Sarcastic Monkeys

For anyone who happens through this part of the blogosphere, I want to assure you that I’m still here and I plan to continue the Numbers series and do other things with the blog.

As many bloggers who are not “writers” discover, committing to writing regularly is a sometimes difficult thing. It’s not easy.

I started to create a post last night. It was going to be a one paragraph thought-dump at 11pm. It turned into a multi-page story at 1:30am. So I’ve taken it off-blog and I’m working on it to make it something else.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. Maybe next time there will be punch and cookies.

Animoto is something that I don’t use nearly enough. I grabbed some pictures from Trudi’s computer to do a little slideshow of the kids goofing around with Photo Booth.

John Saddington, purveyor of the fabulous ChurchCrunch, posted the question – “Is there any practical and realistic use for the new Apple iPad in a ministry context and environment?” – and the followup question – “Are you going to get one and why?”.

First, here is the response I gave in his post’s comments:

1. I can give my pastor one and repurpose his woefully underused MacBook Pro.
2. The PCO and ProPresenter Remote iPhone apps will rock, especially when optimized for the iPad.
3. The welcome center idea from Alex Tillman is right on – how cool would that be?
4. POS at ministry counter for book and CD sales; registration signups; online giving help.
5. Another iPhone app that will be immeasurably easier and fantastic on the iPad – LogMeIn.
6. I agree that this is not a device to help creatives create – but this will be perfect for presenters to present.
7. Preaching and teaching directly from this while controlling my presentation video? Absolutely!

But I don’t plan on buying one for me – I’m desperate for a new MacBook Pro to replace my obsolete Powerbook, because I picture myself as one of those creative types. But for 90% of my computing tasks and 90% of my users, this will be perfect.

Having said that I don’t plan on buying one for me, let me qualify that: I don’t plan on it now. Or exactly for me. Although I hope to enjoy one.

The iPad is going to be a phenomenal device, I hope. No one really knows. Except that the iPhone is already changed many things for me, and I expect that the iPad will do something quite similiar.

My 13-year-old daughter – who was previously saving for a laptop – is completely thinking iPad now. Laptop is overkill for her, but iPad is right in the sweet spot. My wife is also contemplating selling her MacBook and moving to an iPad. I can’t think of anything she does on her laptop that she couldn’t do on an the new iDevice. One of the biggest things is that for $499 or even $599, this is a great entry-level computer that does everything they could think of.

I was one of the ones who paid $599 for the original iPhone (which has since moved to the possession of Trudi). $499 for something that is multiple times faster and more powerful, with twice the storage of that original iPhone?

Easy decision. I believe it will be equally easy for many people – and the church needs to be there.

Our eldest monkey, Shae, is now in Nottingham, U.K. for a five month study abroad program at the University of Nottingham. She has started her own blog, My Life is Nottingham, to post details and pictures of her experiences. Check it out at Shae.SarcasticMonkeys.com.