermath

What's up, Friends?

Last night, I posted a few video tastes of my evening activities...now I thought that I'd go into a little more detail.

My night started off with me in search of a new external hard drive because both my laptop and current ex-HD are full. This is a adventure in itself for the fact that there are OR many choices, if anyone has had any luck, let me know...cause I need one on the quick.


After that Andrea and I went an check out the dogs at the pet store or the "puppy store" as she like to call it. We saw there two pups called American Eskimos. The brother and sister pair were adorable and you could tell that they were very smart. I've never even heard of this type of dog until yesterday and i love them! they look like little foxes...we wanted them but alas, couldn't get them for obvious reasons (the fact i live in a dorm-ish place).

Let's back track for a second, as we got to the mall and walked through it's Barnes and Noble...there were countless people there to get in line for the new Harry Potter book. Fully clothed, as I'm sure many people around the world, as Harry and friends. This was a sight to see but nothing like what we were going to see later.

We decided to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Though I haven't read any of the books, I'm a huge fan of the movies and this one was by far the best. With the kids becoming adults there is much more to relate to and I'm always a sucker for a great Good vs Evil story. The story of Harry Potter, for me, is right up in the lines with a Star Wars or a Lord of the Rings.

The message of the story, made concrete in this movie, is that love and relationship will overcome any evil:

Harry Potter: [to Voldemort] You're the weak one. And you'll never know love... or friendship... and I feel sorry for you.

This is a basic message that ANYONE can grab a hold of and support.

Great effect, great music, acting was very well done...see this movie.

After the movie, which was around 11:40pm, we wanted to head back to see how crazy the book store got. We were blown away by how many people were there. We walked in and was greeted by a sea of parents, kids, and college students all with color stickers (place in line I'm guessing) that numbered way over 300. The energy in the room made me feel like we were to see Justin Timberlake walk right through the door and start performing.

No matter how crazy some of the people were. I thought it was awesome to see THAT many people awaiting the release of a single book.

No matter if you love or hate the glasses-wearing wizard from hogwarts, you can't help but cheer for J.K. Rowling as she has brought reading books back to the masses and has made a generation of kids into readers again.

Check out the videos in my previous post to see the countdown to release and the first batch of books being sold.

12:01 - Harry Potter

All you need to know...

Harry Potter...





though I didn't buy the book, more on this adventure tomorrow.

What does your site DO??

Why Your Fancy Web Site Sucks?
(Filed under: Web Sites)
by Tim Wall, Guest Blogger

Your web site really sucks when you try to be fancy. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Front-Page-Guy with your blinking animations and scrolling text. But I'm also talking to you, Mr. High-End-Web-Guy with all that stunningly beautiful functionality few people care about or use.

No matter our skill set, we all fall victim to the insatiable desire for fanciness. I know I did. I had lots of resources. I was working in a big ol' church with a big ol' budget spending lots of time and money creating new features that, once implemented, were rarely used by more than 5% of our congregation. That's right. I wanted to innovate. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be fancy. Too bad I didn't actually create something useful.

Fancy web sites suck. So, here's how you can keep things simple:

1. Write fresh, new content and put it on your web site.
2. Repeat step one multiple times daily.

Content keeps people coming back. Content meets the needs of your congregation and your community. They want to know what's happening at the church. They want to know what your pastor is thinking. They want to know how your children's minister feels about the latest kids movie. They want you to speak into their lives.

Sounds simple, right. So, why do so few churches do this? I think it's because we're all too busy treating technology and the web like some kind of novelty item. Newsflash: the web isn't new anymore. You don't need to experiment with it. You just need to use it, and use it well.

Look, there are a handful of churches (and I do mean probably less than 10) who have the resources in place to innovate on the web. Let them do it. Let them create the new functionality and push the limits and do the new stuff.

Let them take the risk that nobody will use it. What do you say the rest of us just cut out the fanciness and get back to the basics. If you are not updating content on your web site at least once a day, you don't have time to put energy or resources into anything else.

Great content, all the time. Great content, all the time. Master that and then we'll talk about that fancy new media player you've always wanted.

4th

Enjoy your independence!




Happy Fourth!

Don't worry...

be happy!