Barlow Blog

On the 1st weekend in May, I received my first traffic citation since we moved to Rockport from a city police officer. I was pulling a borrowed trailer which we had used all day helping citizens of Rockport clean up their yards, rake/bag leaves, & other community service type stuff, but the trailer had tags on it that had expired in July 2008 (this was May 2009). No problem - I got the ticket, the owner of the trailer offered to pay for it, & since it wasn't a moving violation, it doesn't go on my driving record.

So yesterday I went to city hall to pay the ticket - since I'm a Pastor at a local church, I figured it would be better to pay it rather than have a warrant issued for my arrest. I get to city hall & the lady behind the glass immediately starts looking for ways to dismiss my ticket - yes, I said DISMISS. The officer had put the wrong date on the citation, but that wasn't enough to dismiss it. Then she noticed the officer didn't put the expiration date for the tags on the ticket - at least in the right place. He put it somewhere else, but that would have been enough to dismiss the ticket.

After a few more minutes of searching earnestly for other ways to dismiss the ticket, she finally comes to the conclusion that I will indeed have to pay the $190.00 for the citation since the tags were expired almost a year earlier. So I divvy out my cash, she writes me a receipt, and I turn to leave.

Here's the icing on the cake - as I'm headed out the door, she says in the most sincere & apologetic tone I've ever heard from a public services worker: "I'm sorry you got a ticket, Mr. Barlow."

My reply - "It's okay...the owner of the trailer just paid the ticket." (smile)

She returned my smile, wished me a good day, and I left. I wouldn't ever expect that to happen again...ever. It kind of reminded me of a time gone by (see above picture).

Could a table be a piece of technology? Ask the folks at DB Fletcher Design...they apparently think so.

So this has been an interesting week for technology around Coastal Oaks. When you're frustrated about something, what's better therapy than blogging about it? I'm sure there are other options, but I'll stay with blogging for now. Some of this week's technology stories are stories of progress...other are stories of failure. Take a look...

1. I'll start on a good note...here's the 1st thing that worked this week. Our Pastor, Kevin Muilenburg, purchased a 2nd media projector for our sanctuary and got it linked up with the older projector without any hitches. We'll have to come back and string cable underneath the stage, but wow, I didn't expect it to be that easy.

2. Our Ministry Assistant, Verna, has been working on - or tolerating - an 8-year old Toshiba laptop since her previous laptop took a dive back in the fall of '08. On Friday of last week, Windows XP decided it was going to follow suit, and took a dive also - along with many of the documents we use on a regular basis around COC (Sunday programs, prayer lists, sermon notes, logos, etc.) Solution? $700.00 and a new 17" HP laptop from Best Buy. Problem? Starting over...and I mean all the way over.

3. I've been a long time Yahoo! user (email, Flickr, etc.), but I recently decided to dump Yahoo! (mail specifically) due to several issues I had come across, and go with Gmail. As with Yahoo!, having Google log in credentials enables you access to a myriad of Google owned sites...Blogspot, Picasa, Gmail, YouTube, etc. So far, I'm lovin' Gmail and decided to stick with Blogspot b/c I had a log in for it already. See below...

4. I've also recently decided to start blogging more (or at all). I never really got into the blogging thing when it first came out and I'm still not sure I have enough to say to necessitate a blog, but here I go anyways. I went with Blogspot after testing out Word Press and a few others, and figuring out that my newly acquired Google log in credentials would allow me access without having to have another set. Here are a few observations so far...

4a. Unless you know some CSS and HTML, your Blogspot blog will look *VERY* plain. Maybe they figure that's their target audience, but I'm not okay with that. Customization (thank you Burger King - have it "your way") is the new American way and if you can't give me customization, you can't call it technology.

4b. I still think there are some things that should be easier. I want to add my Twitter feed in something other than a plain, white, text oriented box. So far the best I've been able to do is add a Twitter "widget"...I don't like widgets so far. I also want to add some icons for my social network...Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. The best I can do here is to add text only links, which is not "eye salvy", in my opinion. Again, this goes back to customization.

4c. Knowing some CSS and HTML has helped me have some thing moderately apealing to my eye, but the addition of some of the things posted in #2 would make me satisfied. Can you help me?

Ok, that's enough...I'm going to technology counseling now.

My wife, Mary, and I have been needing new towels for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time, so we finally took the plunge and bought new towels, hand towels, & wash rags for our lone bathroom this past weekend. I can think of more exciting things to spend $100 on, but hey, we needed them and could afford them, so we did it.

Mary is also an advocate of washing everything before using it - clothing, towels, etc. So we get the new towels home, she washes them, & we use them that same evening after finishing our showers.

The problem?? TOWEL FUZZIES are taking over!! For the love - even after being washed, these things are pregnant with little fuzz balls that get all over you when you dry off. Mary says they'll go away after "a few washes", but I'm hoping that comes soon...they feel like lil bugs crawling on me when the ceiling fan or air conditioner hits them just right...it's just creepy.

Did I just blog about towel fuzzies? I think so...and you read it.

So after my wife and my daughter go to bed tonight, I get, for the 1st time, a call from someone wanting to sell me an extended warranty for my automobiles. Apparently the warranties for these 2 vehicles are about to expire and I should act fast to avoid a lapse in coverage.

Here are my observations...
1. The factory warranties on both of my vehicles expired about 30,000 miles ago. You're a little late.
2. http://consumerist.com/5249446/car-warranty-robot-calls-senator-during-meeting-on-capitol-hill - This reeks of a scam and is widely published in many consumer advocate blog sites. Stay away!
3. Don't ever think I will buy anything from you, no matter what you're selling, if you call me after 9:00pm. That's just unprofessional.

Anyway, 1 blog down, 1000s more to follow I'm sure...